For thousands of Shanghai residents, shopping the city's fabric markets represents little more than an errand. But for Fan Bi, a 23-year-old native of Sydney, Australia, a visit during the summer of 2008 represented both a consumer epiphany and an entrepreneurial milestone.
The founder and "chief shirt" of apparel company Blank Label was vacationing between semesters at the University of New South Wales when he first discovered the vast difference between shopping by size for a pre-made garment and shopping by fabric for a custom-made garment.
"I used to buy dress shirts off the rack in Sydney," Bi says. "But this idea of going to a fabric market, being measured, being able to choose different fabrics … I thought, 'Wow, you know, this is a really different experience.'"
Not only was it a superior experience and product, Bi says, but it was also far less expensive than purchasing shirts of similar quality in stores--an advantage that led him to consider college students, a demographic urgently in need of dress shirts and suits upon graduation, but just as desperately in need of savings.
Bi's idea for a new customized apparel company was well timed--it corresponded with a trip to study abroad at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., just a few months later. Faculty helped Bi hone his idea, and he recruited campus sales reps. What he needed, though, was a polished e-commerce approach.
That's when he got a call from Danny Wong, Blank Label's 19-year-old co-founder. Wong saw one of Bi's job postings for campus reps and was interested in the Blank Label concept, but he thought he had more to offer with his knowledge of online operations.
Then a student at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., Wong initiated what would become both a partnership and a massive company pivot by posing a single question: "What's your SEO strategy?" It wasn't long before Bi and Wong joined forces to leverage the global power of the web and teamed up with a West Coast partner and programmer. By the end of 2009, they had launched the Blank Label website.
"We want to be the destination where people can come and design their own apparel," Bi says. "You see a dress shirt on the left-hand side and then style options on the right-hand side." Indeed, online visitors can build a custom shirt by selecting a fabric, color combination and style of cuff, collar, placket, pocket, button, monogram, even custom label--all for less than $50.
Since the site's launch, customers worldwide have ordered more than 7,000 shirts, generating over $350,000 in revenue. And the web-oriented founders have managed almost the entire process remotely. "Thanks to the Internet," Bi says, "you can work with the best people in the world, not just the best people in your neighborhood."
This article was originally published in the April 2011 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Dressed for Success.
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Comments:
Great success. Like the thought and possibilities. It is in line with promoting talent in man kind or woman kind with a quality product as the bottom line. Please check out a similar concept we our testing the market as providing work for talented people wile building a new concept business.
so inspiring. brilliant idea. honestly, i wish i thought of it.
Are you kidding? I read about ShirtsMyCrap, was encouraged to try it out. The experience was absolutely terrible, bad quality, couldn't speak to anyone on the phone. I just ordered my Blank Label shirt after seeing this article, I don't see how the experience could be any worse.
Thanks for the feedback; we'd like to believe that we're offering good value for money. Our average shirt goes for around $65. A good department store shirt would cost you more, and cost the manufacturer less to make. Everyone's in business ultimately to make a margin. We make less, and passing a saving onto the end customer.
Yeah, that's what I've heard as well about these guys.... I either go to my local tailor or use ShirtsMyWay.com who are bigger than these guys and who I've only experienced great quality with...
Impressive for their first venture and being only on their early 20's. How much do YOU make? Impress me :)
Overprice shirt with inferior quality, quality similar to any tailor shirt you can buy from wal-mart. If you customized the shirts it will come to an average of $100, you can find a lot of $100 shirts with better materials. At tailors in Asia, you can get customized tailor shirts for around $30 each, so at average of $100, you are getting ripped off! Given that these are custom made in china, they probably cost around $10-20 a piece for them to get it made there.
I've got to know both Fan and Danny pretty well, and it's been so fun to watch them build Blank Label. They love what they do and they're thinking huge.
How much money did you make in the first year of your first venture? Be honest now.
"What's your SEO strategy?" What is wrong with these people?
That's it? That's only $175k per person. How is that impressive?
That is amazing... It just takes some fresh ideas
Just curious if they changed this MO. I just want to the site and although the article says you can build a custom shirt ("fabric, color combination, style, etc.) for less than $50, the shirts start at $50 without anything. If you want to modify it all, it goes beyond $50; I started with a basic combination and added small changes (nothing significant) and my total ended up at $101. Not really sure how that appeals to the college student or soon-to-be college graduate...?
Brilliant ! Looks like it really does pay to know your market! Makes me want to go clothes shopping, tho...
Wow! That's really an efficient way! U choose n there u have it at just a click! Now that is really market orientation!!!! Do they have a constant feedback option at their website??? It can really allow the garments to be adapted to changing tastes before its too late or the competitors "get there first" GOOD JOB! KEEP IT UP! Just love the idea!!!!