International Jock

Sunday, April 15, 2007

How to get your dik off the ground

Here's the promised post from co-founder of dik Marcus:
Hi there, and welcome from dik. Underwear Blog has graciously offered to let us talk about what it’s like to start a high-end men’s underwear company. In the coming weeks and months, I’ll post every so often with personal updates about our progress.

Ever wanted to start your own underwear company? It’s an exciting process but as cliché as it sounds, it takes a lot of work. And you better be prepared for surprises along the way and don’t set a schedule and expect it to stick. In fact, there’s a bunch of steps you need to complete before you can even start thinking about firm timelines.

We think our idea is pretty clever, and like most clever ideas, it started in a bar, two guys, and a whole bunch of pints. That’s how dik was born. Once we had our ‘concept’ it was all about finding someone to help us create it.

If you’ve never done something like this before, it can be pretty overwhelming. Register the business; find a lawyer first; do a trademark search; create business cards; print business cards; find a web developer; come up with a design concept; find an exporter; etc., etc. The list seems to go on and on, and we haven’t even got to the point where we work on getting a product developed!

My business partner I are very fortunate because we both have the exact same vision for where we want this brand to go. That has been a real blessing because it has given us the faith to trust the other all the time. When you’re starting something like this that’s vital because there are times at the start when decisions need to be made fast that you don’t have time to consult the other (such as my solo trip to China, but that’s a separate post!).

We’re also lucky to have some contacts in the import/export world. It’s a pretty crazy business and having had an expert, who also is a professional colleague to my co-founder prior to this, has been a real blessing. It hasn’t been a smooth ride to-date, but starting the next big brand in men’s underwear isn’t exactly a small goal, so it’s going to take some time and sweat!

Thanks for taking an interest in dik and our journey to market. If there’s anything you’d like to hear about, shoot me a line.

Marcus
Chief Operation Officer
dik Undergarments Inc.

2 comments:

Richie said...

I've signed up and I can't wait!

Anonymous said...

Hi defiant symmetry, thanks for the signup and enthusiasm! Stay tuned both here and in your inbox for updates as we move forward. Lots of stuff to talk about and let you guys know as we move closer to opening.