The Logistics of Owning a dik

This is the fourth installment in a series of posts by dik founder Marcus. Enjoy!

You may have noticed an absence of guest posts from dik. Our apologies for that, but as the title suggests, we’ve been busy working out the logistics of running a company such as dik undergarments. Everyone always says you don’t know what you’re about to get yourself into, and to a point that is true when you travel down a new road, but, I think a certain amount of it has been expected.

We’ve been running around like crazy, making sure that we’ve covered every possible angle. If I were to be honest, I’d say we haven’t. But in that vein, I think we’ve done very well at adapting to what we’ve come across. The first hurdle was actually receiving the garments. Although it happens every day all over the world, we’d never imported anything from Hong Kong. It was shipped via air to New York, and then trucked to Toronto.

At that point we had our first taste of customs. Because we’re new, and have never imported sizable quantities of product, we were searched. Due to the hard work of our import/export team member, it was taken care of quickly. Next was storing the product. That’s pretty easy. What made it difficult was organizing all the product! Obviously being new, we aren’t all high-tech yet with automated tracking systems, but, we have organized everything so that if you place an order, we can have it pulled and packaged on the same day. I think that’s pretty good.

Of course there are other challenges, especially when it comes to importing and exporting to and from different countries. We have massive support from the underwear lovers of the USA (thank you), but it becomes tricky shipping goods to the USA that have been manufactured in China. Again, lots of hard work and quick communication are allowing us to work through these hurdles.

None of these issues have slowed us down at all. We’re still moving ahead at full speed and are feverishly working on getting all the orders completed that we’ve received. If you’re still waiting, our extreme apologies! The response has been fantastic and caught us off guard, so thank you for your patience. It will be worth it!

There will be more posts to come. And as always, please stay tuned to Men's Underwear Blog to see the latest dik news.
-Marcus Luft
founder of dik

dik in a mailbox

That's right, dik is now coming to your door. If you have pre-ordered some dik it should be on it's way to your door soon. dik is beginning to ship out the products. And if you haven't ordered some yet, now is the perfect time to order because the wait is over. I should be getting some dik soon, so I'll let you know how it feels (and a whole lot more).

$250 of free dik, plus an update

dik has certainly had a busy June, what with appearing at pride festivities, taking pre-orders, and perfecting their product. The folks at dik are absolutely amazed by the positive response to their new line and they want to thank all of you who booked your dik early. They are going to start shipping soon. If you have not yet taken advantage of their 15% off pre-order promotion, make sure to do so now. The deal will expire on July 1st (it seems that everything that I've posted about today expires on that date). And as always, if you order 5 or more items dik will cover your shipping costs. This past weekend dik debuted at the Toronto Pride festival. A lot of people visited their booth on Church Street. They also were featured in a fashion show. dik tells us that "The models looked amazing in our gear and the crowd loved seeing dik on the stage. It was a fantastic weekend and we thank all those who stopped by to meet us and take a look at our garments in person. Based on the influx of orders after Pride, we know that people were impressed with our garments!"

Now onto the exciting part that probably caught your attention. dik is giving away $250 worth of products, that's right dik is up for grabs! dik is combining efforts with XYYZ.ca, which is a targeted-lifestyle website for men. The folks at dik are currently sponsoring XYYZ's "Tell a Friend and WIN!" section. All you have to do is enter the name and e-mail address of five of your friends to tell them about XYYZ and you will be automatically entered to win $250 worth of free dik underwear (your choice)! The contest just runs for the remainder of the week, so don't miss out. Good luck to all of you and I hope you win.

[Edit]: A reader left a note about how the terms and conditions of this contest stated that one basically had to be in Toronto to win. I contacted dik and that is the case no more. They are now prepared to ship to the winner wherever he may live.

dik to announce its premier Launch at a Toronto Fashion Show

dik undergarments inc., will be featured in an underwear fashion show presented by Fresh Magazine during Pride Toronto on June 23, hosted by Prism at the Aqua party.

Toronto, Canada (PRWEB) June 13, 2007 – dik undergarments is proud to announce that is has been asked to give its premier launch via a fashion show hosted by Fresh Magazine. The fashion show, which will take place at The Sunnyside Pavillion at 1755 Lakeshore Blvd West in Toronto, is part of the Aqua Party hosted by Prism.

The doors open at 2pm. dik will be featured between 5:30pm and 6:00pm as the party switches between the two featured DJs (DJ Roland Belmares from LA and Cajjmere Wray from Toronto). During the show dik will be displaying its various styles and combinations with cleverly dressed models embodying the dik brand.

This fashion show will be extension of dik’s presence at the Toronto Pride festivities. dik will also have a booth on Church St where Pride visitors can come up and meet dik in person. At the booth people can purchase dik garments at a discounted rate to help celebrate the Pride week. dik will continue the street side presence on Sunday, June 24, when it continues to maintain a booth on Church St. If you’re attending the Pride festival in Toronto this year, come on by and meet the people who run the company and check out the goods in person. dik is excited to meet its customers.

Aqua is presented by Fresh Magazine and hosted by Matt Sims and Screaming Gina. The party will feature a fashion show featuring Fresh Magazine’s Boys of Summer models in the latest underwear styles, including dik undergarments. The party will also feature shows by divas Gia, Cassandra and Honey Brown. There will be complimentary underwear giveaways and other surprises in store for party revelers.

This is the perfect time to meet the guys of dik and they look forward to meeting their customers. “This is a great chance for us at dik to meet our customers and really showcase our products,” says Munir Noormohamed, CEO. “If you want to see what dik is all about, and maybe pick up a pair, then visiting Pride is the perfect chance to do that. We hope to see you there,” Noormohamed says.

So if you're in the Toronto area on June 23, I would urge you to check out the festivities. I will not be able to attend, but hopefully I'll be able to get some photos to post after the event.

a dik is born

That's right guys. You guessed it. One of the exciting announcements that I had to make for today (the one that I said involved a three letter brand...) is that dik just launched their line of underwear today! If you read UB religiously (as I know many of you do), you probably are familiar with dik through all the posts that the owner Marcus has made. You can now put in your pre-order for a fantastic new line of products. When you pre-order products from dik you will automatically get a 15% discount. Also, if you order 5 products or more dik will give you free shipping to wherever in the world you may live. The new line from dik offers a very interesting array of men's undergarments. It is remarkable how many different cuts and fits they have. They have the classic brief, the boxer brief, the fitted boxer brief, the boxer short, the retro brief (which is similar to a squarecut brief or trunks), the buttonfly boxer, and they promise thongs soon. They also have three t-shirt styles coming soon as well. Basically they have three different types of boxer briefs (which is quite a few for one company to offer). The main difference (as far as I can tell) between the three is the fly, there's a standard fly front one, another with standard fly front but a tighter fit, and a button fly version. Everything is offered in a black and a white version (as has been explained before). So I urge you to head on over to dik and check out all the great new things they have to offer. The products will ship the end of June, so I should have a review up around then.

dik has its photo taken

This is the fourth installment in a series of posts by dik founder Marcus. Enjoy!
It was a big day today in dik land. Finally, we’ve been able to have our photo shoot! We finished up a little while ago with all our models, photographer and make-up artist. It was a long day for me, starting at 6am.

We did the shoot on location, rather than at a studio. We managed to locate space in a house that provided the perfect backdrops we were after. It was an absolute blast. We can’t wait to have all you guys see the amazing shots we took. The models are unbelievable sexy and we think that you guys will be blown away by the looks of some of the poses that will be used in our advertisements.

Because we had planned to actually do this shoot a few months ago (before we had to switch manufacturers due to unbelievably terrible initial samples), so we were very well prepared. We knew exactly what shots we were going for so there was very little time wasted. All the people involved had also been interviewed and selected well ahead of time. We were very relieved to finally have them able to come over for the shoot. There had been more than one scheduled date that needed to be cancelled.

The extra time was a blessing though. Aside from the shots we had planned for months now, it also allowed us to come up with some additional shots for further marketing and product shots that we hadn’t thought of initially. Had we done this earlier, odds are we would have needed to do another shoot in the near future.

This was the first shoot I have taken part in as the controlling party. It was a great experience. I need to commend all those involved. The models showed up in amazing shape. I think you’ll agree when you see the pictures of just how buff they are.

There are going to be some very exciting developments incredibly quickly now! If you’ve signed up for newsletter updates, you’ll be in for a surprise soon. If not, stay tuned here and around the web for announcements.

Cheers,
Marcus
founder of dik

dik went to China

This is the third installment in a series of posts by dik founder Marcus. Enjoy!
Two months back I had the opportunity to travel to China for our company. The whole purpose of the trip was to meet, face-to-face, our exporter over there and to get a better understanding of how things work. As great as the internet is, with email and Skype etc., there still is no substitute for working with someone in person.

To enter China via Canada you need a visa. I was required to get a business visa so I had to get the company we’re dealing with to fax over a letter indicating I must enter the country for business. The consulate here in Toronto was very fast in processing the request and I now have access to China for business until August of this year.

It’s a 15.5-hour direct flight from Toronto to Hong Kong. So, 31 hours of total flying time for the return trip. I was actually in China for only 2.5 days. I usually do not suffer jet lag, but this time it caught up to me! Landing in Hong Kong, I took a ferry to mainland where I met our exporter and his business partner.

I felt like royalty. They had a driver in a company car, took my bags for me, never let me open a door myself, and drove me while I sat in the back. While things are very similar to the West, they are also very different.

The biggest thing for me was the pace at which these guys did business. Nothing started until noon, and there was always lunch that occurred first. I must admit, they were gracious hosts, but I’m used to starting at 9am and finishing around 5pm, not starting at 12pm and ending around 10pm.

But it was a very worthwhile trip. I got to see how the whole process works from there. They showed me how they interact with the factory, and the things they have to do from their end. If anyone is thinking of starting up any type of business that deals with manufacturing, not just in China but anywhere, I would strongly recommend you go and visit the people who are doing this work for you. It’s allowed me to conduct better business with them, knowing where they are coming from, which in turn has equaled greater efficiency and quality.

But the flight? Take a sleep mask, an iPod if you have one, and do your best to sleep on the plane as much as possible. I’m sure plenty of soon-to-be dik wearers have traveled for business and know this, but 30 hours worth of jet lag can knock the hardiest of travelers out for a while.

Maybe next time I’ll go for more than 2.5 days and get to spend some time in Hong Kong. It sure would be nice to spend more time on the ground there than in the air.....
-Marcus
founder of dik
Update Note: The photo is simply added by UMan and is not a photo of where Marcus visited (although the photo is a photo of China).

Who’s got money for dik?

This is the second entry in a series of entries from dik founder Marcus:
It’s pretty cliché to say that money makes the world go around, but for anyone who has ever started up their own company, you know that is as true as it gets! We’re no different here at dik, and we’ve been careful with our cash right from the start.

Despite that, there are major expenses you need to incur before you get anywhere close to selling product and recouping costs. Registering the business and doing the trademark search takes money; the lawyer needs to be paid for his work. After that, if you’re like us and place a premium on how you present your company, you need to start thinking about the website. So at that point a web designer comes into play.

And of course there are lots of little things that add up fast; getting a mailbox, getting supplies, registering domains and email addresses and such, designing product, marketing ideas, photoshoots, models and the list goes on. But none of it compares to the manufacturer and their costs (hundreds of thousands as a ball park for minimum orders with the big players). Then of course there’s your marketing plan....

So, what do you do? That’s a lot of capital needed to get going and the average person probably doesn’t have it. Well it’s an interesting experience! Luckily for us, we have a bit of a reprieve because our export guy in China is working hard on getting us payment concessions to make the orders more affordable. But despite that, there are still huge numbers tossed around.

The easiest answer for quick money is find a venture capitalist. But be careful because you are swimming with sharks. No offense to them, because they simply have a job to do, but their goal is to make as much money from your company as quickly as they can. So really take the time to research what all the different options are and what the VC is really asking you to give up. They’ll all want a piece of your company (large percentages, don’t be surprised when they want a 50% stake), so you need to know how much you’re willing to give.

We’re really close to finalizing something. But having said that, if you’re interested in talking to us about opportunities, let’s chat! Because after you’ve secured manufacturing, the cost of marketing is huge. Right now that’s what we’re ironing out. You’ve already seen the fruits of that labour on places such as this blog. However, you’ll be seeing a lot more dik in the near future.

The dik crew here knows exactly what we’re willing to concede to an investor. We know they want to make money. That’s fine, we want to make money off their investment as well. And since getting a loan from a bank for a new company is nearly impossible (given that the company has no credit history – a bit contradictory for those in government saying they want to endorse small business growth), we’ve turned to VC’s.

It’s been a great experience and will allow dik to be what we want it to be. But if I have any advice to give it’s that you should never rush a decision and know exactly what you are willing to sacrifice to reach your goal.

-Marcus

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.

New Brand coming soon: dik

dik is a new line of men's underwear that will be coming out this summer. You may have noticed the advertisement in the sidebar and wondered what this dik is, well I am going to clue you in a bit on dik. dik Undergarments Inc. boasts on their website that they will be the latest in the high-end men’s undergarment world and that dik underwear will make a statement about you – uncompromising, unrivaled, and the ultimate in sophistication. They plan to do this by offering seven different styles that will be availble in two different colors, black and white. As co-founder Marcus Luft explains:

"We're going to have seven styles of underwear: classic brief, boxer brief, fitted boxer brief, loose boxer, retro boxer, bikini brief, thong. They will be available in both white and black, plain except for the band. the band will have dik stitched into it (black stitching on the white garment, white stitching on the black garment) going around the elastic, 4cm apart. They will be available in four sizes, S, M, L, XL.

We also plan on having two tshirts, crew and vneck, available in white and black also and the same sizes. The tshirts will have no tag on the neck, instead an imprint on the material. The tags will be on side seams, care
instructions on the inside, dik logo on the outside.

Both the underwear and the shirts will be 95% cotton, 5% elastane (spandex)."

As a special feature, Marcus will be cluing UB readers in on what it is like to start a brand of men's underwear. He will be doing this through exclusive entries on UB. The first exclusive entry from Marcus will be appearing tomorrow on UB. You may also have noticed that Marcus has made a few comments on posts on this blog, so search around a little bit to find those.

Also, be sure to check out the dik site. The first 50 people to enter their email address in the mailing list will receive a promotional offer; those within the first month of opening up who purchase from dik up to $49 will receive free shipping; for those ordering $50 or more for their first order, they can select a free garment of their choice along with receiving free shipping.

So remember to stay tuned for Marcus' special entry tomorrow.