Our First AMA

Origins #51

The past week we hosted our first AMA on fashionama.amafeed.com. I’ve selected some of the best/most interesting questions to include in this week’s Origins, as I think it’s another great way of giving you a peek behind the curtains and how we think about this venture.

We enjoyed answering them, we hope you enjoy reading them 🙂

Q. When will you know you will be ready to expand Dulo more, probably more on the collection, overseas collaborations etc?

A. Regarding overseas and collaborations, we already ship worldwide and are always open for collaborations :)

Regarding the product line, we have a few more ideas on how we could improve the traditional dress shirt that we want to implement before we expand the collection. We do have some ideas for other products categories, but that will be a bit further into the future.

We also need to align the branding and financials, before expanding our collection. Currently, we are solely about dress shirts, in order to expand to other products, we need to have a solid brand and audience that will support the introduction of new categories.

Q. What is your opinion on current fashion trends?

A. Not big fans of fast fashion brands, where quantity is prioritized over quality. Zara, H&M etc.

Big fans of brands that choose to create fewer items, but focus on quality.

We are big believers in buying fewer, more expensive items, that will last longer and not promote consumerism and mass purchase behavior of items that do add any value to your life.

It’s a blog-worthy topic that we might address in the very near future.

Q. In the first place, what was the objective of recording the whole procedure?

A. Initially, there were two main reasons we decided to document our journey.

1. It would serve as a content pillar. Meaning, that as we are working on DULO, there will always be something to document and share. Therefore providing a ground for a good content marketing opportunity.

2. It would be fun to take a look back at all the things we’ve been through and compare to wherever we are at that point.

Eventually, we realized that it could be a valuable blueprint for anyone wanting to start a business, to reference the steps we took and see the time it takes to build something, preventing any discouragement and frustrations one might have when starting out.

Q. Did you have moments where you thought this is all crazy and not worth it? What kept you going?

It is hard to think of a moment when I was feeling discouraged about the business. It is my thinking that whatever the outcome of this journey, it will end up being a positive experience. I am learning and have learned so much over the past year and a half.

Of course, there are times when I can feel overwhelmed or have doubts, but those are quickly removed because of the perspective I have which is that DULO is another step in building my legacy.

I do this because I want to be in control of my time. For me is very hard to work for someone else and be part of other people’s agenda. I want to be responsible for how I spend my time. I don’t want to go ask for permission every time I want to go do something that is not directly related to work.

I also want to build something bigger that has an overall positive impact on the world around me and even further. If it works, great. If not… I gave it my best shot and enjoyed the ride :)

Q. Lots of people tend to celebrate when they are successful, what do you plan on doing if you become successful?

A. Keep doing what we are doing :)

The process is the goal and the goal is the process :)

Q. Some businesses go bankrupt, do you have a backup plan in case your business fails?

A. DULO is completely self-funded and bootstrapped from our own savings. Basically, we took money that was sitting in the bank and invested it in our first collection.

In that sense, we don’t owe anything to anyone (it’s a 50/50 partnership between me and Marin), without any debt.

We also have full-time day jobs and we work on DULO during the mornings, evenings and weekend. That is also a big factor, as it provides the security to pay the bills, plus the ability to reinvest any further savings and profits directly back into the business.

We are approaching this with the long-term in mind, not putting any financial pressure on ourselves, at the price of working a bit more than most people and by having disciplined time management.

Once we manage to reach a certain revenue point, we can focus on it full-time and normalize the working hours, but also be our own bosses and have control over our time, which in the end is the most important goal.

So, in case the business fails, worst case scenario, we end up debt-free with A LOT of experience to tackle the next venture :)

Thanks for this question, it’s an important one!

Q. You said that you are in charge of the company called DULO, is that an acronym for something? If so, what does it stand for?

A. We’ve documented exactly how we came up with the name “DULO” in our Origins #5 blog post.

In summary: The Dulo clan (or House of Dulo), is the name of the clan from which the earliest Bulgarian Dynasty descended. It represented our ancestors that lived on our lands before us, fought and won many battles, brave warriors.

It’s an homage to our origins (being from Bulgaria), as well as the country in which we manufacture our products.

We also think it sounds great, it’s short and easy to remember/spell/say, as well as the letter composition being nice.

Q. You said that you want to use technology to make caring and wearing dress shirts easier, how do you plan on doing this?

A. The fabrics that we use to make our dress shirts are performance materials that result in the following:

1. Non-iron and wrinkle resistant. Saving time in the mornings and/or weekends ironing. Also, the shirt stays looking great throughout the day.

2. Four-way stretch. The material moves with you. For example, it stays tucked when you tie or shoes or lift your hands etc.

3. Antibacterial and smell-resistant. Our fabrics are treated with silver ions, thus preventing any bacteria build-up and bad odors.

4. Machine washable. No more trips to the dry cleaners. Normal machine wash, hang to dry and wear straight away.

Q. You plan on using technology to reduce the friction of caring and wearing dress shirts, but is it only technology that you’ll be using? If not, what else will you be using?

A. In terms of technology, there are three main aspects that we want to focus on:

1. Product: Performance fabrics that can improve the experience in wearing a dress shirt, in terms of less care/hassle/time needed to keep it amazing looking throughout the day.

2. Process: We want to create amazing products while causing the least harm possible to the environment. This means streamlining the production process, fabric choices, as well as decisions in terms of sustainability and recycling.

3. People: Create a great working environment for everyone involved in creating the product.

Thank you for this questions! An important one!

Q. You come from Bulgaria, how is the climate there for startups? Tech and physical products? Do you feel in any way underprivileged when compared to western companies?

A. The climate for both tech and physical product startups is very interesting, underutilized and underestimated.

On the tech side, the country has a lot of traditions in mathematics and science. So we see that DNA start to bubble up and create some interesting companies with big potential and ambitions.

On the physical product side and especially apparel manufacturing, also a lot of potential and expertise. It has mainly served as an outsource destination given the lower manufacturing costs, but the people working in that industry have mostly graduated in a technical university to do the job they are doing, a vast difference from the Asian manufacturing context for example.

So in terms of producing and creating, we have an advantage both in terms of expertise and cost.

What we do lack as a collective is maybe the brand and marketing chops, compared to countries like the US.

However, the internet being the wonderful thing that it is, it lets us learn from how western companies are marketing and apply that, backed by a quality product from the east.

In our case, we don’t just make shirts, but there is an underlying technology of fabrics manufacturing that we needed to achieve and we are very impressed with what our manufacturing partner (from Bulgaria) has been able to create so far.

Q. Your company seems pretty interesting! Where do you hope your business will be in the next 5 years?

A. Pf, we think about it like a tennis match, point by point, but I’ll give it a shot at projecting :)

Brand

Have DULO positioned as a brand synonymous with quality that encourages entrepreneurship.

Revenue

Hopefully have a steady revenue stream that lets us invest money back into quality, technology and improving the work environment and conditions for everyone involved.

Team

Currently, it’s only me and Marin, as well as an external manufacturing partner. If we can manage to continually increase revenue and keep the team small that would be ace!

We are also working full-time day jobs at the moment, so at some point leaving them and being able to be fully dedicated to DULO would be ideal and feasible to keep the team small that way, since we’ll have more time to dedicate.

—

Small Giants is a book we think about while building DULO.

Q. Do you produce everything locally?

A. All our materials and fabrics are sourced in Europe (Italy, Germany, Portugal, Greece) and manufactured in our home country, Bulgaria.

One of the main reasons we started this venture was because we knew we could leverage the expertise and traditions in tailoring that Bulgaria has and create a quality product at a reasonable cost that would let us self-finance it.

Q. Your company is self-funded, where do you get the money to support your business?

A. Both me and Marin still have full-time day jobs as programmers. We work on DULO mornings, evenings and weekends.

The first collection was funded by our savings and now the support the business, we reinvest back into it a portion of our salaries + profits.

Thanks for this question, it’s an important one!

Q. Business has its ups and downs, how do you handle your stress?

A. By having extremely high expectations, goals and vision on a macro (long-term), but super low expectations on the micro (short-term).

Patience and understanding that building something substantial takes years, brings a dose of clarity and removes urgency (a big cause of stress).

Another source of stress is financial. We balance that by still having day jobs that pay all the bills, but also let us reinvest back into the business any savings and/or profits.

So, financial security (which comes as a result of discipline to work mornings, evenings and weekends) and patience I would say provide a solid framework for reducing any stress.

And the best one

A. Let’s say hypothetically your business was extremely successful, would you be willing to assist NASA or Space-X with designing clothing/outfits for astronauts?

B. Thanks for this one, made my day! :)

Let’s say we do become extremely successful and we get an invite to share some technological expertise in clothing, we would definitely be open to collaborations and helping out a greater mission for the human race.

There are conversations about going to space, but no one talks about doing it in style!

Also, Elon better be careful with that flamethrower!

Wearing a dress shirt today? You probably spent a lot of time getting the wrinkles out this morning. Unfortunately, that sharp look is already gone. You will forget about ironing with DULO — the dress shirt that stands for time!