How Glasgow based Ovosi Built an Everyday Menswear Label
Shopify Success Story
5 Figure Monthly Revenue 🔥
Shopify Success Story
5 Figure Monthly Revenue 🔥
How Glasgow based Ovosi Built an Everyday Menswear Label
Aaron Eadie
Creative Director
Ovosi Clothing
Independently created menswear with a focus on quality function & minimalism.
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Who are you and what business did you start?
My name is Aaron Eadie and I’m the creative director at Ovosi Clothing, a menswear label founded in 2014. My business partner Fraser and I combined our own unique and complementary skill sets to create the first Ovosi e-comm website and launched our first range of menswear products.
I dropped out of university at 19 whilst studying website design and went on to employment in a software development role which unbeknownst to me at the time would be some of the skills I’d use later in life to create Ovosi.
I then moved onto a soul sucking call centre selling home insurance. Ovosi was just beginning at this point... so every morning I’d wake up early and take whatever online orders we had to the mailing facility and then catch a 2nd bus to work. As we started to find some success, one day I walked out the call centre and never came back.
Currently our focus is on creating dynamic & everyday menswear sets which we find to be our most in-demand product. We create a look that you can’t find on the high street or online without an outrageous price tag. That’s what makes us unique.
What inspired you to create the business?
In the early days of Ovosi there weren’t many other independent brands online and the reason I know this is because I would search them out and buy them. I would look at the differences in quality and material vs price. I’d pay close attention to the packaging. What kind of neck label they used? Did it come with a hang tag? How was the invoice presented? This allowed me to carry out a degree of research and quickly understand what worked and what didn’t.
The proliferation of social media has reduced the barrier of entry to everything, now anyone can be an artist, a designer, a success. On one hand it’s amazing that more people now have a platform but this can result in saturation and to stand out now it’s about doing it different and doing it well.
We are involved with Chris’ House, a suicide prevention and awareness charity. The Ovosi demographic is young men and we have a responsibility to those in our community and beyond to share a message of hope & resilience.
I had one failure in particular that stands out
I created the idea for a company that would reinvigorate training sessions with sports clubs through the use of a new piece of equipment. I thought I had it nailed, got the go ahead from the manufacturers and decided to pitch my idea to the managing director of a facility. Radio silence. The MD went on to implement the idea himself.
Walk us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.
The first collection was handled by Fraser working closely with a designer to create the products. The first order was less than 100 units. A few years ago we purchased some printing equipment and learned the process for ourselves which was a great experience.
Having since outgrown that we now work in partnership with the design team of an internationally renowned outerwear label which presents exciting opportunities to create elaborate and technical products. Like most things it’s a process of brainstorming, finding out what we like and incorporating signature elements that make a product Ovosi.
What was the process of launching your business like?
I built the Ovosi store on the big cartel CMS and launched it in May 2015. The primary platforms used to market Ovosi were Facebook & Instagram. We created a hype by having as many people as we could wear the garments to popular music events in Glasgow and in Ibiza prior to the release and sharing these images. Things were simpler back then it was quite effective, we need to be more creative these days which for me is half the fun.
What are some of the most effective ways that you acquire and retain customers?
Facebook & Instagram remain our most popular platforms, we haven’t fully explored Adwords, we’ll continue to go where we find our message resonates most. We are currently exploring other avenues such as Pinterest.
Which Shopify Apps are most important to your business?
Back in Stock is a great 3rd party app. If something is out of stock, a potential customer can add their email and be notified immediately if it becomes available.
Aftership has been pivotal in creating a smooth returns facility.
Hotjar creates heatmaps of your store which captures scroll and click data, it can be informative in highlighting areas that need attention.
What have been your greatest sources of inspiration?
The crazy and wonderful Joe Rogan Experience has an eclectic mix of guests from all walks of life, an episode in particular with Naval Ravikant is very illuminating.
Kevin David provides some amazing content on everything marketing.
Jordan Peterson for the trials and tribulations of all things life.
How are things today and what are your plans for the future?
We have an engaged following across the UK and in London in particular which in part is a result of the style of product and the creative we opt to use to engage our audience. I live for the build up to a product release and creating what we think will be the most effective strategy and just going for it.
We have just launched a new line of cotton & nylon tracksuits that I believe are our most refined products to date and are 8 months of grind in the making.
