Business

Interview with Whitney Quaresma and Kevin Dorey, Founders Of Athletic Apparel Brand BELOFORTE

Published

3 months ago

April 1, 2019

By combining high fashion and athletics, Whitney Quaresma and Kevin Dorey created

BELOFORTE, an eco-friendly athletic apparel brand cut and sewn in California. The Founders shared a vision in building a women’s lifestyle brand that promotes positive change in their local and global community through sustainable practices. Whitney uses her experience in athletics and combined it with her admiration of fashion working alongside Kevin’s branding expertise. BELOFORTE was recently picked up by Revolve and will be releasing their new athletic apparel collection in March. We had the chance to ask Whitney and Kevin about the athletic fashion community, their team, and lessons learned along the way.

What was your inspiration for BELOFORTE?

BELO, at its core, was inspired in our passion for health and wellness. Both of us have such a deep rooted love for taking care of oneself so that we can all live life to it’s maximum potential.We have always been creative minded people with a lot of drive, and we decided to refocus that drive into a brand and products which promote movement and strong women. We don’t underestimate the power a well styled outfit can have on your mood.Ultimately, we want to show the world what BELOFORTE really means, and it goes way beyond our clothes. We want to be remembered not only by our core products, but by how we brought the words that make up our name “beauty and strength” into the lives of people all over the world. We believe they should be synonymous and our apparel is created with that in mind.

What are your backgrounds?

Kevin: Worked as a civil engineer prior to a brief endeavor in developing a business associated with wellness. Former athlete, and current adventurer with a passion for people, community and the beauty in the world.Whitney: Health and Fitness Specialist, Strength and conditioning Coach, Fitness fanatic, Fashion enthusiast! I love helping people find their best selves.

What does the brand mean to you?

BELOFORTE literally means ‘beauty & strength’ in Portuguese. To us, it it means finding your best self through fitness and one’s fashion. It means defying the odds, not giving in, not giving up! Being kind to others, and true to yourself. Shining your best light on the people around you and leaving them with that positive energy and power that we all have inside of us. Living the life you dream of!Apparel is the one of the easiest ways to express yourself and give people a glimpse into who you are. BELO means, walking out the door every morning with confidence and a purpose, while empowering those around you to find their Beauty and Strength!

How does the fashion and athletic community affect your brand?

The intersection of these two communities drives our business. The athletic community is so powerful, and they are passionate about every aspect of their lives including their active apparel. We were part of this community, and ultimately we saw a hole in the market for active apparel with a more fashion forward aesthetic. We didn’t think there needed to be a clear division. It makes a lot of sense that these two influence each other and overlap in a big way. Everyone wants to be comfortable and look good, and that is exactly what our apparel is about. Brands are now bringing you functional, stylish, transitional pieces that you can wear anywhere! Our aesthetic is very tastefully sexy! You can wear our pieces day and night, out shopping or with some cute heels, as well as to your favorite workout or group class! Everything is made functional for any active endeavor and looks beautiful and unique!

How has your lives changed since launching BELOFORTE?

You always hear about how hard it is to start a business, but until you’ve done it, I think it’s tough to really understand how challenging it can be. What you find however, is despite those things, just how incredible pursuing a dream can be. We work a lot. There are really no days off, but the feeling we get from conceptualizing products, developing them, and working through all of the hurdles is incredibly gratifying. Let’s just say it has been the most beautiful chaos of our lives!

What were some obstacles you encountered along the way?

There were and still are a ton. Everything from building our infrastructure to identifying our sourcing and production partners. One of the biggest hurdles has been getting our product timelines figured out as far as development, sourcing, and production. Right now, our biggest challenge is simply getting the brand in front of as many people as possible.

Describe your team.

Our core team is just us at this point. We work with a development and manufacturing consultant that assist in driving our product development and manufacturing and they are great. In addition, we work with a great PR team that is great at branding, marketing, and promotion. And last, we just brought on a great sales rep to help us reach more customers.

What are they like?

We are all hard working and fun individuals. We find that to be really important. It makes it easier and more enjoyable to take on the challenges of our days. Also, with exception of Kevin, they are all strong, intelligent, driven women.

What is the biggest lesson you learned?

Enjoy each day! There will always be so much to do and sometimes you will have bad news. I have learned to make the best out of a bad situation and push forward. Understanding what is in your control versus what isn’t and simply focusing on doing your best. Making mistakes is inevitable, but making the same mistake twice is not. So learning everyday and applying those lessons to be better prepared for what the future holds.

Describe what it's like being picked up by Revolve.

It was an absolute thrill. We couldn’t be more excited. Revolve is Whitney’s favorite place to shop. And they are the top destination for today’s generation of women to find trends, inspiration and buy incredible clothes. We were honored that among all the new brands available they put their confidence behind BELO and what we are doing. A dream come true.

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Business

Foot Cardigan Taking Socks One Step Further

Published

55 mins ago

June 17, 2019

Jie Kuang

Seeing packages in the mail is probably one of the most underrated and exciting things that happen to us in our digital world. You may know them as the guys on Shark Tank that ripped off their pants.

Foot Cardigan is a sock subscription that sends you random socks once a month. From holiday themed to socks covered in sushi, be sure to be surprised every time. Their fun, colorful Instagram feed is a small taste of what you will receive. We interviewed the founder of Foot Cardigan, Bryan Deluca, about how the company got to where they are today.

How did Foot Cardigan get started?

We fell in love with the subscription model after seeing that viral Dollar Shave Club video in 2012. Socks are a commodity so we knew we had a shot at having some success within the space if we came at it from a different angle, you know, like a subscription. Et voila!

Why socks?

The 'fun, crazy, fashion' sock trend was just getting going, so we kind of were at the right place at the right time. I had a little experience in sourcing so I was able to find our first factories and get that going. But I really loved the idea of taking this historically boring product, like a sock, and making buying/receiving it fun.

What makes your socks different from competitors?

Over the last four years, I think we've created our niche within the larger sock industry. Of course I think our product is as good or better than other brands out there, so when you're competing, you have to make sure there's just a quality standard there, or people won't buy your stuff. But beyond that, we've really separated ourselves with our design aesthetic. The words 'whimsical' and 'fun' are probably the most circulated within our design team. But really, it goes beyond the socks. It's the brand. The tone. It's unique to our industry.

Describe your subscription service.

Most people don't think about buying socks until they have to. They've got holes in their current ones, so now they've got to go to the store to buy new ones. It can be a hassle. But with Foot Cardigan, we give you something you need (socks), and we give you an experience you wouldn't expect for such an historically mundane product. You get a random pair of fun socks in your mailbox every month. You don't know what you're getting until you open the package. That's one of our customers' favorite things about us. We make the decision for them, and they get the surprise in their mailbox. No one gets fun mail anymore. And we're proof that people still crave it.

Tell me about your team.

It's really a privilege to work with them every day. They work really hard and are really smart. About half our team is operations and customer service and the other half is marketing/web. It's a good blend of creative people. When I say creative, I don't mean just the designers. We need every position to be creative, with how we respond to customers and how we ship out socks.

Describe your company culture.

It's pretty much exactly what you'd expect from us. Meaning, if you've been to our site or received our socks and you walked into our office, it would make complete sense to you. A lot of laughing. A lot of energy. Whimsical decor. Every person on our team is empowered to do their jobs. And they're encouraged if they make mistakes, because when we make mistakes, we learn and get better. We love taking risks. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. We give our team the freedom to think about how to do things better, without the fear of judgement. That matters.

How has being on Shark Tank and HSN affected your business?

The've both been really great. Both are experiences that you never expect to happen, but when they do, you're kind of like 'WHAT?!?! Did that just happen?' But yeah, our business greatly benefited from both experiences.

Do you plan on expanding your product line?

I'm so excited about this. Over the last four years, we've launched four products. In the next 12 months, we have plans to launch almost double that.

What inspires you?

My family. They are my rock. My three-year old doesn't care that I was on Shark Tank and she doesn't care if I had a challenging day at work. She just wants daddy to cuddle her and play Candy Land. That's really refreshing for me. I thrive off seeing my friends succeed. I have a lot of friends in different industries that are so damn good at what they do. When they have victories, we celebrate, and when they fail, we cry. Being around people who challenge themselves to be the best they can at what they do. That gets me every time.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far?

To soak in every single moment of this ride. I find moments every single day to be thankful. I often find myself saying 'I can't believe I GET to do this every day.' Because I'm not guaranteed this will last forever. So I'm going to enjoy it while I can. Tomorrow, the world could decide that socks are terrible inventions and we're going barefoot, and we'd be done. Unless we made socks that looked like people were barefoot....I'll be right back....

What are some obstacles you’ve come across?

Growth. While it's really exciting to be growing, it's also really challenging. 2/3 of our team have been here less than a year. We've had to create things like an organizational structure, training, etc. Navigating inventory management with our model can be tough, but we're getting there. Oh, and things like at the beginning when we had to figure out how to tell people to buy something that they didn't know was a thing. That was strange.

What was the proudest moment for Foot Cardigan?

It had to be the first customer who bought a subscription that none of the co-founders knew. We went ballistic over the fact that someone who wasn't obligated as a friend or family member bought a subscription because they just loved the product. I'll never forget that.

What is some advice you can give to someone building their own startup?

Get over that fear of failure. I see that the most from people. They work on their thing for a couple years and it never sees the light of day. No one will ever care about your thing as much as you do. We had the idea and launched in 2.5 months. It wasn't the best first site, but it sold sock subscriptions. We tweaked it from there. So yeah, just get your thing out into the world. Don't waste time and money building something people don't want. The sooner you push it out there, the sooner you'll know if it's going to work or not. That's invaluable.

Business

Video Is Changing Businesses, Education, And Careers

Published

24 hours ago

June 16, 2019

OM Contributor

Video seems to have existed for a long time, decades even. Why then, is it causing such consequential changes now? The 21st century has so far proven itself to be the fastest-paced time in human history. This change has prompted conventional industries and organizations to shed their old practices and embrace the digital current. A key aspect of this sweeping current is the refinement and accessibility of video, and its overwhelming presence online.

The “viral video” is a key component in the Internet space, and has amassed so much esteem and regard, that it has allowed average individuals to cross over and be showcased in mainstream media. Viral videos usually make an appearance on the main broadcasting channels or on shows like The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The power and scope of video is not limited to viral pieces alone. Entertainment and humor from short clips online, videos have extended to impact every aspect of the physical world from business, current affairs, and education. A single, powerful device has found decades’ worth of practices and assumptions to uproot and revolutionize. A prime example is the mannequin challenge, were people freeze in action for about one min. It all started as a college challenge, filmed on a smartphone and shared on Facebook.

Businesses

Businesses have undoubtedly experienced the most positive change with the dominance of video. Videos are now widely used to market products and services that businesses may have to offer. This form of marketing has proven to be more concentrated and effective, and each video is a result of high-end production value and laser-like focus on a target audience’s consumption and response patterns.With the popularity of social networking platforms and the sheer amounts of site traffic, businesses have taken to video to trace online patterns and usage to target advertisements accordingly. This makes for marketing campaigns to be far more lucrative in that they reach the intended audience at optimal times. Video production and video marketing services are encouraging businesses in all fields to use video to attract customers and to reach a new level of engagement.A teenager scrolling through Facebook with a particular bias towards beauty will have makeup advertisements come across as an endorsed video of a particular brand. Likewise, if any user’s online preferences and behavior lean towards software and technology, they are more likely to find a few marketing videos related to the subject during their usual scrolling.Video is increasingly used in presentations and orientations, to better accustom fresher recruits with business models and practices. A short 5- minute video outlining the core philosophy of a business has a better chance at engaging investors. The online fundraising website, Kickstarter, requires pitchers to publish a video alongside their business model which details their entire product at length. This specific video alone has the power to make or break potential investment deals, and startups often allow a lot of time and attention to go into making this short video exceptional.Video calling and conference calls are slowly becoming somewhat of a norm. Businesses have found video to be an ever-helpful alternative. Not only are calls easy to arrange and connect, but they can be carried out on short notice and dramatically reduce the costs that usually go into long-winded business trips.Video is also increasingly used by businesses in training initiatives and programs. This practice stems from the vast amounts of scientific evidence available that proves how learning and retention is linked with visual and sound aid.

Education

Statistics, numbers, and information are better processed via visuals. 40% of the brain’s nerve fibers are connected to the retina, which makes the brain’s ability to process visuals much more efficient than computing text. This is the reason why video is assuming a more dominant position in modern education and teaching processes.According to the Visual Teaching Alliance, visuals are processed up to 60,000 times faster than plain text. This has greatly impacted the way teachers approach their jobs, and has allowed a number of companies to invest in the market of providing educational material that supports visual-aid.Providing visual aid does not only translate into a positive increase in scores, averages, and performance values; the key here is retention and comprehension, and how researchers have discovered that visuals and video improve learning by 400%. Schools and colleges are now reinforcing video in curriculums and courses, to make teaching programs more efficient. The end result is a more competent, able, and lucrative job force, that is able to approach various areas of business with fresh perspectives and ideas. Video is quite literally aiding the development of a smarter, more skilled workforce for future generations. This has vastly changed career dynamics and competitiveness, as well as opened up new careers and professions.The reach and influence of video is only expected to expand in the coming years. Educational institutions all across the world have begun to replace conventional paper-bound textbooks with iPads containing downloadable texts that feature a number of videos. For subjects such as History and Science where greater retention is required these videos prove themselves to be extremely efficient.

Careers

People can now form functioning careers out of video. The second-most popular website globally, YouTube, is a video sharing network that features a considerably substantial amount of online content creators and entrepreneurs.These “YouTubers” have managed to gather millions of devoted followers, and content creation has become nothing short of a highly successful career for many of them. These individuals earn a considerate amount yearly by simply creating engaging and thought provoking content with paid endorsements and advertisements. Majority of these online personas go on to star in movies and series, become best-selling authors, and go on world tours. Video has opened platforms that seemed impossible before.There are a number of Internet celebrities that started off with uploading shaky footage, and have now catapulted into mainstream media platforms. Comedian Bo Burnham began his career 10 years ago in his room, where he recorded himself singing his own pieces. Today, the 27 year old has two specials on Netflix, and has been able to tour and perform stand-up comedy on live television shows.Leading online sites such as BuzzFeed and NowThis offer 30-second videos to viewers that cover a range of topics. Anything between politics, current affairs, style, and technology trends are covered via short, informative videos. These have become nothing short of the evening news bulletin for much of the online crowd today.As this year comes to a close, one can only help but marvel at the revolutionary leaps and bounds video has taken recently. What began as an innocent medium to share engaging content and media, has now transformed into something of a business essential, a corporate tool, and a socio-political rallying-point. Though video is still overwhelmingly used for various purposes, a sizable chunk of leading businesses and social institutions have discovered that video may be an excellent tool to engage, market, relay, and educate.

Business

The Importance Of Controlling Risk In Your Business

Published

1 day ago

June 16, 2019

Nilay Mahanty

Risk is a part of life! Any enterprise, big or small, can face some unforeseen incidents and incur a significant loss. The risk can result from both inside or outside, natural disasters, accidents, human error and faulty production. Managing or controlling the risks is one of the most important aspects of running a business. If the business is owned by a sole proprietor, he has to face an additional personal risk of liability and financial crisis. The risk management techniques include risk reduction, risk transfer, and risk avoidance.

The risk management process involves proper planning. Here are some guidelines to control risk in your business venture.

You need to identify methodically the probable risks surrounding your business.
Review the probability of occurrence of the events.
If you can sense any problem early, deal with them without any delay.
Chalk out a plan to respond to the unforeseen events.
You need to use your resources effectively to address the risks.

The importance of liability trends

One of the most important aspects of risk control is tracking the trends in liability insurance coverage. It can help you to get more coverage options for your business. You should always buy a good liability insurance policy for your enterprise. There is some additional coverage too like inland marine insurance which provides coverage for job site insurance and builder’s risk insurance which is specifically for construction site coverage.

Risk evaluation and consequences

Evaluate all the pros and cons and the risk involved in the business. Avoid doing something that has less benefits, but severe consequences if the action fails. If you want to take up the challenge, do it intelligently, divide your liability with your partners, and try to reduce the risk component.

Importance of quality assurance program

To avoid any unprecedented risks in business, implement a quality assurance program. Review the feedback from the customers. Regular product quality testing can give time for correction and reduce the chances of product failures.

Maintain accurate records

Implement a system that can check the overall performance of the company. Keep a track of how the finances of the business are being utilized. You should regularly compare the economic condition of your business with that of the market. It can help you get an idea of controlling financial risks.

Managing financial risks

Reduce the financial risks by managing the accounts of the business regularly. Minimize outstanding balances and identify the poor credit risks. Implement a credit and payment standard. Also, specify which credit score and payment methods are acceptable. Evaluate customer payments and if the customers do not follow your plans, implement advanced payment options. Keep your outstanding loans, and financial needs to the minimum. Plan business expansion in such a way that you do not have to take a huge debt. Try to finance the growth internally.

Recovery planning

Your business needs proper coverage for thefts, scams and other crimes. Chalk out a disaster recovery plan to save your funds. Get adequate insurance for data security, employees, and equipment.Remember, it’s always better to plan in advance and nullify risks.