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2 - the first step
the first step
by qzoioi - 3 November 2023
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
Lao Tzu
The hardest part about starting… is starting...
Just. Like. This. BLOG!
I must've talked about it for AT LEAST half a year to the gang. 'Yo, I'm going to start a blog to chronicle our journey!' I excitedly announced one day... and then, for a while, it was radio silence... followed by more radio silence... followed by me periodically reminding everyone 'I'm still doing that blog y’all!'... followed by more radio silence.
I was full of ideas on what to blog about and was keen as a bean, I just didn’t know how to start. The blog, I finally decided would coincide with the release of our new site and now, playtime was over. So, I took that first, single step and kept putting one foot in front of the other until I passed the checkered line. But as the wise ones say, one swallow doesn’t make a summer and I fell straight back into the cycle of procrastination after the big push to get both done.
Here I am though, once more, stepping into Chapter 2.
#don'tplayscared - take the step
Charting the course
Still at our first meeting, brainstorming how to take our first step, Dave waxes lyrical about his high school mate Alex. Back in the day, Dave and Alex would spend countless hours over the holidays at Alex’s playing Nintendo GameCube. Relevantly, Dave tells us, Alex has a background in graphics design, is in the printing game and is located a stone’s throw from us. Tick. Tick. Tick.
More recently, Dave commissioned Alex to design the branding for his electrical business (shout out to NHN Electrical and Air Conditioning!) and even produced uniforms for his business. TICK. Going through Alex would probably be pricier than web-based options but considering we’re rookies in the thread game, we agree being steered by a safe pair of hands would be worth the cost.
Keen to show up prepared, we hustle together a customer profile before our initial meeting with Alex. Through the process of envisaging our brand and who our customers will be, slogans translated directly to Vietnamese, while still hilarious, no longer seems a sustainable idea so we pivot. oizoioi, we decide, will be a premium sports leisure brand with bold and clean designs. Our logo should show the brand clearly and be uncomplicated. For our first release, we’ve noticed panel shirts are currently the rage and we mock one up so that Alex can get a feel of the vibe we’re aiming for.
Alex's handy work for NHN Electrical and Air Conditioning
Alex mad dude
We finally meet with Alex early November and Dave has really come through on this lead. Alex is super nice and easy to talk to, he’s our peeps. The discussion is free flowing as Alex attentively listens to our vision and provides us with valuable feedback and recommendations. He understands our vibe and seems genuinely excited to work with us and we walk away confident we’re onto a winner working with him.
Over the course of the next few months, Alex and I exchange a BUNCH of emails discussing designs, pricing differences between sourcing garments onshore vs offshore, samples, logos, timeframes etc. Alex’s patience knows no bounds as he thoroughly answers every single one of my tedious questions! His knowledge is immense and his ability to explain things logically and clearly is also impressive. He’s also quickly picked up on my penchant to ruminate over numerous options in any given scenario and for the logos, he’s taken the initiative to provide us with a suite to consider.
our first mock up - no expenses spared in the creation of this masterpiece
No go logo
The team sporadically meet to agonise over the finer points and this time we're at Chong’s to mull over these logos Alex has drafted for us.
Chong is making us smash burgers using a Gordon Ramsay recipe. Dave and I are confused AF watching Chong roll up mince, straight out of the packet, into balls and just seasoning with salt and pepper. Nahhhhh, that can't be it! Surely there are other ingredients in these patties! There aren’t but they're DELICIOUS with T's (Chong's wife) special sauce, that burger cheese goodness topped off with some rabbit food.
Despite having the worst memory known to mankind, this meeting is seared right in there for two reasons. 1, It's my first drink from a self-imposed 10-month break and 2, Chong and Dave tried to burn it down before we even get to take our first step! Of the options Alex has provided for potential logos, one is a no-brainer, our OG word logo. Bold and clean, it perfectly encapsulates what we had envisaged.
There’s another we like too but it’s not popping. It was like our stacked logo, but without the curved top and no crown. Chong, in all his wisdom, is convinced it needs the crown from the word logo and all of a sudden, he’s a graphics designer.
He shoehorns the crown into the middle of the logo by removing the middle ‘o’. Dave loves it and I can feel myself dying inside. I literally shuddered then and shudder now just writing about it! Tin, is on my side and so ensues a back and forth of ‘fuck no, that is so bad!’ and ‘yooo that is dope!’
We eventually reach an impasse and agree that the crown should be incorporated however, will defer to Alex for advice. Of course, Alex descends from the heavens with his cape and produces one we’re all happy with aaaaaaaaand my blood pressure has legit spiked as I recount that episode…
the logos Alex drafted for us - he understood the assignment | Chong did not
Close but no cigar
Interspersed within the process of refining our logo, Alex has explained that our budget limits us to producing garments onshore which rules out cut and sew (making garments from scratch). Rather than different pieces of materials sewn together to make the panels, Alex advises that he can print a horizontal line onto the shirts to achieve a panel look however, the print won’t go all the way to the seams.
One of the hallmarks along our journey to date, from my lens, is our stubbornness not to compromise on the fundamentals. The brand’s purpose, the brand’s character, or in this case, on the design. If we can’t execute a garment to the level we foresaw, we’re not pushing something that’s nearly there. So, we make a decision to scrap the panel design.
R&D of our panel shirt - what could've been
Green is go
After more discussions between ourselves and Alex, we eventually decide to make a splash with metallic gold prints onto black and white garments for our first run. We excitedly request Alex produce a gang of samples with logos placed 1cm apart so that we could decide on, what we thought, was the perfect logo placement. Chong and I dropped in to spectate the first ever oizoioi garments being produced as part of the sampling process and are pumped with the results! With the benefit of hindsight, it’s safe to say sampling that many was overkill but we were so intent on nailing our first release, it felt necessary even if it burned a massive hole in our budget.
After taking the samples away and agonising over which logo placement is best, we come to an agreement. The meticulous planning process, which originated from an idea in July 2019, culminated with us enthusiastically taking the first step into our apparel journey of a thousand miles and green lighting Alex to commence production of our inaugural run in February 2020.
Now, we wait…
more ultra pro mock ups and the sampling process
Gang gang spotlight
As mentioned in the previous blog, oizoioi is truly the result of the collective. It only feels right then, that the brightest of lights is shone on the team and first cab off the rank is Tin.
Tin is a family friend of ours from way back. Chong and I grew up on the same street as his cousins and we’d hang out as kids. Tin went through school on a full scholarship in one of Brisbane’s elite private schools and then unwisely decided pharmacy would be a good career choice.
Searching for a change, he quit pharmacy and taught English in Japan for a bit before he learned how to code. For a genius like Tin (it’s a little-known fact that he was denied entry into Mensa because he’d make the members look average), learning how to code was a piece of cake and he now codes for one of the largest, if not largest, travel agencies in the world!
Me and Dave were hanging out a bit with Tin around the time the oizoioi seed was planted and we needed some IT expertise. He knew IT, clearly, and thought it would be good for a laugh so jumped on board. Tin’s dry sense of humour and sharp mind was a great fit but as we waited for our first run to be delivered, Tin decided it got a little too much and hopped off the train.
It seemed, from my observations, that Tin grew weary of working through the finer details. He was completely honest and told us it wasn’t as fun as he had imagined and it was becoming increasingly time consuming. Goodbye’s are never easy but we completely understood and appreciated his honesty. While it was fun to be hanging out more often, finding the time became more demanding and progress was slow.
Although his time with us was short, I’m personally forever grateful he saw the light and sided with me on that potentially fateful night mentioned above. So Tin, thanks a milli for saving oizoioi from that god awful logo design, it’s my fondest memory of your time with us and I hope you regret ditching us every single day. Loser.
but first a mirror selfie - all smiles before the tag team match went down | chong, dave, qzoioi, tin (L to R)
Xin mời | Welcome to oizoioi. Let's create a legacy and celebrate it, together.
#dontplayscared
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