Carty Vuong

1) MISSION : POSSIBLE

1)   To launch the new 9 Dragons Apparel brand into the market and build up a following

2)  To sell out of the first range of men's designer swimwear

3)  To gain the resources to create the next range (this campaign is not the end of the project - it is the beginning)

2) THE BACK STORY

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.” Bruce Lee

 (Men's beach shorts - Bruce Lee DJ print detail)

Since my mid-teens, I’ve wanted to design & make clothes that were unique and cool, that connects with people. It should make the wearer feel & look great - to me that's what fashion is about.

Years later, having worked in the ragtrade after studying fashion design, I moved on and gained a business degree and went on to work in sales & marketing in a corporate environment. There was always a longing to get back into fashion, to turn my ideas and concepts into reality, to create things that made people happy. It is the way for me to truly express myself – to be creative. But what sort of clothing do I want to make? And how do I get started?

Then the seed of an idea was planted in my mind and began taking shape. I started noticing that I couldn’t find really cool, well made, comfortable clothes for men in what I refer to as leisurewear – clothes for wearing at the beach, at the gym, for hanging around at home or for popping down to the shops –

swimwear, beach shorts, t-shirts, track suits, workout-wear, pyjamas, underwear 

etc. The final lightbulb moment came to me one summer when I was shopping for swimshorts but couldn’t find any that I thought were great in every way – they were too long, or too short, too baggy or too tight, or were uncomfortable or had bland graphics.

So the idea was to create designer leisurewear for men, starting with swimwear.

Market research confirmed for me that there was definitely a gap in the mid-market, leisurewear segment. This gave me the confidence to roll up my sleeves & give it a go. Next came the process of finding suppliers & designing the range.

3) THE BRAND

The inspiration behind the brand name was quite simple. I wanted it to be meaningful, to be a cool trademark and it must be easy to remember.

I wanted to pay tribute to my family & my culture. There were 9 family members who were close to me when I was growing up, including grandparents, parents & siblings. And I've always loved the symbolism of dragons in Asian mythology – so the 9 Dragons brand was born. I have since registered it as a trademark.

In order to set the brand apart from those already in the market, and to ensure consistency of design in every product, I set down five guiding product principles for 9 Dragons Apparel:

1)   Thoughtful design & construction

2)   Cool artwork 

3)   Functional

4)   Flattering cut

5)   Comfortable

Staying true to this philosophy, I worked closely with graphic designers to create cool branding & garment artworks. I also worked closely with patternmakers on all details of the cut & construction to ensure functionality & fit so that, ultimately, the wearer woud look great & feel comfortable.

Click here to view more product photos on 9 Dragons Apparel Instagram page.

Pledge your support today & help me create the type of leisurewear we've been looking for.

4) THANK YOU

I've always thought that if I was to succeed in life, I would want my friends & family to be a part of that success - but I didn't know how to make that a reality. Until now. Crowdfunding provides the perfect platform for my friends & family to be an integral force in my venture.

And you can be a part of that too. Please check out the Rewards and pledge your support today & help launch a cool new clothing brand.

Be one of the first in the world to own a piece of 9 Dragons limited edition clothing.

I have many more exciting ideas & have already started on developing the next range.

Thank you to the friends & family who generously gave of their time in contributing to this project, and for their encouragement and advice.

With any new product and new website, it takes time before traction is achieved. Significant resources would be required to market the brand and to drive targeted traffic to the website. I estimate it could take several months to sell out of the 1st production run of 140 pieces.

I decided to use crowdfunding as a solution, to do everything possible to make the campaign a success and sell out of the 1st production run within the campaign period of 1 month.

The challenge specifically relating to the 9 Dragons crowdfunding is the timeline of pledges versus garment delivery. Whilst the 1st run of 140 pairs of beach shorts will be delivered to pledgers in November 2016, at this stage, any pledges over this quantity may not be delivered until January 2017.