#122 Alex Bortoluzzi From Krakatoa: How to Build an Apparel Brand From Scratch

Hey Budai Nation,

Welcome to The Ecom Show! A place where you can discover a new e-com story each Thursday. This podcast is sponsored by Budai Media, a growing retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses boost their sales with email and SMS marketing.

This week, chief underwear specialist, Alex Bortoluzzi, will be joining our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai. Alex will be getting personal about his personal wear brand Krakatoa’s story. Krakatoa is a unique men’s underwear brand that’s won over customers with its honest approach and attention to detail.

Tune in to learn more about:

✅ How Alex Founded Krakatoa

✅ How to Win Over Customers Without Discounts

✅ 4 Product Design Takeaways From Krakatoa

How Alex Founded Krakatoa

Alex’s entrepreneurial journey began after he left college. He studied computer science in Brazil and then got a job working with computer graphics back in the 80s. He was always inclined toward computers, and he started two companies early in his career. First, he had a motion graphics and advertising and broadcasting company. Needing a new challenge, he relocated to the USA and searched for game designing jobs. He worked with several big gaming companies like Treyarch and Activision and even ventured out on his own to create mobile games from scratch.

However, Alex wanted a change from the tech industry and was looking for a fresh project to dive into. He’d always struggled with finding the perfect pair of underwear and realized there was space for innovation in the men’s personal wear industry. He began researching patterns, fabrics, and the male anatomy and eventually started Krakatoa.

Krakatoa is named after the world’s most powerful volcano that’s located in Indonesia. Alex connected with the name because he felt that his underwear line was the perfect blend between power and beauty, and he believed that a name that connects with eruptions and loud noises would resonate with his male audience.

Alex built Krakatoa without any prior experience in the fashion industry. He put a lot of work into finding what the existing market was lacking and created a superior product by testing out various fabrics, cuts, and styles with multiple prototypes. He’s majorly a one-man show that’s done everything from creating the website to photographing his products. He’s very personally involved in the brand’s story and growth which has helped him create a strong bond with all his customers.

How to Win Over Customers Without Discounts

Krakatoa is a unique brand because they don’t use discounts or sales to attract customers. Alex has always believed in creating a strong brand identity and feels that his community might feel cheated if they see the products they’ve bought go on a clearance sale just a few months after their purchase. This is why he keeps his pricing consistent.

Alex found his target audience and has designed all his marketing to fit what resonates with them the best. He realized that his core audience were men between the age of 30-60 year old. Everything from his product design to the messaging he uses in his ads and emails is catered to them.

He developed his product after testing other underwear from brands across the world. Alex approached different manufacturers from different parts of the world and created various samples before landing up with the perfect prototype for his product. His goal from the start has been to create underwear that delivers the ultimate level of comfort.

His collection consists of solid colors with minimal print because he’s catering to an older audience. His brand’s advertising and tone of voice have always been educational to highlight the advantages of shifting to Krakatoa in a straightforward manner, and it’s worked really well for him because he now has a community of loyal customers. He frequently engages with this community through weekly email campaigns that he works on himself.

While Krakatoa doesn’t offer discounts, their products are very competitively priced, which attracts customers all year round. The secret behind Alex’s success with Krakatoa is his attention to detail and commitment to his brand. He’s consistently working towards improving his product and is very personally involved in most aspects of its growth. The way to create a successful brand without relying too much on discounts is through knowing your target audience and personalizing everything to build strong brand loyalty.

4 Product Design Takeaways From Krakatoa

As we mentioned earlier, Alex has a great eye for detail. He’s managed to successfully create a men’s underwear brand without any prior knowledge or professional experience in the garment industry. This has been possible only through thorough research and unwavering interest in wanting to improve. Here are four product design takeaways from Krakatoa that give it the cutting edge needed to thrive in the fashion industry:

1. Experimentation: Alex isn’t afraid to use products that his competitors haven’t tried. He also prioritizes the quality of fabrics over their price.
2. Product testing: Alex ensures that he personally tests out every new style or fabric that he’s planning to launch. You’re your first customer; if you’re not satisfied with your product, no one else would be. He also gifts samples to people around him to get honest feedback on his products from people across different body shapes.
3. Research: Alex makes it a point to consistently update himself with whatever’s new and trending in the market. He not only researches his competitors but also keeps an eye out for new fabrics, styles, and designs to innovate and inspire his new collections.
4. Feedback: Alex makes it a point to incorporate the feedback he receives from customers. His main goal is to solve the problem of finding comfortable underwear for men, and he’s extremely open to feedback that can help him improve Krakatoa. For instance, he redesigned the underwear pouch in his upcoming collection as some customers requested roomier underwear.

That’s all for this week’s episode of The Ecom Show. Make sure to check out Krakatoa.

To learn more about Alex, follow him on LinkedIn.

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