Modern Fashion: John Gray
Of 1000 Kingdoms On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadice
Another extremely important element for leaders of fashion brands is the need to be persistent. Not every product is going to sell well, and not every quarter or year will be better than the previous one. Do not get discouraged. Take an unemotional approach to problem solving and work diligently to find areas of improvement. If something fails, it may only need a few tweaks before it can turn around and become successful, and persistence is the key to this turnaround. No fashion brand ever became successful without an extremely high level of persistence from its leaders.
Many in the fashion industry have been making huge pivots in their business models. Many have turned away from the fast fashion trend. Many have been focusing on fashion that also makes a social impact. Many have turned to sustainable and ethical sourcing. Many have turned to hi tech manufacturing. Many have turned to subscription models. What are the other trends that we will see in the fashion industry? What does it take to lead a successful fashion brand today?
In our series called, “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today” we are talking to successful leaders of fashion brands who can talk about the Future of Fashion and the 5 things it takes to lead a successful fashion brand in our “new normal.”
As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing John Gray.
John Gray is the Managing Director of 1000 Kingdoms, a Men’s sleep and loungewear fashion brand whose products are made from 100% silk fabric. John has business experience over a range of industries and has been involved in the textile and fashion industry for nearly a decade.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
I was born in Vancouver Canada, and then spent most of my childhood growing up in the Canadian Prairie cities of Winnipeg and Calgary. My Father was moving to different regions of Canada for work and so the family moved city to city as well, usually in 4 year intervals. By the time high school came around we had moved back to Vancouver, which is where I finished high school, graduated university, and remained until 2013.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
My path to this point has been a bit peculiar, as most of us could probably say. My business journey really started when I purchased a small logistics company a few years after I had graduated university.
Operating a logistics business is interesting because you have access to a broad range of companies warehouses doing business across a diverse set of industries. When you’re in a company’s warehouse to get to learn about their production lines, their storage facilities, which products they sell, how much they sell, who they are selling to, and where they are buying from. I learned a lot about business during these years, not only because I was operating my own business, but also because I was observant and curious about the businesses I was serving.
In the course of operating this company I happened to work with many Chinese business owners, which is no surprise since 21% of Vancouver’s population is ethnically Chinese. So one day I decided to start taking Chinese lessons on the weekends because I thought it would be a good way to communicate with some of my customers.
As all this is taking place, the Chinese economy had been growing at a frantic pace of around 10% GDP per year. Being an ambitious 25 year old who was starting to speak pretty good Chinese, I decided to sell my flourishing logistics business so I could roll the dice in China where everybody seemed to be profiting.
Fast forward to 2013 and I am now living in Shanghai, getting started in the export industry. I created a trading company and started exporting a range of products back to many of the customers that I had originally met through the logistics business. My business continued to grow and as my time in China went on I had begun to take a keen interest in fashion, and had amassed an immense collection of tailor made clothing; particularly suits, jackets, and shirts. I had also come to work with many men’s fashion retailers and was sourcing products or managing projects in China for them.
It was during this period that I first met the love of my life. Silk. The colors were so vibrant, the sheen was so bright, the fabric was so smooth, and the feel was so luxurious. The more I learned about silk the more I fell in love with it. It was a natural, hypoallergenic, and ancient fabric that has a long history dating back to the year 3000 BC.
I started wearing silk all the time, with every outfit. And just like that, through my love for silk and my obsession with men’s fashion, paired with all the knowledge and wisdom I had picked up from my apparel clients in the trading business, 1000 Kingdoms was born. I hired a designer, started touring silk production facilities, found the right manufacturing plant, and got to work.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The most interesting aspect of my career that took place since I started 1000 Kingdoms is, by far, learning about SEO. When I say learning about SEO, I mean really learning about SEO, because most of the “SEO professionals” out there unfortunately have no idea what they are talking about. SEO is an extremely vast, dynamic, and complex space that requires a lot of attention, especially in the internet era and particularly since the pandemic began.
I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on SEO and working with experts in the field, to not only develop the business but to also expand my personal knowledge as well.
3 years ago I did not expect to have large portions of my day taken up by work and meetings relating to SEO. The time spent focusing on SEO is well spent and it’s been an incredibly interesting and rewarding learning journey.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The first and most important character trait that I think anyone can have is the willingness to be yourself. The ability to truly be yourself manifests itself in a number of different ways, and one of the most important things I think it leads to is passion. If you are true to yourself you will end up doing something that you are extremely passionate about and devoted to. Without an extreme level of passion for the fashion industry, or whatever business you wish to enter, it will be difficult to overcome the intense competition and obstacles that will inevitably come your way. Being yourself also makes you more likable, and likeability is a big contributor to success in business. When I am trying to sell our merchandise to an owner of a retail store, the more they like me, the more willing they are to work with me. Be yourself and good things will happen.
The second character trait that has helped in my success is having the ability to be a team player.
I’ve always understood the value of teamwork and how it applies to business. Your business is only as strong as the relationships you have with your employees, vendors, manufacturers, and retailers. Being a team player has been of tremendous value to me, and has helped me overcome many difficult obstacles. When everyone involved in a project shares the same common goal, zeal, and lack of ego, it makes things a whole lot smoother. With the current global supply chain issues it forces our company to work as a team with individuals from our silk vendors, production center, shipping partners, and retailers, to make sure we are adequately meeting the challenges currently facing us.
The last character trait is something that most people consider to be a negative, but I actually consider to be a positive, and that character trait is impatience. Being impatient doesn’t mean getting angry. Being impatient means you have high standards for the speed and efficiency of how things are executed. Patient people never never get anything done because they are content to wait around and accept missed deadlines.
Impatient people are constantly looking for ways to make systems and processes more dynamic, efficient, and effective. The fashion industry requires you to set strict deadlines for things like design, production, and marketing, because one delay in any of those areas can end up having a negative and severe domino effect. Being too patient can quickly lead to lingering delays and missed deadlines, which is why I like to remain impatient as it relates to business.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
1000 Kingdoms stands out because of its affordability. Silk has only been accessible to a small demographic because the high prices placed most buyers out of the market. We want all men to be able to experience the luxuries and comforts of silk, which is why we offer our silk pajamas for the most affordable prices possible.
When you love something as much as I love silk, it is really gratifying to see other individuals get introduced to and subsequently fall in love with it as well. I think because of our affordable prices we have been able to reach a wider audience that would not typically be in the market for a pair of 100% silk pajamas.
In this market buyers are careful with how they spend their money and also have the ability to quickly compare prices across the web. With these buyers being so price conscious it is important to sell your products at a reasonable and affordable price, especially if you are a newcomer.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
I recently read a story that Jay Shetty shared in his book “Think Like a Monk” that describes a Taoist farmer and how he reacts to different situations in life. The moral of the story is that the farmer reacts indifferently to any good or bad situations that occur in his life. He doesn’t get too high during the good times, and he doesn’t get too low during the bad times. The farmer embraces uncertainty, lets go of the past, focuses on the present, and cultivates inner peace.
We’ve all seen the twists and turns that life can throw our way, especially over the last 2.5 years. For me, because of this story about the Taoist Farmer I was able to understand that we never truly know what’s around the next corner, so don’t judge the moment, because some of the worst situations in life are directly followed by some of the best situations in life, and vice versa.
I read Shetty’s book while we were deep in the middle of the pandemic, around September 2020. During this time business owners in a variety of industries saw their revenue dry up and maintaining their businesses seemed like a hopeless wish. Then as the pandemic continued to progress, a lot of those same hopeless business owners began to see new lucrative opportunities emerge and some began to thrive to an even greater degree than before.
This taught me to not get too high or too low in the moment. Focus on what you can do today in order to maximize the strength of your business, don’t worry about the unknown challenges of tomorrow, and don’t hang your head about the losses of the past.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?
One of the developments in the fashion industry that I’m excited about is the consumer’s willingness to take risks and try new things. You are starting to see a lot of innovation and variety amongst new products in the fashion industry, and they have been very well received by consumers. I think I first started to notice this within the footwear industry. Some of the new shoes are totally unlike anything the market has ever seen before, and a lot of those unique designs have become the standard and are being widely imitated by competing brands.
This willingness to try new things is showing itself in the clothing market as well, as we are seeing the reemergence of garments containing more eccentric designs, patterns, and colors. At 1000 Kingdoms we like this trend because silk is meant to be an over-the-top, eccentric type of fabric. Silk absorbs color better than almost any other fabric, and its dazzling sheen brings these sparkling colors to life. Silk clothing is known for its flashy printed patterns and designs, which makes it an ideal product to be selling during this colorful period in fashion.
Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?
1000 Kingdoms uses natural environmentally friendly 100% silk fibers to produce our pajama sets, which means we are minimizing our environmental impact. One of the biggest problems in the fashion industry is the negative effect it has had on our rivers and oceans. We want to produce our clothing sustainably and with the smallest environmental impact as possible.
We also believe in the importance of a good night’s sleep. Getting good quality sleep is important not only for your health, but also for your career and personal life. We all know the effect a few nights of bad sleep can have on our lives. It makes us cranky, tired, unproductive, and more likely to get sick. Things can start to feel like they are falling apart once you are slightly sleep deprived.
We truly believe that our silk pajamas will help customers to get a deeper and more restful sleep, which leads to better health, a better life, and more goodness in the world!
Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?
Coming from a product manufacturing and trading background, I was very particular about the types of vendors that we identified and chose to work with. I visit factories personally, and choose my production partners carefully based on a range of different criteria.
One of the most important things I look for when I visit a factory, and something that tells me a lot about how the factory is being run, is the level of happiness and morale amongst the production workers.
Working in a production center is a tough job, and some bosses can under-staff and over-work their factory employees. When I see that a factory’s production staff has a high level of morale, it immediately indicates two important things to me.
One is that the bosses are good, fair, and equitable people that could potentially be good business partners to work with.
The second is that the factory will be consistent in the quality of work they perform.. Production employees with a low sense of morale tend to quit more often, which leads to higher staff turnover and a lower quality product. Overworked production staff also tend to rush through tasks in order to keep up with the heavy workload, which again leads to a lower quality output. Treating your production staff well is the right thing to do, and is also good for business.
We also had ethics in mind when we chose to make our flagship products out of silk. Once you become aware about how harmful fast fashion clothing is, it is hard to want to buy clothes made from synthetic fibers ever again. I became acutely aware of these issues because of my first hand experience witnessing the lack of environmental ethics involved in the production of these products.
The reason we make our clothing out of silk is because it is an ethical, natural, and environmentally friendly fabric that we can feel good, both physically and mentally, about wearing.
Fast fashion has an advantage, that it is affordable for most people, but it also has the drawback that it does not last very long and is therefore not very sustainable. What are your thoughts about this? How does your company address this question?
More and more buyers are becoming aware that fast fashion is a problematic industry, which is why we have seen the explosion of clothing companies that use natural and recycled fibers to create their garments. Fast fashion creates a lot of pollution both during production as well as after, because oftentimes these cheap, low quality fast fashion garments end up being on a garbage heap in a landfill only 2 or 3 months after purchase.
1000 Kingdoms was created directly because of this issue. A growing demographic of buyers are demanding high quality clothing products that are also ethically sourced and sustainable. Buyer’s don’t want to buy something that is going to end up in the garbage shortly after purchase, nor do they want to buy clothing that is heavily damaging to the environment.
Our men’s silk collection is both high quality as well as sustainable, so our customers will be able to enjoy it with a clear conscience for years to come.
Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.
One of the most important things for fashion brands these days is having a leader that understands SEO. Every fashion brand wants to be successful online, and without an intermediate understanding of SEO amongst the brand’s leaders, it will be very difficult to stand out from the competition. Everyone thinks selling online will be easy, until they realize they have just opened up a shop in the darkest corner of the world’s biggest and most competitive shopping mall. A lack of knowledge relating to SEO will lead to wasted time and money, as well as deep frustration and maybe even failure. The holy grail of online marketing is being able to get customers to your website organically for free. Using SEO correctly will help you to get more customers, increase margins, and to have a more predictable sales cycle.
At 1000 Kingdoms we have successfully used SEO strategy in order to lower our paid marketing costs and get more customers from free organic search. People are already searching for your products, you just have to get your brand in front of their eyes. SEO is the best way to do this over the long run.
The next important thing you’ll need to lead a successful fashion brand is the ability to analyze data. It is crucial to effectively analyze the data you receive online through your website, SEO, and paid marketing in order to make smarter business decisions. Running split ads, testing out different email campaigns, and studying seasonal trends are just a few of the areas that you are able to extract data from in order to make smarter business decisions and increase your sales. If you do not understand how powerful data and analytics can be, then you should read Big Data by Bernard Marr to learn about the magic powers you can gain by becoming competent in data analysis.
We recently used testing and data analysis to figure out that our sales increased on our mobile website when we displayed our products in rows of 2, as opposed to rows of 1 or 3. By simply making this quick adjustment to our mobile site, we allowed ourselves to instantly increase sales and revenue. Magic!
Being a good planner is the next important thing for leaders of fashion brands. The importance of being able to create detailed and realistic plans for weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly objectives cannot be overstated. Being able to plan well will help your brand to move more efficiently, make less mistakes, create more momentum, and ultimately become more successful.
Another extremely important element for leaders of fashion brands is the need to be persistent. Not every product is going to sell well, and not every quarter or year will be better than the previous one. Do not get discouraged. Take an unemotional approach to problem solving and work diligently to find areas of improvement. If something fails, it may only need a few tweaks before it can turn around and become successful, and persistence is the key to this turnaround. No fashion brand ever became successful without an extremely high level of persistence from its leaders.
Unfortunately, many of life’s most valuable lessons are learned through failure, and my lack of persistence is what led me to fail in the creation of my first business. Immediately after university I started an online business selling a wide range of men’s toiletries that included shaving supplies, cologne,deodorant, hair care products, and more. I was young and business was difficult, and after a few challenging situations I decided to close up shop and take a loss. I knew I had made some beginner’s mistakes during the course of the business and that was valuable but also painful. What was even more painful was having to watch as other companies (Dollar Shave Club for example) became successful in the exact same space that I was trying to compete in. I knew that with a higher level of grit and persistence I could have made it work, and I didn’t want that to be the reason I had failed at something ever again.
The final important thing that you need to lead a fashion brand in 2022 is to make sure your product fills a genuine need or solves a specific problem. There are so many brands out there now and many of the successful ones have a unique value proposition that focuses on solving a specific problem. Find your niche and hit it hard.
We’ve seen this in the past with the rise of plus size clothing and clothing for big and tall men. In more recent examples I’ve seen brands become successful by making formal clothing and suits for athletically built men who may have trouble finding suitable clothing because of their muscular body type. These brands use fibers like spandex or nylon in their garments to give these athletic men more flexibility and range of motion while wearing a suit. A good example of this is the makers of the X suit; Google them if you have a chance. When you solve a specific problem for a niche group of people it will help your brand to stand out in an incredibly crowded fashion retailing space.
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
I think the use of harmful chemicals to produce fast fashion clothing is the biggest issue currently facing the fashion industry. Most people aren’t aware how harmful the chemicals being used to produce their polyester, polyurethane, rayon, spandex, and nylon clothing are. Even the people who are aware of the problem have most likely only heard or read about the issue.
I’ve been in the manufacturing plants that are producing these types of synthetic fabrics and I have seen the damage it does not only to the environment, but also to the health of the workers. Take polyester for example; polyester is an extremely popular fabric that is used to make t-shirts, sweaters, suits, sweatpants, athletic wear, bed sheets, and more. Polyester is made from ethylene terephthalate, a chemical that is mainly used to make plastic water bottles and packaging. Your t-shirt is made from the same chemicals as your plastic water bottle or plastic container. These compounds break down into tiny non-biodegradable microplastics which are extremely harmful to marine life and the oceans.
In addition to the chemicals, the textile dyes used to add color to fast fashion garments are the world’s second leading polluter of water. The chemicals used to dye fast fashion garments often leak into waterways and contaminate nearby farmland.
On top of all that, fast fashion is named that way for a reason. The garments produced for the fast fashion category are often low quality or just cheap “throwaways,” like a 10$ black t-shirt from H&M that you may only wear 3 or 4 times before discarding. These garments eventually find their way into the landfill and begin to pile up extremely quickly with no ability to biodegrade.
The solution to this problem is to produce more clothing made from sustainable fibers such as silk, sheeps wool, hemp, linen, organic cotton, bamboo, or cashmere. These fabrics are better for the environment, better for our personal health, and are generally more luxurious and desirable than fabrics made from synthetic man made fibers.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would start a movement to promote the importance of laughter. In my opinion, the amount of times we laugh in a day is directly related to our level of happiness, as well as our overall well being and mental health.
Laughing feels good, and actually triggers the release of endorphins in our body. I would want people to be conscious about how many times they laugh and smile per day. When you meet with a humorous friend or watch a funny movie and begin to laugh, all of the other problems or worries you may have had seem to drift away. We have all seen a nasty mood or situation get turned around when a little bit of humor gets added to the mix. Laughter is the great diffuser, common ground, and olive branch.
Everyone wants to smile and everyone wants to laugh, so find good friends, books, movies, shows, or comedians that make you laugh, and make sure you are smiling and laughing enough throughout the course of your day. The more time we spend laughing, the less time we spend arguing with each other or stressing over small things. Laugh lots in order to live a happy life.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Check out our online shop 1000 Kingdoms (https://1000kingdoms.com/) to see all our silk men’s pajamas and loungewear!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Modern Fashion: John Gray
of 1000 Kingdoms On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.