ISSUE 08. #EcoWithAttitude: Interview with RAIDER Co-Founders

H ave you ever had a blank T-Shirt? No printing and no logo? We believe everyone would have one in their wardrobe. In Hong Kong, a group of friends who share the same value and run a specialty store with only selling blank tops since 2014, disrupting the industry and bringing high-quality and durable T-Shirts to customers. In this Issue 08 Eco With Attitude interview, we have invited RAIDER's Co-Founders, Bobby, Wilson, Yu, and Steve to share their journey in creating RAIDER with the core concept of “ART IS ALL FROM DETAILS “.

Being a fashionista, instead of looking for brand new clothing, we should look for durability and extend product life.

#1 How did you start the idea of running a store with blank T-Shirt only?

Our Co-founder Bobby is a professional dancer, he found that the T-shirts provided by organizers are all durable and made of high-quality materials during previous dance competitions in Japan. Besides, no such speciality shop was selling blank T-shirts in Hong Kong around 10 years ago. At that time if customers were looking for undecorated blank tops for screen printing, they could only find Gildan. Together with his three partners, we could bright more blank t-shirt options to the market, not only one brand to dominate the market or T-Shirts with printed designs. Even between the four of us, we all have different preferences, various styles, and sizes of T-shirts that fit our needs.

RAIDER's Co-Founder, Yu

Our first store was located at Ho King Commercial Building in Mong Kok, we started by importing two brands, and turning to over 20 brands currently by building trust from customers and gaining experiences throughout these years, including Pro Club & Goodwear from the United States, Merz b Schwanen from Germany and many more. RAIDER as a team of four, Wilson & Yu are in charge of social media, customer service, daily operations, and accounting; Steve is responsible for sourcing and online store operation, and Bobby is taking care of our own brand By R and organizing events.

RAIDER's Co-Founder, Wilson

#2 When you are searching for a new brand or creating your own brand By R, is there any parameters for you to consider?

We keep searching for new styles and high-quality blank T-shirts that we are not carrying in the store yet. Before the pandemic, we used to fly to Japan and observe how they promoted blank T-Shirts. After the pandemic, we currently depend on images to learn more about clothing details. The first thing to check is the collar area, then the stitching parts, and lastly the thickness and weight of T-shirts.

RAIDER By R SS22 DYED OVERSIZE TEE

(Source: @raider.hk)

At first, we didn’t receive much feedback when we started approaching and sourcing brands, where some of the styles were difficult to find. It led us to the idea of creating the style we dreamed of. During the journey of trial and error, we recalled our first item was a long tank top, and customers purchased it merely because of the brand and influence of the trend. And today, By R is all about daily observation and fashion trending infusion. Although some fabrics from overseas countries are of good quality it doesn't fit the weather in Hong Kong or the body shape of HongKongers, we want to provide a variety of T-shirt options in thickness, weight, and density to By R customers, it would be the blank T-Shirt which is their favorite and fits them as long as they open their wardrobe.

RAIDER's Co-Founder, Steve is carrying By R with #INVISIBLEBAG

#3 Why #INVISIBLEBAG for By R?

To make RAIDER better, we always work together and explore appropriate brands and products, to share their concept, design, and packaging within our team. Two years ago, we received #INVISIBLEBAG for the first time by purchasing the mooncakes at Patisserie La Lune . We loved how it’s being different from the traditional plastic bags, not only the texture of being soft, but also the concept. After we followed the Instagram and learned more, we discovered that Invisible Company is also a Hong Kong company, we could find all the details from the bag design, concept and website. And especially when we received a lot of plastic bags from the manufacturers, no doubt that #INVISIBLEBAG would be a great fit, and we could create a win-win situation. When we introduced this water-soluble #INVISIBLEBAG to the customers, people were amazed and found it interesting.

RAIDER's Co-Founders, Yu, Steve, Wilson and Bobby

By R items is now packed in #INVISIBLEBAG

#4 The design concept of By R is “Art Is All From Details”, what are the details that people could be aware of to learn more or start their sustainable journey?

Art Is All From Detail is the core value of By R due to Bobby's dancer career and background, that he believes the origin of art has come from our lives. For example, he would pay attention to how other people walk and observe their gestures by looking at the details. He also insists and is passionate about what he likes, even though he is satisfied with By R at this current stage but he would never stop focusing on every detail, aiming to create artpiece-like products.

He is a fashionista and gets used to purchasing brand new clothing until one day he found that his wardrobe was full of clothing that was worn for 1 or 2 times only. Things start changing in these 2 years, he switches to looking for second-hand items in good condition and is concerned more about the quality of clothing rather than if it is new or second-hand items. Furthermore, he would purchase the used clothing through overseas platforms or social media channels, look for durability and extend its product life.