What It’s Like Starting An Outdoor Brand
In a previous article, I touched on the beginnings of Jereko Gear and how I managed to start my cottage-based brand in the outdoor industry. I would like to expand on this further to describe how I started, what it took to become established, and some of the challenges I’ve faced along the way.
Humble Beginnings
During my time in university, as I was finishing my degree in mechanical engineering, I was working for REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.). Throughout my time with the Co-op, I kept a small green notebook in my work locker and made notes as to what customers wished existed or wished was better. Beyond this, I made notes of certain products or areas in which I believed improvements could be made. I still use the little green notebook to this day and it still has many pages both blank and filled with undeveloped ideas.
I bought my first 3D printer in 2017 and, like many others, printed models and toys that I found online. I even got into printing miniature tanks and painting them. As I progressed further into my academic studies, I became more familiar with 3D modeling, material properties, and product development cycles. This quickly expanded my skills to the point where my senior internship project was completed almost entirely with 3D-printed components I made in my bedroom. The project lead at the company I was working for stated “When you said you were going to 3D print your parts, I was certain you would fail this project. I am surprised and impressed at the work you have accomplished.”
These two areas of my life slowly molded together as I began to realize that I could print outdoor gear from home. When my career with REI ended in late 2021, I knew it was time to put my skills to the test and show the industry what I had to offer.
Jereko Gear Begins
By the time I moved away from REI, I only had three products that passed development and testing, but I had to start somewhere. On New Year’s Eve in 2021, I opened an Etsy store with those items under my sudo-self-titled banner Jereko Gear, a mashup of my name Jeremy Kocsis.
Things started agonizingly slow with my first sale coming from a close family friend and my first legitimate sale coming nearly two and a half months later. By June 2022, I averaged a dozen sales for the summer and another dozen or so for the holiday season. At this point, I was barely breaking over the price of materials, but I persisted, expanding available products and starting what would become jerekogear.com. Two local retailers in the western New York area had agreed to bring my products into their inventory, marking the first physical retail locations to feature my creations.
By late spring 2023, things were still slow and a job opportunity was on the horizon that I could not miss out on. Mere weeks before my departure to Cinnicinatti Ohio, and after reaching out several times, Garage Grown Gear accepted me into their family of cottage-based outdoor brands. Suddenly, it was on. For five straight months, I was printing nonstop out of a single-room hotel suite, barely able to keep up with demand. I lost sleep from the printers running in the night and chose not to go out with colleagues on many occasions for the sake of my business. With the extra money from a white-collar desk job, I filled out my LLC paperwork and began moving forward as a genuine company I had built from scratch. I would later expand to several other physical and online retailers and, for the first time, felt proud of what I had achieved… though it brought issues of its own.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The engineering job I was offered was directly tied to my self-started “company”, showing dedication and perseverance in my craft and an understanding of multiple industry fields. While I could now afford the paperwork, certifications, and new hardware to make printing easier, it came at a cost. Before onboarding began, I did not disclose that I worked for a competitor, as I was not an actual company in the eyes of the law, as well as the fact that it was only myself working out of my basement most of the time. Some time after filling as an LLC, the firm I worked for fired me, claiming I failed to disclose my employment with “a competing company.” I argued my point of timing and how ridiculous it was to state that I alone was a competitor with the world’s largest engineering software firm, but it made no difference. The business I built, which landed me the job of a lifetime, caused me to lose it. I grew bitter and angry over the situation, thinking I may even have a case to argue in court, but I bit my tongue and simply said “I appreciate the opportunity and the experience I’ve gained, however short it was, and I enjoyed what I did for the brief time I did it.” I’ve since moved back to my job as a bicycle mechanic and an outdoor brand founder.
What Is It Like?
While owning your own brand it exciting, it can be stressful or downright impossible to deal with certain situations. Production deadlines, product development, establishing yourself in new retailers, and the list goes on. It is equally inspiring when you get that first five-star review from someone who thinks your creation is the bee’s knees. If you are thinking of starting your own brand, here are my top three tips to consider.
Stand by your mission. I set out to make unique gear solutions that were both affordable and sustainable. Though I could be more wasteful or charge more for products in the vein of larger profit margins, that’s not why I started doing this. Find what makes your brand unique and stick with it.
Negative reviews are opportunities. Yeah, some people misuse items or outright hate an item because it isn’t useful to them, but when individuals rate a product low for a specific reason that can be adjusted, it provides a fantastic chance to improve your products. Think of it as free product testing!
Walk a different path. What I mean by this is don’t be afraid to try something that has never been done before. There are droves of companies that produce products similar to one another, and that’s fine, but the market may be saturated. Perhaps you want to lead the industry in recycled paper socks or something equally defiant to the norm, it may be weird and it may be different, but people are always willing to try something new if there is an inherent benefit.
