BRANDSBRANDS
“With John working at a leading design consultancy, we had routes to good manufacturers we could trust early doors. I knew some journalists and understood how the bicycle industry worked as I had been in it for quite a long time. “We decided ‘we’re going to do this’ and focused a lot of time and energy on creating the company and the brand.” As with any new business, nailing the branding around it is one of the hardest tasks. “We took a little bit of heat at the time because it was still the era of hipsters and fixies,” said Smith. “We designed the logo to balance lifestyle in terms of our imagery and product but also ensured the Hiplok logo was strong.
“Hiplok was descriptive. It was a lock that you put around your hips, but it was always going to be a vehicle for brand expansion.”
The first Hiplok
“The biggest challenge was making a good security product,” said Smith. “We didn’t want people to say, ‘that’s a cool way to carry a lock, but it’s not very good’.”
The original Hiplok was Sold Secure Silver because Abrahams and Smith wanted independent certification. Other hurdles included finding the right quality suppliers and trying to ensure competitors didn’t see the product while in the development phase.
52 | January 2024 Ju;y 2023
“There have been times when we thought we had a good padlock manufacturer, placed an order with them, tested it and found out they weren’t as good as expected,” said Smith.
Abrahams added: “I think we had 1,500 padlocks in our warehouse at one point that we couldn’t use, so that was a big learning curve.”
Although the pair were prudent in their approach to launching, Smith admits there comes a time where you have to put your money on the line with MOQs. “We were traditionally funded. The starting capital was put in by us, the company wasn’t crowdfunded,” said Smith. “We had to commit to producing quality products before we had any customers. So, while we were confident in the strength of the product, with some good reviews and distributors and retailers coming forward, there was always that leap of faith.”
Growing the portfolio
In the music industry there is something called “second album syndrome” where an artist launches with a stellar debut album and then suffers a nosedive upon the release of their second record.
This “sophomore slump” could also be applied to launching a new product or products. Thankfully for Hiplok, this was never the case. The brand has unveiled at least one new product every year since it started.
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