Brick & Mortar Retail was not yet dead, but Malone saw the power of online coming and warned all his retail accounts to build and take their websites seriously. Designing and making clothing became his most simple and least time-consuming duty. Malone built and maintained the website, answered the calls, shipped orders, keep the books, created the marketing, performed the PR, took the photos and edited them. Word spread and the Steve Jobs of Denim was born in one of the early interviews below.
The Steve Jobs of Denim?
by Clément Pascal, Brooklyn Magazine May 31, 2012
Maurice Malone, the man behind one-man operation The Williamsburg Garment Company, produces boutique denim named after local streets—Kent Ave, Berry Street, Union Ave. "But don’t mistake high quality for high price," Malone tells us. “When I started this brand, I wanted to do something as groundbreaking and as radical as some of the tech companies, like Facebook and Apple. So I took a hard look at the market and came up with a formula for success that no one has tried before.”So far, so good—he’s adding new retailers every week. But “to me, the number is not as important as the quality. I’m not trying to have a big volume of stores; I’m trying to be in only one account per city. So the stores I choose have to be the best fit for my brand while being high-quality, well-respected designer boutiques or denim specialists. I’m spending my time securing my brand’s foundation, so the numbers aren’t the game plan.”
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