The Idea

When we started thinking about the first drop, we knew we didn’t want to put out any lightweight piece. That felt pointless. The aim from day one was everyday staples. Pieces you could wear without thinking too much about it. A hat, a tee, a hoodie. Items you could wear every day as standalone or layered piece.

You could argue that we should have focused on one or two hero items. That probably would have been the safer move. But we wanted some variety. We wanted to give people a feel for what Maybon could be across different pieces, not just a single product. Looking back, that decision definitely added complexity, but at the time it felt important.

Everything was designed with everyday wear in mind. Minimal, clean, and easy to reach. We wanted the kind of pieces that sit in your wardrobe and get worn over and over again.

High quality fabrics were non-negotiable. One hundred percent cotton for most of the range. Heavy, pre-shrunk cotton that felt solid in hand and held its shape after washing. We spent a lot of time thinking about weight and feel. Too light felt cheap. Too heavy felt stiff. Finding that balance took longer than we expected.

We also had far more design options than we needed. Different logo placements, sizes, treatments. At points it felt like we were overthinking it, but part of the process was learning what to leave out. We eventually narrowed it down to two logo designs to give some variation, with the signature logo forming the core of the drop.

Starting From Zero

Sourcing everything from scratch was easily the hardest part. We were fully bootstrapped, so every sample cost mattered. Every mistake came straight out of pocket.

Samples take time. Longer than you think. You wait weeks for something to arrive, only to open the package and immediately know it’s wrong. Odd fits. Fabric that looks fine but feels cheap. Hoodies that lose structure. Tees that twist after washing. Each round meant more emails, more revisions, more waiting.

We tried overseas suppliers in Asia, on-shore options in the US, and manufacturers in the UK. Every route had trade-offs. Some were affordable but came with huge minimum order quantities. Others were flexible but couldn’t deliver the quality we wanted.

Minimum order quantities, or MOQs, were a constant challenge. An MOQ is the minimum number of units a supplier will produce for you, and for most manufacturers it’s not small. When you’re still figuring out fit and fabric, committing to large quantities feels risky. You don’t want to lock yourself into something you’re not confident in, but you also can’t move forward without making decisions.

We went through more samples than we planned. A lot more. The process dragged out longer than expected and forced us to slow down. It was frustrating, but it also made it obvious how early you need to start if you want to release anything properly. There’s no shortcut here.

What We Learned

The biggest lesson was patience. Everything takes longer than you think, especially when you care about the details. Rushing only creates more problems later.

We learned how important it is to trust your instincts. There were plenty of moments where we could have settled. Cheaper fabric, easier supplier, faster turnaround. But every time we tried to justify a compromise, it didn’t sit right. If we wouldn’t wear it ourselves, it wasn’t good enough.

We also learned how quickly complexity adds up. Offering multiple products instead of one or two made everything harder. More samples. More decisions. More chances for things to go wrong. At the same time, it gave us a better understanding of what it takes to build a full drop and what we might do differently next time.

Probably the biggest takeaway is how much you don’t know at the start. You can research endlessly, but you only really learn by doing. By getting things wrong. By paying for mistakes. By wearing the samples and realising what works and what doesn’t.

This first drop taught us how early you need to think, how intentional you need to be, and how easy it is to underestimate the work behind something that looks simple on the surface.

Ben