It’s Wednesday afternoon on June 24th, and I decided now was the perfect time to start the official FAHQ® blog, even though we're nearly ten years into the journey, for a couple of reasons.
First, it will be a good way to keep those of you who fuck with the brand up to speed with what we have going on and what’s coming down the pipeline. Second, I have been working behind the scenes on a lot of changes, so I wanted to touch on some of those.
It’s been nothing but hard work and sacrifices to get to this point. From starting as a small umbrella project over ten years ago to then its own self-sustaining brand for the past eight years, it’s been a grind.
People tend to only see the wins and success, but I can promise you there have been countless struggles, challenges, obstacles, and difficult decisions along the way. Building a brand is not easy. You get kicked in the balls and punched in the face way more than you celebrate wins. No matter how many times I got knocked down, I bounced back up.
You have to have a few screws loose upstairs to keep getting up every time you get knocked down. Thankfully I racked my noggin a bunch as a kid and would rather die than give up — on anything.
I will never quit. It’s not in my DNA. I love this brand and its meaning. Both what it means to me personally, and how others interpret and embrace it. If you’re not familiar with the brand or the meaning behind it, the brand story can be read here.
I’m just jamming from the top of my head as I write this, letting all of my thoughts spill out, so I apologize in advance if it ends up being a long read.
Let me jump right in, starting with the streetwear side first, then getting into the skateboard side, and wrap it with some points that apply to both.
STREETWEAR SIDE OF THE BRAND
The streetwear scene is constantly changing and evolving. When the brand launched, we did very limited drops. Small quantities. Our core customer base would scoop everything up. It was almost an underground cult — loved it. We are returning to that.
BACK IN DESIGNER MODE
I love designing clothes. Things that aren’t seen elsewhere. Unique pieces. From crazy and loud to simplistic with clean subtle detail elements just not found in other garments. High quality materials. Premium.
Moving back to really unique premium pieces produced in very small quantities allows me to satisfy that desire to get back to designing. Being able to tap into that energy again makes me happy. I love being in that creative mode 24/7. I’m excited for people to see what this mind of mine has been cooking up.
LIMITED-EDITION PIECES
Every apparel drop moving forward will be limited pieces that are not restocked. One very small manufacturing run and then done. And every piece will be limited. Very limited.
AUTHENTICATION SYSTEM
Since every piece will be a limited-edition, we wanted to have a verification system that would highlight this, and also serve as a built-in authentication component.
We have built an entire technology backend and frontend for this. It’s impossible to replicate or spoof these cryptographic tags. I spent almost two years working with engineers and developers to get it 100% right.
1-of-1s
We are also going to drop 1-of-1s here and there. Truly one of a kind pieces. With our authentication system every 1-of-1 piece is easily verifiable. These will be randomly released and we will also occasionally include 1-of-1s as surprise additions in our drops.
ESSENTIALS “ALWAYS IN STOCK” COLLECTION
While we are moving back to very unique limited-edition pieces, we will also be dropping an Essentials collection, which will be a minimalistic always-in-stock line featuring our Black, White and Electric Lime color palette.
This line will feature a subtle and simplistic design as well as a more affordable price-point than the limited-edition pieces.
SKATEBOARD SIDE OF THE BRAND
Skateboarding needs to onboard new skaters — young and old — to not only grow, but to just maintain and keep its head above water.
If a living organism doesn’t adapt to its current surroundings and environment it will die. Skateboarding is no different. Constantly adapting needs to be embraced — not shunned.
We live in an attention economy, so holding onto, let alone even grabbing, attention of potential new skaters is a very different game than it was years ago.
I remember being a kid and watching X-Games, Gravity Games, Dew Tour, etc. religiously. Those were monumental annual events (at least in my house) on par with the World Series, Super Bowl, etc.
I feel like skateboarding was more mainstream in terms of exposure simply because there weren't 4,683,893,593 other options. And because there were less options, more kids were exposed to it.
We didn’t have endless entertainment and distraction in the palm of our hand. There was no social media. There weren't a dozen streaming services.
IMPLEMENTING OUR NEW AUTHENTICATION TECH
We built an entire authentication tech stack for the direction we are taking the streetwear side. So, what does it mean for the skateboarding side?
Consumers love limited-edition items, different rarity for blind bags, etc. But what does “limited” really mean? Soon, every piece from our drops will have a way to easily authenticate them, as well as see the total population.
For example, if we drop a collection of decks and each is capped at 100 in total, if you have the physical item in hand, within seconds you can see how many of each deck size exist, etc. So, if we say it’s a single run graphic, we are backing that up with undeniable proof.
BRINGING BACK THE NOSTALGIA VIBES
Remember the S.A.S.E. days? Firing off self-addressed-stamped-envelopes to every brand hoping to get some stickers back? We are close to launching our S.A.S.E. program.
There is just something nostalgic about the thought of walking to your mailbox and having an envelope of stickers waiting. Stickers need to never die — we have always tossed stickers into every package that leaves our warehouse. It doesn’t matter what a customer orders or how much they spend — they are getting stickers. The S.A.S.E. program will hopefully make some people relive those days as a kid, checking the mailbox religiously to see what was sent.
I remember filling out order forms from catalogs back in the day and sending them back with a money order. There was something special about that. Checking off the parts you wanted. Anticipating its arrival because you didn’t get a tracking number. Those were the days.
We are working on ways to do something cool in this regard — like physical drop preview catalogs that are sent out to VIP customers with a special QR code that allows for pre-orders. We have a bunch of ideas we are tossing around.
TEAM PROGRAM
We have always floated skaters product over the years but never had an official team, and that was intentional.
I wanted to make sure when the time came to do it, that it was done right. And in a way that made sense for the brand, as well as those who are a part of it. The way we are going to approach it is different from most. If you are interested in being on the pro or amateur team, check out our Sponsor Me page for info.
RETAIL EXPANSION
For 8+ years we have been strictly Direct-to-Consumer, focused on providing the best customer experience. From fulfilling and shipping super fast to answering customer support tickets immediately, the small details matter.
We are currently finalizing a retail program, but like with the team, it was important to make sure the foundation was solid and could support growth, while also offering something beneficial to retail partners. I never want to half-ass anything. Skate shops or distributors interested in carrying the brand should submit our Retail Inquiry form.
SKATE SHOP EXCLUSIVES
One of the biggest discussion topics is the skate shop vs online retail debate.
“Support your local skate shop” is shouted all the time. But some consumers simply want the lowest price or the convenience of ordering online. People are conditioned to buy online, especially the younger generation.
As mentioned previously, I wanted to wait to roll out retail until there was a benefit we could extend. The most logical approach is to offer “skate shop exclusives” — stuff that cannot be purchased online. From skate shop exclusive decks to exclusive wheel graphics and colorways. All limited-edition, and only available in retail.
This way, we are never competing directly with our retail partners. We actually have a lot of really creative things planned that I think are win/win. If you want your skate shops to carry us, ask them to complete this form for information.
SKATE SHOP POP UPS
We’d like to start doing some pop ups at skate shops. Limited-edition event-exclusive drops, skate days, parking lot parties, giveaways, etc. There are a lot of things that can be done to make these types of events a success, both in terms of providing something special for regulars as well as attracting new customers in-store.
Part of our overall retail game plan involves bringing creative opportunities to our retail partners designed to greatly benefit them.
AMPLIFYING THE BRAND STORY
We get messages almost daily from people who say they really connected to the brand story and the reason I started it. Most of those messages are from first-time customers who came across the Brand Story page on the website.
I hand sign a thank you card that is tossed in every order from a first-time customer. It’s a personal thank you and a little message from me, explaining why I started the brand, as well as its meaning and importance to me.
As we plan to expand into retail, it’s important to shift from that strictly underground vibe to making an effort to get the brand story out there.
I see live streaming as a way to really give people a behind the scenes look, while also acting as a way to feed an effective content machine. Live stream viewers are great, but it’s what you can then do with that raw footage that provides the amplification value.
You can then take that raw footage and have it turned into a daily YouTube vlog, which are 10–12 min episodes. Those daily vlogs can then be turned into YouTube sorts, Instagram reels, TikTok posts, etc.
This will require a full time videographer, editors, social team, etc. It’s in the works.
Custom Rolling Pop Up Shop for Mini Tours
I mentioned doing some pop up events at skate shops. We also want to do some city-specific pop up events, with city-themed limited exclusive drops on the streetwear side.
A few limited-edition pieces with a theme relevant to that city, only available in-person. We are looking into building a custom rolling popup vehicle. One that can not only carry inventory, but also transform into an interactive event space and mobile retail operation.
It’s a bit more complex than just rolling into a city. You need to get vending permits from the cities, and that takes time and planning. The buildout of this custom popup vehicle would be very good content, as would everything related to these events — the traveling and the events themselves —every aspect of it would provide great content. It would also be very fun.
CLOSING THANK YOU
Ok, that was a long read.
So, if you took the time to read this, thank you!
For those of you who fuck with the brand, I appreciate you.
Looking forward to showing you what we have been working hard on. If you're not already on our early drop access list, you can join by clicking here. We send the list a password to access each drop 1 hour before the public.
