Nude Project Urban Clothing brand shoots billing and jumps to retail ·Global Voices

What started as a small business between two friends, with a tiny network of sales to other partners, has ended up becoming a company that already employs eleven people directly and that plans to close the year with a turnover of almost 2.5 million euros, four times more than in 2020.

Alex Benlloch and Bruno Casanovas, only 20 years old, founded at the end of 2019 at Barcelona Nude Project, a brand of clothing to market the kind of clothing they liked and that they could not easily find in store. "in the UK or Germany the street style or urban fashion is more widespread, but here the offer is more limited and we thought there was a business opportunity," they both comment from their showroom in the Gràcia neighborhood. With an investment of 300 euros each began to design sweatshirts and T-shirts inspired by the world of trap and hip-hop on their own, the making of which was commissioned by third parties. Their marketing studies helped them move the brand on social media, primarily Instagram and TikTok. "at first we were basically selling to our friends, but suddenly we started to grow and grow; we have already distributed 40,000 garments to more than 100 countries, but our main market is in Spain," they say.

With an initial investment of just 600 euros, they will close the year with sales worth 2.5 million

The business has ended up concentrating all its time and, for the time being, they have left the university to focus on the growth of the company. "it tastes bad but we didn't have time to do both," they say apologizing. They have now integrated a team of designers and proudly speak of their new shop manager, who comes straight from a textile giant like Inditex. "we try to surround ourselves with people with more experience than we can learn from; we are young and bring the knowledge of the audience to whom we address, but we lack experience in other facets," they acknowledge. That's why they've been looking for more senior profiles to underpin this year's increase.

His idea is to grow up, but in a controlled way. They do not have large investments in sight and for the time being they are self-financing with the benefits they generate. The next step: jump from the digital world that dominates the physical retail so well. In November they will open a pop-up in Gràcia and for next year they will prepare for the opening of their first store in Barcelona-if it goes well, they will also try to open in Madrid. "e-commerce and digital strategy are important, but people, also the younger ones, want to interact in the physical world."