When the MCO first started in March 2020, we were all stuck at home with nothing to do and plenty of time to kill. Some of us (though not me) took up new hobbies like cooking, woodworking and more. My family even had a phase where they simply baked various types of bread, but that fire burned them soon after.
Meanwhile, others have turned these MCO hobbies into booming home businesses. Something they share in common? These activities usually require wearing an apron to protect clothing, whether from food spills or wood shavings.
A good quality one can last you a long time and is usually not an investment that you consider necessary if someone just creates for fun or just starts their new business with other costs. Then, this opens up a gift opportunity and it is this market that CY Yau, co-founder The apron maker, wants to aim with their customizable aprons.
A clear advantage over the competition
CY easily admitted that customizable aprons are not an innovative idea. You can send your design to any clothing printing service, print it on an apron, and call it up to date. But for fans who feel that traditional and traditional aprons do not suit their needs, either because of the lack of pockets or because of their personalization, CY sees their product as having a clear advantage over the competition.
“We recognize that in the market, many focus in the personalized impressesion instead of do aprons of good quality. This gives us the edge when customers are looking for better options to make their own aprons or as a gift to friends, ”CY said.
Depending on your profession, the quality of the apron can be crucial. Imagine if you are working as a butcher and all your aprons are hard to clean and stained with blood. Your customers may come out once they see that you can’t even control the cleanliness of your aprons. And if you’re a carpenter, aprons are key to storing your handy tools when you work.
But the idea to start making customizable aprons wasn’t just for CY. The other two co-founders, Samantha and Mei Yi, brought the idea to the table. Since CY runs a uniform garment manufacturing company, the team has complete control over the materials and fabrics that an apron contains. This helps them ensure that each and every one of their products lives up to their name.
With CY’s manufacturing background, Samantha’s digital marketing experience and Mei Yi’s product development capability, the team took advantage of its combined strengths to start the business.
While running his own manufacturing factory, he remarked that the team had to use 10,000 RM from their own pockets to start the business. The trio spent a year researching and understanding the market and validating their product before finally launching The Apron Maker in January 2021.
During this time, CY revealed that they did not charge any salary to the company and that all funds were used in product testing and sampling. Since then, the company has gone on to form a team of seven people.
Removing the seams
Aside from the year it took to validate its product, CY revealed part of the hustle and bustle of running a company that only manufactures a single product. One of the biggest challenges they still face to this day is making sure they can meet the customer’s vision in terms of design and appearance.
With custom-made aprons, customers will first contact the team and receive a quote. Budget can range from 99.99 RM or more, after considering fabric, printing, labor, logistics and more. The client will then pass on their design ideas to the team.
The team’s in-house designers will take the design, complete it, and visualize it for the client. Once the customer approves the design, the team will begin printing, packaging and delivering the apron. The whole process can be exhausting and time consuming for the small team.
Also, since 80% of The Apron Maker customers are from the B2C marketplace and buy aprons as a gift, the team has to juggle multiple aprons and unique deadlines to make sure the gifts arrive on time. However, CY said they have recently noticed an increase in B2B customer orders. They usually sell about 300 aprons a month.
Adding more notches to the belts
Currently, The Apron Maker only has a few options available, but they are working to increase the color and print options, CY said. At the same time, they are working on creating an online design setup to improve the design process for customers and equipment.
In 2022 they want to expand their services to neighboring countries such as Singapore and Indonesia, as long as there is demand for their aprons. They have already increased their production capacity, with the shared team now being able to get up to 100 aprons a day.
Aprons are not the first gift idea we can think of, but as mentioned above, the MCO has given rise to many creative companies that could use an apron and therefore a customizable one would be a thoughtful gift. .
Although the pandemic has increased the uptake of these activities and companies, these have existed since the pre-pandemic era and will continue to be a very distant thing in the future. Since it does not depend on a particular short-term trend, it could be concluded that The Apron Maker can enjoy business longevity as long as its growth plans are carefully managed.
Featured Image Credit: The Apron Maker
