In 2020, Karim Abed was the chief monetary officer for a Texas-based residence builder. The job paid nicely, he says, however he yearned to launch his personal enterprise and reconnect along with his Egyptian heritage.
Quick ahead to 2025, and that enterprise is WYR, a males’s attire model using Giza cotton, the storied material, and small Egypt-based factories. The corporate is flourishing.
In our latest dialog, Karim addressed WYR’s preliminary struggles, subsequent development, and, sure, the advantages of Egyptian cotton and craftspeople.
Our total audio is embedded under. The transcript is condensed and edited for high quality.
Eric Bandholz: Inform us who you might be and what you do.
Karim Abed: I’m the founding father of WYR, a males’s premium clothes model launched in 2020. My girlfriend, now my spouse, steered WYR, shorthand for “what you’d fairly” put on. I cherished the simplicity and caught with it.
Earlier than WYR, I spent practically a decade in Texas working in finance, finally because the chief monetary officer for an actual property division of a house builder. It was financially rewarding, however I needed to create one thing of my very own.
I ultimately selected clothes due to household connections in Egypt. I hoped to reconnect with my tradition and heritage whereas producing high quality gadgets — shirts, pants, boxers — utilizing Egyptian cotton, a famend product.
In January 2020, simply earlier than the pandemic, I traveled to Egypt with material samples and refined patterns that I had labored on for six months, and I launched in July of that 12 months.
I realized from errors. I saved my finance job to fund the enterprise, so I may afford to lose a couple of dollars. We misplaced a superb amount of cash within the first and second years. Covid unexpectedly helped by letting me make money working from home and concentrate on WYR after hours.
Bandholz: When did you commit absolutely to the attire firm?
Abed: We bought just one,000 items within the first six months and generated solely $20,000 in income in the course of the first 12 months. As soon as I refined our promoting proposition — premium Giza cotton, exact match, nice critiques — gross sales exploded. Income jumped to just about $1 million in 12 months two. That development gave me the boldness to go full-time.
Many attire manufacturers order from giant factories, typically in Japanese Europe. I selected a distinct path. I supply in Egypt and work with small artisan-run workshops as a substitute of massive producers. A craftsman with 35 years’ expertise leads our foremost facility. He nonetheless sews and manages a 15-person crew.
Partnering with these artisans ensures meticulous high quality and permits for customized particulars similar to curved hems, distinctive stitching, and tailor-made armholes that enormous factories wouldn’t accommodate. We offer them sufficient enterprise to focus solely on WYR.
To keep up requirements, we added our personal high quality management crew to those small factories. This hands-on method lets us protect the craftsmanship and match that outline our model whereas scaling manufacturing responsibly.
All informed, we make the most of six factories, relying on demand. Every focuses on a ability. For instance, one focuses on chinos as a result of it has the proper equipment for twill cotton, whereas one other handles our curved hems, which require exact stitching. We match every product to the ability finest fitted to that craft.
This community took months to construct. Via my spouse’s household connections, I met an skilled manufacturing supervisor who joined our crew. He helped us check quite a few small workshops, dropping those who didn’t meet requirements and including new ones as wanted.
Right this moment, we’ve got eight employees members in Egypt, together with managers for high quality management, stock, and manufacturing. We additionally preserve a small warehouse. We function lean, producing on an as-needed foundation. Proudly owning our yarn permits us to remain versatile and hold a decent stock whereas guaranteeing constant high quality.
Bandholz: What’s the distinction between Egyptian and Giza cotton?
Abed: Giza is a selected, long-staple pressure of Egyptian cotton, graded by location and fiber kind. It’s uncommon and government-regulated. Most “Egyptian cotton” merchandise aren’t really Giza. We safe manufacturing by reserving about 10 tons of yarn from a trusted textile mill and verifying it ourselves.
Customers might imagine a t-shirt is machine-made begin to end, however for us, expert labor is vital. Drawing and layering patterns, exact slicing, and cautious stitching all have an effect on the ultimate high quality. Each step — from choosing the cotton to spinning, dyeing, and stitching — occurs in Egypt.
Our cotton is pricey. It’s the best enter value for our shirts. Cheaper alternate options can be found in nations similar to China, Bangladesh, and India. China, specifically, excels at artificial athletic materials. However for genuine Giza cotton high quality, Egypt is unmatched.
Bandholz: You’ve succeeded with attire, a aggressive trade.
Abed: The problem was convincing shoppers — who can’t really feel our shirts on-line — of their worth. We relied closely on advertisements with fast, attention-grabbing messages about our match, Giza cotton material, and easy, logo-free type. That constructed sufficient belief and critiques to drive repeat purchases, which stay our greatest development engine.
Going viral isn’t sensible for minimalist fundamentals. Our attraction is discreet consolation and timeless high quality, not flashy logos. As a substitute, we concentrate on regular buyer acquisition and retention.
Early on, I employed a number of advertising and marketing companies, however none cared as a lot as I did. With my finance and analytical background, I noticed I may handle most of it myself. Now I deal with advert technique with one crew member, outsourcing solely content material creation. For promotions similar to Black Friday, we plan campaigns, drop the inventive into our advertisements, and carefully monitor efficiency.
Bandholz: How do you discover content material creators?
Abed: We produce podcast episodes in-house. Businesses create humorous advertisements, and our clients generate critiques and testimonials. I discover creators on Instagram who match our minimalist vibe, then invite them to make genuine posts.
Surprisingly, easy flat-lay pictures — only a well-styled shirt and pants — carry out exceptionally nicely, though they’re tough to shoot, so we outsource a few of that work. The bottom line is fixed iteration and various inventive sources to maintain advertisements contemporary.
I want creators who genuinely like our shirts, fairly than these chasing paychecks. Some settle for merchandise in trade for content material. I keep away from costly “pay-to-play” offers as a result of audiences can sense inauthenticity.
We briefly tried a big public relations company for publicity, nevertheless it felt out of brand name. I’d fairly develop grassroots than pay athletes or influencers five-figure sums for sponsorships. Authenticity issues greater than big-name endorsements.
Bandholz: What’s your subsequent development stage?
Abed: We intend to scale rigorously. Having a single manufacturing unit targeted solely on us could be wonderful. I’ve even toyed with opening my very own facility, however that’s a completely totally different enterprise.
In an ideal world, I’d personal each a part of the availability chain, from manufacturing to promoting. That offers clients the best worth and ensures the highest quality. However I additionally worth my life outdoors of labor and wish time with my household.
I’m not a fan of the “develop first, revenue later” mindset. Some founders run losses for years earlier than turning money move constructive. I consider a enterprise ought to show itself inside two or three years. Scaling takes steps. You may’t bounce in a single day from promoting 200,000 shirts yearly to 2 million. The provision chain should develop methodically to take care of high quality.
Bandholz: The place can folks purchase your shirts or attain out?
Abed: Our website is Wyrwear.com. We’re additionally on Instagram. I’m on LinkedIn.
