The Origin of Coregami

Artists serving Artists : the Coregami origin story

Hey it's me, Kevin at Coregami.

Coregami started in June 2015. We began with the simple idea - that formal wear should be functional. We couldn’t have imagined that in a few short years, we’d be in every major orchestra in the country and used by more artists than any other brand.

This is the toughest thing I’ve ever done. Yet this is the happiest chapter of my life. If you have a minute, I’d like to share the unlikely story of how I got into this mess.

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No one likes a quitter. But in 2013, I did just that.

After years fighting rush hour traffic, I left a good job to see the world. I ate my way through Germany, UK, Turkey, Bulgaria and slept on sofas. The doner kebabs in Istanbul are as good for breakfast as they are for dinner. I didn't miss a single curry wurst cart in Berlin. While having late night instant ramen, my buddy told me about The El Camino de Santiago. Few weeks later, I found myself walking 600 miles across Spain collecting blisters and stories.

Seeing the world, connecting with people, and stuffing my face was exactly what I needed to punch the reset button on my life. By the time I returned home to Dallas, the noise was gone and I could hear a signal. 

I’ve done a lot of really stupid things in my life and I’m not done yet. But there are three things that I've done right:

   #1.  Keeping music in my life despite having rejected music school three times.
   #2.  Asking a special girl to quit her job to be unemployed with me.
   #3.  Pressing the reset button on my life and starting from zero.

" If you solve your own problem, you will have at least one customer "

- A Good Friend - 

After a symphony performance, I looked down under my jacket. My entire tuxedo was soaked like a wet sponge. I couldn’t move. And the worst part was the stench.

I thought to myself "there’s got to be a better way!"

They say suffering leads to wisdom. So I did the unimaginable -- and went shopping. To me, malls are very much like giant labyrinths with endless aisles that connect to more aisles. And internet shopping can sometimes feel like a virtual flea market with infinite options. As a guy, I generally know what I would like to buy before the shopping process. In this case, I knew what I wanted. But searching for comfy formal wear is much like searching for a mythical creature. I'm sure it's there, but I've never actually seen it. Stuck between bad and no options, I decided do it myself. 

“ The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. ”

- Confucius -

 

Bringing an idea to life and building a business around it is like passing a truck through a water hose.  I've had some tough gigs in the past. But this is the toughest thing I've ever done. There’s never enough time, money or energy. The sky's always falling and it's always my fault. Some common sense really helps. But more than anything else, I had to learn how to be resourceful.

The first prototype was a disaster and the second was even worse. I was so embarrassed when I showed it to my musician friends. But to my surprise, they were all excited and eager to give feedback. The prototypes started to improve with every design iteration. Many months later, I opened a box with the latest prototype. It wasn't embarrassing at all.   

One of the questions that we get most often is "how did you come up with the name?"  The truth is, I wanted to name the company origami - because the reams of white fabric reminded me of the Japanese art of folding paper into objects. A quick search revealed that the domain would cost more money than I've ever seen. With a little imagination, I bought the domain Coregami.com for $16.99 and a company was born.

 

Since day one, we produced our garments in Los Angeles. It's truly the city of angels except that the fashion district sits by one of the largest homeless populations in the country. It was like an IKEA of street tents. There were days when my wife, seventy year old mother and I would have to tip-toe through sidewalk living rooms to catch meetings.

There's a lot of magic that happens behind a web store. With some help, we set up our site on Shopify. We learned how to use Shipstation to manage shipping and MailChimp for email marketing. My Brazilian tennis buddy took all the product photos in his studio. Our other tennis buddy (Dallas Symphony musician) became the first fit model. The warehouse sits at the back of the condo. Our tiny living room became the fulfillment center. Friends and family members would come over to help and stay for dinner.

In June 2015, we flipped the switch and Coregami went live. The crickets were real loud. I kept thinking that I should've kept my day job.

Back then, the idea of technical formal wear didn’t exist. It was hard to sell the story. With some pull from a good friend, we landed on a music and fashion blog. The discussions started to boil and one day, fuel caught fire. Coregami went viral and we landed on the front page of the New York Times.

Since that day, the media frenzy has softened. But our tiny little startup continues to push forward. Our last product release sold out in three hours. Production is struggling to keep up and we get emails every day with new products ideas.  We're flying by the seat of our pants.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2017

• Released our second product, The Bernstein

• Partnered with River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (American Prize Winner 2017)

• Partnered with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (Grammy Award Winner)

• Released our third product, The Coltrane, which sold out in 3 hours

• News Coverage: Fox NYC “Look Good while you Feel Good” 

• Serving Dallas Symphony’s community outreach program (Dallas Young Strings)

• Collaborating with elite solo artists to rethink formal wear

• Serving musicians in every top orchestra in the U.S. (3,000+ musicians world wide)

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TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

“With great power, comes great responsibility” - Spiderman's Uncle

We just saw the new movie and this quote kept humming in my head. I feel that we've been placed in a unique position - not from a market opportunity standpoint - but rather to be first company in the world to help performing artists take their craft to a new level. It's so exciting because there are few companies top of mind that has led with this clarity of heart and inspiration since Tom's, Nike, and Lululemon.   

Our story is not done being told. We believe that the good stuff is still ahead. Moving forward, we hope to better serve our community. We will do Good and we will do Better. 

From the bottom of our hearts, we say Thank You.

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Kevin 
Founder @ Coregami

 

This article is poorly written because I wrote it myself.