每日金句
偉大的企業是稀有的,必須用耐心等待。(Great businesses are rare; you must wait patiently.)——華倫·巴菲特(Warren Buffett)
我認為@Azuki@Azuki_Escape 現在所做的或許尚未發光發亮,但我願意為他的遠大願景,耐心等待!
IKZ⛩️
A common question I get is: "why not make Azuki into a fashion brand? That tiger jacket was so sick!"
A few thoughts...
Fashion brands are brutally hard, low margin, and trend dependent. To be at the top of that world, you need a creative director with taste, connections, and a full pipeline of seasonal drops. A fashion brand lives and dies on logistics, manufacturing, and chasing what’s cool. Imo it’s not a scalable business and honestly, I don't think the team has an edge there. We’ve done some dope drops, sure, but that’s not the core of what the Azuki team is built for. I am flattered though that even as non fashion ppl, we've just learned how to make shit to the point where ppl think it's dope enough to start an entire business around 😂🙏
What we do have is an artist and storyteller I deeply admire @steamboy33 and an extraordinary art team alongside him. We also have amazing operators and designers who can build great products around the IP.
With this team and community, my vision is to build a legendary IP. And fashion can certainly be a part of that, but it’s a supporting expression of the world, not the engine. Pokemon, Studio Ghibli, One Piece, etc.., their fashion collabs go crazy because the story, characters, and universe came first. If Azuki positioned itself as a fashion brand, we’d cap the ceiling of what the IP can become.
The potential for Azuki to grow into a massive anime franchise with the tcg, manga, and anime, is a far bigger bet. And I know not everyone is excited about the same things. That’s fine. I encourage you to build what you are personally excited about. We have holders within the community who are inspired by the Azuki IP and have built fashion brands themselves (check out @RedBeanGuild).
For the team, our focus is the IP. The TCG is the core product, and the vision ahead is clear. A lot of people are excited to be part of that.
TLDR: Azuki tapping into fashion is a strength. Azuki being a fashion brand would be a limitation. We’re building a universe, not a clothing line.