Mayari’s Blog

I got to London last weekend and I’ve been walking around a lot, taking mainroads and small alleys. That’s how I get familiar with a place.

Observing people and the environment I tried to compare London with Shanghai (where I’ve been living more than 4 months). But I failed. Those two cities are simply too different. They are both big and busy. But almost everything else is different. I like Shanghai but I start to realise that London could be great as well…

I always thought Shanghai was very international. And compared to Wuxi or Bern - even Zurich - it is. But compared to London it isn’t at all! At the moment, as an Asian-Caucasian woman having no real home I feel that I would blend in visually and mentalitywise here in London’s environment best.

Will my future be in Shanghai or London - or even another city? Either or, what I understand is: cosmopolitan cities inspire me, keep me going and make me happy.

I went to visit Art Basel. But I was a little disappointed. Or maybe I’m no more too familiar with contemporary art and its artists. A lot of the pieces didn’t draw my attention. Many of them seemed to be somewhat familiar in its materiality and incomprehensible in its content. There weren’t a lot of revolutionary works exhibited so that I was thinking: Oh, that’s really clever and new, somehow distracting or widening my mind or in an other way touching my soul. What’s wrong with art… with me? Am I expecting too much?

At first I concentrated on the artworks. But at the end I was studying the visitors more than the art around them. These people seemed to be more interesting to me than the works of the artists! There were all kinds of people from all kinds of nationalities, ages and backgrounds. All kinds of styles. True individuals. Unique. Yet all in all a perfect mix. Next time I will go there to watch the visitors. It’s really interesting!

I got to know Threadless about 1.5 years ago and since then they became more and more successful. To me this is not surprising. I like their business model. (Read more on inc.com - the costumer ist the company.)

Here is what I like most about their concept:
- They integrate “constumers” (producing and selecting designs). Not more and not less. People feel like they have something to say (and some actually do) and feel like being part of something bigger than themselves. They diminish the idea of seller (sometimes regarded as greedy people) and buyer (sometimes regarded as the stupid people) This makes both parties social and clever. At the end of the day it’s still about selling and buying but it feels more democratic.
- They don’t spend money for advertising. As so many people feel involved, they do advertise for Threadless all by themselves. It’s not only word-of-mouth but rather “see-and-touch propaganda” and I feel this is the most effective (and I guess the oldest) way to promote products.
- It’s T-shirts (universal & simple) combined with graphics (very personal): Simple T-shirts serve as a canvas for what you think you may be. Of course you want people to see what graphic you picked eg. what your style is: Threadless T-shirts are highly comfortable and visible.
- Their website is simple and intuitive. It’s a social community but you can only do things that are necessary for their business model. They KISS: Keep-It-Short&Simple.
- They don’t overproduce. They can manage their logistics. I guess they are a flexible, small enough team that can keep an overview on their business and (re)act clever.

In these ways, Threadless is very sustainable.

Finally I just feel like saying: We are all same, same but different. And Threadless respects that. It’s just great.

I just read the main article in “brand eins - das wirtschaftsmagazin” about competition.

There are more and more people on this finite planet. But less and less “valuable” ressources. How do you make sure that you get your part of what’s left?

The article says nature would act like this: Individuals would let the weak die or even act aggressive and kill them - survival of the fittest.
But the article also says that we do not longer follow this “natural” way as people are intelligent and emotional beings: People would rather find solutions to increse the ressources (recycling, gentechnology etc.) - to be positively destructive.
Which way do you feel better about? Because at the end of the day we are still egoistic beings who want to feel good.

What we learn is: Competiton should no longer make you angry and destructive but inspire you and make you create clever solutions. Watch your competitors, learn from them and be a bit better - a bit cleverer.

Btw. An article that fits this topic McKinsey Survey: Competition from China