If you are on my Facebook or have been following me on instagram, you would have know that on 9 Aug at 12 midnight, i finally launched my very own blog shop - Graphikos! I have always wanted to experience how is it like to own an online store, sharing my style of dressing with others (and it's also a good excuse to do a photoshoot, LOL!) In fact, i almost opened one during my poly days! I had the concept and website up, purchased the stocks but that blogshop never did opened as i was procrastinate further and further. Day by day, i ended up wearing everything that i bought!
The idea of Graphikos this time came about when a few of my friends was telling me, since i'm forever buying new clothes (esp when i go overseas) and readers of my blog sometimes asked where i get my clothes from, why not buy a few pieces more of the same design and try sell it online? I gave a few thoughts, and finally decided to give it a try.
Opening a blogshop was not easy as i thought. There is always this "fear" in my mind that wonders what if it's gonna be a failure, whether anyone would buy your stuff, what are you going do with the leftover stocks etc. But then again, if you don't try, how will you know? So i made up my mind, sat down with a piece of blank paper and started planning.
First up was, what's gonna be the name of my store? It has got to be catchy like when people mention it, they will immediately thought of your store. A good example would be Ohsofickle and LoveBonito. I thought a VERY long time, randomly googled some words trying to get some inspiration, trying to go along the line related to what i'm selling which is graphic tees and while brainstorming, i came across the word - Graphikos. Here's the meaning to the word:
I was like, Graphikos sounds not bad hor? and then i decided to go along with it. Ok lah, it's not exactly catchy and first thing people ask would be, "Oi, how to spell? Graphic then what?" But nevertheless, i still decided to go ahead with it. Of course before that you need to do some research by googling and see if anyone else in the world is using it for their store etc, whether the instagram/twitter username (just in case!) is taken blah blah blah before going ahead with it!
By the way, if you haven't realised. Graphikos is Greek for Graphics which explains the weird wordings.
Now that i got my store name, next up would be the website. I was thinking if there was an "easy way out" because designing a website from a scratch is really taxing and i'm not sure if it's really worth the effort (what if it fails! lol) then i thought, why not integrate it into my own blog? This way i don't have to create a brand new website for it, plus it's easier for it manage since i'm so comfortable with blogger already. So did a really really simple design if you have seen the page and i'm quite satisfied with it. Maybe in the future when i'm sure there's a market for my graphic tees, it might be a full fledged online store website with those shopping cart, mailing list features and what not? We shall see! :D
Last but not least would be the photos of the apparels.
I wanted to do a "professional" shoot with the nice lighting, backdrop etc (like i say, this is part of a good excuse to do more photo shoots, lolololol) so i BHB-ly asked for studio sponsors on my twitter and managed to get one eventually BUT it's probably gonna be for the next collection onwards because i only got the sponsorship after i already took the photos for Collection 1 at Republic Poly. Seriously FML for being so impatient and not waiting for their reply, LOLOLOL
Last minute couldn't get a studio so brainstorm-ed for somewhere which is quiet with no one to disturb, must be accessible to the washroom because i had to change to the different outfits (18 of them!), somewhere with nice plain background and i randomly thought of my poly - Republic Poly. So the next morning i packed all my apparels, accessories etc into one super big bag and dragged it all the way to Woodlands from Pasir Ris and back. What a feat, HAHA
The idea of Graphikos this time came about when a few of my friends was telling me, since i'm forever buying new clothes (esp when i go overseas) and readers of my blog sometimes asked where i get my clothes from, why not buy a few pieces more of the same design and try sell it online? I gave a few thoughts, and finally decided to give it a try.
Opening a blogshop was not easy as i thought. There is always this "fear" in my mind that wonders what if it's gonna be a failure, whether anyone would buy your stuff, what are you going do with the leftover stocks etc. But then again, if you don't try, how will you know? So i made up my mind, sat down with a piece of blank paper and started planning.
First up was, what's gonna be the name of my store? It has got to be catchy like when people mention it, they will immediately thought of your store. A good example would be Ohsofickle and LoveBonito. I thought a VERY long time, randomly googled some words trying to get some inspiration, trying to go along the line related to what i'm selling which is graphic tees and while brainstorming, i came across the word - Graphikos. Here's the meaning to the word:
I was like, Graphikos sounds not bad hor? and then i decided to go along with it. Ok lah, it's not exactly catchy and first thing people ask would be, "Oi, how to spell? Graphic then what?" But nevertheless, i still decided to go ahead with it. Of course before that you need to do some research by googling and see if anyone else in the world is using it for their store etc, whether the instagram/twitter username (just in case!) is taken blah blah blah before going ahead with it!
By the way, if you haven't realised. Graphikos is Greek for Graphics which explains the weird wordings.
Now that i got my store name, next up would be the website. I was thinking if there was an "easy way out" because designing a website from a scratch is really taxing and i'm not sure if it's really worth the effort (what if it fails! lol) then i thought, why not integrate it into my own blog? This way i don't have to create a brand new website for it, plus it's easier for it manage since i'm so comfortable with blogger already. So did a really really simple design if you have seen the page and i'm quite satisfied with it. Maybe in the future when i'm sure there's a market for my graphic tees, it might be a full fledged online store website with those shopping cart, mailing list features and what not? We shall see! :D
Last but not least would be the photos of the apparels.
I wanted to do a "professional" shoot with the nice lighting, backdrop etc (like i say, this is part of a good excuse to do more photo shoots, lolololol) so i BHB-ly asked for studio sponsors on my twitter and managed to get one eventually BUT it's probably gonna be for the next collection onwards because i only got the sponsorship after i already took the photos for Collection 1 at Republic Poly. Seriously FML for being so impatient and not waiting for their reply, LOLOLOL
Last minute couldn't get a studio so brainstorm-ed for somewhere which is quiet with no one to disturb, must be accessible to the washroom because i had to change to the different outfits (18 of them!), somewhere with nice plain background and i randomly thought of my poly - Republic Poly. So the next morning i packed all my apparels, accessories etc into one super big bag and dragged it all the way to Woodlands from Pasir Ris and back. What a feat, HAHA
Whole shoot took about 4 hours and i was quite pleased with the end results!
Special thanks and mention to Joyce and Don for helping me out for the shoot! But they also had their fair share of fun lor, everytime i go to toilet to change to another outfit, they happily camwhore and did their own version of photoshoot!
The most taxing part is definitely the photo editing.
I had to go through the same steps for every apparel and it's definitely not easy. I wanted a "one photo overall" concept as shown above. On the left would be the *er-hem* model shoot. HAHAHHAHAHAH!!!!! then on the top right is the overall of the tee which i almost died editing because i never bother to iron the clothes! All the crease, OH MY GODDD. I had to photoshop them away, some damn jialat, no amount of photoshop can help. Sorry for not being professional enough, i promise i will do better next time. Lastly, bottom right would be the main design of the apparel.
Now that i got everything up, i had to choose the magical date - which was supposed to be on 1st Aug. Start of the month heng heng ma, but i last minute realised i had to hand in an advertorial that night. If late, they will cut my payout so i postpone the launch lor :( In the end, i chose 9 Aug which is also Singapore's National Day! Launched exactly at 12mn and stared at my inbox for the next 2 hours and I GOT AN ORDER! *throw confetti all over the place* LOL
At 2am in the morning, weird.
Without further ado, let me officially announced the launch of Graphikos right here on my blog:
The most taxing part is definitely the photo editing.
I had to go through the same steps for every apparel and it's definitely not easy. I wanted a "one photo overall" concept as shown above. On the left would be the *er-hem* model shoot. HAHAHHAHAHAH!!!!! then on the top right is the overall of the tee which i almost died editing because i never bother to iron the clothes! All the crease, OH MY GODDD. I had to photoshop them away, some damn jialat, no amount of photoshop can help. Sorry for not being professional enough, i promise i will do better next time. Lastly, bottom right would be the main design of the apparel.
Now that i got everything up, i had to choose the magical date - which was supposed to be on 1st Aug. Start of the month heng heng ma, but i last minute realised i had to hand in an advertorial that night. If late, they will cut my payout so i postpone the launch lor :( In the end, i chose 9 Aug which is also Singapore's National Day! Launched exactly at 12mn and stared at my inbox for the next 2 hours and I GOT AN ORDER! *throw confetti all over the place* LOL
At 2am in the morning, weird.
Without further ado, let me officially announced the launch of Graphikos right here on my blog:
Click on the above image to be linked to the page to view the collection.
Do support me by RT-ing my tweets or sharing the link on your facebook. Appreciate much! ♥
Do support me by RT-ing my tweets or sharing the link on your facebook. Appreciate much! ♥