Thriving of a niche brand

The country's local market is filled with hundreds if not thousands of e-commerce, retail and f-commerce brands in similar categories like T-shirts, shirts, pants, or punjabis. Only a few people do anything beyond that as it is easier to follow what someone else has already done. So, venturing into a new category with little budget is quite challenging.

Two youths, Imran and Efad, in Narayanganj took the challenge in August, 2021 when they invested a tiny amount of Tk 12,000. They started selling caps! Three years after, it becomes a thriving business with the brand name HEAD GEAR.

Within six months of the small venture, Imran and Efad earned 1.2 million followers on Facebook. They dreamed that they were going to create a niche brand from a scratch, selling caps. Suddenly, things fell apart as they lost everything overnight when their page was deleted completely in the blink of an eye.

Though devastated, Imran and Efad started things off from a scratch again, this time promoting the brand primarily on their e-commerce site (www.headgearbd.com). Rayan, with his eight years of experience in the RMG supply chain, joined them along with his brother Rashik after the e-commerce site had some initial success. The goal was to move away from selling re-seller caps to producing their product and establishing HEAD GEAR as a leading cap brand in the country.

The energetic efforts of the four youths draw attention of many and two more joined them by the third quarter of 2023. They are: Farhan (Director of Travel Architect) and his friend Ratul (CEO of Plus Online Marketing). So, a team of 'super-six' is there and the business growth accelerated further.

Today, HEAD GEAR has become a re-seller brand having 150-plus unique designs and proudly showcasing these on their website. Imran leads the design side while Rayan looks after the whole production pipeline. Efad is at the heart of the operation that kept the whole thing going. Their factory is situated in Savar.

Besides designs, HEAD GEAR puts emphasis on the quality coupled with aesthetics of packaging. Although HEAD GEAR has a predominantly younger customer-base, it has successfully drawn attraction of different ages -- from young college and university students to senior corporate people.

Moreover, HEAD GEAR's innovative designs, premium boxing, and incredible marketing have meant a lot of people tried their first cap with the brand.

As they started to focus more on Dhaka with their marketing initially, now the brand is expanding fast. To put into perspective how fast they are growing, HEAD GEAR sold around 1000 caps in a one-day sale in November. Within three months, 29 February to be exact, it yielded a staggering fivefold more sales. This happened with an obsession with giving the brand visibility to everyone. And it isn't bounded by geography as well. HEAD GEAR has customers from all over Bangladesh. They have completed orders from all 64 districts of the country already.

Over the last few months, HEAD GEAR has also collaborated with numerous micro and major influencers to establish a strong brand presence. They have already partnered with multiple major celebrities and companies to launch unique products in mutual collaborations. From well-known brands to popular music artists, HEAD GEAR has collaborations in place for everyone.

With fast growing in the local market, HEAD GEAR now envisions going regional first. They are already in talks to expand in India and the Middle East markets. Bangladesh as a country has not seen many brands go beyond the local boundaries. HEAD GEAR wants to be that exception. They believe that they have the product and the team to go the distance!