Today we’d like to introduce you to Leo Carrillo and Alex Padua.
Leo and Alex, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Alex and I were fraternity Brothers at San Diego State and became roommates shortly after graduation. Early on we discussed launching our own ecommerce venture, specifically a brand that we could both get behind and were passionate about. During my time at SDSU, I was a self-taught barber and would give haircuts between classes to 10 – 20 people each week. It was always a priority for me to have my hair looking polished. Alex was one of my clients and he was my go-to guy for hair product recommendations, but none of the products held my hair in place forcing me to mix products together to achieve the hold I was looking for. Flash-forward to one-year post-college; I had just spent $30 for a 2oz jar of what I thought was going to be the best pomade, only for it to be a complete waste and let down. I knew there had to be a better way. From then on, Alex and I were driven to create better, more affordable hair products. After 6 months of testing, product formulating and finding a strong manufacturer, we were able to launch our first product, Hair Craft Co. Original Pomade.
Today, we have three products, our Original Hair Craft Co. Pomade, Women’s Pomade and we just launched our Clay Pomade in May. Amazon is currently our primary sales channel and has allowed us to scale our business relatively quickly, selling 70-90 units per day. Driving traffic and sales to our eCommerce site is our next initiative, which is proving to be quite a challenge! We are still learning every day.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not a smooth road but that is what has made it fun and rewarding! Alex and I both work full-time jobs. When we first launched, we stayed up all night fulfilling orders followed by our 9-5. It took us weeks for Amazon to approve our products to fulfill (FBA) as they have an extremely stringent approval process in order to get a cosmetic product on their platform. On top of that, once we were live and selling, we were getting terrible reviews and feedback. We thought it was over.
Looking back, I think we rushed too quickly to market with minimal direction or strategy. We rolled with the punches, lost money and pivoted. After the initial launch of our Original Pomade, we took a step back, approached a secondary release using customer feedback in order to create a better product and customer experience. To this day it’s still a grind but we’ve been able to create a strong following and foundation of repeat buyers, which has allowed us to grow each and every month.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Hair Craft Co. story. Tell us more about it.
We are a lifestyle brand that specializes in selling direct consumer men’s hair products. We design products that help people look good, feel great, at an affordable price. From day one, it’s been our mission to deliver products that allow people to do the things they enjoy without worrying about their hair. We had been wasting countless dollars on hair products from large brand manufacturers that didn’t deliver. Our goal is to save everyone time and money by providing the best quality hair products. We work out of San Diego and continue to challenge the hair product market by pairing high quality with affordable pricing.
Do you feel like our city is a good place for businesses like yours? If someone was just starting out, would you recommend them starting out here? If not, what can our city do to improve?
I’ve always felt as though San Diego has been a hub for startups and new businesses. Throughout college and after graduation, we’ve been surrounded by brands like Pura Vida, Trust & Will, VendiBean, SoundCloud, Shakesmart, and more. I also think SDSU has had a huge impact and influence on our business. The culture of San Diego is extremely welcoming to people who are willing to start something new. I would definitely encourage other entrepreneurs to consider starting a business in San Diego. There is a lot of local support, funding, and talent no matter what vertical you’re getting into.
Pricing:
- Original Pomade: $12.01 per 4oz jar. The average market price for a product like ours ranges from $15-$22 per 3oz jar.
- Our Hair Clay is $13.01 per 3oz jar, compared to other products we’ve seen at 1.5oz jar selling from $20-$41.
- Lastly our Women’s Pomade for $10.01. We’ve noticed that women’s products specifically are especially expensive when they don’t need to be.
- Discount Code – SDVOYGER saves 20%
Contact Info:
- Website: https://haircraftco.com/
- Email: leo@haircraftco.com; alex@haircraftco.com
- Instagram: @Haircraftco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HairCraftCo/
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
