SLCKR's Story
What started out as an idea in my college dorm room turned out to be the brand SLCKR has become today. From cardboard prototypes to traveling across the country for shows, and now a full fledged cut & sew into functional workwear, here's a bit about our journey.
Finding Barbering
My mom cut my hair pretty much my whole adolescent life. While she wasn't necessarily a hairstylist by trade, she did the best she could. I actually got my first fade and hard part in a super cuts. I remember being slightly scared to walk out with this "edgy" haircut to my friend, as it wasn't too common around my area. My go-to-guy at super cuts got fired for, get this, putting too much effort into his haircuts. After his departure, I was forced off in search of a new spot, and found it in a shop called "Cruisin' Styles" a town over from me. My first real barber, Thad, had an easygoing swagger to him that really drew me to the world of barbering. I picked up my first pair of clippers at 17 and started cutting any of my bold acquaintances that were willing to take part.
The College Barber
I gave a whole lot of haircuts in my sophomore year apartment, welcoming in faces new and old to have a seat in my shared bathroom. This is where I met Ben! I would shave off his crown and give him a crappy fade with some razor lines every few weeks. I eventually upgraded to our storage closet down the hall, and stepped it up big time with a basement barbershop a year later. Even early on, it was cool to see how barbering connected you with so many individuals you wouldn't have otherwise crossed paths with.
Early Thoughts of SLCKR
I began getting really into the world of Instagram barbering early on. When you first get into the space, a lot of these guys seem like celebrities (even though they most certainly are not :-)). I saw a bunch of really creative individuals who clearly had an interest in their own personal style. It was then that I started noticing a mismatch between the products that were offered in the market to our industry and the shopping preferences of the majority of people within it. A seed was planted.
Prototyping
We started building our initial iterations of what would later become The Rig with a bit of cardboard, hot glue, and elbow grease. I still have this hunk of cardboard today, though it’s falling apart at the “seams”. This really all started as part of a class project. Yes, I did initially plan to call this "The Barber Loadout". Thank god I didn't. If you look closely on the board, you can see that I used Kanye West wearing a chest rig as validation for creating this product.
Our early days were pretty gritty. We launched a product no one had ever heard of and expected it to sell like crazy at the low ticket price of $220. Newsflash, that was not the case. Aided by the Covid 19 pandemic where no one was working, we sold about 2 units on our first day (only 248 more to go!). Instead of laying down and rolling over, we started reaching out to everyone who would listen and basically begging them to buy our product. Whether those individuals pitied us or actually wanted the product, I can't be sure. But it worked! We started to hit as many shows as we could to meet new people and get the word out about our products.
It took us about two years to get to 9K followers on Instagram, then about 4 months to go from 9k to 40k. That accelerated growth gave us traction to expand brand recognition and the confidence to start thinking about extending our product line. In the process, we planted the seed for a new wave of barber goods and accessories.
Enter The Shop Tee, a simple, everyday tee crafted for in the shop and out. With The Shop Tee, we made our entrance into a line that most people know us for today - functional workwear crafted for our industry, but fashionable enough to wear out and about. With the success of The Shop Tee, we were off to the races developing new pieces.
Today, we’re hyper focused on expanding our product offering to keep your fresh in the shop and out. You can now wear a full fit of SLCKR pieces day in and day out. We plan on continuing to build the best workwear for you, and just making pieces of clothing that you can feel good in whether you are cutting hair or not.
We're just getting started, and there is so much more ahead for SLCKR. Be sure to keep up with us on Instagram @slckrusa as we continue on our journey.