In this episode of Add To Cart, we are joined by Nathan Yun and Rex Zhang from Paire
Paire – P A I R E – is a sock brand that is all about comfort and sustainability. Friends, Nathan and Rex set about reinventing sock functionality to address frustrating experiences with smelly, sweaty, slippy foot underwear and the results have bagged them five star reviews, angel investment and revenue doubling year on year. Their range has now expanded to include t-shirts, towels and loungewear. In this chat Nathan and Rex give us a fascinating window into the world of fabric technology, advice on how a Shopify site can be anything but standard and some sobering insights from their lived experience as Asian Australian founders.
“After a couple of days we got a call from him saying, best socks ever, do you need any investment?”
Challenging socks
And another interesting find was the reason why socks are slippery is simply because most of the socks are knitted at a 120 degree angle, but your foot is 90 degrees. So it turns out no one is questioning and trying to adjust the sock knitting machine, because the machine has been set at a 120 degree angle forever. So when we developed Paire socks, we actually requested the factory to actually adjust the machine to different settings. So it’s capable of knitting 90 degree socks.”
Customise the standard
The first version of our website, we had a really unique homepage, which we don’t use anymore now. But that was a non-negotiable design that we really wanted. Because the main reason for going fully custom is because we don’t want to look like any other Shopify store anymore. Anyone who works in the industry, they will tell us like, hey, how did you build your website? It doesn’t look like a Shopify store.
We manage our site speed with very detailed work in the codes. We try to find smart ways to get around it. But at the end of the day, it’s still Shopify because Shopify still gives us the most flexibility with different apps. But. It’s a balance between tech efficiency and what you want to achieve as a website.”
Lived experience
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The post Innovating in the Textile Industry: How Paire is Redefining Comfort and Sustainability | #356 appeared first on Add To Cart.
