We recently connected with Chris Gomez and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Chris thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

During the height of the pandemic I was making hundreds of face masks a week. While I was making masks I would frequently watch a local Twitch stream. During the stream someone in chat said “Gibi is reviewing Kaiju’s face masks live right now!” I heard the host call out my name & said that my masks were being reviewed by one of the most popular ASMR YouTuber’s. I wasn’t familiar with this individual and soon learned that Gibi is the #1 ASMR streamer and that she has over 4 million subscribers. What followed was a weekend of absolutely insane mask sales from my online store. I was overcome with excitement and joy as I filled orders nonstop for the entire weekend. I was getting messages from customers that they learned about my masks from Gibi’s ASMR stream/video.

Another crazy story/experience that my business had that year was when I was randomly featured on NPR. One morning I started getting several text messages and messages on social media that my company was just mentioned on NPR. I had friends messaging me saying that they were listening to NPR one morning and all of a sudden they heard my company mentioned by name and that my face masks were mentioned.

Chris, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a 2nd generation Taiwanese/Hispanic American. I’m the owner of Kaiju Cut and Sew and I hand make custom bags & minimalist wares showcasing Japanese fabrics & ethically sourced leather. I like to give back to my local community by donating proceeds of my sales to different local Austin charities. To this date I have donated over $30k to 17 different local charities. In 2020 I donated $25k to several different local charities from the proceeds of my face mask sales. In 2021 I collaborated with Austin Beerworks on a beer so that we could raise awareness for the Stop AAPI Hate organization. We brewed a Jasmine Pearl Green Tea infused strong lager to be poured over ice. The beer was launched during Lunar New Year and sold out in 2 weeks. We brewed the beer again in May for AAPI Heritage Month so that it could be purchased in stores and restaurants in the Austin area. Proceeds from the sale of the re-launch of “Eastern Philosophy | A Kaiju Brew” and Kaiju merchandise was donated to the Austin Asian American Film Festival.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I left the tech industry that I was in for over 20+ years to take my company full time. I did this weeks prior to the start of the pandemic. I had no idea what I was in store for. For the first week I was in limbo not knowing what I would do or if the decision that I had made was the correct one. After talking to close friends and family I decided to pivot my businesses to making face masks so I could donate the proceeds to local charities that I cared and believed in. This decision was something that saved my company while allowing me to help those in need during a very difficult time everyone was trying to adapt to.

How did you build your audience on social media?

During the pandemic lockdown I discussed with my branding designer the best way to sell my face masks. We came up with what would essentially become Kaiju Face Mask Mondays. Every. Monday morning at 10am I would release the new face masks that I would have for the week. on Instagram. This was the only way that I sold my face masks. I would have hundreds of face masks each week and would limit the masks to 2 mask per individual in hopes of allowing more people to purchase my face masks made from 2 different Japanese fabrics. All of the masks that I made for the week would sell out in under 30 minutes. Once this started I relied on word of mouth as well as letting everyone know which charity I would be donating the proceeds to each week. My following on instagram pretty much tripled in the first week.

The 2nd thing that I did to help build my brand on social media was collaborating with local artists and companies that I love. I would make custom merchandise that we would raffle off the only requirement to be entered into the raffle was that in order to be eligible you have to be following both Instagram accounts. This helped grow my following tremendously!

Contact Info:

• Website: Kaijucutandsew.Etsy.com
• Instagram: @kaijucutandsew
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kaijucutandsew
• Twitter: @kaijucutandsew

Image Credits
Chris Gomez | Kaiju Cut and Sew