We recently connected with Fernando Quispe and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Fernando thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

The pandemic really slowed things down for a lot of businesses, so adapting to new times and making yourself stand out from the crowd is something that is highly necessary. Ways that I’ve showed my customer(s) I appreciate them is by providing flash sale discount codes, free giveaways – where all they need to do is tag someone on a post and be entered to win at random, and incentives where if you buy a specific item you can get an item for free. In a time where big corporations run the market and small businesses pop up left and right, it’s important to show your customer that you are appreciative of them and without them the brand would be nothing. That’s why taking less profit and or taking a loss on product is never an issue to me.. I want my customers to feel like family and I want them to know they are appreciated, the least I can do from time to time is give back!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The way the brand started is honestly pretty insane, I would have never expected it! I was going to school in New York City at the Fashion Institute of Technology and was taking a Marketing course that required us to make up a brand/storefront/marketing plan as a project that was going to be an important factor to us passing the class. I honestly just wanted to pass and move onto my next courses so that I can graduate as soon as I can, so I got to work and gave the project my all.

I already knew about brands such as Supreme, Stussy, BAPE, Billionaire Boys Club, etc. and had been collecting some of those brands for a bit so I had an idea of where to start – I think it was more or so coming up with a name that I had difficulties with. At this specific time, I remember being a HUGE fan of Billionaire Boys Club because I really liked the inspirational/motivational messages some of their pieces included and I knew I wanted to follow those footsteps. I finally landed on the name “Club De Richesse Superior” but for some reason I just didn’t like the sound of it so then I ended up dropping the “Superior” and keeping the Club De Richesse. Club De Richesse is the French pronunciation for The Wealth Club and I feel like it’s a perfect name for the brand. At Club De Richesse our mission is to inspire/motivate the youth and show them that wealth not only comes in the form of money but also love, happiness, and knowledge.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Initially, I started off by printing on Champion blanks (T-Shirts, Sweatpants, Sweatshorts). Everyone was doing it at the time, so I thought “hey these must be good quality blanks, why not give it a shot”. I quickly came to find out/realize that Champion blanks aren’t always the best because a lot of the time after a few washes they’ll soon start to shrink and not keep its original fit as well as the fabric sometimes starts developing a lot of small lint balls. This being a huge inconvenience to not only you but to your customers as well!

As you can imagine, this was difficult for me because I did like using the Champion blanks but if I wanted to take my business to the next level I had to figure out how to up my quality while still maintaining decent prices to make profits on.. I end up scoring a manufacturer all thanks to a good friend of mine and we quickly got to work making cut & sew products. This actually helped elevate the look of the brand and also expanded my clientele more because I was finally making my very own Club De Richesse products and it wasn’t being printed on blanks which was a huge milestone for me & the brand. Since going cut & sew I can really say that a lot of people have liked the transition because I get tons of compliments on the fit of the clothing as well as the quality of the clothing.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Initially, when I started Club De Richesse I didn’t exactly have all of the funds available to be able to get it up and running. So I decided to bring the idea to some friends and see if they’d be down to go in with me and invest in the idea. I feel like I was pretty upfront about everything, the risks, the work that needed to be put in, and roles that everyone had to play. The first few months were great, we were equally promoting the brand, putting the brands name out there and building awareness for the brand.

This motivated me even more, I wanted to maximize the reach for the brand so I started attending networking events, concerts, and trying to get people with a bigger following than me in the clothing. I was doing that and was getting hits and then out of nowhere we had one drop that didn’t go as planned. What can I say? The product just wasn’t moving.. Not sure if it was just a bad color way or a bad design but I expressed the concern on the product not selling and had a discussion with the team that we needed to really push this product because it wasn’t selling. Another month went by and still barely any sales off of this product. I became very frustrated and expressed the concern of me being the only one pushing the product/brand and was left on read or with little to no responses. After going back and fourth with myself I knew that I couldn’t jeopardize this dream for people who didn’t correctly align with me so I gave them an option of stepping down. I didn’t want anyone to feel forced if they didn’t believe in the same dream that I believed with this brand. I pushed myself to continue the brand on my own and honestly it wasn’t an easy decision but I would say it has been one of the best decisions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.clubderichesse.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clubderichesse/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clubderichesse
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/clubderichesse

Image Credits
Photos shot & edited by: Felicia Flores & Luis Gil (L.A.G Photography)