Greetings!
March was a busy month as we near a definitive launch date. Initial products were ordered on March 26th, consisting of shirts, hoodies, and crew-neck sweatshirts. After some prototypes were made, we decided that the embroidery looks best on the hoodies, while the shirts will undergo the screen-printing process. Product previews will be available very soon, and a soft-launch on our website to follow shortly after.
Stats
- Ordered 371 shirts, in 5 different colors, in various sizes to be screen-printed
- Ordered 48 hoodies, in 2 different colors, in various sizes to be embroidered
- Ordered 26 sweatshirts, in 1 color, in various sizes to be embroidered
- Ordered 36 polos, in 1 color, in various sizes to be embroidered
- From this initial order, used 1 shirt, 1 hoody, 2 sweatshirts, and 1 polo (all in size Large) to adjust dimensions of logo placement
- Ruined 1 hoody by slicing through the packaging too forcefully... whoops! We'll use the materials for embroidery practice
Various data will be available at launch, but in a traditional, centralized manner. Later, we will work to place company data on the blockchain to increase transparency of the supply chain and add proof-of-authenticity to each item. We want to be open and honest with where we get our materials from and how we do business. As you can see, we've chosen Royal Apparel as our wholesale supplier, due to them being in the USA. The clothes were made in the USA, primarily with US materials. Eventually, I would like to tour their facility and work with them to understand where they receive their materials, so that we can trace on a map where our Astronaut Apparel clothes originate.
Notable Highlights
- Worked with the print shop to digitize the logo for embroidery, and get some prototypes completed on various materials and threads
- Listed on State of the dApps, a great resource to track projects being created on Ethereum
- Began a road-map for integration of decentralized features into the business, will likely produce a whitepaper/business plan to further elaborate
- Social media accounts established
Team
It is my pleasure to welcome two fantastic people on board the team this month:
Lindsay Louise - Director of Operations. Lindsay will manage numerous operational aspects of the project to get us going. She has been involved with the initial product development and will be charged with ensuring the business keeps moving onwards and upwards. Her experience in managing retail and personnel will be crucial to the success of Astronaut Apparel.
Brian Lotti (@CoinGuyBri) - Fulfillment Manager & Blockchain Advisor. Brian has graciously accepted the task to complete orders in a timely fashion for the business. Moreover, he has a wealth of knowledge in the blockchain space, both as a community manager for Crypto Aquarium and BuildCoin, and previously CryptoKitties. Brian can offer a differing perspective on cryptocurrency and blockchains, in general, and will make sure orders arrive on time and in perfect condition.
Future Developments
Right now, we’ve kept the project development local, but will soon be ramping up and expanding our search for additional help. The blockchain element will require additional collaboration and I would love to bring in people that would like to create a self-sustaining democratized/decentralized clothing company.
Promotion and marketing of the project will begin rapidly once products are available for sale. Gen 1 apparel will not have a blockchain element associated with each item, but will contain a QR code and a unique 16-character key, contained within the centralized Astronaut Apparel database. Gen 2 will implement public/private key infrastructure for accessing initial data, written on the Ethereum blockchain.
I would like to get some dApps integrated with Astronaut Apparel as soon as possible. Request Network went live a couple days ago, so we're looking into incorporating those features. Factom is being explored to validate data within the company, and Aragon might be our solution to the decentralized organizational front. We'll continue to research the best possible crypto-solutions for running the business.
Additional blog articles will likely be written this month to coincide with increased development.
Stay Tuned and Thanks for Reading!