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I remember starting a company in 2008 while studying in Shanghai, when my passion for designing clothes really took off. The tailor market there was a huge inspiration. I went every day, and it became my creative outlet. I came up with my own clothing designs, never caring whether anybody else liked them.
So many design ideas and iterations later, I had spent all my money on this hobby. The most notable of these early creations was one of the first onesies: essentially sweatpants and a sweater sewn together as one piece. It quickly became my favorite. I wore it all the time and regularly got questions and comments about it. Once, in Australia, about ten people ran over to me on the street to ask what I was wearing, how cool it was, and where they could buy one. That settled it. This should be my brand.
And that's exactly what I did. I went back to Shanghai, toured factories, and tested fabrics to find the best quality and fit. I was hands on, I loved my product, and once manufacturing was sorted, I built my own website.
This was back in the day, so I didn't have the options entrepreneurs have now. But I made a WordPress site, added WooCommerce, and started selling. Then I started marketing on Facebook and reached out to people with large followings. This was early, way before influencer marketing was a thing, but I had them wear the onesie and it got a ton of exposure. Social media, TV, you name it. I was riding a serious wave.
But instead of celebrating, I quickly realized I had a huge problem. Not just production, but above all logistics. Every factory order shipped straight to my own place, which was suddenly full of boxes. I spent all my time packing and shipping, never catching up. The first 2,000 units sold out just as the second wave hit. Then the third wave brought 10,000 orders, and there was no way to give each one the attention it needed.
I had no easy way of solving this. The 3PL market in Norway was thin, but I finally found somebody who said they could help. I had little choice but to take it, and they messed it up completely. Wrong products to the wrong customers, wrong sizes, always late. I lost control of my product, and the customer experience went with it. The wave I had been riding was gone. I started a trend and got burned because I couldn't keep up with fulfillment. Then super professional competitors with their logistics in order copied my product. They're still in business, and they've sold hundreds of thousands of the suits I originally came up with.
That experience was the foundation for Pio. For small brands, fulfillment is the missing piece in today's ecommerce environment. When I met Simen Aarseth, everything fell into place. We shared a passion for technology, culture, and entrepreneurship, and it boiled down to one desire: making a difference for independent brands. A difference that benefits the brands themselves, and ultimately gives all of us more freedom of choice as consumers.
