Manmade - The Essentials Men Need without the BS
The Story of a Brand
Ramon Vela
5 • 145 Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2025
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published on May 26, 2022. Our interviews on The Story of a Brand Shows are meant to be evergreen, and we do our best to confirm that all offers and URLs in these archive episodes are still relevant.
In this episode of The Story of a Brand, I interview Anthony Ciavirella, Co-founder of Manmade.
Anthony and his co-founders are redefining men’s essentials with a focus on quality, simplicity, and authenticity. From leaving their finance careers to perfecting their products, their story is filled with grit, innovation, and a relentless drive to create something extraordinary.
In this episode, we explore what it takes to build a product-driven brand, the journey of creating boxer briefs and socks that truly deliver on quality, and how TikTok and customer feedback became game-changers for their growth. Anthony’s passion and insights into entrepreneurship will leave you inspired and ready to take action.
Key Moments in This Episode:
* From Finance to Fashion: How four best friends left their corporate careers, locked themselves in a cabin, and came out with a plan to build a legacy brand.
* The Power of Listening: Why calling over 1,000 customers and gathering feedback was critical to perfecting their products.
* TikTok Success Story: How leveraging trends and authentic storytelling on TikTok helped the brand gain viral attention and organic growth.
* Redefining Men’s Essentials: The attention to detail behind Manmade’s products, including their innovative “drop-top fly” boxer briefs and no-slip socks.
* Commitment to Sustainability and Quality: The challenges and rewards of creating premium products without cutting corners or compromising values.
Join me, Ramon Vela, in listening to this fascinating episode as Anthony takes us behind the scenes of building a purpose-driven brand that puts men’s wellness first without the BS. Enjoy the show!
For more on Manmade, visit: https://us.manmadebrand.com/
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Today’s Sponsors:
Compass Rose Ventures - Advisor for CPG Brands: https://compassroseventures.com/contact/
Compass Rose Ventures can help your CPG brand increase customer lifetime value, expand into the US market, create an omnipresent omnichannel footprint, optimize customer journeys, build brand communities, and more. Visit the link above to learn more.
Augmentum Media - Influencer Marketing for Consumer Brands: https://www.augmentum-media.com/story
What secret do fast-growing Health and Wellness brands like Xtendlife, Nourished, and Hunter & Gather share? They all outsource their influencer marketing to the experts at Augmentum. Augmentum is offering "The Story of a Brand Show" listeners a 30-minute consulting session AND a personalized influencer strategy plan built by their experts for you to implement either with them or in-house. Visit the link above to learn more.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | man-made where we support a man's wellness by strengthening their foundation. And how do we do that |
| 0:05.5 | is we provide them with the essentials they need without the BS they don't. We take pride in being |
| 0:12.6 | simple and providing quality and of course functionality over fashion. For anybody who knows us, |
| 0:19.0 | knows us as finance guys, entrepreneurs, we're not fashionistas, |
| 0:23.6 | but we definitely learn and we definitely love what we do. |
| 0:42.4 | Hey, everyone, this is Ramon Vela, and this is another episode of the story of a brand. |
| 0:46.7 | Like always, we have an amazing guest and brand that we're going to feature on today's show. |
| 0:53.2 | But before I do, hi, I speak to hundreds of founders and CEOs of CPG brands each year, |
| 0:57.5 | and they are facing unprecedented challenges from changing consumer behavior, inflation, electioneer anxiety, the cost of capital, and more. However, finding |
| 1:04.5 | an experienced knowledgeable advisor shouldn't be challenging. And that's why I'm personally |
| 1:10.5 | recommending that you reach out to Compass Rose Ventures, |
| 1:14.6 | whether you're looking for help positioning your brand and messaging, |
| 1:17.6 | diversifying your marketing portfolio, preparing for retail expansion, |
| 1:22.6 | or fine-tuning your existing retail strategy, |
| 1:26.6 | or maybe preparing your brand and financials |
| 1:29.1 | for investors or acquisition. Simply visit compassroseventures.com. That's compassroseventures.com |
| 1:38.9 | to learn more. Let's talk about gratefulness. And so, Anthony, is there a time that you can remember and share |
| 1:45.1 | when someone did something for you that just made you feel grateful? Because it meant that they |
| 1:49.1 | believed in you or your vision or your potential. Yes, first off, thank you so much for having |
| 1:54.9 | the show. Ramon, it means the world to me and to us. Gratefulness. I'm extremely grateful |
| 2:00.6 | for my partners, |
| 2:02.3 | at least every single one of them. |
... |
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