The GuayaberasOriginally from Cuba, the models are characterized by their loose design, ideal for warm climates. Over time, this garment became very popular in other countries and in Spain. Bumpers Brand helped make it a fashion trend.
Bumpers Brand is a project that a group of young people from Malaga started in 2018 when they finished their studies. At that time in Seville, the guayabera was starting to become fashionable for weddings and events, and they thought it would be a good idea to promote this garment and launch their own line.
They currently have a turnover of almost one million euros and have three branches spread between Madrid and Malaga. In addition, their guayaberas have already been used by personalities such as King Felipe VI. or Antonio Banderas used.
EcN: What was the biggest challenge? What did you experience at Bumpers?
Juanmi Fernández (JF): We immersed ourselves in the project from the very beginning and always faced major challenges at the end. We always bet big.
Our approach to the project has allowed us to get to where we are today. This means that the brand enjoys high recognition and complete consolidation at the national level. In addition, we are also gaining great recognition at international level as profiles such as Antonio Banderas have used our guayaberas.
One of our biggest challenges was to carry out large-scale production of garments as this required large investments. Plus, we didn’t have stores to begin with, so we had to get people to visit our website to shop. We came up with the idea of renting a van and taking a tour along the Spanish coast in the summer to sell Bumpers clothing ourselves and make ourselves known. This allowed us to raise enough money to launch our second collection, which included the corduroy guayabera.
Fran Ruiz (FR): The biggest challenge with a project like this is knowledge, as no one has developed their own project; although Juanmi had a bit of experience in the fashion industry. We didn’t know how to start a business, how to have employees, how to create a website, how to do marketing, how to do marketing, etc. Sometimes we lost a lot of money due to lack of knowledge.
EcN: Which Spanish cities have you conquered?
JF: Mainly in two cities: Malaga in summer, as everyone wore our guayaberas during the fair; Madrid in winter, thanks to the success of our corduroy guayabera that made it possible for us Make us and these people known Keep shopping.
EcN: What sets Bumpers Brand apart from other companies in the industry? Who is your target group?
FR: We have several market segments. Our brand is positioned in a segment of around 30 to 35 year olds, which is ultimately our ideal profile because they are professionals who need their shirts to work and then meet up with friends.
We also have another type of consumer, those between 18 and 30 years old, who consume the brand and make it fashionable because they post photos on social networks and attend the brand’s events. We launched a line of T-shirts for this group last year, which was very well received.
EcN: Her clothes were worn by many celebrities and even the king. Did you notice a significant increase in sales afterwards?
FR: This shows, especially when it comes to brand image. Yes Well, sales are increasing, aren’t they amazing way. However, people start to associate your brand with certain celebrities who makes it more recognizable.
On Instagram, the fashion market is very competitive and constantly changing, brands emerge and others disappear. The real challenge is to promote your brand to a more exclusive segment and gain recognition in this ever-evolving environment.
JF: Our garments are also worn by many athletes such as Arturo Coello, number one in paddle tennis and whom we sponsor, Coqui, Momo, etc. In this way we achieve that we are connected to certain values. We are also sponsors of a rally team.
EcN: Bumper data (billing, orders, number of visits, etc.)
FR: This year we will reach a turnover of one million euros, which was unthinkable a few years ago. We started to grow little by little and billed 50,000 euros in the first year. After the pandemic, we thought that sales would be severely affected, but to our surprise that was not the case as it strengthened our online channel.
In 2020 we also did a lot of work on marketing and advertising, so in 2021 we were able to build on what we did the previous year and we saw a lot of growth. This year we also opened a shop in the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela. In 2022 we opened our second store in Malaga.
Currently we are 12 people and still need to add more staff, so we will grow to around 20 people by the end of the year. And we ship about 2,000 orders per month.
EcN: How you do that the logistics part?
FR: We have had various problems in logistics, but recently we started working with a new supplier that is working very well. This allows us to perfectly synchronize the website and ensure orders are shipped immediately and arrive within 24 hours. As for exchanges and returns, we have outsourced these through a platform that manages the entire process. They send a delivery person directly to the buyer’s home to pick up the order and deliver a new item of clothing.
Our return policy offers a free exchange or return, which helps us strengthen customer loyalty. This is reflected in a recurrence rate of 40%.
EcN: Why did you create a section on your website called “Magazine”?
JF: With this section we try to convey to our customers how we got here, how our brand relates to culture, art, gastronomy or sport. This is usually done by brands with a long history, but we wanted to get closer to the customer with this section.
EcN: How was this year? What long-term goals have you set for yourself?
FR: We are very focused on our opening in Madrid. We are also working on new customer service and introducing artificial intelligence to quickly reduce problems. Another novelty is to improve the dynamics of clothing by releasing smaller collections in order to always have new products in stores. And in the warehouse we want to integrate RFID into the garments to make logistics work even easier.
We will expand the team with new additions and are looking for financing and investors for 2024. We want to become significantly more professional in the new year.