Today we’d like to introduce you to Qi Chen and Nicholas Lee.
Hi Qi and Nicholas, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I [Qi] was working a 9-5 at an architecture firm and was unfulfilled, constantly designing projects for developers. I always knew that I wanted to explore other aspects of design outside of creating buildings and have a more tangible and personal impact through my work. This feeling grew over time, and after a Porter Robinson concert, I felt inspired to pursue my own dreams instead of working for a salary. With strong encouragement from Nick, I pulled the trigger at the end of last year and started Hitorii in 2023 to combine my passion for climbing with my design background. Now, I look forward to working every day even though building a brand is harder than anything I’ve done.
I [Nick] studied finance and worked in investing but quickly grew disillusioned with the industry and the unending grind of corporate life. I left and decided to carve out an unconventional path to pursue my interests, regardless of perception. After working years in various jobs – tutoring, mentoring, pizza making, serving, and a YouTube channel – I took the lessons learned and decided to build my own company. I have always been fascinated with learning about entrepreneurship since my college days, and many years later, I found the confidence to become one myself. With Hitorii, I want to build a company that resonates with my personal values and rewards creatives rather than maximizing profits.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Building a brand from scratch has been an immense challenge. At the end of the day, we were two unknown climbers, and it was hard for us to figure out how we could stand out in the market. Our first idea was to build a Bouldering Ticklist poster business because that was something we loved and wanted and was simple for us to make. However, as soon as we launched, we realized that there were very few climbers actually interested in buying them. Instead, we sold a lot of our pins and stickers. So we had to quickly adapt and keep iterating on new design projects that were outside of our comfort zone, namely moving into apparel and manufacturing.
The success of our first apparel design, The Trash Tee, is a perfect testament to the support that our amazing local climbing community has provided on our journey. We had just enough profits from our launch at Cliffs of Id to afford the minimum batch size, so we could not afford to spend money on finalized shirt samples. Instead, we had one shirt with a print on only one side and another shirt that was just completely blank; both of them hung on a smartphone tripod. Also, since we invested in high-quality and sustainable cotton, the Trash Tee ended up being expensive. Nick and I were extremely anxious about the poor display, high price, and 1-month lead time for pre-orders, but people vibed with the design and wanted to support us. We were able to sell out the Trash Tee 1.0, and the profits enabled us to invest into new products.
Since then, it’s been an incredible amount of work. It’s only been six months since we launched, but there have been many late nights folding, packing, shipping, designing, providing customer service, and handling manufacturing. It can feel defeating at times to see the endless list of things to be done. Ironically, we started a climbing business, but we have had to sacrifice a lot of our outdoor climbing and training time. However, it has been worth it because it has been so rewarding to see how much our community loves our products. The support of the climbing gyms that let us hold free pop-ups, gym staff that help us generously, and climbing friends hyping our products have been a huge catalyst for our brand, and we wouldn’t be close to where we are today without them (even though we are still really small).
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Hitorii is a design studio that creates climbing apparel and goods. Our main products right now are our Trash Tee, Origins Line, and Shoe Chalk. We’re about to release our core Hitorii apparel line at the end of August which will have the Hitorii Tee, Crewneck, and Bouldering Pant.
Our apparel merges streetwear fashion with climbing, so climbers can express their identity through unique designs that can be worn in any setting. At the same time, our apparel is designed specifically for climbers’ needs, balancing athletic performance with comfort and style.
Hitorii is a company built to reverse traditional norms in the business world, where creatives are exploited and products are built purely for profit incentives. We want to invest our time and money into high-quality designs, creative projects, community building, and collaborating with independent artists. Long-term, we plan to expand into other areas of design and provide a platform for rising artists to build their own brands.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
We are excited because we see a lot of growth in the climbing community in the next 5-10 years, and we see how climbing is becoming a part of mainstream culture. We think there is a big opportunity for companies that prioritize design and break from the typical “outdoor” apparel aesthetic. More climbers are looking to own clothes that they can wear from work to the gym and express their passion to their community.
One key role that Hitorii will play in the future of climbing is to provide resources for climbers to better understand the ethics of the sport – namely, showing respect to nature and to fellow climbers. We recently held our first climbing crag clean-up with Trace Club, where we picked up trash at our local LA boulders (Stoney Point) and held a clinic for outdoor bouldering ethics and safety. We plan to do many more events like this in the future and also support other local communities’ efforts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hitorii.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hitorii.design/
