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About Blavity Inc.
Blavity Inc is a diversified digital media company that builds platforms to inform, entertain and engage communities of color. One of their most prestigious and sought after experiences is the AFROTECH™ Conference, which is the largest Black tech conference of the year! Get ready to connect with a global community of 20,000+ Black tech innovators during a series of digital and in-person events filled with dynamic programming on emerging trends, networking opportunities with industry leaders, and conversations with top tech recruiters.
Check out the 2023 lineup here: https://experience.afrotech.com/
The Opportunity
Blavity’s team of creative superstars had their sites set on an athletic and wellness theme for their 2022 AFROTECH™ Conference. The design identity was set, and the merchandise was conceptualized. However, their creative team required an extra pair of hands to finalize the product and organize the logistics of the merchandise collection manufacturing, and order fulfillment.
In total they were looking for:
- Product sourcing for a 9-piece collection
- Purchase order management
- Art and Sampling management - to turn the concepts into a reality
- And an e-commerce fulfillment solution once the product was ready to ship to customers.
The Solution
We were honored to be tapped to support the AFROTECH™ Conference creative teams in making their vision for the conferences merchandise a swift reality. We worked thru a four-phase timeline over a 6-week timeline:
PHASE 1
COLLECTION REQUIREMENTS
Dedicated to refining Blavity’s needs and vision and finalizing a go-forward scope for the collection.
PHASE 2
SOURCING
We executed a comprehensive sourcing exercise aligned with the phase 1 strategy to curate, locate and negotiate rates for the collection. In this phase, physical samples and mockups were supplied to help the Blavity team realize their vision with “looks-like-feels-like” samples.
PHASE 3
ART MANAGEMENT
Once the collection was fully souced we managed the final art file adjustments and screen documents that the manufacturers required to ensure all artistic parameters were met as exactly ideated by the Blavity team.
PHASE 4
LOGISTICS
In this final phase we curated and managed the entire program's final purchase orders with 8 different vendor partners. We maintained control over the flow of communication with all parties to ensure that the provided budget was refined, allocated, and disseminated for optimal completion.
In this phase, we also onboarded Blavity into our Ecommerce Fulfillment services at our Design District Facility in Dallas. This process ensured that all program vendors had a consolidated location for all shipments. Once the product was received we coordinated with Blavity’s teams to sync with their online store so that we can facilitate all customer orders for the entire program.
In total, the collection consisted of
- A Windbreaker with 2 locations of art placement
- Three colorways of a Longsleeve Drifit style with 2 locations of art placement
- A Drifit technology Sport Cap with one location of art placement
- A versatile backpack with one location of art placement
- Two colorways of custom woven socks, branded
- One Collector's tee made in an LA-based studio that featured an arm QR code art placement, Custom dye sublimation of teeshirt rear, and a custom blended sublimation for a front puff print
- We also curated and maintain a simple packaging suite that offers each piece a custom sized vinyl duster bag, and appropriate shipping packing.
