Learn about Future Rare and how a PHP5000 start-up turned into a 7-digit-earning business
If you’re a streetwear enthusiast who’s looking into replenishing your wardrobe with branded pieces but don’t want to put a hole in your pocket, here’s a shop you don’t want to miss out on. Future Rare is your new source of preloved and preordered branded yet affordable streetwear pieces. Better secure a spot on their scheduled openings because they are not open daily, lines are a mile-long when they are open, and fashionistas are willing to spend thousands of pesos to get hands on the branded pieces. From Nike, Champion, Adidas, Kappa, and more, who wouldn’t want to splurge on pieces you could get at two for 500php?
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We caught up with. Mr. and Mrs. Future Rare (as the owners prefer to be introduced) to get a little background of how they “did it”. Here’s how it went:
How did Future Rare come about? Who came up with the idea and why?
During our college days we couldn’t afford expensive branded streetwear. Hanggang tingin tingin lang, window shopping, haha. Right from the very start, the goal was to provide legit, quality, and most importantly affordable streetwear. We want everyone to have their branded OOTD for less than 500 pesos.
When we were starting to build Future Rare, the number one problem that we had to deal with was money, of course. We did not want to ask our parents for the money we needed to start up the business, so we started selling airpods cases and some of our clothes online. We used the money we earned from there as capital. On March 2019, we started with 5,000 pesos as capital and managed to have two racks on our opening day. From there it grew to four, then eight, and now 20 racks including a bazaar tent earning 7-digits.
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Can you introduce the team behind Future Rare?
Future Rare team consists of two owners, four people who does laundry, and three authenticity checkers who have over seven years of experience in the industry. But basically Future Rare is “US”, Mr. and Ms. Future Rare.
What merchandise do Future Rare usually carry?
Our products are mostly windbreakers, jackets, and shirts which are all branded and vintage. You will usually see Nike, Champion, Adidas, Tricolors, Carhartt, Kappa, Puma, Fila, Ellese, etc in our shop. Aside from the jackets and windbreakers, we also sell accessories and chains for 20-99 pesos. Shirts are being sold at 2 for 300 pesos, sportswear at two for 500 pesos, and we also have cookies and munchies starting at 59 pesos. We are actually planning to extend our merchandise to caps, socks, bags, beanies, and a lot more. Our goal is for Future Rare to be a “one stop shop” where you can get all your OOTD essentials at an affordable price.
As for a shop who sells branded items, how do you sell merchandise at low prices?
One of the biggest factors that helps us keep our prices low is the low store rental. Because of this we are able to keep our prices low, enough to pay everything and still make Future Rare profitable.
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What advice can you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start their own business successfully?
We think that one of the key principles to have is to trust your brand 100% because no one will do that for you, and you’re not supposed to impose that to others. You have to believe in yourself, in your brand, and most importantly in God. Never give up because it will not be easy, that we can assure you. In our first two weeks we had zero sales, zero customers, but that did not stop us.
Another tool we have is prayer. We prayed and asked for guidance every day until one day, it was July 2019 last year, miraculously, we sold out in just one hour. Trust, never give up, and pray.
What can we expect from Future Rare in the future?
We have numerous plans for Future Rare, but due to the pandemic, we had to keep it all on hold. When all things are back to normal, we can continue and pursue these. Some of these are 3,000 items per restock. We would also like to have pop up shops somewhere in the south, or in universities. In the upcoming months we will expand the current merchandise that we have probably with new designs, and hopefully we can do collabs with other streetwear brands. We are praying that by 2021 we can get a bigger warehouse for Future Rare, and if God permits, we can have our second branch.
