Hiut caps annual production, calls for customer investment
Welsh jeansmaker Hiut, now an exclusively made-to-order company, has announced plans to cap production at 10,011 pairs annually, effectively becoming a “no-growth business”.
As co-founder David Hieatt described, the team will now focus on growing in influence, rather than scaling in size. “The world’s press will write about it,” he said, “because it is trying to find [another] way to do business with a new model of pegging growth.”
Each pair of jeans, produced by the brand’s GrandMasters or artisans, will be signed, numbered and timestamped on a blockchain. A countdown displayed on its website will communicate, in real time, how many orders remain for the rest of the year, he continued. “Each year will be given a different colour, so over time people can find out what year, what week, what hour and who their jeans were made by."
To fund itself, recruit new staff and pay off debts accrued from the purchase of its latest factory, Hiut has asked 30 customer-believers to each invest £50,000, with the goal of raising £1.5 million to be paid back within ten years. Interest on the loan will then be paid in the eleventh year. It is calling the model Future Funds Now.
Don’t miss our Dialogue with David Hieatt in Inside Denim issue 13 – available soon!
Image: Hiut.
