Hipcycle recently received some fan mail from an enthusiastic fan, and I thought I’d share some excerpts from the letter:
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Hipcycle – from a different angle
I have been thinking about the history of the American economy and what I think Hipcycle is all about – from where I sit.
First….American history.
Making Stuff
There are any number of core values of the American experience that have made us who we are as a nation. Of course, we have valued free enterprise and a market economy. There has always been the belief that a good idea and a willingness to put one’s nose to the grindstone could produce amazing results. I think of early 20thcentury immigrants on the lower east side of New York who would spend all night making simple clothing items and all day selling them from their pushcarts. They would plow their meager resources back into their tiny businesses. And, for some, in time, their products would catch on and they would grow and prosper. One of my favorites was a man who started out making aprons with his wife. By the time he retired, he owned one of New York’s largest department stores.
As history moved on, much of that basic product creation began to disappear. A lot of things happened. Small, underfunded entrepreneurs could not compete against large, wealthy corporations. Marketing became more finely honed. It became all but impossible to launch a product-based business and make it thrive. The “service economy” became the new backbone of America.
Not to mention, the lack of availability of cheap raw materials has overwhelmed persons who aspired to create products, even when a good idea came along.
In a word, the ability to create a product with the hope of supporting a family has become increasingly problematic.
Plus, the opportunity to market these products in an affordable way has kept many good ideas from never seeing the light of day. Firms like Wal-Mart operate with the assumption that mass quantities of scale with the lowest possible price point, combined with the large marketing departments of the manufacturers is the way to go. So, the result is that a firm like P&G must produce, say, razors, at the lowest possible cost. Then, they can be marketed with maximum visibility. One can assume that far more of the cost of a throwaway razor is in the advertising and marketing, than in the production.
When one thinks of small time entrepreneurship today, one might think of locavore farms and homespun craft items. Selling them door-to-door is impossible these days. So, one way to manage their sales is through farmers’ markets and craft fairs. They work…somewhat. Many people feel that having direct contact with the creator, avoiding the “middle man” is an attraction. Even stores like Whole Foods like to act as a middle man, selling local products, as it carries with it a certain panache. However, Michael Palen makes the case that even Whole Foods expects a level of macro production that justifies their marketing of local apples or eggs.
Of course, the good old fashioned department store is pretty much a dead letter, despite Macy’s and Sears’ efforts to soldier on. Again, they simply cannot offer “mom and pop” products, as there is no advertising, marketing and distribution to facilitate sales.
Tada….
Enter Hipcycle…..
This is an idea whose time has come. Hipcycle offers people who have an idea and a desire to make that idea into a reality a place to sell their products to a wide expanse of the buying population.
Hipcycle’s product partners keep their manufacturing costs low by using reconditioned or “upcycled” materials as the raw materials in their construction. A shrewd individual, household or group with a good idea will have an attractive place to offer their products on the web. And the growth of social media and web-based marketing, as well as the dynamics of distribution place Hipcycle in a pivotal position to accomplish everyone’s goals.
Basically, Hipcycle will attend to the selling, marketing and distribution with state-of-the-art technologies, allowing the product partner’s products to be competitive in the world market. If they offer a good product at a fair price, they will grow financially and, because they are using renewed materials, be a force for a more environmentally intelligent future.
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Pretty awesome fan mail, huh? I’m not sure Hipcycle’s goals are that grand (but maybe they are), but this vision, as seen by an outside (hopefully) future customer, is humbling, flattering, and inspiring.
Will Hipcycle change the world? Probably not, but can we offer consumers a fun and easy way to make a small difference while buying things they need anyway? Definitely.
Can Hipcycle offer a forum for small companies and individuals that are passionate about upcycling and the environmental benefits that it brings? No doubt.
Reading mail like this fires me up and reminds me what Hipcycle is all about. Thanks, passionate fan, for setting the bar for Hipcycle even higher.
