---
title: 'How to Launch an E-Commerce Brand in 2026 and Get Your First 300 Orders with Sigma'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=NkpiojlYaXo'
video_id: 'NkpiojlYaXo'
date: 2026-08-05
duration_sec: 3034
---

# How to Launch an E-Commerce Brand in 2026 and Get Your First 300 Orders with Sigma

> Source: [How to Launch an E-Commerce Brand in 2026 and Get Your First 300 Orders with Sigma](https://youtube.com/watch?v=NkpiojlYaXo)

## Summary

In this interview, Sigma, founder of Academy of Seck, outlines a seven-step framework for launching a successful fashion brand in the Arab world, emphasizing niche selection, market analysis, product development, manufacturing, content, website, and ads. He stresses the importance of using AI for research and content, and provides specific metrics like profit margins and ROAS targets.

### Key Points

- **Seven Steps to a Successful Brand** [00:16] — Sigma introduces the seven steps: niche, market, product, manufacturing, content, website, and ads. He emphasizes that these are essential for anyone launching a fashion brand today.
- **Choosing Your Niche** [01:32] — The first step is selecting a niche. You must have genuine interest, there must be market demand, and you should leverage your existing skills. Use AI tools like Claude to research demand and niche ideas.
- **Standing Out in the Market** [08:21] — To differentiate, define your target audience (age, interests), analyze competitors (using Facebook Ad Library), and establish your Unique Selling Point (USP). Avoid competing solely on price and quality.
- **Selecting a Winning Product** [19:23] — A winning product must be in demand, easy to manufacture, and have a healthy profit margin. Consider trending cuts, standalone pieces, Instagrammability, long season, low SKU count, and healthy margins (manufacturing cost 40-50% of selling price).
- **Manufacturing Options** [29:23] — Two types of factories: full-service (handles everything, higher cost, higher MOQ) and specialized (you manage pattern, fabric, and printing separately, lower cost, lower MOQ). Fabric sources in Egypt: Al-Azhar and Gesr El-Suez.
- **Content Creation** [36:54] — Avoid expensive photoshoots. Focus on short-form video and UGC (user-generated content) that looks natural. AI can generate product images. The worse the production quality, the more authentic it appears.
- **Building Your Website** [38:50] — Use Shopify for simplicity. Ensure the site is user-friendly with size charts, good product photos, detailed descriptions (material, model size), and customer reviews to improve conversion rate (2-3% in clothing).
- **Running Ads** [42:21] — You can run ads yourself or hire a Media Buyer. Media Buyer compensation: fixed salary, salary + percentage, or percentage only. Key metrics: ROAS (target 4+), CPC, and net profit margin (20-25%). Ad budget should be ~15% of capital.
- **First 300 Orders Strategy** [47:34] — To get your first 300 orders, you need a winning product, a content machine (weekly UGC, founder content, AI images), and a calculated ad strategy. Avoid overspending on unnecessary inventory, photoshoots, or large teams.

### Conclusion

Launching a successful fashion brand requires a systematic approach: choose a niche you're passionate about, develop a winning product, create authentic content, and run targeted ads. Focus on profitability and scale gradually, using AI to streamline research and content creation.

## Transcript

I swear to God, the most money I've ever made was from products. It's a really basic thing, like what you're doing, but there's one key point. Do you know what the unique point was that I used at the time? It was something called Sigma. He was just sitting with me, explaining
the steps you need to take to create any successful fashion brand in the Arab world. If you don't know, Sigma is the founder of Academy of Seck, the most famous academy in the Arab world that teaches people how to launch fashion brands. The academy has taught more than 1200 students
brands. The academy has taught more than 1200 students and helped more than 350 brands sell more and helped more than 350 brands sell more than half a million pounds worth of goods. And that's not all; he specializes in using AI to make your brand successful. Today I sat with him and understood
all the details. I understood from him that if anyone wants to launch a successful fashion brand in this day and age, these are the steps they must follow: seven steps to start a follow: seven steps to start a successful brand. These are the first things: the niche, the specialization
you want to choose.  The second thing is the market, the field itself or the market that you will specialize in. The third thing is the product, the product that you will choose. The fourth thing is the manufacturing of this product. The fifth thing is the content that you will create. The third thing is the website,
fifth thing is the content that you will create. The third thing is the website, how will your website look? And the seventh thing is ads. Finally, we will talk about the first 300 orders, Very nice. Let's go. Let's go.
how do I do it?   The first step is choosing your niche. This means selecting the field you'll work in. You can't just decide, for example, if you're starting a clothing brand, to sell to everyone. You can't start a clothing brand and sell everything—
children's, men's, and youth—just because clothes are profitable. You need to think about a specific direction and a specific area you can work in. and a specific area you can work in. We have one clear formula that we can use to
select a niche or choose the field we work in. As a brand owner, you must meet the three conditions I'm about to mention. The first is that you have an interest in this field. What does interest mean? It means being genuinely interested. As the
means being genuinely interested. As the something just because you know it makes money, or because you've heard it makes money, or because it's trendy now. If it's trendy now, it might be tomorrow.  If it's not trending, it wo
n't be trending the day after tomorrow, so this business will stop. I have to
interested in, something I'm just looking for, if the market itself does n't want it. For example, I want to n't want it. For example, I want to do something in Egypt, I want to create a brand specializing in skating, for example. Okay, fine. But what's the
this like? It exists, but there's a huge demand. No, when I say demand now, am I saying demand for something like skating, or if I say I want to open a t-shirt brand, everyone wears t-shirts, does that mean there's
It means there's demand, but today I'm in the niche.  The t-shirt business is no longer about simply saying "I want to start a t-shirt brand," because we're not just selling the product itself in the clothing section. In the clothing section, we're selling the complete vision of the brand. We're selling certain elements that I'll discuss
with you later; they make a huge difference and will start shaping the t-shirt we want to create. So, there are two important points: first, your interest or passion while working on this brand; second, demand. And the
third, and very important, point that many people focus on, is the skills section—the things I have expertise in. For example, today, my skills, my expertise, or what I know about, like how I run ads, will make a huge difference
working on my brand. Another skill I possess is content creation, which will also make a huge difference.  I'm working on my brand, so what skills do I have to run this business easily and smoothly?
But what's the connection between my skills and choosing a niche? I mean, what's the connection between interests? skills and niche mean? Skills are very important for you to be able to move forward in this business. For example, today my skills are
in the area of ​​accounting. I know a lot, or rather, I understand accounting very well, based on my work. Okay, so understand accounting very well, based on my work. Okay, so But for example, today I don't have any experience in any of these areas.
For me, it would be difficult, so I need to acquire skills to help me in this area. So, what skills do you have so we can start applying them within the niche you if someone's skills aren't related at all... In eCommerce, or rather, in building a brand,
In eCommerce, or rather, in building a brand, someone might excel at a skill far removed from writing, design, advertising, or anything like that—they're good at voiceover. What does this have to do with anything? How can I leverage this skill? Does this mean I need to learn that skill too?
No, how can I use their voiceover skills to create storylines for my brand within my content? This is the skill I have that will give me a point of differentiation in the market. Okay, then there's a
content creation; they know how to shoot amazing TikTok videos. How can I use this skill to create content for my brand that will help me reach a wider audience? These are the three important points you must have as a brand owner. Based on this, we start choosing the
niche you'll work in. Now let's delve a little deeper.  Examples: Let's say we have Ahmed here. What are his interests? Ahmed loves streetwear. his interests? Ahmed loves streetwear. How old is Ahmed? Ahmed is 25. He decided to
start his own brand. Do you think it makes sense for Ahmed to start a brand in the modest wear sector? Definitely streetwear because he loves it and is very interested in it. Definitely streetwear because he loves it and is very interested in it.
very good at shooting content and filming content. Do you think this will make a difference in whether he's working on or not? Yes, of course, but that's the point. Now, the third point is, is there demand for streetwear?
I can tell you my opinion, but the most important question is how Ahmed can gauge whether what he's Generally speaking, it's very good, something like  Today, things have become very good, something like  Today, things have become very easy with the presence of AI. Today,
very easy with the presence of AI. Today, I can write on something like Cloud, "What's the demand in the I can write on something like Cloud, "What's the demand in the youth clothing market, let's say in my country, let's say Egypt?" Then it will tell me what the size of the demand is. I'll start by saying, "
I want you to help me choose or create a niche in this field, to choose what I can work on in the streetwear clothing sector." And in the streetwear clothing sector." And indeed, the business cards you can rely on are
excellent, as long as you write your promo correctly. As long as you can write your promo very reliable. Based on that, they understand what the size of my market is like. And with the next points, we'll start to understand how you can determine the direction or
niche you'll work on within this market, based on the next point we'll Okay, but one last question before I close this point: What is something generally said to me in any  One thing in life is, I don't know my skills. I do n't have any skills. I'm someone who doesn't have
n't have any skills. I'm someone who doesn't have anything, and so on. Is this true? What should people who feel start in e-commerce because they don't have any skills at all? No, I'll tell you something important that I always tell myself and everyone else: throw yourself into the sea and
learn to swim. Meaning, today, as a person, I might not have any skills. I don't see that I have clear skills in this area, but I see that there's a demand here, and I see that I have an example. Or, for example, Dalia. Dalia has a huge interest
in modest wear. She loves it. She knows the brands that are there. She buys from them. She knows how to buy. She knows what the materials are like and what she bases her choice of materials on. She knows the target audience.  How is the one there doing? For
correctly. this market, I will actually start to develop skills. Okay, and now let's move on to our second point.
now, if I'm like Ahmed and I choose streetwear, how can I stand out in this market? how can I stand out in this market? Okay, we have three main points upon which we can begin to say that we've managed to stand out in this market. First, there's Target Audience. What does
Target Audience mean? It means who I'm selling to within this market. Who is the target customer I'll be working with? The second thing is the competitors. Who are my competitors in this market? And pay attention, I'm going to underline this three times like this because
many people start saying, "I want this for this customer, but no one is competing with me." I'll competing with me or not? The third thing I start to determine when I get information from here is the USB, which stands for Unique Selling Point. It's my point of differentiation as a
Unique Selling Point. It's my point of differentiation as a good brand. Okay, let's start with Target Audience. I have a question for Ahmed: who are the people you'll be selling to, given that you'll be working in streetwear? Ahmed, if you don't understand well or you're just entering the market and want to
definitely tell you, "I want to sell to everyone, absolutely everyone," right? immediately. He doesn't thrive, he doesn't
But Sigma, Zara does that, right? I go into Zara, inside, inside, inside, in the mall, for example, and I find that they have streetwear, they have things for
older men, formal things, they have this much, that much, women's, do that. Why? Am I so incompetent?" Well, I'll tell you two very important points. The first thing, the first answer here, is to
spend on marketing. Yes, if you spend like them, we can do it. So, put millions in your marketing budget per year. The do it. So, put millions in your marketing budget per year. The second important thing is to divide the marketing into sections. What does that mean? When you go into Zara, inside the store, you find that everything is divided into specific sections. It's
when you go into Zara...  Online on Instagram you find everything divided into a girls' account, the kids' account, the youth's account, everything is divided as if they are different small brands exactly. So why is this?  Because every brand or
direction speaks in a certain way, every direction has a specific age target, every direction has a specific interest target. So the question for Ahmed is,
who is the target audience you will work with? This means that we must focus first on the aspect of age, the age range you will sell to. So, if I you will sell to. So, if I say I want to sell from 18 years old to 40 years old,
that is wrong for me. At that time, I need to speak and say, for example, Ahmed who is 24 or 25 years old, as we said, Ahmed will sell from 18 years old up to 25 years old. So, why
this age range, Sigma?  Because this age group is part of the target audience, he understands the influences affecting these young people. He understands, and here we start to say a lot. He understands TikTok. Is this because he's like them or because he's studied it? No,
he's like them, not because he's studied it. I don't need to study it; I need to be like the target excuse me, does this mean everyone should open a brand similar to the brand they want to wear, the things they want? This brings us back to the point we mentioned before. We said three things: first, you have
an interest in the product; second, there's a demand for it in the market; and third, you have a significant presence in the market. He significant presence in the market. He knows what's happening on TikTok
today. He understands what these people are interacting with. He understands. Today, if we told Ahmed, "I want you to make content..." For this brand, he'll start by saying, "This is the kind of strongly engaging with." But
range, interacts with on TikTok the same as the content Ali, who's 35 and has two kids, interacts with?
First, what's the age range? What are the interests? The more specific we are about the interests we choose, the better we can define our target audience.
choose, the better we can define our target audience. For streetwear. What are the interests of streetwear users? What are the interests of the young people we're trying to sell to in this area? Let's say these young people... well, we
can start to make it more specific. We're selling to young people who are heavily influenced since we are Sigma, this is something very widespread today, many young people want to start their own business, especially in the Arab world, and they are young. So what are these young people influenced by?   I'm
influenced by a lot of people online, like Alex Hermozy and Iman Gadzi. There's a huge demand for these people in the Arab world. So, we want to sell clothes to these young people, similar to what they wear. Our collection will be tank tops or something like a
vest with "I'm the Boss" on it—something that presents the same direction. When I can do this and put it in the same TikTok content that these young people like, I'll be able to reach the target audience I want to talk to. So, the first thing we mentioned was age, the
talked about was interests. working or defining the target audience. Now, regarding the competitors, I don't have any
because I'm selling in a niche that no one is talking about. I'm selling to young people who are interested in business.  And you listen to Alex Hermozy and Man Gadzi, and you read you listen to Alex Hermozy and Man Gadzi, and you read books and wear streetwear. There are
many brands like that. You talk very little, very rarely, almost never. means these young people walk around reading in the street. these young people buy from? They must be wearing a brand.
Exactly which brands do they buy from in Egypt? Let's say we're targeting the Egyptian market. Well, these young people, then we said that statement is wrong. There's no such thing as having statement is wrong. There's no such thing as having
competitors. Who are your local competitors? The ones your customers in the country you're in go to and buy from? Let's say we  They're based in Egypt, so if I'm talking about the streetwear scene, based in Egypt, so if I'm talking about the streetwear scene,
my competitors are, for example, Asili, an Egyptian brand. My competitors are, for example, Named. There are so many competitors in the same area, selling to the same target audience I'm talking about. So, what's important to me here? Do
I just know them for the sake of knowing them, to satisfy my ego? No way! I have to ego? No way! I have to study each of these competitors thoroughly. So, how do I study them, Sigma? What do I need to know about each competitor all the time? First, the
collection: what collection have they released? What are the items in select them? What are the trending items? What are the items they've chosen to create buzz, so people will see them and say, "What's this unique piece?" I
people will see them and say, "What's this unique piece?" I have to study this very well.  I need to study the ads. This competitor is running them. So how will I find out about the ads, Sigma? Or how will I see which ads this competitor is running? Go to a website called Facebook Ad Libertines.
I can access this website and start typing my competitor's name, for example, Code Template. It will start telling me, "This competitor is running such and such ads." So why do I need to know this?   I need to know this so that when I start running ads within my brand, I know the direction
I'm working with, I know the size of the ads my competitor is running, how much content they're running, how much of their ad collection is, and how they're analyzing their website. I don't know how to
analyze ads, I don't know how to analyze the competitor correctly, and I don't know how to analyze the competitor correctly, and I don't know how to analyze the website correctly. What should I use here? Anything that solves this problem, we'll use it. the website correctly. What should I use here? Anything that solves this problem, we'll use it.
can't just go to an AI and tell it how to build a brand; it'll give me a random answer that will confuse it. brand; it'll give me a random answer that will confuse it. brand like Codeumbel, I want you to analyze them correctly and tell me how I can use this
this client, and in the context of their face, will start helping. You understand what I mean here? Now, the method is how I can use AI correctly while working on my brand. And here's the problem that many people fall into: they use AI with
very generic questions. I want to build my brand. market are you in exactly? But when I talk to them, I say, "Okay, I want to analyze a brand like Aseel. This is the content they're
running ads on, let's say these are their items, this is the number of followers they have on Instagram. I want you to do a complete research on the brand, look at the website and analyze it completely, and tell me how I can use this
to find my USB so I can stand out in the image. Find my Unix Points." That's how I'll be able to get an answer. What are some examples of USB bases? Let's do this. You always know  The challenge
people face when we tell them to [ __ ] Serene Point or your market distinction stops at two very dirty points: price and quality, right, cheaper, what's better for me, boss?  I was telling you, "Sell a little, earn a lot." [Laughs]
Something strange. I'll sell at a very low price, I'll make very high quality for something powerful, so I can lose [Laughs] a lot of money. That's not how the game works at all. First of all,
before we talk about Elec Scene Point, let's talk about the price and quality aspect. You Point, let's talk about the price and quality aspect. You need to sell the appropriate quality for your target audience to the people you're selling to. Let's talk more deeply. For example, Ahmed,
who is 23 years old, or Ali, who is 22 years old, doesn't want to buy the quality of M because his current monthly budget is, say, 15,000 or 200,000 Egyptian pounds. For example, he's just starting work at a certain company. He'll spend a maximum of
Yes, so he doesn't want to buy unnatural quality. do this even if there's higher quality. It's not necessary; this is the second point, Wael. We need to go back to the target audience. Any decision they make, I mean,
Yes, because I see so many brands that spend a lot on quality, and when they try to sell at a price that reflects that quality, they find that no wants it at all. Yes, so they
are forced to sell at a low price or at the price their competitors are selling at. Their profit shrinks a lot, and they discover that they're not making any profit. It looks great, but they're not making any profit because it's not selling. Yes, that's exactly the point. We
third step is that we choose the product we want to...  We'll work with it, and product we want to...  We'll work with it, and this is one of the most important steps that must have the conditions met if you are a brand owner and you really want to make good sales. You know what
Winnin Product. So, Sigma, what does Winnin small quantity to test the market with, and then I can expand production of it. Now, this Winnin Product isn't something I just like,
product that I'm inclined towards. The Winnin Product is a number one product that is in demand and available in the number one product that is in demand and available in the market. Number two is something I can easily manufacture. You'll talk to me about suppliers later so I can understand what makes manufacturing difficult and easy, right? Okay, we
'll talk about this in the manufacturing section, but I need to understand that this product must be easy to manufacture. What does that mean? For example, I'll be working on a product, a shirt like this one. I'll put a lot of work into it, printing here,
embroidery there, and I'll wonder why it takes a month and a half to manufacture. You know what I mean? Then when I go to make it again, the season is over. So I do n't know if I'll make any money from it.
manufacture. Okay, and the third thing is the profit margin. I need to be able to [snoring sounds] make a profit. If I ca n't make a good profit margin on this product, and I'll talk about this in detail later, then for me, it's not a win-win product. It's a shot I'm making. I'm losing money on it, but I'm doing it to establish a
position for myself in the market. And you won't need to do this all the time, especially if you're a brand just starting out. So, how can I make a win-win product? There are a few steps we need to choose steps we need to choose or follow so that we  We can choose
or follow so that we  We can choose to work here 4 5 6 7 8. One important point is that we can choose the product we will work with. Okay, what is the first step? Trending cut? Which of these steps is general? Before we start talking in more detail, you can go back to the code
it?" It's already cloudy, which is already for us. It's your product, and you're working. Okay, what does trending cut mean? It means the story is in demand, it's a trending story. For example, I'll give an example here in the
streetwear area, because I wear this. Before, when we oversized t-shirt would reach just before your knees, right? Today [laughs] Today, this is a trend. Trending things are something
exactly. I hope you bring back the regular oversized, I swear! [laughs] For the management of the estate, now it has become cat I am working on or what trend cat the market wants.
change the products I have, of course, because this online product has a cycle. I saw you know the product is a live cycle. We don’t want to talk about this in more detail, but  I saw the Life Cycle product during the period of its purchase. The market is
still not available. It is enough. Few people buy it, and after that it booms, and after that it starts to about anything, especially in the clothing part? If you think about this, it has been a long time ago. God have mercy on him, may God have mercy on him, for years. Oh, we were the
whole world. The topic was strange, and after that, it seemed that everyone was wearing it.  That's when he seemed to After that, the pants that had a lot of cuts in them were strong. The same thing happened. We were falling apart and after that.  The whole market was wearing it, then it started to disappear. The same thing happens in the lifecycle of any product,
so I need to understand what's trending now. This is very important to me. The second important thing for us is that this piece be a standalone. What does "Sigma standalone" mean? What do you think we can differentiate ourselves with? A pink t-shirt with a
we can differentiate ourselves with? A pink t-shirt with a before buying it: "Can I wear it with him?" Or a t-shirt that looks a bit more basic and gives the customer many options for how to wear it? That's the t-shirt we can sell more of. The basic one is definitely the best. So you
have to be able to choose a piece that is a standalone. The customer can wear these pieces in different ways; they don't have to buy a specific outfit from you for them. So the customer will feel This item is a One Piece stand. The
third thing is Instagrammable. What does Instagrammable mean? It means people can take pictures with it and post them on Instagram and TikTok. This really affects the brand's sales. Of really affects the brand's sales. Of course, I'll give you a small example now. When do you think the customer is
more likely to share or download this item? If it has print on the back, and if it has print on the front, which is Because when I take the picture, I'm standing there, so the print is visible, the brand name is visible, the logo is visible, whatever it is. So this is
brand name is visible, the logo is visible, whatever it is. So this is when I see a friend of mine taking a picture with this and sharing it, and someone else taking a picture with it, I'll share it too. But today, the print is small and the print is on the back. Who takes pictures with this
rarely? So, this product doesn't necessarily have to be Instagrammable, but it's one of the qualities that can yes, so when there's a lot of content like this, I can leverage it as a brand. I can use it to expand my reach, use it for
more advertising, use it for more feedback, use it to make the customer more eager to take pictures example, one of the things I tell young people not to do is print on the back because, well, that's no longer trendy and it's not Instagrammable. Got the idea? Good. Okay, very good.
Point number four: Long Season. What does Long Season mean? I can sell this item throughout the entire season. So, what's the problem? The problem here is that I'm just starting
my brand. The first collection I make, the first thing I do, I know what to do, go and make a [laughs]. That's a trend, it's not even a season. It's a trend, it's number one. And if we're talking about a season, it's a very short time. Let's think about it. We
agreed that the product  Our process has to go through two stages: testing. What does testing mean? It means I test this product in the market by making a small quantity. Then there's scaling. If I can scale this product, I need to take it to the factory for the entire manufacturing process, which takes, say,
entire manufacturing process, which takes, say, 15 days—that's the minimum, up to a month and a half. So, for me, it takes a very long time. Can I do this during a season like Ramadan? No way! I'll exactly like that. So,
if you're still at the beginning, it will be difficult for you. Now, who releases a Ramadan collection? Their brand is already established. They know what's in demand in the market. They have a very good name in the demand. Okay, but I'm still at the beginning; I can't do that. The
Okay, but I'm still at the beginning; I can't do that. The next thing is to keep the freshness or variety in the product limited. Let's avoid this when I'm just starting out. Let's say I'm just starting out. We always give examples with t-shirts because it's the easiest thing to say, and everyone
this applies to any product in the world. You can't, for example, take a printed t- shirt and make it in three colors and three sizes. I'm talking about a printed t-shirt here, not something basic. My brand's strength is that I sell basic products. I'm
talking about a printed t-shirt, and making it in three colors and three sizes. Do you know what that means? I have a lot of stock. I have nine different products in stock, 3x3, for nine. Then I make a quantity of each one, and another quantity of each one. It's a problem. I
have what we call dead stock—a huge amount of stock that's not working and not selling. So, it's very important when I'm working on my product.  I'm very keen on reducing
my product.  I'm very keen on reducing the SQ. Start with one-size-fits-all work. Start with three-size work. Two-size work, meaning from two to three sizes, don't exceed that. Some people now work with something anything. For all-rounder, exactly. It's like a ball that does that.
yes, of course. Low SQ savings, so it was able to scale very high. It doesn't have the waste of sizes, so it works with low SQ. Then when you do this, it will be three, so you saved money that you can make several other products and you can test them. So you enter this stage to
test better and scale better. Okay, Okay, number six, Healthy [snoring sounds] Margins. What does Healthy Margins mean? Remember when we were talking here in the previous slide about the product you will work with? Don't manufacture
and say, "I will work," and then, for example, its manufacturing cost is 70% of the selling price. Why is that?  Because I still have a lot of expenses to cover. For example, I'll pay for ads, like
shoot in a photoshoot. I have employees working with me at MediaBuyer. All these are expenses in my business, so I need to work with a healthy margin. Now, we have something called gross profit margin. What does gross profit margin mean? It
means the total margin, the total margin from which you only deduct the manufacturing cost. So, what do I want item's price? The price I'll sell for, let's say 1000 EGP, how
many pounds of that should be for manufacturing? 40-60%, sorry, 40-50%. That's what healthy means. Today, I want to make a t-shirt and sell it for 1000 EGP, for example, to make the numbers easier. exceed 500 pounds. That's the absolute maximum, it
doesn't exceed 500 pounds. So what does that mean?  This means that you have ideas and ambitions that we have to reduce a little to keep our healthy profit margin or stay within the healthy profit range. What affects the manufacturing cost is, as
you mentioned earlier, that we shouldn't add extra things beyond the cut. There are many factors that affect the manufacturing cost, which we'll discuss in the manufacturing section. But you're absolutely right; it's very important to understand that the more you add to these stages—what we call the
manufacturing stages—the higher the cost. you need to be in that position to be able to make a profit. And over time, as my brand grows and I have more capital, I can start adding to
course, okay. And including a flagship product—the one that's in high demand—and another product...  Catchin is something you just take from, as we say, you take from it.
the price high because you don't actually want to sell it. You want to create two positions for yourself with it, just to get them involved within the brand. Then they'll want to come to your brand because, okay, I t-shirt from you.
You know what's most important in the world? The next point is Easy to Manufacture. We'll talk about that next point is Easy to Manufacture. We'll talk about that next time. In the first step of the next stage, in the manufacturing part, let's talk about manufacturing in
Let's talk about manufacturing in general. How can you create your own brand? Okay, let's say two very important things. We have two types of factories. I'll talk about them of factories. I'll talk about them very simply. The first factory does everything. The
second factory specializes. Let's give a more comprehensive example. The factory that does everything is the factory you'll go to.  The design process starts with creating something called a product template. You might ask, "Okay, Wael, how can we make this product
's manufacturing cost the lowest possible point?" The second step is creating a pattern. What is a pattern? A pattern is the drawing that the item you're going to make is cut from. So, how do the stages work? Generally, the process begins with a
how do the stages work? Generally, the process begins with a maker. The pattern maker starts by drawing the pattern or cut of the item on a white sheet of paper, like this one, based on the final design we already have. We then
take this design to the pattern maker, who starts cutting the item like this. After they start drawing it, this sheet of paper begins... You go to the factory. The factory starts doing something called cutting. They start putting our fabric in layers and,
cutting. They start putting our fabric in layers and, based on that, they cut according to the drawing that my patternist has drawn. So, my fabric is cut. So, let's say here, after the pattern, the cutting stage. Excuse me, is this pattern inside the factory? Does the factory
bring it to me, or do I bring it from outside? Let's divide this from the factory that does everything and the factory that has a specialization. And I will tell you when you can do this and when you can do that, and what is the thing that I recommend?  Okay, after the pattern [snoring sounds], the cutting part,
after the pattern [snoring sounds], the cutting part, we start by doing printing, embroidery, anything that will be printed on the piece, anything that will be embroidered on the piece, we have to do it after the pattern stage. So we have the front alone, for example, of this shirt, so we can take something like this and embroider it
on it. We also have the back alone, for example, so we can print something on it. All these stages are done either inside a printing press or inside a finishing place. Now, there's an important point we forgot to mention before the there's an important point we forgot to mention before the cutting part, which is the fabric source
Yes, it's one of the most important things, of course. So, the factory that makes everything is responsible for helping me develop the product, making the pattern, or for them to get the fabrics I'll be working with, making the hemming, making the printing
and embroidery, and finishing it.  If he's doing the finishing work, if he hands me my piece, as we say in Egypt, "mtakhisa" (meaning "packaged" or "sealed"), my piece in its bag, well sealed, I'm ready to start taking it and putting it in my warehouse. Is
No, the piece is put in its bag, folded, and put in its bag. This is a stage in the Okay, when does he hand it over to you? He hands it to me bagged and ready, whatever it is, whether my bag has my tag on it, or my logo on it, or
fine, but this is different from the packaging stage where I put my item inside a box and so on. This is in the customer. This happens in my warehouse, but I'm talking about what happens inside the factory that finishes everything. Okay, so
that finishes everything. Okay, so finishes everything. I want  If I look from afar, I'll just make decisions with me [snoring sounds]. The problem is that high-cost is more expensive than a specialized factory,
because they're the ones who get my fabric, they're the ones who make the help me develop the product. All these costs are included in the price of a single product. When you told me the margin would be 40 to 50%, that's the margin itself. That's it. For
example, here, let's say this t-shirt might cost me 500 pounds. Okay, so for me, for example, this is high because they take a margin at each of these stages. For example, it's rare to
find a factory that does its own printing and embroidery; you have to outsource it. So, they take a margin on it, right? And it's its own fabric; they have to buy it from outside, so they add a margin on it.
All of this increases my cost. Okay, this  The downside of something like this is the Okay, this  The downside of something like this is the high quantity, or what we call a high high quantity, or what we call a high MOQ, of the order. The exact number of pieces
work with you means want to work on a single model with a minimum of 200 pieces. So what's the advantage? The advantage is that I can pieces. So what's the advantage? The advantage is that I can focus on the other stages. As a brand owner, I
can concentrate on the remaining stages. Another advantage is if I'm far away, or my time isn't available, or if I'm manufacturing in Egypt. For example, if I'm in a country like Saudi Arabia or the UAE and want to start manufacturing in Egypt, it would be excellent for me to have them handle everything. So, First In and
Plus needs a very important point: to work with a factory like this, it has to be a work with a factory like this, it has to be a trusted, everything at the same time. Now, how
specialized factory? This specialized factory...  What she does is she starts to finish the cutting, she cuts my piece well, she can do the finishing,
she can do the finishing, packaging, or wrapping of the piece in the same way, or what is called bagging, so they work on this piece. Okay, what do you do with the rest of the points ?  The remaining steps, like the pattern, involve going to a pattern maker. This is the source;
I go to someone outside the factory who creates my pattern and finishes it. Then I take it to the factory, and they can start working on it immediately. It's like the fabric; I start by getting my fabric. Now, [snoring sounds] want to manufacture in Egypt and want to go to Egypt to manufacture it, where do I get my fabric from? There are two very
Egypt to manufacture it, where do I get my fabric from? There are two very important areas: Al-Azhar and Gesr El-Suez. Gesr El- Suez has more cotton fabrics, and Al-Azhar has any other fabrics outside its cotton
range. It's also available in Obour. Most of the shops in both areas are open, so go to Obour because it's near the factories in Egypt. This is so I can get the fabric I'll use for my brand. When should I go to this stage? There are several ways to go to this stage. If I'm still at the beginning and want to save money, I can work and go to the factory, and they can start working in this specialization. So, I  I want to do printing. I'll go to an outsourcing shop, take the fabric already cut, and have it
printed. When do I go to this stage? I want to make a small quantity, say 50 work in this stage myself. The specialized factory agrees to work on very small quantities. I can go to them with a sheet of fabric or a roll of fabric and tell them I want to use
it. They can take the pattern from me, cut it, finish it, and give me Okay, fine. So, that's the advantage of this part. What's the disadvantage? I'm tired of hearing you talk so much. It's exhausting.
You'll need to go get your fabric, take it to the printing place, or print directly onto the fabric itself. It's very exhausting. So, there. There's no reason  The only place I'll work with is if I don't have
if my budget is small, this is exactly the only place I'll work with. I'll work with right away. I go here. The next step is that I've already received these products from the factory. I
need to create content. I need to start photographing this item well so that need to start photographing this item well so that we can sell it. Okay, let's
which is the content. The content [snoring sounds]. What's the biggest problem people make here? The biggest problem people make here is that they take the budget they set for content and start doing photoshoots. The biggest disaster in 2026 and 2027 until 2035.
Why is that?  Because today, if a photoshoot costs you, for example, 3,000 to 200,000 Egyptian pounds (if we're talking about the Egyptian market), in the Gulf market it's much more than that. You everything, with what? With what? Of course, with a
course, with a important thing for me the product shot, the front and back, the white background, and the studio lighting? No, that's no longer the most important thing. Because today, with AI, you create a photoshoot and it produces the features
you need, with the quality you need, and it's you need, and it's impossible to tell the difference between a photoshoot and a real photo. What's important for me today is resizing or
shortform printing. That's the most important thing for me today, and the best way we work in the AI ​​era. People also don't trust any photo that's too professional anymore, so I'm telling you, don't spend too much, because that's  You'll always be in that
situation where the client is asking themselves, "Is this real? What's this I spent so much money on?" real? What's this I spent so much money on?" We call reels UGC, which stands for User-Generated Content. It's videos made by real people filming in front of a
made by real people filming in front of a camera. We sometimes call it "dirty content" because you paid someone to do this. this, but why do we call it dirty content? Because the content is poorly made and looks awful. The worse the presentation, the more people will
content is poorly made and looks awful. The worse the presentation, the more people will background, and so on. So, make it as natural as possible.
website is the easiest way to work. It's not about creating a WordPress site or hiring a developer to build one for you, because that would make you stand out in the
because that would make you stand out in the market.  You're sitting there thinking about how you can create your own website from scratch. You don't need to go through all that. The simplest way to create your website is with Shopify. On YouTube, you'll find
millions of videos explaining how to create a Shopify website for yourself and how to work on Shopify and establish your brand's website. The most important part, or the most important point, is that it's user- friendly for the customer. The
friendly for the customer. The second thing is detail. What does detail mean? It means explaining what points are important to me as a customer on your website. Let's break it down. First, size charts. It's
not possible to go to your website and not find the size chart for the item I'm going to buy. Second, good product photos. Good pictures of the product. Let me give you a small example. Yesterday, I saw a product I really liked and I
shirt, but there's no one wearing it. I can't see how it looks, or anyone wearing it and moving around in it. This stopped me from making a purchase decision. I sent them a message asking if there were any other pictures, but they didn't reply. This also stopped me from making a purchase decision. This is what I thought about with Volume and Ads. They're
acting like they're tailoring a brand and making a lot of money. The third thing is the description. I'll say here a description of the product. Okay, what material are you using? This really makes a huge difference. This really makes a huge difference.
made of cotton or not. It doesn't matter to you. As a consumer, you care about the quality of the cotton. For many people, this is very important. Many people are allergic to polyester, so it's very important to you. Now, regarding the model in
weigh? Yes, they always write about this now. Why? Because for you, I don't care about the size and weight. I don't want to buy it and then sit and measure myself. I'm not interested in doing that, right? But when I say, "This model is 173 cm
But when I say, "This model is 173 cm and 85 kg and is wearing a medium," okay, I'm 174 cm and about 82 kg, so I'll get a medium too. For me, it will be fine. You understand the idea, so this is very good. In the product description, number four, reviews make a difference. If you go to my website,
this is the first thing we read now before we even see the product. Go to my website.  The website has a product. Go to my website.  The website has a reviews section under the product, with 15 exact product I was telling you about. I've included them with
product I was telling you about. I've included them with This directly improves something we call CR. CR stands for call CR. CR stands for Conversion Rate,
meaning out of every 100 people who visit the website, how many actually buy? My conversion rate in the clothing industry is between 2% and 3%.
delivery. We have a Delivery takes three to five days, but if your order arrives after 10 days, you won't get it. You don't place an order and it arrives damaged and broken. Of course, the shipping companies are
mostly responsible, but I blame the brand first and foremost. They're the ones who choose the shipping company first and foremost. They're the ones who choose the shipping company our audience. That's exactly what our ads are. So, you have two
ways to work as a brand. The first way is to run your first way is to run your own ads yourself. The second way is to use MediaBuyer. When should I do this and when should I do that? Do this if I'm technically weak and can't
access Facebook to learn how to create my own ads. I can't understand these details. No, have MediaBuyer with you. You can use it to create your ads. Now, if I'm someone who can learn, who can constantly improve, who can access data and start analyzing it, what should I do?
videos that teach you how to create your own ads. YouTube teaches you every step, and you can spend hours learning how to create your own ads and start running ads for your brand. Okay, I worked with him on Media Buyer, how can I calculate his salary?
This is divided into two very important things, or we can say three points, specifically in the Arab market. The first point is that he takes a fixed salary. The second point is that he takes a salary plus a percentage. The third point is that he takes a percentage only. Will
will be one of the three. Okay, so determined on the size of your scale as a brand. If you are still at the beginning, most likely he takes a If you are still at the beginning, most likely he takes a fixed salary from you, let's say he will take 15,000
pounds per month if we are in the Egyptian market. Now, if I am still at the beginning and my sales volume is, let's say, 100,000 per month, 150,000 per month, and by the way, this is a small number, how much will he take from me?  We're talking about a range, let's say 10,000 pounds a month plus 5% of
5% of sales, yes, you can negotiate on this. This depends on your skill level, so you can negotiate on something like this. Okay, if I'm working and my skill level is high, I make a million plus a month, he can take 2 to 3%
of your sales volume per month. Generally, the important thing or the job of this person is very important these days. Why?  Because it is simply what controls how you can spend your money on ads in your business. Okay, if I do this myself, make sure you
Okay, if I do this myself, make sure you learn well how ads work. Okay, we have so that I know whether this media buyer is working well for me or whether my ads are working well or not. The first thing that is important to me is ROIS ROIS,
meaning return on ad spend. What is the return on the ads? What does it mean that for every pound I spend on ads, how many pounds of sales come with it? For
now," what does that mean?  This means that for every pound I spend on advertising, I generate 6 pounds in sales. It's calculated by looking at how much I spent to achieve that sale, for example, and the average
order value. We spent 100 pounds to reach that sale. This is what we call cost per cent (
we call cost per cent ( CPC). This is the order value. So, what is my profit margin? We try to reduce this number as much as This number is high for us in the clothing industry. Why is it high? Because 10 for
us gives us a healthy profit. Now, and this is a very important point, what is the profit margin I should have on the item I sell? A net profit of 20 to  25% is the
net profit after you've finished everything. This is the net profit on each item you sell in your brand. ROI I can work with?
For a brand, it would be very difficult for us if its ROI fell below four. Okay, so it's losing money because it's invested a lot in content, a lot in operations, and so on. So, it will be difficult for us. I need to start calculating my own
ROI. Let's talk about ROI, let's talk about CPP. Now, the last question here is, what percentage of the total capital should the advertising budget be? total capital should the advertising budget be?
Approximately 15%. Okay, and is it logical that the higher this percentage, the better it is for the business, or not? It depends on our margins.  How does it work? For example, if my manufacturing margin is 40%, I have room to increase it further.
depends on my expenses. My expenses might be very high at the meaning I have a very large team. I need a team structure. Is this team important or not? Based on that, I'll start increasing or decreasing my budget according to my capacity.
This is a very important point. Can I handle my business producing, say, 2000 orders per month now? I ca n't always handle that. The factories I'm currently working with ca n't always handle that load, and neither can my team or my
warehouses. So I have to focus very carefully on whether my capacity can handle increasing the budget. you could do something like  The strategy is to get my first 300 orders, and I'm just
Let's do it! I'm dying to see it happen. It's really see it happen. It's really simple. The
based on everything we've discussed, require three very important points. Do we need 500 products to work with, or are there large print runs? No, we don't need that. Do we need huge photoshoots costing 50,000 or
100,000 Egyptian pounds? No, we don't need that. Do we need to hire 50 people for our team? Do we need large warehouses? No, we don't need all of that. These are all points where people spend money on things that are completely unnecessary in business, and they become a huge obstacle preventing them from
reaching their first 300 orders.  We need three things. First, we need a product that uses the same system and method we discussed in the product section. We need a product that I can actually produce in very large quantities. This is the most important thing for me. If your product is
n't a product, if you haven't done proper research on it, anything I say after that is pointless. The second thing I need is content. I need content. If I ca n't create a content machine for my brand, I ca n't work.
And a content machine here has many variations, like we discussed with UGC. So, as a brand, I need to produce UGC content every week. As a brand, I need to create
founder content, so I need to create founder content every week. As a brand, I need to create images with the offer written on them. Our thing is that I create AI images for the website, so I do this every week. The third thing is Ads, or my ads. I created
third thing is Ads, or my ads. I created Winnin Products, and Sigma created content, and I pray to God that it will spread organically. We want something calculated that can help us spread and start understanding where Java is so that we can develop it. So we have to be able to work with Ads.
There are no brands that live on organic content. There are but in the era we are in, with the rise of the supply chain, the supply chain is very widespread. So, to spread, you need to create something very, very strong, and you need a strong team behind it. There are
many brands, if we are talking about Egypt, that have created organic content and are very widespread with it, and they sell based on their organic content. But to be able to generalize the rule  Theirs... we need to spend a lot on production, we need to spend a lot on storylines, we need to project a
very strong image. Okay, if I'm just starting out with a modest budget, I need to follow a system. This system needs to be linked to ads so I can expand. When I can place my first 300 orders, I'll have a budget to invest in content that helps people
become more of my brand owners, to help them manage my brand more, and then I can sell organically. But the ads I'll be working with are very important to me at the beginning. But the ads I'll be working with are very important to me at the beginning.
You're truly a hero! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!