.Manly Bands is a direct-to-consumer seller of males's bands. The business released in 2016 after John Ruggiero, the co-founder along with his better half Michelle, could not discover an ideal wedding band.This is actually Ruggiero's second appeal on the podcast. In April 2021, our team covered the firm's founding, distinct ring products, as well as extra. Ever since, Manly Bands has actually obtained its own maker. The creation of bands from, state, Port Daniel's whiskey barrels or even Fender guitar strings makes convincing video, says Ruggiero, perfect for narration on social networks as well as elsewhere.The entire audio of our talk is actually embedded below. The records is actually edited for length and also clarity.Eric Bandholz: Give us a run-through of what you carry out.John Ruggiero: My other half, Michelle, as well as I began an on-line ring business knowned as Manly Bands in 2016 to solve a problem of wedding event bands for males. We were actually only married. I have large hands and couldn't locate a band that I liked that was not overpriced. My choices were actually getting coming from a magazine or even having something custom-built.I found yourself buying coming from a website. The band got here in a standard mailer, with no container or customer support. It was actually a dreadful knowledge through today's ecommerce criteria.We got wed, relocated to Fla, and required a job. Our team informed ourselves, "Our experts're each business owners. Why don't our company make our very own service?" Our team explained the forms of issues our company would certainly observed and also just how to resolve them. My ring knowledge arised, as well as our team chose to try to address it for various other people.Our objective when our team began was to pay rental fee. Our team believed creating a pair many thousand bucks a month from this would be excellent. We considered it a way of life business, not high-growth. It was just Michelle and also me in our garage designing bands as well as delivering them bent on clients. Our experts had actually appealed one thing. Our notification resonated along with customers.Michelle as well as I make an excellent team. I generate suggestions, as well as she's the implementer. A bunch of our effectiveness heads to her creative mind. She names the rings and cultivates personas. She links the rings to customers. Describing a band exclusively as "eight-millimeter black" didn't suffice.Our company created bands from special components, including Port Daniel's barrels or even special steels. Your business removed. Since then, our company have actually grown considerably. Our company now have more than 55 people in the Manly Bands loved ones. About fifty percent of those are band artisans that work in our just recently acquired production shop in Utah.Bandholz: When did you acquire a manufacturer?Ruggiero: About a year and also a half ago. Our experts had been their client for many years, so we knew them well. Many of their company was wholesale, which failed to interest our team-- going to mom-and-pop jewelry experts. They preserved their retail customers and also brand. Our team acquired a few of their assets and also took over employees.Causing a production crew has been among the greatest things our experts've performed. It's been actually incredible to walk out there certainly and also see all of them create rings out of Fender guitar cords or metal coming from an M1 Abrams tank.Bandholz: How performs internal production influence marketing?Ruggiero: It's been large. Taking a camera to the opposite of the office as well as filming the team using lathes to cut the metal rods or scotch barrels into rings makes for fabulous video. Our team have our camera crew around continuously. We use that video on our social networks and in our ads and also newsletters. Our company attempt to promote that since the majority of business in the men's band space do not create. They drop ship or order coming from abroad and after that ship it out. But our experts wish it to last a life-time and also be something individuals can easily take pleasure in.We have actually possessed a ton of success with our military ancestry selection, where our experts resource unique army materials. Our experts have the M1 Garand rifle stock, the wood part, from War of the nations I. Watching our staff placed that in the turret and cut a part out for a ring is actually exciting.Our marketing for those bands talks about the background, the soldiers, where the weapon was made use of, and also things like that. My better half and I studied filmmaking in college. We utilize our abilities to educate and also tell a story. As an example, I lately acquired an e-mail from a consumer that discussed that his grand daddy made use of to steer M1 tanks. The consumer gifted some of those rings to his grandfather, as well as they possessed quite a psychological exchange. It's nice to aid customers connect with their past times and also produce one thing purposeful.Bandholz: Where can folks acquire a band from you?Ruggiero: ManlyBands.com. Our experts possess photos on Instagram, too. I'm on Twitter and LinkedIn.