The latest clothing release from premium streetwear label Geedup sold out in just three minutes, following a separate $2.9 million release that showed how innovative labels are using limited releases to drive hype and overturn e-commerce norms.
Founded in 2010 by Sydney-based entrepreneur and creative director Jake Paco, Geedup has built a dedicated following for its high-end jackets, hoodies, tees, and accessories through deep community engagement and a savvy sales strategy.
The brand has partnered with local musicians and athletes like Australian world champion boxer George Kambosos, projecting the label’s ethos of hard-earned resilience and underdog success.
At the same time, its apparel, featuring detailed embroidery and bold textured logos, is released in deliberately limited qualities: Geedup does not reproduce any item once it has sold out, making each drop an exclusive event.
The label’s engaged customer base, and its drop strategy, culminated on Friday night with the release of its new double-sided down jackets.
It only took three minutes for the strictly limited “injection” of $499.95 jackets to sell out, Paco said.
Selling out is not an unusual experience for the brand.
In June, a prior drop saw Geedup accrue more than $2.91 million in revenue in around six hours, said Paul Waddy, an e-commerce expert and advisor to Geedup.
“This is a regular thing that’s happened for a few years now, rather than a flash in the pan,” Waddy told SmartCompany on Monday.
“It’s their model: drop a product and sell it out. And then they hype up the next one and go again.”
Geedup is not the only Australian label to prosper through the drop model, with Melbourne-based Mr Winston also proving the limited release of upmarket products can boost customer engagement.
Yet not every brand should retool their operations to the drop model, Waddy says, owing to the heavy brand-building efforts needed to make it work.
In Geedup’s case, customer engagement was generated through a significant financial and personal investment into the community the brand sprung from.
Parra News reports label has pledged $250,000 from a recent drop to Confit Pathways, a community group dedicated to reducing reincarceration among young people through mentorship and mindset training.
The funding will go towards Confit Pathways’ plan to build a gym in Parramatta.
“They really invest in their community quite a lot, and I think that community appreciates that,” Waddy said.
“And I think Geedup is a brand that their community can relate to and also aspire to be like, because they are just some punters from Western Sydney that have come good… It’s the quintessential startup.
“They’ve come from the streets and hustled their way to the top.”
Not every e-commerce retailer can launch a limited-edition product and expect demand to start high, Waddy said.
“Firstly you’ve got to have that community that wants to buy from you, and that’s a whole different beast. That’s 10 years of building that up.”
Differentiation is also key, he added.
“You’ve got to have a product that’s special. And let’s face it, a lot of online retailers are selling products that are just too similar to their competition.”
The success of Geedup also comes down to some refreshingly old-school marketing tactics, Waddy continued.
Despite boasting nearly 230,000 Instagram followers, Geedup spends less on Meta marketing and advertising than outsiders might expect, he said, at a time when the cost of social media advertising is squeezing other small retailers.
Email marketing only became a part of Geedup’s system recently, too.
“A lot of brands will tell you that’s just not possible, that you need to have the full stack of CRM and personalisation,” Waddy said.
“Now personalisation and AI is just not a conversation we have a Geedup, because personalisation at Geedup means calling your VIP customers to check in.”
Instead, it invests heavily in its own creative efforts, be they photoshoots, or vodcasts with friends of the brand.
“They just focus on relating to their community,” Waddy continued.
“I think so many brands take their eye off the prize, take their eye off the consumer and worry too much about the website or too much about technology.”
Note: A prior version of this report stated the Friday night jacket release resulted in revenues of $2.91 million. That dollar figure refers to the June drop.
Senior Business Journalist
Focused on the small business sector, David’s work covers the political, regulatory, and economic issues facing Australian entrepreneurs. Prior to joining SmartCompany, he was a reporter for Business Insider Australia. You can follow him on LinkedIn.
