Nude Project, the Generation Z brand whispering through TikTok and Instagram

Each generation has its fetish brand. Or at least his favorite style. Those who are already around thirty, or have exceeded that psychological threshold, will still remember the ravings of Loreak Mendian or Gurú –Fernando Alonso will never forgive you–. Of sweatshirts with logos was the matter. Now, things have not changed much. Courted in this case by influencers, clothing brands as a form of association and identification continue to be on everyone's lips. We can still see endless queues at the Blue Banana stores to get a sweatshirt printed with the big X or the long queues for sports shoes from the big brands. In parallel, and through the Internet in this case, the Nude Project has its own army of fans with their own virtual queues. In his own way, no doubt. Because in this fashion there is still a long way to go.

Founded in 2019, this new streetstyle clothing brand is in good health. And the reason is simple: Nude Project has found its target audience where it is. Without a physical store, at least until now, the project founded by Bruno Casanovas and Alex Benlloch is born and grows on Instagram and TikTok ready for Generation Z and those who come after. They have been able to speak the language of their potential buyers.

With a target audience of between 16 and 28, lovers of unisex sweatshirts, they have achieved the milestone of selling almost 700 units of their models in less than an hour. 50% in Spain, the rest of Europe with Germany, Holland and France in the lead. "We are a streetwear brand, a much more advanced style in Europe, but it is beginning to reach Spain and we are among the first here," explains Casanovas to Hipertextual.

Born on a journey, an old school company

The story of Nude Project seems like one of many others in the startup universe. We changed the garage in the parents' house for a student residence – to which we added social networks – and state-of-the-art computers for fashionable sweatshirts for young people.

Bruno Casanovas lived in Bali and Alex Benlloch in Burgos. Both lovers of "different" content on social networks ended up connecting somehow through Instagram. A joint trip to Tenerife to meet in person ended up shaping the initial business idea.

Casanovas came from the world of fashion and Benlloch had a predilection for e-commerce. "It was a pretty perfect match," says Bruno. From there the germ of the Nude Project was born, at least in spirit. Both were at that time studying marketing – a fact to take into account to calculate their tender age. "It got to a point where we couldn't be with the race and work. I was afraid that if I did both things in the end neither of them would work out; it was a very tough decision," he explains. Bruno's mother comes up, not quite in agreement with the decision at that time.

What Inditex does not need, but the rest do and Nude Project too

Inditex, with its empire led by Zara, Stradivarius, Oysho and a long list of brands that litter the great shopping streets, has achieved what so many others dream of. With practically zero marketing spending, they have managed to be on everyone's lips. It is not easy to achieve that milestone and the effort to compete is excruciating.

"The fashion sector is very difficult and we learned that quickly. We understood why there are big ones and why there are brands that don't arrive", explains Bruno. It is a long-distance race in which the fashion giant will always be behind his movements.

Nude Project threw for digital content as a way to come to the surface; In this way, they achieved almost 100,000 followers on Instagram in just 10 hours. Unlike Ortega's ideal, the Nude Project first created a community, then came the clothes. Nothing like the feeling of belonging to feel the need to have something.

And in 2020, with just one year of life, the pandemic arrived. And for Nude Project, unlike other brands in the fashion industry who saw their sales go to waste, things were looking good. "We didn't fully notice the pandemic because we were growing a lot at that time. We had stock to supply all the demand, although we did have problems in production because you didn't know if the clothes were going to arrive or not. But we didn't notice any downturn" Bruno points out. The result is 2.5 million revenue as a goal, more than achieved. Without any capital contribution by investors.

All in all, social media was essential to this story. With daily content, Nude Project felt the need to make their followers feel close. As if it were an influencer. Influencers with whom, by the way, they have worked under the gifting model – or a gift without obligation to be exposed in their public accounts. Don Patricio, Manu Ríos, de la Osa, Martina Cari, Carla Díaz… These are just some of those who have published content that has helped launch the young fashion brand.

Fast Fashion and fashion forever

The concept of sustainable fashion has long been an imprint that even the champions of fast fashion have wanted to make their own. And is not for less. According to Fast Feed Grinded, 100 billion garments are produced every year across the planet. And a total of 23.5 billion shoes. 95% of the latter ends up unused in landfills and almost 40% of the textile is never used. These are figures that new brands must take into account.

Nude Project did not have a few accurate first steps in this case. "Now we have a lot of quality, but at the beginning it wasn't like that; we bought from China and printed here as best we could," says Bruno. Now things have changed because the target audience wants it that way.

"Although it is not the focus of our brand, we have to touch that subject yes or yes, because people want their garments to last for many years," he explains. In fact, now they have started to manufacture in Portugal, to investigate the matter of organic cotton and to flee from this ephemeral and unsustainable fashion that has the planet in check for some years. Specifically since the year 2000, at which time it begged for a world production that is now looking for more sensible figures.