Meet Nicholas Lee (PARTNER ONE) YingQi Chen (PARTNER TWO) | Hitorii Design

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicholas Lee (PARTNER ONE) YingQi Chen (PARTNER TWO) and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicholas Lee (PARTNER ONE), we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Work is where we end up spending the most of our lives, but working for someone else has many trade-offs. Most companies are hyper focused on profits, see employees as disposable labor, and have poor management with no accountability. Both of us experienced these work environments that did not align with our values and left us in an unfulfilling cycle. Having to compromise ourselves and our creativity was something we were no longer willing to do, so we created Hitorii to have the freedom to express ourselves through our work and brand values. Building our own company allows us to shape our lives the way we dream of, without having to make unreasonable sacrifices. No doubt it has been tough and an enormous amount of work, but the journey has been much more gratifying and brings much more opportunity for individual growth.

The decision to start your own business is always daunting, but we believe everyone should try, no matter how small the scale. Through the process, you will step out of your comfort zone, learn a lot about yourself, and push yourself to grow, There is nothing more valuable than practicing tangible ways of believing in yourself, and many would be surprised at what they could accomplish if they did not hold self-limiting beliefs.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
The craziest part of our journey was that we started completely from scratch without a clear/detailed plan. Both of us just knew that working for ourselves and our creativity was something we had to do immediately. So we quit our jobs and dove into building a brand. While we were excited, there was a lot of pressure to make Hitorii profitable quickly, since we did not have a ton of financial savings and just a few months of runway. With only $1,000 in initial funding, we made our first batch of products and pop-up stand and launched. Of course, the product we thought would be the most successful and spent the most time on was a complete flop, and we had to scramble to our next idea. Fortunately, our pins, stickers, and first dive into apparel, the Trash Tee, were successes with climbers and Hitorii has survived so far.

At the same time, there are many more hurdles to overcome. Hitorii, in a way, was created as a response to the prevailing look of outdoor products – overly saturated and bright colors, tight/skinny fits, and poor visual designs. We wanted to make a brand that contrasts with the mainstream climbing brands and reflects our own aesthetic and what we love instead. Hopefully, there will be enough interest in our brand, built for a niche of climbers, to eventually grow into a mainstream one, but it is uncertain how things will play out in the long-term.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Though I grew up in the LA area, there were many things I did not know about or do. The most insane thing was that I had no idea that there was an Angeles National Forest until I started climbing as an adult. Though LA is a desert, there is so much beautiful nature in close proximity – like Malibu Creek State Park and the Santa Monica Mountains, Malibu Beach, the San Jacinto Mountains, and Joshua Tree.

We love food, and LA is home to some of the best ethnic food in the world. Our favorite spots are: Melo Melo (coconut pudding dessert), Menya Tigre (japanese curry ramen), xinjiang bbq (chinese charcoal skewers), brother’s cousins tacos (best tacos in LA), and Loqui (mushroom tacos).

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We are fortunate to start Hitorii together as partners and serve as inspirations for each other. Qi taught me (Nick) about design and has encouraged my interest in the creative process. Learning from someone who was so talented in her work (architecture), has given me a much deeper appreciation for design and instilled the importance of pursuing work that would nurture my creative mind. At the same time, I saw that Qi wanted to focus her creative efforts on her own designs, and encouraged her to quit her job and pursue her dreams. I believed that with my business background, we could partner and work creatively together, and helped convince her of my vision. Though it has only been one year since we launched, we have both grown and learned a lot from working through adversity together and helping each other.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without our climbing community. We were fortunate to have Justin and the rest of the team at Cliffs of Id welcome us and help us host our very first pop-ups, providing a free space for us to gain traction as a brand. Since then, we have done many pop-ups through California, and all of the different climbing gyms have provided free space for us. The support has been invaluable to our brand, and is an example of how special climbing can be. Also, we’ve had old friends come from day one and made many new friends, and their support in buying our products and promoting our brand has been the core reason for our success. Seeing how much our community loves our designs has been so encouraging and helps us push through difficulties.

Website: https://hitorii.com/

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