Eric Solomon

@Seanfrank can i make that hat for you, for real?

finally made a wallet for all my followers on here <3

This should have been HUGE. youtube.com/watch?v=ufR575…

@kaiarhodes @aphysicist same here. the apparel industry doesn't need to be low margin for it to be done right.

@aphysicist Meanwhile, I go to battle every day to beat the big, low-margin factory critique. Our margins on cut and sew are in 30–45% range before we layer in everything else

in america we give robot foundation model companies $500M to play with t-shirts, which will never be used for anything useful. meanwhile they have robot gyms and factories loaded to the brim learning 24/7

@kaiarhodes @round eccru

@round Eggshell

off-white collar

@Seanfrank @sibbsbutemo it's 19 minutes long. see you in the pit.

@sibbsbutemo joyce manor album of the year

basement, american football, joyce manor, tigers jaw and price daddy. white boy summer is gonna be the white boyest it’s ever been

@selfdfens spoken like a screen printer.

Every day in Comfort Colors is the worst day of my life.

@kaiarhodes so much wasted money in the trash right there.

POV: Your startup is actually shipping product

@SchroedsBiz roq makes a great machine. i have found solutions that are 15% of the price and do the same thing though, when you all are looking for another.

Just turned our finishing dept into a 1 man operation

@seanfrank How do we get capital to create a cut and sew factory?

American Reindustrialization: Everyone is talking about what makes China so great at manufacturing- and what it will take to reshore to their level of manufacturing. But what people who DON'T make stuff are missing... America has a ton of factories. But these factories aren't for hire. Think about Boeing. Boeing has some of the largest factories on earth. But, it is dedicated to one thing; making planes. No matter how much I email them, they won't take an order of Ridge Wallets. Now, they do have an ecosystem of third-party factories to help them with special projects or excess capacity. But often, Boeing is the ONLY client of these factories. These factories are too specialized, or even by contract NOT allowed to take new clients without Boeing's approval. They are third party and for hire in name only. The United States is the SECOND largest manufacturing economy on earth. But nearly all of these factories are owned and controlled by the customer. Whereas in China, There are tens of thousands of FOR HIRE third-party factories. They are struggling, they are begging for business. But that is what new and emerging brands need. They need hungry partners, who have the time and space to help them make their thing. So if we want the USA to be the LEADER in manufacturing again, We DON'T need another Ford factory. We need 100 former Ford machinists fucking around in a barn. So, if you are interested in manufacturing, and want to open a factory, I hope this post inspires you: 5 types of manufacturing 1- CNC machines Pros: cheap to get started ($20-40k for a GOOD machine) Flexible. It can make basically anything. It has insanely good tolerances. And it is repeatable. The biggest con is that it is slow (for factories). You are limited to milling time. You need a bigger machine, or more machines, to do more than 1-4 widgets at a time. 2- Injection molding Pros: Possible to hit HUGE scale. If you need 100,000 of something, injection molding is great. It gets a very low cost per unit because the scale is so high. Cons: You are limited on material. The tolerances will be worse. You need a mold to get started, and that is expensive (and slow) to get set up. 3- Additive manufacturing This is 3D printing, and everyone thought it was going to be the future (it isn't yet). It just combines the worst of CNCing and injection molding. It has the speed of CNCing (slow) and the precision of injection molding (bad). The biggest pro is it is very easy to get started and prototyping. CNC prototyping is expensive and slow. And if you have CNC machines, you want them making money (products). Whereas a very good 3D printer is a few Gs And is great for getting an idea of if your thing can really be made. 4- Casting This is how you make giant stuff. It is like injection molding, where you need a die. But it is usually one-off, metal, expensive stuff. The pros are it's the only way to do it. The cons are it is very limited. 5- Cut and sew Everything above was for durable goods. But apparel is a trillion-dollar industry. Cut and sew is incredibly labor-intensive. The "cut" is for cutting fabric. This is now automated. You have a prototype, you nail down tolerances, and an automated cutter can cut your design out of rolls of fabric. But the sew portion hasn't really been automated yet (past sewing machines). It requires a human to move and fold the fabric. --- Everyone is trying to build SaaS to help factories. What we need is more factories. Better loans for customers and the factory. More access to capital. But really we just need 10,000 more. What makes China so good is the entire supply chain is there. From the button guy to the zipper guy... all on the same block. We don't have that. All of our factories are silos. But hopefully, this interest isn't just a moment in time And maybe this post got someone a little more interested in starting something.

@seanfrank But 24 and 25 already punched me in the face.

2026 about to punch you in the face

@iamshackelford Are you based in az?

Watched a Starbucks shut down and a Better Buzz pop up close to home. When I was in Scottsdale, I was seeing lines double at Dutch Bros then that Starbucks.

@seanfrank Buy a Rivian instead.

should I do it

@zachmstuck Google businesses suites FTW

@iamshackelford I’ve reshared this like 3 times. Great image.

Mood

@seanfrank Did I win?

It was very bright and loud while filming this. And still- I crushed it. I’m currently in talks to sign with a MAJOR talent agency. I gave away $200,000 this day. My day rate is going up.

@iamshackelford Woah huge

As we said. We carry on.

@danfaughnder Hell ya big dawg

Sometimes feel like I’m just talking to myself on this app lately, but there’s a reason why the White Stripes is the best Jack White project and the reason is Meg White

@iamshackelford Damn I feel seen and called out.

If you're just starting out in ecom right now / or doing it solo… I’m not gonna lie to you, it's not easy and it’s gotten harder in a lot of areas. Yeah the complicated tactics are one thing, but the main thing is you have no relationships, no partnerships, no mentors giving you feedback. You're just listening to everybody chatting sh-t on the internet. Where do you even go? Who do you follow? What do you listen to? Who's going to spend time with you without charging you money you don't have? Yeah, there are tools now - to find mentors and stuff while you hit people up on different channels. But getting somebody invested enough in you takes money and time from that person. People will overcomplicate this because at the beginning, you actually have nothing. Just simplify it as easily as possible before you start listening and consuming all this type of content Or you're just going to fall into analysis paralysis and have a lot of conflicting information flooding into your workday. That's where you're going to get stuck.

@seanfrank I’m ready to be on the list.

I have angel invested a little. 10-20 checks, 50k-250k each, over 8 years. I have seen zero returns on all passive investments. Most never send investor updates. 90% received no paper mark ups ever. Earlier this year I thought I should write them all down to zero. Just assume they are all DOA until proven otherwise... But then I got news that I have two "fund returners" in there. Just randomly. It is 100% random. It is 100% a bad idea. But when it works, its cool

@BondJohnBond Already did :(

We could start a tidal wave of political punk bands if Trump put tariffs on blank black t-shirts.