Welcome!

This week we’ve got a deep dive from Oren on various software tools he uses and why (including what we use to run the newsletter) plus an interview with Adam from Libero about how he’s building his brand and his new collection drop. Enjoy!

In community news: Clayton held a super successful popup in New York, hundreds of people came through to check out his curated brand guests, and of course, the style of the attendees was impeccable.

We're thinking of bringing a similar experience to Austin and Socal soon... let us know if you're interested 😉

Talking Shop with Libero

This is an ongoing series where we chat with creators and founders of brands who are building cool shit.

In our first installment of this series, we chatted with Marcus Milione from Minted NY.

Today, it’s Adam Appugliesi of Libero, based in Toronto, Canada.

Adam is one of the most genuine people we’ve ever met. He’s got this cache, this cool energy that he can do anything, and it’s been inspiring to watch how that shows up in his own brand.

He recently launched his FW23 collection, so we wanted to chat with him about that, dig into the creative nature of Libero, how Adam’s vision for the brand has evolved over time, how he approaches the conceptual parts of new campaigns, focusing on quality of above all else, and more.

Enjoy!

PS— if you’re in NYC this weekend, swing by Adam’s popup at Cueva, a menswear store in downtown Manhattan.

Adam will be there both days, slinging garments, sipping espresso, kissing babies’ foreheads; the works. Tell ‘em we sent you!

You just launched FW23 for Libero. What's your design approach and process for concepting each new line?

Everything we do with Libero is intentional.

Whether we’re creating, collaborating, or designing, every step comes with intent. That means we always start with the story. 

We're never trying to “sell” products to our clients; we’re trying to sell them a story that they can fall in love with. These stories are always coming from a place of truth, passion or beliefs.

Mark Twain once said, "write what you know." And that’s something we keep close to our hearts. We believe in designing this way because it allows us to connect with our clients. If they fall in love with the concept, then they will love what follows... the product.

How has your vision evolved for Libero since you started?

It's become clear over time. The first two years of Libero were a disaster. My friend Kadeem and I started the brand together, and he passed away a year after we launched. The moment that followed was me trying to catch my feet and keep it going.

Now, Libero is finding its stride. We haven't hit it yet, but we’re well on our way. Our vision is to find people who believe in what we do. 

We’re consistently impressed by the quality you put out. How do you maintain that?

I'm a consumer, first and foremost.

I don't like being cheated by a restaurant, brand, company, or experience, and we also don't want to cheat our clients.

Selling garments as an independent brand isn’t easy. To be successful, you have to treat every detail of your brand with respect. From the brand language to the product.

Sometimes, you might miss a beat. That happens. We’re human. But you need to know that I’m always going to try my best to make everything as high quality as possible.

What's your favorite piece you've created so far and why?

Of course, it's our LE MANS jacket. It's been our claim to fame and a piece that's a hero product for us. The first thing I ever made and a hill I'm happy to die on. It's become sort of a Members-only jacket. you know that's a Libero piece from a mile away.

The second piece is something we never sold. We made it 5 years ago and listed it, but no one bought it. JORDAN jacket cut from an italian veal suede. Blue satin lining. Blue contrast stitch on the outer shell. I hit the sweet spot with it. Hope to remake it next year. it's something you just need to see in person.

What was the thinking behind this Fall campaign?

I recreated my parents' wedding.

In Italian tradition, dancing is vital to any ceremony. It’s something that brings us together (after food of course). My parents, like most parents, fight, argue, and laugh together.

But there isn't anything as pure as them dancing. It's something special to me, because no matter what, my mother always says yes to my father when he asks her to dance, and my father never forgets to ask. 

You recently did a pop-up shop, how did that go? What makes an initiative like that a success for you?

- It was overwhelming. In a good way. You run a brand online. you hope to drive traffic to your site. There is nothing more challenging than trying to encourage people to come visit your pop-up. So when we leave ourselves vulnerable like this and hope people show up it's something special when they do. Because it's daunting. You kind of tap the mic and ask the community " is this thing really on" thank god it is! 

What does success look like for you and Libero?

Being able to give my friends and family an opportunity to be a part of Libero.

If I can ever reach the day when I can take my friends from their jobs and be a part of Libero and work on this all together. That will be a success to me.

Learn more about the brand at https://liberoworld.ca/

Creative Stacks

In content news - I broke down my full creative stack via video this week, here.

I'll dive a bit into why I prefer the various items I work with below. Fwiw, this is not promoted, while I've worked with some of these companies, I'm purely sharing what I actually choose to use.

Cargo - My personal and agency websites are both in Cargo - it's a sleeper Brutalist CMS that's a bit tough to navigate and design in compared to the super simple editors, but the layouts, functions, templates and look & feel are incredible.

Notion - The best of the organization tools. I'm a sucker for a doc with a database for tracking or organization, and I use notion as a content calendar, personal CRM, to-do list, I write my scripts in it, I'm writing this newsletter right now inside of it. Perhaps most important, we run our HYPER reports and our brand research inside of it, allowing us to deliver a function, organized website or sorts when communicating information on projects.

Beehiiv - You may have noticed the switch to Beehiiv, and there's a few reasons why. First, its cheaper than Convertkit for a serious-sized list by an order of magnitude. Second, the emails look better. Third, the tools for cross-promotion of lists, ad-networks and more are excellent. Lastly, the team is shipping new features relentless, it’s incredible to see.

Canva - I use Canva for promo graphics for our newsletters, and for all the graphics in the backgrounds of my videos. I use this purely for speed, it’s hard to beat for resizing and formatting on mobile.

Pietra - I am relentlessly sourcing, and Pietra has the benefit of--less concern about validating if the vendor is good or not, and they do kitting/are a 3PL, so you can have a one stop logistics setup too.

Corebook - Living brand guides for communicating evolving brand standards across teams, collaborators and influencers.

Are.Na - Pinterest, but everyone's boards are amazing.  About to try Cosmos shortly as well!

Capcut - All video editing is done here, if you haven't experienced editing in Canva on mobile and desktop, you're in for a treat.

Death to Stock - A great set of unique photography that is super affordable to me as a creator ($15). I use it for our HYPER graphics you've seen, catchy video images (especially when I'm doing ads and need options without any potential copyright issues) and presentations.  It's not the largest library with everything you could imagine, but it has an excellent collection of current, eye-catching visual vibes. They offer 20% for HYPER subs with the code orenmeetsworld

Kitchen Sink

An iconic new JD Sports campaign:

Influencer seeding framework:

The proper way to announce your sales next week:

There is a coming moment for interior design, as more and more Airbnb owners and rental owners begin to experience consumer scarcity, design will become important. More on this in a future issue

HYPER reports

Check out our trend reports! These are carefully curated research we do on markets, categories, and topics within the consumer space.

How to Source Blanks 101 — HERE​ 
Your guide to finding and producing merch

Market reports on Running, Golf and Tennis — HERE
A guide to each sport, the market opportunities, and how to launch your own brand

Looking for brand strategy, research, or merchandise support?

Shoot us a note here: [email protected]

We’d love to chat!

Oren ​& Clayton ❤️ you