and he started selling them at 2x what others were selling comparable ties at in the same stores. He targeted a niche as well -- his wide ties were far from trendy when he dropped them. You have to admire his ability to market!
What is the name of your friend's tie company? We want to spotlight other well-made products as we build our company.
As you will see on the site: 1) pricing is not cheap, and 2) they get kind of wonky, providing all sorts of construction details on each item. But that's the target demo here: guys who care a lot about quality ties, and who will pay a lot when they see them. Their initial word-of-mouth customer base was a web forum with a particularly upscale, subject-matter-obsessed userbase. (Sort of like launching a new sci-fi series on a Battlestar Galactica forum).
(Incidentally, the company is based out of Singapore, and targets a more international base -- especially the emerging Asian luxury consumer. But lest anyone get the wrong idea: Singapore is not a cheap base of operations for manufacturing. Quite the opposite. This is not a make-it-cheap-overseas and sell-it-cheap-in-the-US business model).
What is the name of your friend's tie company? We want to spotlight other well-made products as we build our company.