The Power of Many

I often catch myself just watching the seconds on the countdown until the beta launch. It’s almost as if I think staring at the numbers might just make it go faster. As every little detail of Fitizen starts to fall into place, I can’t help but feel a great sense of anticipation.

Anticipation for what though? – This, I would like to clarify. This, is my vision.

In my mind I see the beginning of something big. It’s not just a fitted hat line or any online community of people. It’s something bigger than that. It’s the principle of the matter.

Follow me here: If you aren’t familiar with the concept, visit Threadless.com. Explaining the scope of Fitizen is tough to put into words so think of Threadless, but for fitted hats. Then, change up the style and the audience to fit (no pun intended).

In essence what you have is a global network of people, and more importantly their ideas. Now you could say this is not much different from any group of friends, or in fact say, “well that’s what the world is, duh.” But now throw in our “Survival of the Fitteds” competition and that’s when it starts to get crazy.

It’s a property of nature. It’s Darwinism. It’s how we as human being have evolved into the specialized species that we are. The best designs win. The best designs get made. The best designs get worn. The standards for what is fashionable is constantly changing. And, what’s important to note that it’s not being set by so called fashion experts, but by you. It’s what I like to call, “the evolution of style.”

Let’s break it down by starting with the individual design then by looking at the process.

1. To me, each design encapsulates a story. It’s one person’s manifestation of experiences, thoughts, and creativity splattered onto a canvas. In this case, the canvas is a fitted cap. The message could be personal- conveying a family struggle, or the message could be more general- expressing thoughts on world affairs. There might not even be a message. The key here is that you feel strongly about your design. It doesn’t matter who else likes it or doesn’t like it, but do you? If in your eyes what you see in your work is clear and it just feels right, then it is ready for the fight.

2. Take that design and enter it into Survival of the Fitteds. SOTF is an ongoing contest whereby countless designs compete for worldwide approval. Imagine a giant discussion of fitted hat designs with comments and advice and promotion being thrown left and right. Tweak this or tweak that. Add this color or make this bigger. That design is dope! Or, that design still needs some work. Everyone has their own opinion and everyone has their own sense of style. What looks good to me, might not necessarily look good to you.

So out of the clashing of minds from every corner of the earth- results a single design. This design will have been battered by some of the worst criticism, but ultimately been uplifted by praise and awe. Every hat that rolls off of our production line and calls our tissue-lined Fitizen box a home, can trace its life to one idea from one mind that earned it’s birthright by being forged in the fire of many.

As we constantly induct the #1 ranked hat (each a snapshot), the result is a time line of our collective evolving conscious, serving also as a glimpse into the state of fitted hat fashion.

This is why I can’t sit still. This is the power of many. This community, a living breathing monster, is about to be born.

Are you ready?

It’s been a long time coming. All the meetings. All the research. All the focus groups. All the prototyping. All the coding. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been working at this for almost 6 months now. Now it’s almost done. We’re excited to show you what we’ve been up to. But the question is… Are YOU ready?

Here’s a sneak peek: