How do I build a consumer brand on a tight budget?

Nathan saw that most sock brands "were doing fancy prints, very colourful, very cute, and they were selling at 20 bucks with very cheap materials." He knew that "if we were to stand out we can't do the same," so Paire "made a conscious decision that we want to go down this very craftsmanship, technical, nerdy path to make the best socks in the world," with a basic design "that's just extremely comfortable." The bet was that "all the over engineering" would be the point of difference within the apparel industry, especially since "in the younger generations we don't appreciate prints as much as you would think." It is proof of the broader idea that even "the least sexy product, socks" can show "boring products can build iconic brands."

First and foremost they wanted it to look like a beer. Andy points out that most non alcoholic options "scream 0 0 on the can," which is "like holding a beacon" if you're standing at a party — so you have to answer the question "why are you not drinking" multiple times a night. That informed how they designed the can and the brand: to be really fun, a fun beer brand first, with "non ALC as just a feature."

Even though they only make non alcoholic beers, they never wanted to be screaming non alc. They wanted to create a fun beer brand that stood for the things they think are "too good to be wasted" — things like live music, creativity, the arts, great food, drink and friends. Those are the things that shaped the brand they built.

Asked how he'd advise someone starting a consumer products company in 2025, Andy said it's a really involved process regardless of the category, but the key is not following the same codes that everyone else has in your category, and looking for a way to stand out. It might sound obvious, but not a lot of businesses go to the trouble of going against the grain and creating something different in their category.

He thinks there's more opportunity to have fun with it than most people think, and there's a fear around creating a brand that is out there or fun or different — particularly if you're in a category that takes itself quite seriously. Andy is a big believer in creating brands that are really fun and willing to take risks. He points to Liquid Death and Who Gives A Crap as examples his team looks up to: brands that took safe categories dominated by much bigger companies and made people talk about bottled water and toilet paper again.

The brand was built lean. Phung briefed "a team in um Indonesia called Yakuza" to design the cans, and "got um someone from Fiverr" to do the logo — "we are bootstrapping everything." Everything else — "the cans, the branding, um the cartons" — Phung "did all on my own." They emphasise that packaging matters because "that's usually what the consumer sees when they walk into the bottle shop" — "you have to catch their eye" — and getting the designer to create the design took "a couple of months." The name went through "a lot of iterations" and "a lot of runs with um you know trademarking our logo," but they're "happy that we got there in the end."