How To Start A Luxury Jewelry Brand

Overview of starting a luxury jewelry brand with DARKAI Founder, Giacomo Zoccai.

DARKAI: https://www.instagram.com/darkai_lab/?hl=en

Esteban: Can you give us a brief bio so that the readers can have a good idea of who they're learning from today?

Giacomo: My name is Giacomo, and together with my brother, we co-founded the luxury jewelry brand DARKAI. We launched the brand in 2021 after finishing university. Our family has a long history in the jewelry industry, spanning five generations and 180 years of heritage. So jewelry is pretty much in our DNA.

Esteban:  Can you tell us more about the early days of DARKAI? What was the initial opportunity that led to its creation?

Giacomo: The initial opportunity was a combination of our heritage and the changing trends we observed. Our family has always been in the jewelry business, and it's a big part of our DNA. Growing up, we were constantly exposed to discussions about the family business. When we saw the rise of hip-hop and urban culture in Italy around 2019, we saw a chance to merge our heritage with this new movement. We started by targeting fans of these new artists with trendy, accessible jewelry pieces, which quickly gained traction. This success motivated us to bring more of our family's high-jewelry craftsmanship into a contemporary context.

Esteban: Interesting. How did you and your brother divide your roles within the company?

Giacomo: I'm more focused on the business aspect, leveraging my background in finance and economics. My brother handles the creative side, working on collections and designs. We've always worked closely together, even before DARKAI, and that synergy has been a huge advantage for us.

Esteban: How did you manage the transition from traditional jewelry to creating something new and contemporary?

Giacomo: We started with basic chains inspired by hip-hop and urban culture, which resonated with the market. As we grew, we incorporated our family's expertise in high jewelry, experimenting with unique designs and materials. For instance, we introduced gradient designs, glow-in-the-dark enamel, and thematic collections like our '90s Kids' line, which paid homage to '90s hip-hop culture. This approach helped us create a distinctive brand identity that stands out.

Esteban: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in the early stages of the brand?

Giacomo: One of the biggest challenges was balancing product development and marketing with limited resources. We had to optimize costs and maximize conversions, which meant being very strategic about where we invested our time and money. Additionally, building a strong brand identity and ensuring that every aspect of our communication and design reflected that identity was crucial. We also faced the challenge of establishing ourselves in a market filled with established players with significantly larger budgets.

Esteban: How has your business model evolved from the early days to now?

Giacomo: Initially, our focus was heavily on marketing to create awareness and drive sales. As we grew, we shifted towards more product development to create unique, high-quality pieces that stand out in the market. We also transitioned from being purely e-commerce-driven to incorporating wholesale, although we've scaled back on that to focus more on what works best for us—direct-to-consumer sales and building strong relationships with key retailers. Our approach now includes a careful balance of marketing, product development, and maintaining strong cash flow.

Esteban: You mentioned that you had to be very strategic with your resources. Can you elaborate on how you managed this?

Giacomo: Sure. At the beginning, we invested heavily in marketing and used social media platforms to organically grow our brand. We were fortunate to get early placements with celebrities like Maluma and Bad Bunny, which boosted our visibility. We also focused on e-commerce to generate immediate revenue, which we reinvested into product development. We learned to be very efficient with our budgets, ensuring that every spend was aligned with our long-term vision and helped build our brand identity.

Esteban: What specific advice would you give to someone starting a luxury brand, based on your experience?

Giacomo: Focus on e-commerce initially to build a strong cash flow, which can then be reinvested in product development. Use Shopify for its integration and ease of use. Be prepared to make an upfront investment in stock and use the first production run to establish your brand identity rather than just for immediate profit. Stay true to your vision and ensure that every aspect of your brand, from product design to communication, reflects that vision. Lastly, be open to learning and adapting, but always trust your intuition.

Esteban: Thank you, Giacomo. This was an insightful conversation. We appreciate your time.

Giacomo: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.