Meet Daniel Kirch Of Daniel Jonas

Daniel Kirch is the CEO & Founder of fashion brand Daniel Jonas. The brand recently launched their latest collection Kings of New York which is currently on sale at www.danieljonas.com. Today he speaks exclusively with Muzique 

Thank you so much for doing this with us! For our readers who do not know your backstory, what is your background and what eventually brought you to starting the brand Daniel Jonas in 2015?  

I grew up in a small town in Germany and came to the US to study abroad with the intention of starting to work at a major management consulting firm. However, due to some unusual circumstances, I found myself presented with an opportunity in the fashion industry. I have always loved hats, with the New York Yankees hat sitting in first place, but I noticed that New York branded hat apparel was only available in connection to sports franchises. This is why we decided to create the NY|Miami|LA hat concept, which became widely popular in 2014 and 2015.  

What has been your most memorable experience so far since starting Daniel Jonas?   

There are two memorable experiences that immediately come to mind. The first was when our trademark was granted because at that moment, the feasibility of our idea became real. The next was in 2016 when I was speaking at Harvard Business School on building a brand solely using a bootstrapping strategy. It was just an extremely enriching experience since I considered going to Business School before I started my business and a few close WHU college friends of mine were students at HBS at the time.  

What has been the biggest challenge in running Daniel Jonas?   

The biggest challenge in running Daniel Jonas has been that we’ve faced some issues in digital marketing. Because of the Cambridge Data scandal, a lot of regulations surrounding advertising policies changed, restricting our ability to efficiently target our core online audience. In addition, some of the large-scale stores we had been working with filed for Chapter 11 causing us to lose a lot of our inventory and leaving us with unpaid bills.   

The brand has been spotted on a countless number of Celebrities including Jay Z, Izabel Goulart, Steve Aoki, Paris Hilton and more. What’s next for Daniel Jonas?   

There are a lot of big things coming for Daniel Jonas and at the top of the list is the release of our brand-new collection called “Kings of New York,” consisting of both men’s and women’s apparel. We secured a new fulfilment partner and we’re working with new factories, so everything is brand new and it’s going to be really exciting.  

For someone looking to start their own clothing brand, what suggestions do you have?  

What I really recommend is to do your research. Understand what product you’re envisioning and ensure it stands every test. Send the product to friends and collect feedback on every aspect from the functionality to the visual appeal. Focus on the details because the more  

specialized the product feels, the more likely it is to stand out. Small details can make a huge difference. 

Shop the latest collection at www.danieljonas.com