Double Tap Diaries - Luke Burgess
Heard of 4B Label? Owned by the Burgess brothers, Luke, Sam, Tom and George. The brand launched last year in the middle of a global pandemic and threw themselves into learning everything they could about launching an online business, digital marketing and knowing where to find the right help.
So how did the brothers go about starting a business and using their preexisting social media presence to launch the brand - head to the DTA Diaries now to find out more.
We sat down with Luke, heres what he had to say.
Why 4B? What’s the story behind the name, the concept & the brand?
The idea behind our brand name 4B is for the 4 brothers. Luke, Sam, Tom and George. We have always been extremely close growing up in a very modest, loving and humble family in the north of England.
As brothers, we all became professional rugby league players with the dream of one day playing for the same team. We managed to make this dream a reality by all playing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL. Having ‘worked’ together and building up somewhat of a following we decided that ‘working’ together would be something we would love to do for the rest of our lives. Creating our own brand/ business has enabled this dream to come into fruition.
4B is in the early stages but we are very excited about what the future holds for us together with this brand, as four brothers and best mates.
You launched during a global pandemic what impact, if any, did this have on your brand?
Launching in the middle of a global pandemic has certainly had it’s challenges. The amount of peoples ‘disposable income’ has certainly been affected so buying clothes has certainly been something that people have put on hold until they can see a clearer future.
On the other hand, we launched as an online business so we were lucky in a way that we didn’t have any rent on shop fronts and offices. I have been able to do my work from home and keep our overhead costs down.
What role does social media play in your marketing strategy? What tactics do you use to elevate 4B’s social media presence?
Social media and digital marketing has been a massive eye opener for me and it is something so complex that I now have a greater appreciation for. We all use social media personally but it has always been just for fun and keeping in touch with friends and family across the world.
As an online business, social media plays a huge role in our marketing strategy but only if it is done efficiently. I now understand that when social media is being used for marketing purposes, it needs to be put in front of the correct demographic that connect with us and our brand.
What’s the biggest lesson, and/or biggest struggle that 4B has faced since launch?
My biggest lesson in this first year has been to always make sure we do our due diligence when it comes to bringing in external help from other businesses.
I have always been very trustworthy and taken people at face value because spending so long in professional sport you always believe that everyone in your team are on the same page and working towards the same end goal.
In business, this is different, we have our own goals, and the external businesses also have their own goals. The biggest struggle is trying to find good partnerships that enable everyone to win in their own rights.
1 piece of advice for anyone wanting to step into your shoes and start a fashion brand
Make sure that you have a good business plan in place, including goals and targets to hold yourself accountable. At the start of 4B we never really had any targets and we were maybe a bit naive to the fact that we thought that on the back of our strong personal following, this would lead to a successful business.
Transitioning from the world of sport, into the world of business are two completely different arenas which both require different skills. We were lucky enough to meet a lot of very successful businessmen throughout our sporting careers and they have always been happy to share their stories and advice with us. I would certainly recommend leaning on people like this when times get tough.
Business is hard and you will find yourself in the trenches quite often. It’s all about riding these times and getting through the difficult periods that will give you the resilience to keep moving forward and getting closer to achieving the targets you set for yourself/ business.
4B just turned 1! What does the next 12 months look like for the brand?
The first 12 months have been great for us and we feel like we have built a great foundation to move forward and really grow this business into something that will enable us to continue on our path as four brothers working together.
In the next 12 months I would like to see our brand more active in other countries across the world. We are currently designing a new range that will be ready for launch in November 2021 and we can’t wait to share this new collection with everyone.