The story so far②

table of contents

A journey to find artisans to help build the brand

Even though HushTug was born, it is not easy for a single Japanese person to start a leather brand in faraway Mongolia.

"First, I need to find a craftsman who will cooperate with me..."

To change the current situation in Mongolia, it is necessary to create high-quality products from the fine material of Mongolian leather. To do this, it is essential to have craftsmen who will lend us their support in this challenge.

To achieve world-class quality, it is essential to pay close attention to the invisible details and to carefully finish the finer details. Since Mongolia lacks such technology and culture, finding craftsmen was extremely difficult.

Furthermore, I am met with harsh words everywhere I visit.

"I won't do anything that troublesome."
"How many can you sell by doing that?"

The craftsmen have jobs to do and livelihoods to make, so it is only natural that the thoughts and voices of young strangers from overseas go completely unheard.

From person to person. I went out and talked to anyone who had a chance.

After about three months of searching for a craftsman, the only people who shared their philosophy were Undraf and Chimge, a married couple who ran a small workshop.

(Left: Mr. Undraf, Center: Toda, Right: Mr. Chimge)

"We also felt a sense of crisis about the current situation in Mongolia. We wanted to work together with Taka (the Mongolian name for Taka)."

They don't have a place to sell their products. They have no idea when they will be able to start selling. Even though they knew the current situation, they chose to take on the challenge together with us.

A year of trial and error

Just because you find a craftsman doesn't mean everything will go smoothly.

In fact, this is where the real challenge began. Making products of globally acceptable quality locally was more difficult than finding the craftsmen.

We didn't have the technology or know-how to make high-quality products, and we couldn't communicate well enough.

I visited the workshop almost every day, made samples with the craftsmen, revised them over and over again, and failed many times. I did everything I could, including disassembling and studying high-end brand bags to learn the techniques and studying under a Japanese leather craftsman for several months.

Now on sale!

After about a year, we were finally able to produce a high-quality product that we were satisfied with.

Then, in October 2018, we launched a crowdfunding campaign, and in April 2019, we launched our online store, where we finally began selling to customers.

The first product was a tote bag. I was confident in the design, which I wanted to create myself, but at the same time, I was full of anxiety, wondering if a product that I had spent over a year developing would really be accepted.

The first thing we did was crowdfunding.

I started out thinking that if I could sell 500,000 yen, I'd be a huge success, but in the end, I ended up achieving far more than that goal.

When the online store first launched in April, only five items were sold, but it has since grown steadily.

As of the end of 2019, over 2,000 customers had chosen HushTug.

In addition, along with the brand, the local factory in Mongolia is also growing rapidly.

When the workshop was first established, it was a small basement room with only 2-3 craftsmen.

As our customers in Japan became more aware of our products, the number of craftsmen working with us in Mongolia gradually increased.

Eventually, the company moved to a larger two-story factory with a total of about 70 craftsmen and staff.

Just one year after sales began, the factory has grown to become one of the largest bag manufacturing factories in Mongolia.

And then 2020.

Although it wasn't always smooth sailing, HushTug was steadily moving forward, but the situation changed dramatically when the COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest.

Furthermore, no one knew yet that a series of troubles even worse than the COVID-19 pandemic would occur in the years to come.