.Manly Bands is a direct-to-consumer homeowner of men's bands. The business launched in 2016 after John Ruggiero, the co-founder with his better half Michelle, couldn't locate an ideal wedding band.This is Ruggiero's 2nd appeal on the podcast. In April 2021, we explained the business's beginning, special band components, and also much more. Since then, Manly Bands has acquired its own maker. The production of bands from, claim, Jack Daniel's whiskey gun barrels or even Fender guitar strings produces convincing video, states Ruggiero, best for storytelling on social media sites and in other places.The whole audio of our discussion is ingrained listed below. The transcript is actually modified for length and clarity.Eric Bandholz: Offer us a rundown of what you carry out.John Ruggiero: My other half, Michelle, and also I began an on the internet ring business called Manly Bands in 2016 to handle a problem of wedding event bands for males. Our company were simply gotten married to. I have large fingers and couldn't find a ring that I liked that was actually not overpriced. My possibilities were purchasing from a catalog or even having something personalized.I ended up acquiring from a web site. The band arrived in a flat mailer, with no carton or customer support. It was actually a horrendous expertise by today's ecommerce specifications.Our company obtained married, moved to Fla, as well as needed a work. Our team told our own selves, "Our team're each entrepreneurs. Why don't we develop our personal organization?" Our team went over the kinds of concerns we will seen as well as how to resolve all of them. My band adventure came up, and we decided to make an effort to fix it for other guys.Our objective when our company started was actually to pay out lease. Our company presumed making a couple thousand dollars a month from this would be superb. We considered it a way of living organization, not high-growth. It was actually simply Michelle and also me in our garage developing bands and sending them bent on customers. We had actually hit on something. Our notification resonated with leads.Michelle as well as I make a great team. I formulate suggestions, as well as she's the implementer. A great deal of our effectiveness visits her innovative thoughts. She titles the rings and establishes personas. She connects the bands to consumers. Defining a band solely as "eight-millimeter dark" really did not suffice.We created bands from special products, such as Port Daniel's gun barrels or even special metals. Your business removed. Since then, our experts've expanded dramatically. Our team now have more than 55 folks in the Manly Bands loved ones. About one-half of those are band professionals that operate in our lately gotten production outlet in Utah.Bandholz: When performed you obtain a supplier?Ruggiero: Concerning a year and also a half back. Our experts had actually been their consumer for several years, so we knew all of them well. A lot of their company was actually retail, which didn't rate of interest us-- mosting likely to mom-and-pop jewelers. They preserved their wholesale consumers and brand name. Our team acquired a number of their assets and also carried over workers.Prompting a manufacturing group has been just one of the most effective traits our experts have actually performed. It is actually been incredible to head out there as well as watch all of them bring in bands out of Fender guitar cords or even metallic from an M1 Abrams storage tank.Bandholz: Exactly how does internal manufacturing influence marketing?Ruggiero: It is actually been significant. Taking a cam to the other side of the workplace and recording the staff making use of lathes to cut the metal poles or bourbon barrels into rings produces amazing online video. Our team have our cam workers on the market constantly. Our company use that video on our social media as well as in our adds as well as bulletins. We make an effort to ensure that due to the fact that a lot of business in the males's band space don't make. They drop ship or even order from foreign and after that transport it out. Yet our company desire it to last a life-time as well as be actually one thing individuals may take satisfaction in.Our company have actually possessed a considerable amount of results with our armed forces heritage selection, where our experts resource special army products. Our company have the M1 Garand rifle stock, the lumber part, from World War I. Seeing our group put that in the turret and cut a piece out for a band is actually remarkable.Our advertising and marketing for those rings talks about the background, the soldiers, where the item was utilized, and also points like that. My better half and also I examined filmmaking in university. We use our skill-sets to inform and also narrate. For example, I lately acquired an email coming from a consumer who discussed that his gramps used to steer M1 tanks. The customer blessed some of those rings to his gramps, and they had very a mental swap. It's nice to assist customers connect with their past as well as generate something significant.Bandholz: Where can folks acquire a band from you?Ruggiero: ManlyBands.com. Our team possess images on Instagram, as well. I'm on Twitter as well as LinkedIn.