INTERVIEW #92 BOLA 8
Based: Galicia, Spain.
Founded in: 2022
Founded by: Noa Alonso
Store: www.bola-ocho.com
Price range: 18,95€ - 44€
Instagram: @bola___ocho
Bola Ocho, welcome to A Sustainable Closet! Tell us about your beautiful brand and why you started.
Glad to be part of A Sustainable Closet!
I’m going to be very transparent with my initial intentions with the project. Around February of 2022 I saw through Pinterest a few bags that I like, but at the moment that I entered the website of the brand I realized that they were VERY expensive. I continued searching through different small businesses that were also dedicated to crochet handmade bags, but the result was also the same: very expensive. I showed my mum the bags that I liked and she told me “that’s easy to do, tell me what color you want and I will do it for you”. That’s how the first BOLA 8 bag was born. Since that moment, everyone who saw me with the bag asked me where I bought it, so that gave me the project idea. Around March I found out that I had been accepted to do an Erasmus in Milan, so this gave me the final push to start carrying out the project idea I had, because I needed to earn some money, and I had the idea and skills to do it. When I decided to start with BOLA 8 I wanted to do the products in a sustainable way and fairly accessible to everyone, so that’s why we use recycled and natural materials in all products, and that’s why our price range is low in comparison with our competitors. I’m aware that products made by hand and with this type of material are more expensive for the brand and for the consumer, but that does not mean that they have to reach prohibitive prices.
How did you come up with the funky name, Bola Ocho?
I wanted to do colorful bags, so a friend suggested that maybe I could call the brand something related to billiards, characteristic of its colored balls. Despite the fact that the 8 ball in billiards is black, I thought it was the most significant and recognized, so I decided to call the brand that way. I also thought that “Bola Ocho” could have a good presence as a brand name.
Where do you source the material, in this case, the yarn?
We try to keep this private in order to maintain our originality and avoid exact copies of our products, but here I can tell you that we don’t use only one supplier, and that we combine physical and online suppliers.
Which is your best selling product?
Without a doubt our bestseller is our Mix Baguette bag. We restocked it two times and it’s sold out again. We sold around 20 units of it, and taking into account that we sell very limited units of each bag (around 2-4 units per bag), 20 units is a lot of units.
We are curious about where the products are being produced, spill the beans!
We produce in our own house! It is right where we have the workshop, where we do all the tests, final products, sew protective covers and pack all orders from our online website. It’s a very familiar process from start to finish!
Who is the typical Bola Ocho customer?
We are focused on people that are interested in sustainable fashion and interested in our designs, which means that they are willing to pay to have a BOLA 8. Both girls and boys shop on our website, so I am proud to say that we are a unisex brand. We only ship to the EU at this moment, so basically this is an important feature of our potential public. People between 20 and 40 years old are the most interested in our products, since many of the times it is from this age when you begin to appreciate slow fashion and less standard designs.
Where do you find inspiration?
I love Pinterest to do it, we find what people like the most and what I love the most. New shapes, colors, styles… Also we get a lot of ideas just walking through the streets, markets and multinational shops.
What have been and are the major challenges of starting your own business?
Starting a business is not easy. Many frustrations arise, anger with yourself because something does not take the form that you want, things that you would like to do but it’s not possible for economic reasons… I think the most challenging thing has been having to coordinate all aspects of the brand from the beginning: social networks, marketing, design, management, finances, making the products... Despite my mum trying to help me as much as possible, most of the time I find myself having to carry out more things than I can manage.
It is very difficult at the age of 20 to have to give up doing many of the things you would like in order to dedicate more time to a project that you think is worth the effort you put into it. The good point of it is that if I look back, I’m thinking that that effort was worth it, but not everyday you have the strength to see it and recognize it.
What have been and are the largest gains?
I think that until now what we have gained the most is experience and the desire to improve. Until now we have earned enough money to cover the expenses of the project and be able to continue with it, at the same time that I can see my effort rewarded economically, but at this point in which BOLA 8 is right now, what we have gained in experience is more significant than the money.
The best thing about Bola Ocho?
Best thing about BOLA is the balance between price, quality and design. As I said before, most of the businesses that are also dedicated to crochet bags in a sustainable way establish exorbitant prices, that’s why we get mad when people tell us that our prices are too high.
What's up next?
Due to the work demand that we have, and taking into account that it will increase, I hope that our next step will be to grow the team. We plan to fill an artisan or social manager position, depending on the progress of BOLA 8, and we also want to start working with a marketing manager, but… first things first! At the moment we are cooking our next DROPS, so we’ll take it easy.
Who else should we interview?
We've recently started following an Instagram account that makes hats from existing fabrics. The brand is called Baba Hats, and I think it has a lot of potential in terms of sustainability. Its Instagram account is @baba.hats .