The YoungEntrepreneur – Rick van Ravensberg

For this edition of TheYoungEntrepreneur we interviewed Rick van Ravensberg, who founded DasMijnDas (That’sMyTie) together with Pim van Oeffelen. The company is a two-men business with the aim of bringing the classic and elegant tie back in the Dutch fashion industry. The target groups are guys with a passion for fashion and young professionals/business men.

The start

It all started in 2012 with an old man, running a little airport shop committed to luxury men accessories. “We were inspired and immediately thought of the classic tie, since it’s a missing item in the Dutch fashion industry. Therefore, we dedicate ourselves to create high quality and elegant ties.” Rick and Pim realized their plans in June of this year with the opening of their web shop.
Now the question rises why the ties of DasMijnDas are the ones that a man needs and Rick has a detailed answer. We are after all two women, with absolutely no knowledge about this men’s accessory. He showed us several of the ties of his current collection, and gave us a how-to-recognize-the-quality-of-a-tie crash course. Comparing these ties with the ties of competitors that work in the same high-quality field, it stands out that the DasMijnDas ties are relatively affordable. Besides the outstanding quality the company focuses on three pillars: exclusivity, honesty, and elegance. Exclusivity aims at the high quality together with the limited editions, honesty refers to the fair production (in Europe, no children/underpaid work), and elegance speaks for itself when you see the tie. So far, all ties have been designed by Rick and Pim themselves and are handmade in Germany.

Logistics

The biggest challenge for DasMijnDas so far was finding a good supplier. Rick and Pim firstly contacted a company in Milan, Italy, to produce the ties. However, due to language barriers and the geographical distance this did not turn out to be a good option. Furthermore it was hard to find a good weaving company in the Netherlands, since there aren’t many left anymore. Finally, they came in contact with a German supplier, which ended up to be perfect: “it is located nearby and therefore easy to build a good relationship with the weaving factory and confection atelier.”

The shipping process is not too complicated. Once someone places an order on the website, Rick and Pim both receive an alert on their mobile phones. They print the associated label, put the tie in a box and bring it to the postal office, where further care will be taken.

At the moment DasMijnDas ships ties to the Netherlands and Belgium. However, Rick is very clear about expanding their shipping region. “We are still a startup company, so we don’t want to lose focus on the core of our business. Therefore, we want to grow step by step and not haste into other regions.”

Future

Like every startup company, DasmijnDas’ first priority for future plans is progressing. To start with, the company would like to expand its assortment with more types of ties in the current year. And possibly add other men accessories related to ties, like cufflinks for example. Rick thereby has a rather amusing thought of the future of DasmijnDas in the long term: “For now it is still out of reach, but in the future it would be great to open a store. So why not in the P.C. Hooftstraat!”