Onore, a business with men's clothing accessories that wants to expand abroad

Mihaela Dumitrescu Posted on August 15, 2020• 5 min read

Onore is a business with men's clothing accessories, founded by Mihai Beznea, a young man who has been flirting with entrepreneurship since college. The business, which has in its portfolio shirts, straps, ties, bow ties and more, wants to expand abroad with its products.

In 2012, Mihai Beznea, a student at the Faculty of Law, started flirting with online commerce, selling various products on ad sites. The idea of niche in the segment of men's clothing accessories arose due to the fact that GSM accessories required a constant replenishment of stocks which is justified only by a very large volume of sales, and the market of women's clothing accessories was saturated.

In 2017, Mihai Beznea resigns from the position of legal advisor that he held for about two years, invests in a new online platform, more efficient, calls the business "Honor", reorients the offer of products exclusively to specific categories of clothing accessories men, increases the diversity of products in this segment and opens a showroom in the Winmarkt Romania, PloieÅŸti shopping center.

The initial budget invested at the time of the niche and the rebranding process was 25,000 euros, amount from own funds. A part of the product offer is manufactured in Romania, including both products under the Onore brand and products belonging to partner brands, operated by local artisans in the field of men's clothing accessories.

"It is very important to mention that, regardless of the origin of the product, nothing is sold under the Onore brand without being carefully checked qualitatively, manually, by our staff," explains the entrepreneur. The Coronavirus pandemic reduced sales by up to 80%, as events were canceled or postponed and people no longer needed accessories.

"The impact was very high because, on the one hand, the business is dependent on people's participation in events (weddings, baptisms, weddings, etc.), and on the other hand, the showroom is located in a mall, which meant closing to. This year, due to the lack of events, trouser straps and belts took the place of ties, being the most ordered products.

The first Onore showroom, located in the Winmarkt Ploiești shopping center, was opened in 2017, and at the beginning of this year, the company started a collaboration with the local shirt manufacturer 1949 Târnava, from Sighișoara, placing a stand in one of their stores, while the shirts entered the offer of Onore, a company that, at the end of 2019, registered a turnover of 64,000 euros and two employees.

„Regarding the traditional market, the offline one, based on the experience gained with the pilot project that involved the placement of the first Onore stand in a partner store in Sighișoara, we want to develop a national network of such stands located in specialized stores, simultaneously with the implementation of an omnichannel sales strategy that allows our customers a superior and integrated experience, online / offline, regarding the accessorization of outfits.

The company is now working on marketing products abroad in Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary and expanding the range of products with shirts, suits and footwear, in partnership with other local producers.