Q & A with Million Dollar Fashion Mogul Mehdi Raad of Maceoo.com

Posted by huma mustqeem on March 1st, 2018

What made you want to start a clothing line?

After my graduation, I joined tech companies Ericsson and Apple, during which I had the chance to tour the world (32 countries). During that time, I had difficulty finding clothes that were appealing and comfortable. Inspired to make a change, I decided to code an algorithm based on a sample of 30,000 million people to fix this very issue.

During my journeys abroad, I discovered cultures, religions, preferences, styles and colors. There were cities that marked my journey. Among them Rome, Johannesburg, and Delhi. The minute I landed in those cities, I was able to unleash my creative side. The architecture of Rome, the wildlife of South Africa and the colors of India fueled my passion to create Maceoo.

I exposed myself to the science of colors, fabrics, and sampling. I approached fashion from an engineering angle and created my first prototype based on calculations.

The idea was to develop an engineering process to build a consistently great garment, guided by an efficient algorithm to determine the best fit. Comfort, fit and style — these are the challenges that I was looking to solve. The meeting of fashion and science!

When people saw the first prototype, the feedback was overwhelming. For the first time I started to believe that I could create my own line, but the timing was not right due to my frequent mobility.

It became right the minute I landed in San Diego — the finest city in America. It was an instantaneous love with the city and the San Diegans. I was there for a two week project for my Tech company and after meeting a factory owner at the restaurant of the ANDAZ hotel (previously called IVY) I decided to create our fashion house in room 642. To date it is still the home of Maceoo.

 

What is your background?

I was born in France and raised in Lebanon in a village where you can see the horizon in any direction. I graduated from McGill/MIT with a degree in Engineering. Even though I have an ivy league degree, I believe that my understanding of life and my ability to connect people came from growing upon the streets of my hometown.

Horizons makes you see the big picture. The streets teach you the art of negotiation, persuasion, language, and perseverance.

What has been your biggest challenge in business?

Everyone knows building a business is an emotional journey full of ups and downs.This is especially true when you start a bootstrap business without any investment, all self-funded!

Men’s Fashion Maceoo is funded by passion, obsession, the fear of failure, striving for greatness and knowing that we are doing something great — these things give me the strength to get out of bed the next day and carry on. This is the reason why we called this company Maceoo for its meaning “a gift from the Gods,” it takes a Godly effort to bootstrap and keep it going!

There have been hard times — ones when you literally want to give up every day. You go to bed thinking “I’m done. I can’t go on.” For five years, I worked two jobs to pay the bills while developing and launching Maceoo. We finally reached 365 Point of Sale and had a full team of talented individuals to grow the brand.

We are currently carried in all the better stores in USA and dress many celebrities and athletes including John Travolta, Lady Gaga, and many more.

It was not easy. A lot of tears were shed along the way. But I kept believing and refused to stop. I can finally say that when you work through struggles and reach your goals, the rewards are indescribable.

Where do you see your company 5 years from now?

I view Maceoo as a tech company that happens to be selling a fashion product. We believe in change. In finding new methods to improve the style, quality, and accessibility of premium menswear. Maceoo is the first fashion house to mathematically engineer precise design, fit, and comfort.

Our technology and our algorithm are what gives us the edge; off the rack clothing that feels fitted and gives guys a new confidence in their appearance. However, at the end of the day, the transformation that we seek comes from inside the men that wear our clothing.

A Maceoo man can’t help but feel confident and project that confidence back into work and life.

In five years, I would like for the brand to have a higher purpose, bringing more than confidence. By putting our drive for innovation to the test, we can push the technical boundaries of garment design and create a product that heals human beings.

That’s how I see Maceoo going beyond the borders of this country and become an established multinational, earning recognition as a house of innovation and technical speciality.

What charities or causes do you support?

We fight for equality

In America, the health system is not offered to its people for free as in Europe. So we are deeply involved in a cause against cancer. We created a line called #fuckcancer by Maceoo where all profits go to children who have been diagnosed with cancer. A friend of mine is the owner of curematch that creates adaptive medication based on DNA to cure cancer and we work with them on a daily basis. We would love to help everyone in the world but we have a lot to do here in USA and we are so glad and we feel rewarded when we can give back!