SPEAKER_01 0:10

Well, welcome back to another episode of the Men's With Style Podcast. I'm your host, B. Brooker. Today on the show I am talking to Miguel Suarez. He is the founder of Bimes, and that is Bimes BYMS. At 18, he thought his life was done and dusted. His football career was over. He had some irreversible injuries, but he harnessed some mental toughness from that and came through and started the brand Bimes. And each piece reflects authenticity, quality, and care. His journey has taught him to embrace change, and now he invites you to be part of his story. And to tell his story in his own words, is the founder of Bimes, Miguel Suarez.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

And sorry for my for my English.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Oh, your English is just fine.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

It's I think it's good, but um I don't practice much, so I should be saying sorry for my English.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

As good as yours, then we'd be in no trouble. Anyway, online one, I have Miguel Soares. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Miguel is the founder of Bimes. How are we doing today, Miguel?

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Yeah, uh Peter, thank you for the for the invitation. Uh I'm doing very well. I hope you're well too. Uh, and I hope to do uh a good conversation with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Yeah, looking forward to it. Well, um, we just spoke in the green room all about the Euros, the hopes of Portugal, the hopes of England. Um, maybe we'll release we'll release those as some DVD extras at the end. But yeah, tell me about the brand. Introduce yourself, Miguel. Tell me how you got the brand started and how would you describe it?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

So um my dream since I was a kid was to be a professional football player. Um and when I turned 18, I signed my first professional football contract um with Vitória Sport Club. It's a club in the first division in Portugal. Uh, in the city I I live. So everything was going great, but unfortunately I suffered some injuries. I've been um I've been with uh two surgeries uh in my knee, in my left knee, uh I among other injuries. So I thought um I I can't still I can't I can't play anymore uh professionally. So um I had another passion that was fashion uh because since I was young, uh my grandfather has um a small textile company uh in in in Portugal, Guimarães, where I live too. Uh so um I grew up uh in the middle of fabrics, in the middle of people working here, uh since I was 10 years old, more or less. So these two these two worlds collide, and I create binds.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Nice. Well, I mean, not nice about the injuries. Tell me, was it so the first knee injury was that football related? Was it a particular tackle or did it happen in warm-up?

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Oh it's not it was not um a tackle, um, but it was like they tackle me, but when I was falling to the ground, um my leg got stuck uh in the pitch and my knee kind of rotates, and I I couldn't move my my leg. So it was a little difficult. And uh I was like in recovering, in recovery, and um three months, three or four months from the recovering, uh I started playing again, and another time it was like two surgeries in less than six months, so I was like, Oh, I I can't go through this anymore. It's it's painful. The um all the things, the surgery, the recovery, um, and mentally maybe I wasn't strong enough uh at that time, but um it kind of seems like the best thing to do at at the time.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

So what how old were you then? And and what year are we talking?

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Uh we are talking in pre pre-COVID, beginning or uh of COVID uh 2020.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Uh and then I have like the recovery, and then we get um COVID, so everything falls apart in that time.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yeah, so I I mean it's nutty, people don't realize knee injuries are so soul destroying because not only are they painful, but you are I mean, so I've had reconstructive knee surgery, so I I had a football injury and that carried on. I never got it sorted out, and then over time I started boxing, and then I it completely went during a during a boxing warm-up and had reconstructive knee surgery. So I was out, you know, I was told that 50-50, you might not run again, you might not be as athletic as you were. So I was like, oh, bloody hell. Eventually it eventually it hauled up.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Yeah, it's mental and mentally is destroying.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Right. And I was spending, and because you're you're you're pretty much horizontal the whole time your knee is convalescing, or you're sitting down, you're certainly not getting out and being active. You really miss how katic and meditative running is. Like I would run all the time. Now I don't meditate sitting down or sitting still, but I realize when I go out running now, even if it's just for 30 minutes, this is my meditation, this is how I clear my clear my head of all these things. So if you're just sitting down and you're swimming in your own forts and you're online all the time and you're on social media all the time, and you're getting triggered all the time, it can it's an it's a real dark place to be, and it can get dark real quick.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah, and when when I suffered those injuries, uh, I was like in recovering. Uh like I wake up and went to the gym uh to recover, and then I went back home, and I was like, Oh, I got nothing to do now. Uh I'm with in social media, I'm hitting because mentally I'm I I can't say I was depressed, but it was a little bit like a little it's not a depression, but it was um a very dark place for me. So everything was uh falling apart for me, and I think Bimes was like uh I can't say a salvation, but uh it gave me purpose to to leave this that dark place and pursue another journey.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah, I think it's kind of a mental thing. So if you're the sort of person, and I used to be this sort of person that would love to just sit down and binge watch everything, you know. I'll be like, oh great, I've got nine seasons of lost to get through the the entire TV series of The Saint with Roger Moore. I can just book out four days and just watch them back to back, it's fine. Nowadays, I have a bit more itchy feet, or I feel like I've got a project I need to get on with, or just things to do in life in general. So I can't if I watch more than two hours of tele, like a film or something, I feel like I've got to get up and make two hours back and and write something or or or have an idea about something. Do you know what I mean? So if you if you've you're up the mindset where you're injured and you think, I need to create something like a brand, or I need my project to get on the go, or I need to do something else, and you're you're completely hamstrung, pardon the pun, by that. It's got that double impact, right? On top of it. Anyway, BIMES. Let's talk about BIME. So talk talk to me about the the starting steps. You mentioned your family there, you had the background. So you have do you have the early ideas for designs? Do you have prototypes? Talk me through the early phases.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Okay, so it was um very funny story. Uh, I I don't have um a degree in design or in financials, so I face obviously a lot of difficulties in these early, early stages. But um in the beginning, uh I talked to my mom that always supports me, and I told I told her, uh, I want to to build a clothing brand. And she was like, Oh, you you cannot be serious. And I was like, Yeah, I'm serious. And she told me, Oh, so design design some things, and when you have um a strategy plan, can uh can show me and I will support you uh in any means I can. So I did all of that. I start uh designing, uh, I start um contacting manufacturers. Uh I start to to do everything I can and I put up a plan and I put up um um a plan for my for my new clothing brand I want to wanted to make, and I presented to my mom and she and she sent me okay now you have a plan, I can help you in everything I can. So let's do it and let's go.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Great. And then so from there, are you are you also putting your own designs together? Are you outsourcing that? How are the designs for the for the clothes out?

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Early stages. Um I I I did all the work. I I did all the designs, I did um brand quality, uh the um the ship, the ship, the yeah, the the shipping part. I did everything. Uh now um I want to obviously I want to grow the brand. Uh and now I want to outsource some designs, but obviously um I want to make things I love to wear, so um I want to see all the designs wherever uh it's made by me or by a designer, so um so it's that.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

And where is the brand now? Where is BIME? Is it your full-time job now? How big's the team? Where are we at right now with the brand?

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Yeah, uh BIMES is slowly growing because I don't want to take um a step bigger than than my leg. Uh, and I want to create a very good structure uh for the brand. Uh for now we have me, uh it's me and another person working on BIMES. Um, but we are starting, we obviously want to grow. Um but uh at this time it's my it's my full-time job. So um I think we are we are doing well.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

And you have like different categories of clothes on the website, which by the way, we'll put a link on the in the show notes, bimesbrand.com. But you have like people might expect to find at leisureware there, like hoodies, but you also have some double-breasted blazers and things. So, how how do you kind of vet exactly what the brand should be and where it should fit in terms of what people are looking for?

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Yeah, uh so uh obviously, uh as I told you before, uh, I only make things that I would love to wear. Um obviously, we are um we are mostly uh casual, casual, smartware now, uh with uh minimalistic and elegant designs. Um and I always try to to find people that would love to wear the same things as me. Um so the people who enter the our site can can be prepared to buy a hoodie, or if you want, if they want, they can buy a double breast blazer too. It's that's we are trying to find um uh how do you say it? Um equilibrium.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Uh and here he was beforehand apologizing for his English, yeah. And he rolls out equilibrium.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Great film. Sorry for my English. Uh it is uh much more so it's it's that we can buy a UG or we can buy uh double breast blazer.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Amazing. All right. Well, listen, I also want to know about I mean, we talked about the start of the brand, and we've kind of come to the end of where you are now and where you want to fit within your contemporaries. But for anyone that's listening to the podcast, Miguel, what about what you would do differently if you were to do this again? If you were to start it again, how would you approach starting either the website or the design phase? Some advice for other people out there.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Okay, so obviously, my advice, and it was um a difficult thing for me, it was the stocks. Because when I started the brands, I always and I heard everyone saying it's like, oh, selling online is easy, oh selling online is easy, and I thought, oh well, if selling online is easy, I will do a bigger stock and we will sell it without difficulties, but it was not what happens. Um selling online, uh, especially in 2021, 2022, because we have so much competition. Competition is very hard. So my advice for younger people who want to start as me is do don't do a lot of stocks. Um try to talk with your um clients and have a personal relationship with your clients and be honest and transparent. Um and tell them uh this is difficult um because we don't have the resources as big brands have. So there would the there will be a little bit of delays uh in the um in the shipping, but the the clients uh will feel uh thankful because they have this kind of relationship with the brand. So for me, it's this advice to be transparent and create a good relationship with the client. And on the other hand, don't do a lot of stocks because it will create uh textile access, too.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Yeah, oh I listen, I I've said the story on the podcast before, but it bears repeating. I had an idea for a t-shirt brand way back in the day, and I'll cut I'll give you the abbreviated version. I ended up with quite a bit of stock because I think at every phase in every guy's life they have an idea for a t-shirt brand, and they go, Great, this this will just sell bucket loads. They have the idea, they order up all the stock, and then they realize they didn't think about marketing, about how how they can sell the damn thing. So they all they just spill it up. Their mum's garage has now got 20 boxes of this t-shirt. And so you're right, you just gotta have. I think if I was to give any advice, even though I've not developed a brand like yours, is to not fall in love with your idea so much that you think other people are gonna love it as much as you, and try and remove yourself as much out of the equation as possible and think about what your customer wants. Um, I guess the the the real trick for you would be to how you can manage that relationship as the company grows bigger, right? Because becoming like your time will be more stretched, it's how you become personable with your customers and your community. How do you keep them engaged as the brand grows? I don't know if you thought about that at all.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

So, as you said, um um I started the the brand, but the the brand really started when I created uh a TikTok account uh because I started to make videos about my background as a person and uh behind the scenes of of BIMs, uh, and everyone started to to love because I was a young guy with a dream. Um and in Portugal it's obviously difficult to do everything related to business. So people start to come comment and like the videos, and we started to build a stronger community where people um gave opinions about designs, about colors, uh uh something we can do um to be to be better at marketing or at the production level or at quality level. So I think TikTok uh really created this community for me, and it was very rewarding for me.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

That's that's interesting, yeah. Because I I don't think I hear of many businesses, not that I'm aware of, that leverage TikTok to drive people to their site or to let them uh know about the brand and the company. I mean, obviously you have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I think those are the top three that I would personally use, but then I'd only use one of them with intent. The others I kind of just leave links and you know, I'm not really native on the other ones. I just kind of go, right, here's the link to the YouTube vid, see you later. Whereas I might talk about it a little bit more on Instagram because I think that's my personal preference. So I guess you have a preference yourself personally when it comes to social media and you know how to harness that to make it to give to tell your story.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Yeah, for me, Instagram was like the number one platform. But when I discovered TikTok and when I when I started to make videos talking to the camera, because in the beginning I was a little bit shy, and I'm an introvert guy, so I always uh do the did the videos not talking, but then I start to talk with the camera, and people start commentating and liking these type of videos, and me showing the our manufacturers, showing uh where our clothes were made, so everyone starts liking that, and we continue to do that. And now we have uh small because we are a small brand, uh, we have a small community, but uh they know they can send me messages or call me. Oh Miguel, uh, you want to lunch? Uh I'm near your company. Uh, if you want to lunch, if if I can go there to try something, they can they they know they can come and we have this personal relation.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Interesting. Well, Bimes Brand, the place to go, Bimesbrand.com, I should say, and it's spelled B Y M S. But we'll leave all the links down in the show notes. Great talking to you, Miguel. Thank you. I um I want to know also what your predictions are for the Euros. We teased upon it off mic, but so who do you think is gonna win? Bear in mind this might go out about a week later. So let's let's hope that both of our teams are still in it.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

So um, my prediction for the Euros is Portugal to win, obviously, because we have world-class players, uh, like Cristian Ronaldo, my inspiration and the inspiration for the brand, too, because uh we are inspired by football, of course. It's my passion, and it's my it's my prediction.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Alrighty, okay, from the head and the heart there. I like it. Great talking to you, Mikwel. I'll uh best of luck with the brand. Give me a ring when you come to London, and we'll we'll definitely do some lunch around here.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

I obviously will do that.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Okay, but speak to you soon. You've been listening to the Menswear Style podcast. Be sure to head over to menswearstyle.co.uk for more menswear content and email info at menswearstyle.co.uk if you would like to be a future guest on the show. Finally, please help support the show by leaving a review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to this podcast. Until next time.