“Has OLEADA changed?”
“No. A great brand always evolves. Change is inevitable. Growth is intentional.”
There’s no magic formula for success—what works today won’t work forever. That’s why I started AnyWear. This wasn’t some sudden idea; it’s been cooking for two years.
Are We Dressing Like We Used To?
People are always amazed that I built a multi-million-dollar brand in just four years. My secret? Customer insight. To create something truly great, you have to know your customers—how they move, what drives them, what they need before they even realize it.
The more I walk the streets of New York, the more I feel it—we don’t dress the way we used to. Even in industries with once-strict dress codes—my banker friends, my old colleagues in private equity—no one’s wearing stiff suits or lugging around bulky briefcases anymore. Work isn’t just about the office or a title.
Now, it’s about performance—across every aspect of life.
Our customer data survey shows a shift towards more modest office attire. On a scale from 1 (casual) to 5 (formal business wear), most of our clients fall in the middle—embracing a work-leisure balance.
Behind the scenes: our first shoot of AnyWear Collection in early 2024.
We juggle work, travel, fitness, and social life all at once. We need something lightweight, effortless, and versatile—not just for one occasion, but for every occasion.
Transit seamlessly in my multifaceted entrepreneur lifestyle.
So why not design a high-performance bag that keeps up?
That’s how AnyWear was born.
How Did Project AnyWear Begin?
The idea first sparked nearly two years ago, when we were still working out of a tiny WeWork office in 2023. I called it Project ANYWEAR because I knew the future of work was shifting—so why weren’t work bags evolving too? I envisioned a bag that could move with you, seamlessly fitting into any setting, without compromising your personal WorkStyle.
Working at our WeWork office back then, there are only 2 seats.
I spent a year prototyping before we took our first big leap: launching the AnyDuffle on Kickstarter in May 2024. Afterward, I wrote something that still sums up exactly how I feel about this collection:
My post on IG for our Kickstarter launch.
"Launching the @oleada_anywear collection has been a huge leap into a new style of bag design for me. But at heart, I’m an adventurer and an engineer. I have traveled around the world, and I feel like this project has truly taken a piece of my soul. It’s been exhausting but so rewarding! Because that piece of soul, that energy, that adventurous side of mine is now embedded in AnyWear, ready to be worn by Anyone, AnyWear."
Because that’s who I am: a nerdy adventurer. This collection is about freedom, movement, and resilience.
And nothing embodies resilience quite like a New Yorker. That’s who I’ve become. 2025 marks nine years since I moved to this city. They say it takes ten years to become a New Yorker—I guess I did it a little faster.
9 years ago, I was still in MBA and just moved to New York.
9 years later, building my own business in New York.
When I designed AnyWear, I knew it had to be just as tough as the city it was born in:
Weatherproof, ultra-lightweight, personalizable, able to handle anything life throws at it— just like a true New Yorker.
The Kickstarter Journey for Customer Insights, again!
Launching on Kickstarter wasn’t just about funding—it was about community. Kickstarter is a space for people who believe in new ideas, and who are willing to bet on something before it even exists. The feedback I received was raw, unfiltered, and invaluable.
Feedback from our Kickstarter community.
One of my favorite quotes is from Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn:
"If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late."
Kickstarter gave me that space to launch, iterate, and embrace imperfection. Some people loved it. Some didn’t. But every comment, every critique helped refine AnyWear into what it is today.
When we see we are fully funded!
And in both of our campaigns? Fully funded within 72 hours.
The biggest challenge? Showing what performance feels like.
AnyWear isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about functionality. And functionality is hard to capture in a photo.
So we got creative.
🎈The Lightweight Feel: During our first still photo shoot, I had a thought — how do you visually capture “lightweight”? Then it hit me: What if the bag looked like it was floating? Like a balloon, effortlessly weightless. I pitched it to my creative team, and their response? "Wow. It’s OLEADA. OLEADA always makes weird props."
Little did they know... they hadn’t even seen the real challenge coming yet.
Behind the Scenes: What we are doing, and what we make
💧The Water Test: During our second shoot, I thought—why not go all in? We splashed as much water as possible onto the bag, just to show how insanely water-resistant it is. Of course, I had to be the one to do it.
🧊The Ice Cube Experiment: For our next campaign, I wanted to visualize just how tough this bag is. I asked, what if we freeze an AnyWear bag inside a giant ice cube and let New York break the ice?
Behind the Scenes: Breaking out ice is like! and the final images!
When we set up the shoot, people literally stopped in their tracks to watch. It was wild, and it worked.
Because that’s the heart of AnyWear—it’s built for the unstoppable.
Officially Launched: 400+ Pieces of Feedback, 14+ Samples, 50 Months of Work
Our designing scratches.
After two years of refining, testing, and iterating, AnyWear is finally here.
And I couldn’t feel more grateful.
In a world buzzing about AI taking over, I find myself in an industry where AI will never replace what we do. Creativity speaks humanity—it’s fluid, improvisational, adventurous, and utterly unpredictable.
OLEADA. Keep moving. Keep evolving. Like a wave. Go AnyWear.