Traveling man Wednesday, Jan 9 2008

Travel is hard. However, not moving is not a natural state – evolution has given us limbs and locomotive ability, to hunt, to take flight from a dangerous situation. And as leisure and luxury became possible, to travel.

I was in Calgary for a few days. It was not extensive travel, about 3,400 km distance and 4.5 h of flight. But upon returning to Montreal, I felt a little exhausted and took it easy on the weekend.

Motion is a relative concept. Flying makes me move at a speed of 800 km/s with respest to Earth. But with respect to myself, what is moving is the thought that courses through the neural network.

My brain did not rest as easily as my body. It is always the discovery of irony that makes life organic, to me. The irony about fashion is the disconnect between the popular notion that it is fickle and the reality that it is enduring. All depends on the vantage point of the observer. Seen on the short scale, of months and seasons, indeed fashion changes a lot and other aspects of life appear static. However, to observe on the timescale of centuries, the situation is reversed. The bags of Louis Vuitton have not changed much in 100 years. At the time of Vuitton, radio waves had not been discovered, and Marconi’s transatlantic experiment would have to wait for another decade or so. Someone from Vuitton’s era would find himself in the world of aliens today, as he is surrounded by cell phones, iPods, laptops, GPSs, and all the other gadgets that define our current era. Therefore, facts are that, if the timescale is stretched from months to years, it is technology that is more wont to change, not fashion. This is where the popular myth is wrong.

To be sure, the scientific foundation of technology changes slowly, but the fact remains that technology itself is extremely fickle. Serious debate can be had on whether the information technology has made our life better – whether someone not having the benefit of email and fax 40 years ago was really less productive than his counterpart today. Empirical facts seem to say the contrary, at least in the domain I am familiar with. Major discoveries and breakthroughs in physics almost all happened before there was email or fax. I am not saying that IT has made people dumb, but it tends to be self-perpetuating, but not necessarily for the betterment of life. One innovation in technology begets another, but all for its own sake, and the sake of getting people to buy the newest toys to sustain a questionable industry. While this sentiment cannot be proven, as we only have one history, and it has already played out, I do fancy that, had the history unfoleded differently, had silicon’s electric properties not been discovered, the world would not be a bad place at all.

What has the above to do with fashion? Technology itself is fashion, and is much less stable than what we traditionally understand as fashion. Seen on the timescale of generations, technology is volatile and unstable, whereas traditional fashion is steady, despite the seasonal fluctuations. We often have retro fashion trends where people express their nostalgia about the 50’s and 70’s. Will we have a tech nostalgia about the 50’s, about the black and white TV which dominated the period. Or the electric typewriter of the 70’s? Obviously not. But I argue that in such forgetfulness, humanity is losing part of its soul.

So the point is: in comparing fashion and technology (which is usually lauded as a mark of progress), contrary to popular belief, the former is more enduring and useful, while the latter is fickle and – dare I say – wasteful.

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1122 Monday, Jan 7 2008

We made our first sale on November 22, while I was traveling in Calgary. Greta phoned me and said that she had two good news to tell me. I said “tell me the second first.” It was a funny line if you think about it.

The order came from an unexpected place, Singapore. By an unspoken belief we had thought our first order would be from the UK. The order was a long time coming. Our site went public on October 9, but we were absorbed with many little things, such as loading photo, product description, link building and so on. The real start of our trading was the PPC a week ago. So far the Exquisites London website has received more than 900 hits from PPC, with one order to show for it. By the average 2% conversion rate widely quoted in the ecommerce literature, we are falling short. But seen in the different light, we are in a position to improve, and more importantly, to learn. we are happy abou that, and more than happy, which is a passive state, but enjoying every minute of it.

Retail is a strange business. The odds of an average retailer getting rich is very small. Yet, some of the richest people and corporations are retail-based, such as Wal-Mart and the Walton family, Zara’s, and H-M. Amazon and eBay, the ecommerce darlings, have inspired the thousands who dig the internet for gold. If one looks at these success stories, there is one constant. These companies did not get big because they worked harder than others, but because they innovated. They had that one or few ideas that worked.

That is us. We are not waiting for our second, third, fourth customers to buy from us. We are waiting for that great idea to not only hit us, but to actually work. We have so many ideas. We are sure that some of them will work. Some of time we are impatient, but most of the time, we enjoy.

Life should be like that.

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New Ether Wednesday, Dec 5 2007

Two days ago, we kicked off our PPC campaign. We had been talking about it for a month. Like all significant events, there is a right time to do it. A few days ago, we felt that time had come.

PPC stands for Pay Per Click, an ingenious invention perfected by Google. The rough idea is that you create an account wit Google Adwords, set an advertising budget, write one or a series of ads in three lines, and create a keyword database that best matches the products or services you market. Google places the ads on its search engine and those of its partners, as well as the so-called content websites subscribed to Google’s other advertisement program, AdSense. Whenever a potential customer clicks the ad to our site, we pay Google a fee. The art of the Google AdWords is to place bids to achieve the right ad placement so that the clicks and cost per click reach an optimum.

To create a three-line ad and the associated keyword database was a fun task, but what is more addictive is to see the traffic from the unknown reaches of the Internet, from total strangers sitting in front of their computer, having some faint idea of need, whizzing past our site, much like the days when I drove through the desert of American South. Once in a while a billboard popped out beside the highway. I cast a nonchalant eye on the ad, more drawn to the model than to the product . The car moved too fast for me to remember anything about the ad after a few seconds, except the sensation that I was moving.

Internet commerce is here to stay. We got into it convinced that if it is not the future, it is at least a gate through which future must pass. We would like to think that we are the gatekeeper of future, but would be content if we were just toll collectors.

We would be ecstatic if we make a lot of money through our venture. But if we do not make a penny, we will be happy in other ways. It is the process of learning, of challenging ourselves, of taking risks, that has foreordained that this is going to be a fun ride.

There is no guarantee in life. Especially if what you aim to achieve depends on the “kindness of strangers.” When all is quiet and I can afford a moment of reflection – a luxury that is getting from “exclusive” to “elusive”, my thought revolves around this notion of the new ether. In the early 20th century, ether was believed by many to be the invisible glue that holds space-time together. Einstein’s relativity shot that notion down. The analogy to the Internet is obvious, and being a subjective allusion, cannot be debunked, either by a genius or by a fool.

Our PPC is going well. The feeling is faintly reminiscent of watching one’s children grow, but at a much accelerated pace. The ads start to show on the internet within a minute. Within ten minutes, trickles of traffic. Within a hour, a torrent.

Within a lifetime? A new ether that binds our new reality. Somewhere in this reality there is a gate. Unlike the billboard along the highway, at the toll booth, one pays for the beautiful journey ahead.

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Four Reasons Monday, Dec 3 2007

Nature has four seasons. All things natural must therefore have four reasons. Here are ours — why we think we can be among the fasion vanguard by being fashionably late.

The first reason is personal. Greta has had an ethereal attachment to fashion since her childhood. Fashion holds part of the meaing for her life. For me, she is the whole meaning of my life. So that is the reason of spring – la raison de printemp.

The second reason is “gymnastic” which I touched on yesterday. It is worthwhile because it is hard. All easy paths point downward. Taking them for too long or too far, it is a descent to Hell. So that is the reason of summer – la raison d’ete.

The third reason is artistic. Greta and I both love arts. She is an excellent amateur painter, whereas I, other than self-supervised dabble in Chinese calligrapghy and sketches when young, am more deft in moving words on paper, like a chess master moves his pawns. Those who do not know me well know me as a talented writer. That my birth place is China adds to people’s amazement about this skill. Yet, I am not polymathic or polyvalent — there are things I cannot do at all, such as music, such as dancing. So for a long time, I value performing artist as practicing the highest and most difficult form of arts, as all is live; margin of error is small; environment is not perfect; and emotional connection with the audience can be tenuous and must be maintained while the drama is in motion… Lately, this view has changed. I now think fashion is the most difficult and hence most enthralling form of arts. After all, performing arts are executed by professionals — training and familiarity makes what seems to laypeople as Herculean blase to the pro. Fashion is different. The actor – the consumer of high fashion – is an amateur. She comes in all shapes, sizes, tastes, and idiosyncracies. To design and make something that expresses and accentuates her beauty is a challenge from which even Hercules would shy away. No one has fancies Hercules as a fashion designer, for good reason, because the art is too subtle even for Socrates’s sophistry. So that is the reason of autumn – la raison d’automne.

Then there is the fourth reason, the cold, hard business case. Getting into a business where thousands strive for success, where no stone remains unturned, seems foolhardy. But, as in all insanity, there is method to the madness. Fashion predates almost all other industries we are familiar with today. Before man doned clothes, he wore primitive jewelry to decorate himself. Therefore it is not going to be the typewriter; it is not going to be the VCR, certainly not going to be the true faddish New Coke. It is enduring, despite the many faces; every new birth is a potential customer. From a macroeconomic point of view, the fashion industry is one of the closest modern-day approximations of free market. There are famous brands, but there is no monopoly or oligarchy. If getting into fashion seems irrational, compare that to the proposition of starting a car manufacturing business, a software business for operating systems for PCs. Although Gucci and Prada are famous, they are not as powerful as Toyota and Microsoft. The sling shot of David has a chance against the club-wielding Goliath in a free market. David would have no chance against the affable Bill Gates. Voila, the reason of winter – la raison d’hiver. Despite the many thousands who toil, the creative can still win.

If a scientist is a slave of reason, four of them liberate him to be his own master.

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Physics and Gymnastics Sunday, Nov 25 2007

In physics, there is a famous principle called least action. In laymen’s term, it is called the path of least resistance. That sums up my career as a scientist — doing things effectively means, in my case, doing things lazily.

In gymnastics, the situation is the opposite. The athelete chooses the most difficult way to impress the judges and crowd. From a physicist to a gymnast of sort is my jump from one extreme to the other. And I enjoy the challenge.

To many, picking fashion as my next challenge is completely irrational, if reason is solely based on visible traces of history. For a gymnast, it is called daring, even necessary — without difficulty, without attempting where others have failed or have not even imagined, life as a gynmast would be a waste. A life lived in the safe mode is a life unaware of the frontiers, the cutting edge, the other side of the thrill…

To compound the difficulty, we started our business as a pure play — an online boutique. Thousands of such stores exist online. Starting from scratch, the bottomest of bottom, gives us a challenge that makes life, well, a series of actions of living.

In this blog, I would like to document how our enterprise moves from an altitude of zero to whatever height it will eventually reach. As said before, we started with a vision. We also started with the mindset of a gymnast — we want difficulty to be a positive force that extracts the best and ultimate from ourselves.

Billions know the Internet is irreversibly changing the way we live. Millions use it actively. Thousands want to build wealth through it. Our story, still unfolding, is a small grain of sand in this vast beach. Yet, a grain is not necessarily equal to all other grains in the sand, especially the one bold enough to tell its story to the world. Here we are. We have a vision that fashion can be and needs to be enriched. We have the gall to break out of the safe mode and start something that is on the knife’s edge. And we want to share our experience with the many thousands who would like to know how to build an ecommerce website, how to generate traffic, how to attain top google ranking, how to generate sales, how to grow, and ultimately how to make life utterly exciting and meaningful.

All wise men have the same age: Old enough not to fear death, not old enough not to love living. Living is to answer the challenge of tomorrow. Tomorrow’s challenge is to add another entry in this blog.

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Fashion This Saturday, Nov 24 2007

Many thousands want to make millions on the Internet. We are two of them. We do not have a problem with making one million dollars, but we also want to make one difference.

What attracted me to fashion was at first its glamour, its utter foreignness to what I had been accustomed to, the informal world of “informed” scientists.

In August Greta and I traveled to China to discover our products. We also spent a day in a photo studio taking fashion shots. We discovered our photographer the new-fashioned way, through net searches. His name is Tony, working out of the seaside Chinese town of Humen. There is some irony here: Humen was a flashpoint of the infamous war of opium, and is now a major production base of fashion products. Tony said that he is the only local Chinese in the office building where the photo studio is located. Other tenants all came from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. They make clothes for the export market.

Tony exceeded our expectation and took some really stunning photos. At the top is one of the pictures. That trip, and the pleasant interaction with Tony and his team, reinforced our belief in what we were doing.

Many say fashion with passion. In our dictionary, it is fashion with vision. Whatever the outcome, whichever way the road turns, the journey is going to be a fun one, because vision is what you use to discover and achieve.

So what is vision? Do this experiment. Close your eyes for an hour while you are fully conscious. Then open them. What you see is your vision.

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Laws of Gravity Friday, Nov 23 2007

Greta and I made a wish. We wished to be free. True freedom is not legislated or a birthright; it has to be won. We are winning our freedom with merry hearts and lofty souls.

Exquisites London is not a lonesome phantom teasingly made out in our profile. It is a business concernthat we started on our road to freedom. We are as free as the free society would permit us, but not as free as our imagination wishes freedom to be.

Our business is about fashion. Greta has been fascinated by fashion since a very young age. I have never been. What fascinated me was the immanence of the world, the change that seems to come without reason but can be understood by a concentrated exercise of reasoning. In time, I became a scientist, absorbed by what superficially is the polar opposite to fashion – the laws and physics that govern space and the universe.

But seen in a certain light, everything is fashion, swayed and dominated by fads and personalities. Case in point, among the great personalities in the 20th century was Albert Einstein. It is just that, in science, fashion is articulated differently. So I am not completely uninitiated when it comes to what is fashionable, if not fashion itself.

The laws of gravity are more stern than gospels, as they defy any interpretation. They dictate the natural place for things and the speed at which the things fall in place. They are the ultimate measure of beauty in science, and also the most effective generator of boredom among millions who had to sit in a classroom. I begun to be bored several years ago. When boredom pours in, freedom sinks. Before the door of the cage of boredom is closed, I had to rush out. I met Greta, and we made our wish.

I will articulate this wish as I go along. The short version of it is that we wish to give fashion a new face and maybe new meaning. After years of admiring beauty through the objective lens of mathematics, I now realize, true beauty must be appreciated through the subjective filter of a free heart.

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Everything Has A Beginning Wednesday, Nov 21 2007

Everything has a beginning. But does beginning have everything? Obviously no. For those accustomed to being fashionably late, it is not easy to fathom lately fashionable – namely me. The celestial alignment is such that I became ensconced in a world I was totally unfamiliar with, until the lightening hit me. Now, intoxicated without a drop of alcohol, I appoint myself to revolutionize fashion. Revolution comes cheaply for me. I was born in China and grew up there in the heydays of the Cultural Revolution. Why I am where I am is a story that requires a few warrants of deep introspection and extrovert levity. But the story can wait. Now some basic facts. I am a physicist. I do not live in London (though visiting there often enough to warrant the question – why do you visit the UK so often? from the custom agent. I love to live in London, especially when things are so exquisite that they deserve a plural. If you want to know the real but impersonal me, Google this “William Liu, Canadian Space Agency”. But I guess you don’t care. There is no photo in this opening salvo, so that I leave room for myself to improve the space without trying very hard. You will forgive me for this cheap use of scientific method – or is it the art of lowered expectation. Doesn’t matter. See you here soon, my reader or my shadow, matters not. 

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