Phase 1: Inside Krobert’s ‘Empire’: A sock business kept in business by Kylie, a clothing line kept in business by Kim and a hot sauce brand that no one bothered to promote

Rob’s brands include Arthur George, Halfway Dead & Grandeza Hot Sauce.

Arthur George

History

• Arthur George was founded in 2012
• They expanded to styles for babies and toddlers in 2017 and at one point they launched onesies, phone cases, bundles and gift sets.
• Their Instagram account hasn’t been updated since 2020. In 2017, Kylie partnered with Arthur George for a line of Kylie inspired socks for her merch store (I may have some tea on her merch store). In 2020, Kylie Skin offered a free pair of Arthur George socks on all orders, whilst supplies lasted. The illustration is questionable but they have an opportunity to do socks for all the family members, socks that illustrate scenes of KUWTK and more.

Why I Think Arthur George could have been successful

• AG fills a gap in the market. This is one of the first things to consider when launching a new brand, deciding to invest in a business or launching a new product/service.
• Arthur George’s slogans are in a large size and take up the whole bottom of the sock. Rob probably isn’t the first to put slogans on socks but I’ve browsed Google Images, Asos and several retailers and I can’t find many people styling the slogan in the way Arthur George does.
• There are a few Etsy stores who position their slogans just like AG but they’re smaller businesses and the phrases are quite different.
• Arthur George has great phases and I can see why a lot of them are sold out. They even have a pair that says ‘Keep Up’.
• If Arthur George wasn’t so closely tied to Rob and continued to innovate, they could have capitalized on phrases/sayings from TikTok or today’s time. Seeing the ‘Keep Up’ sock made me realise they could have used the iconic phrases e.g. ‘Todd’ & ‘Kraines’ pair. They would need to use more trendy fonts and make the pairs look more exciting.

Rob’s Other Ventures

• Nick Tershay is the founder of Diamond Supply Co, a streetwear company. DSC’s key customer base is skaters. I never heard of them but they have international stockists and 240k followers. Anyways, Nick is a co-founder of Halfway Dead & Grandeza Hot Sauce. Halfway Dead’s site is currently closed, they’re going to re-open with a summer collection. All of the girls have promoted Halfway Dead but I don’t remember any of them promoting Grandeza. One time Kim posted a pic in a Halfway Dead shirt and the whole site sold out.