DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
Directors Mo Eltayeb and Pradeep Chhetri’s pledge drive is hoping to put Cutly firmly on the retail map.
Three young Palmerston North entrepreneurs are looking to take on the giants of the facial hair care world.
Pradeep Chhetri, Chris Teneza, and Mohamed Eltayeb are only in their 20s but they’re on a mission to get their all-natural and sustainable brand of men’s facial hair products on the nation’s shop shelves alongside global brands like Gillette and Schick.
However, six months in, the operation is still in its very early stages.
“We are solely e-commerce based at the moment,” said Eltayeb. “But our main goal is looking to transition to retail and become mass market.
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“There are factories and laboratories we’re looking at around Auckland and Wellington that could help us manufacture our products in the future.
“For now, we just really want to focus on increasing our brand awareness before we reach that next stage.”
That campaign is still growing. Day and night, the Cutly team works tirelessly to build the brand online. However, the team says that in order to build upon those initial conversations with the manufacturers, they need a funding boost.
A Pledge Me campaign has been set up to raise $10,000.
“The factories we’ve been talking to require about a three-month period to create the same consistency for the product. And with that, we’d have to pay them a certain amount for each product type that we want them to produce for us,” said Chhetri.
“That’s going to be one of the last few things we have to do before we go retail, because the value of the average purchase order will be heaps more than what we can actually handle on our own.”
DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
A bespoke Cutly razor and a selection of all-natural shaving creams make up the current Cutly range.
The belief in the product from the trio is steadfast. After suffering through itches, bumps, and reactions to mainstream products, a barber friend showed them a natural shaving cream recipe that reacted well with their skin.
From then on, the team is adamant that it’s got a recipe they can show the world.
“We had about 18 months of solid [research and development] where we were really trying with different ingredients,” said Eltayeb.
“Sometimes it would just melt in your hands, sometimes it would freeze in the winter. But now that we’ve got it, we’ve had great reviews, even from people around the country who’ve ordered online with no prior interaction with us.”
Eltayeb has lofty goals.
“I basically want us to be a Gillette-killer, so to speak. I want us to be the one-stop shop for every single shaving solution. And eventually, I’d like to expand out internationally.”
Cutly’s products can be ordered at cutly.co.nz and their pledge drive is accepting donations here.
