“Why did I choose a creative industry? Because I’m creative.”

Today we continue with the story of the winner of the second prize at Get in the Ring Romania, held during the Creative Est festival, organised by GEA Strategy & Consulting.

Madam Mitza, second prize worth 1,000 euros

Madam Mitza socks are made exclusively in Romania. The founders had a dream: that all “city” ladies and young women would wear Madam Mitza socks.

Here’s their story, as told by Bogdan Voiculescu, owner of Madam Mitza:

“We started sometime in January 2015, with four models of women’s socks in stock, three-quarter length (that is, up to just below the knee). We had prepared them around September–October 2014, but we were only ready to sell in January 2015.

The spark came while talking with a good friend about what we could bring to our market as a 100% Romanian product. I won’t hide the fact that that’s when I discovered another business doing the same thing, but in France. It’s Archiduchesse (http://archiduchesse.com/). I saw that they take pride in the idea of a 100% French product, well made.

So I said, why not us too? Why couldn’t we create a 100% Romanian brand and get all the young women and ladies about town—and not only in Bucharest—wearing our socks? Better yet, what if women across Romania wore them? Oops. That was it. A brand for ladies!

The idea for Madam Mitza simply came to me as I made the connections in my head between socks—especially high ones—bright colours and a bicycle. The only woman in the 1800s who wore that kind of socks and rode a bicycle was the lady about town, Mita Biciclista. She was a nonconformist. Everyone knew her, and she moved in the highest circles of society. In short, she was very much a lady about town. And she was a dyed-in-the-wool Romanian who lived in Paris. So she knew how things worked.

So I got to work and created all the visuals the MADAM MITZA brand needed, from the logotype to the labels. Then came the new high, playful sock designs. We produced them and launched them for sale online.

That’s how it all started.

Why did I choose a creative industry? Because I’m creative. I have a designer’s background and the credentials to match. I finished an arts high school and then an Arts university, here in Bucharest. As for Romania’s creative industries, I’ll give you just one example: look at how many designer fairs are held in a year and how many people take part. In my view, we’re on a roll. The future looks good. We’re putting everything back in, getting our name out there and selling a lot. We want Madam Mitza to become a national brand.

GET IN THE RING was a challenge. I like challenges a lot, and this competition struck me as a launchpad—and that’s exactly how it turned out. A great competition organised by great people. We had a great time, and the interaction with the other contestants was auspicious. We learned a lot and heard some delightful stories.

We’ll reinvest the money we won: new designs, plus PR and marketing. Without investment, a business can’t exist.

Thank you to everyone who supported us and made us feel like a real business.”