History of Outfit4Events, how it all started

Golden student years

It all started in 1995 as a part-time job during my studies, when I worked as an interpreter and newly appointed manager of fencing and other art groups west of the Czech border, helping Czech, mostly amateur, fencers to spread awareness of Czech arts and crafts. Most of them saw it as a casual job in addition to their regular work and also as an adventure or a change in their post-revolutionary lives. Czech fencers easily won over Western audiences, even though they didn't speak the spectators' language. They were good actors, stuntmen and comedians. More than once, a spectator was caught off guard and unexpectedly drank a beer in one gulp in the middle of the performance on the area among the people.

Not only their fencing and acting skills attracted attention, but also their knight's armour and weaponsweapons – necessary equipment for the authentic effect of the performance. Many a swordsman lost their sword or even their entire armour at the end of the weekend event. But they knew where to get a new one. And sometimes they made it themselves! It was amazing how easy it was to turn a profit on a piece of dented sheet metal or rusty spring steel.

Birth of a business idea

And that was the birth of a business idea. After a while, the nomadic lifestyle began to take its toll on me, and so I started to focus on the trade in bladed weapons and knight's armour instead of organising artistic expeditions. I had the privilege of meeting several prominent people ‘in the rich west’ who not only understood history, but also the business side of things. However, the craftsmanship of the Bohemian blacksmiths, locksmiths, armourers, saddlers, shoemakers, tailors, etc. was missing in the west. And that's where I came in. Not that I understood the many crafts, but I knew people who had the skill and expertise.

Craftsmanship is dying in the East, too...

It could be expected that production would also be modernised in this country and that qualified craftsmen would be absorbed by modern factories built in the context of negotiated tax incentives in the numerous industrial zones. This is a necessary phenomenon of today: there is a lack of qualified craftsmen. Only companies with a higher added value, which can afford to pay skilled workers well, can survive financially. In addition, the training of apprentices in many trades has collapsed. So the outlook is bleak. And what is the way out? The same as in the West: the need to import goods from countries where there is plenty of free labour and where products can be imported at an affordable price. Pakistan, India and China are important sources here too. Products from these countries now make up more than half of our product range. I would like to say ‘BUT’, but this phenomenon cannot be seen as purely negative. It is to the advantage of the customer. The imported products are available at a reasonable price, where our main task is to monitor the quality - which is often comparable to ‘European’ quality - how quick the Asians are learning!

It's time to do things differently

Studying and working did not go well together. But thanks to the support of my parents and learning from the mistakes of my classmates, I finally made it to graduation. My alma mater taught me, among other things, fresh knowledge about international trade, business law and languages. This has created the conditions for a successful business. It was time to do things properly, with the knowledge I had acquired and with full commitment.

Unlike my competitors, who based their success on nomadism and making money by selling from stalls and who didn't pay taxes, I founded a trading company and launched a purely legal internet shop. The name of the company (Wellcrafted s.r.o.) should reflect the fact that the craftsmanship in this company is carried out with quality and integrity. However, the name alone is not enough. It is necessary to deal honestly with customers, to have a well-organised team that sees customer satisfaction as a priority, and thus to protect the good name of the shop. This is how the Outfit4events webshop was created in three language versions.

Doing business in the Czech Republic involves a lot of ‘paperwork’, which is a boring and uncreative activity. Today, we no longer pull the heavy cart with the ‘fodder for the bureaucrats’ alone. A powerful ERP software and an external tax office help us to handle all the bureaucracy correctly.

This leaves me with my hands free to further develop my webshop. A large part of the thousands of photos in the webshop are of my cameras. I try to show the product as accurately as possible from all sides and not to hide or retouch any defects. It's about not giving the wrong impression of the product and giving the customer the most realistic picture possible of a product that they can't touch with their own hands.

Running a business in the Czech Republic is no bed of roses

For us at Outfit4Events, it is clear that the business environment must be maintained and appropriately controlled. However, our foreign colleagues sometimes laugh at us and point out that ‘America innovates and Europe regulates’. But there is no getting around it, and we have been forced to put a lot of effort and resources into implementing electronic sales records, GDPR and GPSR guidelines. Every month we have to submit reports to Intrastat, One Stop Shop and other mandatory agendas :(

Generally speaking, however, it should be added to the entrepreneurial life that even a university-educated entrepreneur cannot do many of the prescribed activities with his knowledge and skills. It is necessary to hire external specialists in case an authority looks for deficiencies during an inspection. As a result, the financial burden on entrepreneurs increases, who are forced to hire external specialists for certain tasks and topics (work safety, waste management, accounting and legal advice, software development, etc.).

With honest approach to gradual growth

The business model proved to be sustainable from the outset. The company had the luxury of a reputable, official business from the very beginning. There was no need to make a lot of money to run a ‘living room internet store’. Today, there are seven of us and our shop is the source of income for several hundred artisans!

Honest approach is not enough

We realise that the world is changing and we have to change with it. That's why we are constantly trying to renew our shop and its product range. This is the fourth generation of the online shop. It may look simple, but believe me: it's hard work and costs a lot of effort, time and money! You, our dear customers, confirm e.g. at Trustpilot that we are doing the internet trade right. Thank you for shopping with us and for providing us with incentives for further development.

On behalf of the entire Outfit4Events team, with all due respect,
Helmut Vajc