Man’s swimwear brand Eubi set to rake in $20m in revenue this year

Regular trips to the beach inspired his business but next year he’s set to move into an entirely new space involving people’s pets.

An international student’s move to study in Melbourne was the catalyst for him launching a brand that is set to rake in $20 million this year.

Melvin Chee was an “avid diver” who loved taking trips from his Melbourne home to Bali.

But he noticed that men were wearing “boring” shorts on the beach and the fashion lover thought he could offer something better.

The now 28-year-old decided to design his own collection of board shorts and put them to a vote on Instagram.

“I had a lot of different designs I put up from fruit to CD designs and I designed six different collections with over 20 designs. I dropped it on the Instagram page and got people to vote on what should be launching and then rolled out six designs with inspiration from my diving trips,” he said.

“I wanted something striking and not boring.”

With over 300,000 customers across the globe since its inception in 2018, Eubi has sold more than half a million pairs of shorts to date. Picture: Supplied

It led to him launching his business Eubi in 2018 with the watermelon shorts from his first collection still one of the bestsellers, according to Mr Chee.

Other designs included bananas, polka dots and even anchors.

“We quickly went from zero revenue to $200,000 within two months and that validated it,” he added.

Since launching, Eubi has grown from a small team of five to around 120 employees, with an office still in Melbourne.

He has also launched eight other brands including five in apparel and three in home living to tackle a big problem that plagued the swimwear range, he said.

“We spent a year and a half just selling swimwear and a big part of the problem of swimwear is it’s seasonal so it peaked during summer in the States and then in the southern hemisphere,” he said.

“So we decided to build in sweaters, hoodies and different functionality wear with more daily wear, hybrid shorts, chino pants and all kinds of pants for our male customers. Our biggest customers are male and from Australia with 70 per cent from there.”

Australia and the US are the biggest markets. Picture: Supplied

Summer gear is still a bestseller. Picture: Supplied

Mr Chee said he also realised “bold” designs weren’t enough to sell the swimwear and focused on functionality such as stretchy and ultra fast drying material.

“We wanted to combine fun and functional together,” he explained.

“If consumers buy a fast fashion brand it’s usually for looks and not for comfort and quality and probably they will not wear it three months later, so I wanted to be functional and sustainable.”

The swim shorts are still a bestseller but he said their golf shorts were also a “big hit” this summer.

Eubi has had over 300,000 customers across the globe since its inception in 2018 and has sold more than half a million pieces of shorts to date, according to Mr Chee, while it also recently launched a FC Barcelona licensed apparel collection.

The business has been running for four years. Picture: Supplied

The brand has expanded from just shorts. Picture: Supplied

This year, the brand is on track to make $20 million in revenue – a figure Mr Chee can’t quite believe just four years into creating his own business.

Next up, Eubi is looking to expand into markets like the Middle East and also has a range of pet accessories planned for 2023.

“We have some pet fashion products coming out along the way so basically we will bring the same sort of outfit from a human to pets in fun design and accessories to allow for fashion play,” he said.