If you were to visit the headquarters Miami-based jewelry company, Miansai, nestled between a railroad track and a cemetery on the outskirts of the art-filled Wynwood district, you would see that what began as Michael Saiger's college side hustle has evolved into a booming business. Building on a simple idea born in his college dorm over ten years ago, Saiger's desire to create minimal jewelry for the average guy has proved to be a mission that goes way beyond that. Expanding to include a full range of men's and women's jewelry as well as accessories and leather goods, the entrepreneur's namesake brand has encompassed his whole world and continued to thrive with the collaboration of his wife and fashion director, Rachael Russell Saiger, along with a committed team of professionals.
Pass through the sunlit ground floor of the factory and you'll find the shipping center where e-commerce is processed and a team of experts hand-craft every single piece with deft precision. Just beyond, a full room of organized inventory including timepieces and leather goods. Upstairs, the design and sales team work in tandem to execute the brand's creative vision in accordance with strategy.
Known for their nautical-influenced screw cuffs and pendant necklaces, the brand that's become a celebrity staple is also a labor of love for everyone involved. Creating everything from product prototypes to shooting product imagery, the factory topped with a sun deck is the all-in-one fever dream for any aspiring entrepreneur.
Defying Convention
When it comes to staying ahead of the curb, Saiger attributes his success to staying agile in business. In 2012, before Miansai had committed to its brick and mortar locations in downtown Manhattan and Venice Beach on the West Coast, he took his love for vintage vehicles and turned it into a research project. Buying a 1985 Airstream and gutting the interior to create a mobile shop, the entrepreneur was able to test his product on the go. "I thought let's get our legs in direct-to-consumer business on a smaller scale and it was extremely successful so that summer we put it on the road and sent it to Coachella and to all the festivals on the road for a year straight just driving around the country," Saiger says. Collecting more vintage vehicles over the years and putting them in places like Montauk in the summer and Miami's Fontainebleau in the winter, the company reaches consumers far and wide with little commitment. After the success of their first mobile retail unit, the entrepreneurs have taken to collecting, remodeling and repurposing more vintage vehicles like 1949 and 1958 Airstream trailers, 1958 and 1965 Piaggio Ape and a 1976 Fiat.
Giving Back
In addition to incorporating his own passions in the business, Saiger's spouse and fashion director, Rachael, has worked in some of her own philanthropic causes to benefit the community at large. Launching her own non-profit, Style Saves during college, the former stylist organizes a series of clothing drives for underserved school-aged kids in the Miami area. "It's really nice to be a company and give back," Saiger says. Converting a Wynwood warehouse into a colorful, high-end shop for prom-goers to pick up stylish looks, the entrepreneur puts her fashion sense to use beyond her creative and operational work for Miansai. With the help of company staff from across departments, the team organizes service trips to places like Colombia and Haiti on an annual basis. "It's nice because we have people at the company who are willing and able to give back to the community and it just helps really solidify that we are a family and we all work together both on the clock and off the clock, " she says.
This philosophy of service and creating a sense of community that extends beyond the factory is something that sets Miansai aside as a thriving business with a commitment to giving back.
I talked with the company's founder, Michael Saiger, about how he got his start in the jewelry world, the serenditipous way he and his business and life partner met as well as how they stay ahead of the curb.
Roytel Montero: Tell me about the way Miansai got started?
Michael Saiger: I started in college when there wasn't a lot of jewelry for guys. I wanted something that any guy could wear and I figured that any guy who can wear a watch can wear Miansai. I started making things when I was in college and by the time I finished I was in some of the best stores in the country.
Montero: So it was a really fast response you got?
Saiger: Yeah, I was selling to some of the best specialty stores in the country and then shortly after that I launched it in all the department stores like Bergdorf's, Barney's, Saks, Neiman Marcus and all the major department stores. Then we kind of established ourselves as the main jewelry brand and the jewelry brand that any man can wear. It wasn't too feminine, it wasn't too masculine, it was a good price point and had a really good quality. These were all things I was taking into consideration when I was starting the brand. Also, I was using things that were nostalgic growing up. I started using nautical ropes and combining it with silver and I started taking things that were nostalgic that people could relate to.
Montero: Do you remember the first piece of jewelry that you made?
Saiger: I was making these necklaces and these bracelets and I started making them when I was going into my senior year in college around May and I put them in a store down here and I went back home and came back and found that a bunch of pieces all sold after a week. I different leather bracelets and stuff like that. My mom has an antique store so I always grew up around that my entire life and always collected vintage pins and medallions. I was using some of those things at that time.
Montero: How did this immediate positive response affect your approach to making jewelry?
Saiger: I just realized this works and started moving full steam ahead. I started making these watch bands with ribbon and they were really cool and easy. It was more like, people like this so I want to start making these pieces in silver and fine metals. At the time I wasn't a proper jeweler and still living with my parents so everything I earned I put back into the business. I was going and buying 3-D printers and jewelry wheels or everything I would need. By the time I graduated from college I already had a whole entire workshop and it was all paid for so I didn't have to borrow any money. It was a great way for me to start the brand. There wasn't a lot of pressure. When I was done I was already selling to everyone and had the whole entire thing set up. This was in 2008 right in the middle of the recession when my friends couldn't find jobs and my business was thriving.
Montero: Is that what you had set out to do professionally or what you studied during college?
Saiger: I wanted to be an inventor growing up. I was always coming up with different ideas for brands so I knew I wanted to invent things and had so many ideas about things that I wanted to do. In college I knew I wanted to make something and I studied marketing but I really like building brands. I'm really good at that but I didn't know. Sometimes in life you can have two roads presented to you and I'd say a lot of people are scared to go down this road or that road but one thing about me is I'm not scared to do anything and I'm very fearless. If I want to try something I'll go for it and I'll go all out for it.
Montero: Your company headquarters are really impressive. How was the process of growing this space for your company?
Saiger: When I first started in college, our office was a little shoe box. This was my first year of college, I would finish school and then go straight to my office and I'd work while everyone else was partying I was working my ass off. I didn't come from a traditional jewelry background so I learned the whole process from start to finish so for me it was really important to be able to control that process and naturally, when we got the warehouse that we're in right now we set it up to be able to incorporate every single step of the process. As we got bigger and hired more people, we really built out each department and we were able to keep control under one roof so it's really from prototyping to finished product, to shipping. A lot of designers are sending out to different factories but when we're prototyping, we really make sure that that product comes out exactly right.
Montero: What would you say is the biggest benefit of working this way?
Saiger: It really allows us to control quality and be agile. We can make small runs of things really quickly for different specialized stores and it just gives us the full control of the business, which I really like.
Montero: Describe the working relationship between you and your wife and fashion director, Rachel Russell Saiger?
Saiger: I had Miansai like ten years before I met Rachael and I had set up a lot of different things but when I met her, it added a nice touch that it didn't have. Everything before was really falling on my back in every aspect of the business so it was really great when Rachael came along and she's really good at certain things so it was great to let her steer. There are things I don't necessarily love doing that she's naturally great at so it's definitely a great partnership between us because it takes the weight off of me and she's really great at it. Sometimes you see couples work together and it doesn't end up so well but she's doing her thing and I'm doing my thing. We're not under each other's beaks and it's really seamless for us.
Montero: How did you meet?
Saiger: When I launched women's, the brand had just been unisex but I waited five years to officially launch women's. Before that, I had launched some more feminine styles like the screw cuff but I waited five years and Rachael had styled for us and I thought she was really talented so I brought her on and asked her to come consult with us on the women's collection and work with me. That's when we started working together and after that she was doing all of our photo shoots and then a couple of years later we reconnected on a plane to Hong Kong, where I was going for trade shows. We bumped into each other and even though when we met she had a boyfriend and I had a girlfriend, we were both single and had always gotten along so we hit it off.
Montero: What are some of the biggest lessons you've learned in business?
Saiger: Always go with your gut. You really need to believe in what you're doing and never stray from your vision no matter what. Those beginning principles that start your business is what you hold on to. You have to keep that vision in line and stay with it.
