By Ed Avis
When Danny Wu left China in 1996 to come to the United States, he first traveled to other parts of the world. One stop was Venice, where he was impressed by the fantastic masks that island city is known for.
“He decided he wanted to create low-cost versions of these masks so anyone going to a party could afford one,” says Jonas Wu, Danny’s son and general manager of KBW Global Corp. “So when he settled in Los Angeles he started KBW with masquerade masks as the first product.”
KBW, which joined NCA as a Vendor Member in February, has since grown into a major supplier of masks and hats in styles ranging from Steampunk to Day of the Dead to Mardi Gras. The company also offers totally unique creations dreamed up by the company’s in-house designers. In fact, today KBW’s catalog contains about 5,000 items.
In-House Advantage
When Danny Wu started KBW he had a big advantage over many other costume/mask companies: His family had launched a factory in China a few years before, so KBW’s manufacturing could all be done in-house.
“Everything we do is manufactured by our family factory,” Jonas Wu says. “That means we can offer our products at the lowest cost possible. We also have a very rigorous quality control process and we use top-notch materials. And since it’s our factory, we are totally responsible for anything that happens to the goods.”
Wu explains that all of the company’s products are designed by the company’s five in-house designers, which ensures they are unique and on-trend. The designers watch trends on Tiktok and Instagram to get ideas. They also welcome ideas from customers.
“We build close relationships with a lot of our customers and they have insight to what might be trending and what might be a good product to develop,” Wu explains. “We also like to dabble in very creative ideas. For example, last year we came up with the music festival captain hats. It was the best-selling line before COVID hit. Since everything is designed in-house here in LA, we’re providing the most up-to-date products.”
When an idea gets green-lighted, a designer creates a computer-aided design (CAD) of the item, which leads to an actual 3D model that is sent to the factory in China, where a mold is created.
“After the mold gets created we make a blank version of the mask or hat that is painted to exact specifications, and then we go back and forth discussing the look, deciding if the costs will make sense, and things like that,” Wu says.
Since KBW uses the family factory, their orders have high priority. New styles are stocked quickly and inventory is easily refreshed if an item runs low. And Wu says the company has had no problem getting shipments to the U.S. despite COVID.
Bestsellers
One of the company’s bestsellers over the past year was, not coincidentally, the “Plague Doctor” mask, which has the frightening long beak that evidently was popular during the Medieval plague.
“Outside of the Plague Doctor, our music festival hats were bestsellers,” Wu says. “Young adults like to wear these hats at festivals, and sales of those hats were growing at an astounding rate until COVID hit. Other top sellers are masks and hats in Steampunk and Day of the Dead styles. We’re really a year-round company – we have styles for every time of the year.”
What does Wu predict for this year?
“Our team is very optimistic with the vaccine rolling out, we see everything coming back. People are going to be very joyful, spending time with family, having house parties, going trick or treating. And it’s going to be a Sunday Halloween this year, so that should be a driving factor for sales.”
KBW offers NCA members a 7 percent discount from wholesale for orders placed on their website and from a special list created for NCA. To view the list, log into the NCA Member Center, click on the Resources tab on the left, and then click on the KBW Offers item. For more information or to place an order, contact Jonas at kbwjwu@gmail.com