Why I Named My Brand One Farad — From Cleaning Hotel Toilets to Building a Startup
After the 2008 crisis, I lost my job in Italy and spent everything I had to finish my MBA.
With nothing left, I moved to London.
I started working as a receptionist, speaking only Italian, in a small hotel.
Later, I worked as a cleaner in the public areas of the luxury Mandarin Oriental—because I couldn’t speak English well enough for more.
Every day, I cleaned toilets and dreamed of building something of my own.
No connections. No funding. Just curiosity, and the will to figure it out.
Over time, I taught myself.
I built a men’s style app presented at TechCrunch Disrupt London.
I became a growth marketer for several online multimillion startups.
I launched and failed at a few ideas.
Then I started One Farad—a premium hoodie brand made in Italy, built for founders who’ve been through the grind.
Why the name?
It’s inspired by Michael Faraday, a scientist who started as a bookbinder and a lab assistant—a cleaner.
No status. No privilege. Just resilience and curiosity.
Faraday kept showing up, failing, learning—and changed science forever.
One Farad is about that.
The smallest unit of energy that can still create something big.
Even when you start from zero.
Even when no one sees you.
After 9 months of trying and failing to sell a single hoodie, I’m still building.
In public. With founders who get what it’s like to start small, stay small—and still matter.
Remember this story.
Because if you’re still building, and still showing up, then you’re already part of what One Farad stands for.
Let me know what you’re working on. I’d love to connect.
Best
Emidio
Story is amazing and really like the naming convention. Just had a look at your website and it looks really good! Keep it up
Thank you for your reply and support. If you are a founder and based in UK or EU happy to send you a hoodie for a feedback.
I am based in the UK, I've just started my website business so wouldn't say I'm a founder yet but I'm working towards it!
If you like, we have a few sizes left, just drop your name and surname, address and size to [email protected]
Sounds good, thanks Emidio
We got your email. We will send you a hoodie in the next few days!
Really appreciate, looking forward to it!
Hoodie has just arrived. Design is very clean and looks great quality. Looking forward to wearing this a long time
Wishing you success with your project! Have you thought about crowdfunding as a way to secure funding and build your audience?
Hi Nhicky, thank you for your reply and suggestion. From my experience crowding requires creating expensive promo content and ads campaigns to drive people over project’s page. I already used the £7K funding for production, trademarks, photography and some Meta Ads tests. I believe I have not found yet a MPF and understood what type of founders would buy the hoodie: tech, indie, solo, minimal lover… The challenge is that compared to traditional fashion brands I can’t use traditional men influencers. I am giving away the hoodies founders using Virgin Startups and my small connections. The process is very slow and not in control. It your are based UK or EU happy to send you a hoodie for your feedback. I love what I am doing, so I remind myself to stay confused and keep trying, and don’t waist my time about thinking about the current difficulties.
Hi Emidio,
Thank you for your message!
I’ve sent you a reply via email — whenever you get a chance, please have a look.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Best regards,
Lisan Ahmed
[email protected]
Hi Emidio,
Your story and the meaning behind One Farad are truly inspiring.
I’m a professional logo and brand designer, and I believe a strong, meaningful visual identity could match the powerful story you’ve built.
If you’re open to exploring some branding ideas, I’d love to share a few concepts with you.
Would be happy to connect — feel free to DM me anytime!
[email protected]
Hi, thank you for your reply and feedback. I am going to send you a DM.
Hi Emidio,
Thank you for your message!
I’ve sent you a reply via email — whenever you get a chance, please have a look.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Best regards,
Lisan Ahmed
Hats off to you for your persistence! Insipiring!
Hi Raghu, thank you for your feedback.
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Hi Max, thank you for your words that I really appreciate at this stage of the project. As founder you know that at the begging you don’t receive positive feedback or clear insights. My mind is shifting from It does not work or people don’t need this hoodie to stay focused learn more about the problem I want so solve. When I published the book about men’s Italian elegance people laughing on me as I was an outlier. Including families were saying nobody will buy it, until a days of my birthday I receives messages and called saying…. the main fashion magazine is talking about you…Unfortunately it’s not a hard problem what I am trying to solve like traffic jams for Waze or searching on internet for Google. I am working on a desirable and soft need. A deep motivation and mindset of the entrepreneur. I am not good at communication that’s my weakness. I am aware of that so I am trying to work hard of that side. I read many books and attended classes about the topic. One book I recommend is “When coffe and Kale compete”. It’s a book about interviewing initial customers with a specific approach connected with the needs. If you are based in UK or EU I would like to send one hoodie for your feedback.
This comment was deleted a year ago
We can ship it to NYC, that’s not a problem. Just drop your full name and surname, size and address to [email protected]
I will check it!