Rener Gracie has taken industry trade shows by storm.

Whether you saw him at ASI Fort Worth or ISS Atlantic City, you’re probably still spellbound. Gracie serves as a carnival barker, urging passers-by to stop in their tracks and witness the ingenious functionality of Quikflip Apparel (asi/89364). Each of Gracie’s products – zip-up hoodies, pullover hoodies, crewnecks and waterproof jackets – can be easily converted into an adjustable drawstring backpack in seconds. His energetic presentations have been the talk of show floors – something backed up by the fact that a distributor’s video of his presentation went viral with over 6.5 million views on Facebook.

Photo by David Reis 

“I don’t drink coffee, I don’t do drugs and I don’t have a routine before shows,” Gracie says. “When you have a product as innovative as ours that solves a problem people have been dealing with since the beginning of civilization, you can’t help but be excited to share it. On top of that, when you see the reactions on the faces of apparel industry veterans when I demonstrate the Quikflip conversion process, it’s priceless.”

“Untapped Goldmine”
A scion of Brazilian jiu-jitsu royalty, his grandfather Hélio Gracie is credited with inventing the martial art, and his father Rorion Gracie is a co-founder of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Certainly no slouch himself, Rener is a head instructor at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy and co-founder of Gracie University, an online martial arts learning center.

Podcast

ASI's Vinnie Driscoll and Patrick Kennedy interview Rener Gracie about the role social media has played in his success.

His latest endeavor began when he grew increasingly frustrated with having to tie unworn hoodies around his waist. In less than 30 minutes, Gracie says, he created his first prototype of the patent-pending conversion technology. Quikflip Apparel launched at the end of 2017, and within eleven months, the company’s flagship product – the Hero Hoodie – was shipping worldwide. Last month, Gracie made his product pitch on Shark Tank, growing his brand before yet another audience.

“Initially, we were only doing direct-to-consumer sales through our online store,” Gracie says. “After a few of our videos went viral, we started getting custom wholesale orders from organizations of all sizes, from boutique wineries and martial arts schools to large tech companies. With the sharp increase in unsolicited custom wholesale orders, we realized the promotional products industry was an untapped goldmine for Quikflip.”

Less than a year in the promo industry, Gracie says the company is getting calls from people all over the world who want exclusive distribution deals, licensing deals and every other deal you can imagine. Quikflip is even in negotiations with two of the largest theme parks in the United States.

“Rather than jump at every opportunity that comes our way, we’re taking it one step at a time, building our customer base and responding to feedback from our growing fan base,” Gracie says.