In this episode of The Unified Brand Podcast, we sit down with designer and founder of Mifland, Tobi Egberongbe to explore the power of storytelling, timeless products, and building a brand people emotionally connect with.
From vintage Redwing boots and worn-in watches to the philosophy behind creating products that age with meaning, this conversation dives deep into why the best brands focus on identity over trends.
We discuss:
- Why every great brand needs one instantly recognizable product
- The danger of copying trends and becoming “too referential”
- How vintage culture is reshaping fashion and consumer behavior
- Creating products with emotional longevity and personal stories
- Building a lifestyle brand rooted in happiness, creativity, and experience
- The future of retail, pop-ups, collaborations, and community-driven brand experiences
- Lessons founders can learn from Porsche, Apple, Rolex, and more
This episode is packed with insights for founders, creatives, marketers, and anyone interested in building brands with substance and staying power.
Why the Best Brands Build Stories, Not Just Products
Most brands talk about products.
The brands people obsess over talk about identity.
That distinction matters more today than ever.
Modern consumers are surrounded by choice. Every category is overcrowded. Fashion, technology, lifestyle products, hospitality, fitness, even personal brands all compete in an economy driven by attention. The result is a marketplace full of businesses trying to optimise performance while forgetting emotional connection.
The brands that survive long term are rarely the ones shouting the loudest.
They are the ones that mean something.
That was one of the strongest themes to emerge during our conversation with Tobi Egberongbe, founder of Mifland — a lifestyle brand that grew from one handmade rucksack into a seven-figure business recognised globally for its distinctive aesthetic, craftsmanship, and cultural credibility.
Tobi Egberongbe is a brand strategist, creative thinker, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of culture, storytelling, and brand building. Throughout the conversation, he shared insights that go far beyond fashion.
At its core, this episode was about differentiation.
Not surface-level differentiation.
Real differentiation.
The kind built through obsession, clarity, restraint, emotional resonance, and the courage to ignore trends.
For founders, marketers, and growing brands, there are powerful lessons here.
Great Brands Create Emotional Attachment
One of the most interesting ideas Tobi discussed was the emotional life of products.
He spoke about vintage watches, worn Red Wing boots, faded denim, and old military jackets not simply as objects, but as containers for human experience.
As Tobi explained:
“I just love items that when you look at them and say, how did this mark happen?”
That single sentence captures something many brands miss entirely.
People do not emotionally connect with products because of features.
They connect because products become attached to memories, identity, aspirations, and experiences.
This is why genuinely iconic brands feel personal.
An old guitar becomes meaningful because of the songs played on it.
A worn leather bag becomes valuable because of the journeys it has been on.
A jacket becomes treasured because of the life lived inside it.
As Tobi described, one customer had travelled internationally with her Mifland bag and written every country she visited inside it “like a passport”.
That is not product usage.
That is emotional ownership.
And emotional ownership is where brand power lives.
The Strongest Brands Become Symbols
Many businesses try to scale too quickly by expanding horizontally.
More products.
More services.
More audiences.
More categories.
But one of the clearest strategic insights from the episode was the importance of singularity.
Tobi explained that the world’s strongest brands are instantly recognisable because they own one defining product or silhouette.
As he put it:
“If I took the logo off of it, you still know this is my item.”
That principle applies far beyond fashion.
Apple has the iPhone.
Porsche has the 911.
Rolex has the Submariner.
These products transcend utility.
They become category symbols.
Too many growing brands dilute themselves trying to appeal to everyone.
The result is confusion.
Confused positioning.
Confused marketing.
Confused customers.
One of the biggest mistakes founders make is believing scale comes from breadth.
In reality, scale usually comes from clarity.
The stronger your identity, the easier your brand becomes to remember.
The easier it becomes to remember, the easier it becomes to recommend.
And recommendation remains one of the most powerful growth mechanisms any business can build.
Why Differentiation Matters More Than Ever
Modern markets are filled with imitation.
Tobi spoke extensively about what frustrates him within the fashion industry.
Specifically, he highlighted how many brands simply reference existing ideas rather than creating genuinely new perspectives.
As he explained:
“Everything has become too referential.”
That observation extends far beyond clothing.
Most industries are trapped in cycles of mimicry.
A successful business launches a campaign.
Competitors copy it.
A founder develops a visual style.
Others replicate it.
A trend gains traction.
Entire markets begin to resemble one another.
The problem is that imitation destroys memorability.
And memorability is one of the foundations of effective branding.
If customers cannot immediately distinguish you from competitors, you become interchangeable.
When brands become interchangeable, purchasing decisions default to price.
That is one of the most dangerous places a business can operate.
Strong branding prevents commoditisation.
That is why differentiation matters.
Not because it sounds creative.
Because it protects value.
Founder-Led Brands Have a Different Energy
One of the reasons founder-led brands often outperform corporate competitors is because they carry emotional consistency.
The founder’s worldview becomes embedded within the brand.
That authenticity creates coherence.
Throughout the conversation, Tobi repeatedly returned to the themes of curiosity, process, storytelling, craftsmanship, and lived experience.
Those values shape Mifland.
Not through marketing slogans.
Through decisions.
That distinction is important.
A brand is not what you say.
A brand is what you consistently reinforce.
Tobi’s fascination with worn products, ageing materials, creative process, and personal stories all manifest through the products, collaborations, events, and community experiences he creates.
That is what makes founder-led branding powerful.
The brand becomes an extension of belief.
Consumers can feel that.
Especially in an era where audiences are increasingly sceptical of manufactured marketing.
Storytelling Is the Real Competitive Advantage
There was a recurring idea throughout the conversation that deserves far more attention in modern branding.
Products matter.
But stories create meaning.
Tobi described his fascination with objects that carry visible history.
Old boots.
Vintage watches.
Military jackets.
Distressed denim.
Items with signs of life embedded into them.
As he explained:
“I think interesting people are people who have interests.”
That line perfectly captures how storytelling works in branding.
Interesting brands are built by people with genuine obsessions.
Not fabricated personas.
Not manufactured aesthetics.
Real curiosity.
Real passion.
Real perspective.
When founders share authentic interests, customers begin connecting with the worldview behind the brand.
That connection builds loyalty at a far deeper level than transactional marketing.
Consumers are no longer simply buying products.
They are buying into identity, philosophy, and belonging.
This is particularly important in premium positioning.
Premium brands rarely compete on utility alone.
They compete on emotional significance.
The Danger of Chasing Everyone
One of the smartest strategic observations Tobi made centred around audience focus.
As he explained:
“You either want this or you have to go someplace else.”
That mindset sounds risky to many founders.
But it is often the key to building a distinctive brand.
Weak brands try to minimise exclusion.
Strong brands understand exclusion creates identity.
When you attempt to appeal to everyone, your positioning becomes vague.
Your messaging softens.
Your product offering broadens.
Your marketing loses specificity.
Eventually, nobody feels deeply connected to what you do.
Clarity requires courage.
Sometimes the most powerful strategic move a brand can make is deciding who it is not for.
That level of focus improves:
- Product development
- Brand consistency
- Marketing efficiency
- Customer retention
- Community alignment
- Referral potential
And perhaps most importantly, it protects distinctiveness.
Why Vintage Culture Is Growing
One particularly fascinating part of the discussion explored why vintage culture continues to grow globally.
Tobi believes part of the reason is because consumers crave authenticity.
Vintage products often carry individuality, craftsmanship, and imperfection.
Modern mass production frequently removes those qualities.
As Tobi explained:
“There’s nothing new. It’s just different interpretations of old items.”
That insight speaks to a larger cultural shift.
Consumers increasingly want products that feel human.
Products with texture.
Products with stories.
Products with evidence of care.
That does not necessarily mean every brand should become “vintage”.
But it does mean businesses should think carefully about emotional texture.
Does your brand feel manufactured?
Or does it feel lived-in?
There is a difference.
And audiences instinctively recognise it.
Culture-Led Branding Creates Longevity
Another important takeaway from the episode was Tobi’s emphasis on culture rather than direct selling.
Instead of focusing purely on campaigns and product pushes, he discussed creating experiences.
Pop-up events.
Creative collaborations.
Conversations.
Art.
Food.
Process.
Shared interests.
At one point, Tobi described wanting the Mifland store in New York to become a hub where people from different creative disciplines could connect.
That vision reflects something many modern brands overlook.
Community creates resilience.
When people emotionally identify with your culture, they stay connected even when they are not actively purchasing.
That creates:
- Stronger retention
- Better word of mouth
- Increased advocacy
- Greater cultural relevance
- Longer-term customer value
The strongest modern brands do not simply sell products.
They create ecosystems.
Why Process Matters in Branding
One of the most compelling sections of the conversation involved Tobi discussing creative process.
He spoke about artists obsessing over how paint ages.
Chefs obsessing over knives.
Craftsmanship.
Precision.
Materials.
Detail.
This obsession with process matters because process communicates standards.
Consumers may not consciously analyse every detail.
But they feel intentionality.
That intentionality builds trust.
As brands grow, many lose this.
Efficiency begins replacing care.
Speed replaces craft.
Scale replaces intimacy.
The challenge for growing businesses is learning how to scale without losing soul.
That is one of the hardest branding challenges any founder faces.
Branding Is About Meaning, Not Attention
Many businesses today are trapped in performance marketing cycles.
Everything becomes optimisation.
Clicks.
Reach.
Engagement.
Conversions.
But attention alone does not build meaningful brands.
Meaning does.
The strongest brands create emotional anchors.
People remember how they feel around them.
That feeling compounds over time.
Tobi repeatedly referenced happiness, colour, individuality, creativity, and emotional response.
Those are not accidental details.
They are emotional positioning tools.
Great branding is rarely purely rational.
It creates feeling first.
Logic often follows afterwards.
What Founders Can Learn From Mifland
There are several important lessons founders can take from Tobi Egberongbe’s journey building Mifland into a seven-figure lifestyle brand.
1. Build Around Distinctiveness
Do not create products that disappear into the market.
Create products people recognise instantly.
2. Protect Your Vision
Do not dilute your idea trying to satisfy everybody.
As Tobi explained:
“Do not sway from your idea.”
3. Create Emotional Ownership
The strongest brands become part of people’s lives.
Not simply part of transactions.
4. Focus On Storytelling
Products attract attention.
Stories build loyalty.
5. Build Culture Around The Brand
The future of branding is community, participation, and shared identity.
Not interruption marketing.
Final Thoughts
The most valuable insight from this conversation may be this:
Great brands are not built through trends.
They are built through conviction.
In crowded markets, originality becomes increasingly valuable.
Not originality for the sake of novelty.
Originality rooted in perspective.
Perspective rooted in lived experience.
That is what makes brands memorable.
That is what makes products meaningful.
And ultimately, that is what transforms businesses from companies into cultural brands.
Tobi Egberongbe’s journey with Mifland demonstrates that branding is not simply about visibility.
It is about resonance.
The brands people remember are the ones that make them feel something.
The ones attached to stories.
The ones attached to identity.
The ones attached to life itself.
If your business is struggling to differentiate in an overcrowded market, the solution may not be louder marketing.
It may be stronger meaning.
Continue Your Brand Development Journey
If you want to build a more differentiated, emotionally resonant brand, explore more insights from the Unified Brand Podcast and Elements Brand Management.
You can also take the Brand Power Assessment to discover what is currently strengthening — or weakening — your brand positioning, differentiation, and long-term growth potential.
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