The Exchanges

Q So it, it, it launches at J.Crew, and what happened? How did it do?

A It did phenomenally, and so I think within the first week, they had already sold through 50% of, of the product. Um, at that moment, I was really thankful for the opportunity to, to get a lot of eyeballs on, on the brand, but I knew, ok, now's the time to click it into gear and, and start building this thing. Um, and that was 2014. I started putting together a list of Larger investors that I, you know, had read would fund early stage companies, etc. I worked with a friend of mine that worked in finance to really start to put a business model together, um, and this deck that I would then go pitch investors in New York with.

AI assessment note: “It did phenomenally, and so I think within the first week, they had already sold through 50%”

Q And when did you start to see activewear? I mean, like, how did you start to think that there's a problem with activewear, with the stuff I wear and run, um, that's a problem that needs to be solved?

A So, I was still wearing my Nike as I kind of got back into running, um, If you looked at the Nikes and Under Armors of the world, they were built on this credo. Harder, better, faster, stronger, and, you know, I was wearing kind of shiny, bright spandex that you'd think the clothing had this connotation of, like, high performance, high, high intensity, yet I was out there moving in it at a very recreational pace, so there was this personal dissonance between what I was wearing and what I was doing, and the feeling I wanted to achieve through what I was doing, that That I couldn't reconcile. And so on one of those recreationally paced runs, it dawned on me that there was an opportunity to kind of reframe activity for, for folks that weren't pursuing it to be the fastest.

AI assessment note: “there was this personal dissonance between what I was wearing and what I was doing”

Q And the Man Repeller, this is a blog, like, just for people who don't know it, it's like a, it's like kind of a quirky fashion blog, right?

A Yep, and I essentially wanted to take Leandra and work with her to create a customized kit, so same top and bottom, but influenced by her personality, and so launched the Man Repeller kit. The kit came with a bag that had on the outside printed in it for the smoothie, and had like a little popsicle keychain, um, and like a vintage Jump rope. And I thought she was so perfect to, as our first kind of collaborative partner to, to really bring kind of the humor and the fun to the activewear space in, and be a really good illustration of, of kind of what we meant by activity for the fun of it. And pretty quickly after that launched, got a post in from Lena Dunham in this kit, the, the man repeller kit. And she had been running for the first time on the set of Girls, something for the episode. And on Instagram, she had a caption that said, I've never been a runner, but I'm, I'm learning to run for the first time. And this kit makes me feel powerful, swift, and strong.

AI assessment note: “Yep, and I essentially wanted to take Leandra and work with her”

Q Wait, would you just, would you, like, use contacts from From Parsons, or would you just, would you call and say, hey, I'm a graduate of Parsons, and I want to meet, or would you just ring the doorbells and show up?

A Guy, I did it all. I, I would call, I would show up, I would find myself in factories that were definitely not willing to work with me. Um, most were like, this isn't what we do, can't help you, but there was one factory called Sunshine, and It was run by these two Asian women who were lovely, and for whatever reason, said yes to making the patterns for me. And they had warned me that they hadn't worked with this type of material before, but I said, hey, let's try, let's get a pattern started, I, I want to see what comes back. And, and so after many no's we don't make this type of product, I got a yes from these two women at Sunshine, Sunshine Production.

AI assessment note: “Guy, I did it all. I, I would call, I would show up”

Q And that's like, wow, Girls is like one of the hottest shows on TV. She's a massive celebrity. She was, I guess, read this blog, or she was like a reader of the blog, and that's how she, she got the kit?

A Yeah, she was a fan of Leandra and Man Repeller, and, um, got the kit, and it, and wore it for that episode of, of Girls, and, and posted about her experience of running for the first time. That was a really meaningful first moment, in the sense that Lena wasn't the first person you think of as, you know, someone that an activewear brand is going to partner with. Um, and this was at the time where the athlete was Such a kind of one note look. They were like sinewy with muscles, etc. And Lena comes blasting into, into our world wearing the kit with curves and never having run. And it was a perfect example of what we meant by this daily exercise or this positioning that we knew there was really opportunity to build the next great brand around.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, she was a fan of Leandra and Man Repeller, and, um, got the kit”

Q Do you remember, like, the first time you went back to your dorm, wherever you were living, and you started to sketch out what they could look like?

A Yeah, it was right out of school, so I think in 2012, which was when I started to put pen to paper, um, and it's funny looking back because the crop top and the two-tone legging, which are some of our best sellers today, are the first two things I sketched. Um, I had no idea how to make them because I, I had not gone to Parsons for fashion design by any means, but a lot of the greatness of going to a school like Parsons was You were able to visualize your ideas, and so I was very comfortable in a sketchbook. Um, I started sketching out this outfit, this idea of a single outfit for activity that was made of technical materials that were comfortable to move in, but didn't have the connotations of competitive athlete.

AI assessment note: “the crop top and the two-tone legging... are the first two things I sketched.”

Q Alright, so you, so you, um, bring your sketches again to this place in Almonte, and they agree to make you a few prototypes again?

A Yeah, so I still have the paper patterns that were made by the women at Sunshine Factory in New York. I bring the samples that I had run in that had popped seams and said, hey, help me understand what's wrong here. And Jennifer was her name at the Almonte factory, and she looks at it and says, ah, you need flatlock seaming. This is easy. Um, and, and so flatlock seaming was essentially what was going to allow us to sew the leggings and crop tops so that when you move the, the seams have enough give that they don't pop and break. And so I, I spent a lot of time going back and forth to this Almonte factory so that I could go back to New York With the right stitching, and enough product to start to get on friends and family.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, so I still have the paper patterns that were made by the women”

Q for Neiman Marcus of Spanx, and it's actually not so simple, because when you're working with a big company like Neiman Marcus, or in your case, J.Crew, There's all these things you have to, documents you have to fill, and there's specific requirements that you have to meet, and, and, right, it's a very complex process. You don't just put stuff in a box and ship it to J.Crew, right?

A Right, yeah, from the way it needs to be tagged, there's a whole system and, and kind of way of doing things, so worked very closely with Tracy at J.Crew to really understand what, what was needed, um, and I forgot to mention this, but I knew I needed to be in LA, because I wasn't going to run the risk of production going off the tracks, so I rented out my, um, apartment in New York, um, or my room, my bunk room, Found a couch to rent in Venice, and ended up living with these lovely folks that I found on Craigslist, and would drive every single day from Venice to El Monte, and Venice to El Monte, making sure that every one of these 11,000 units was going to be in perfect tip-top shape when they got to J.Crew.

AI assessment note: “Right, yeah, from the way it needs to be tagged, there's a whole system”

Q Was that, I mean, is that what you were thinking?

A I wasn't thinking average Joe's, I was, I was really more so thinking the opposite of the competitive athlete. So, there's the Steph Curry's of the world where Winning is everything, and like, there's the me's of the world, and, and likely a lot more me's of the world that were just needing to find motivation to be active on a daily basis, because it was good for me, made me a happier, healthier person. And that's kind of what I, I started to piece together on these runs. I, I started to realize that this pressure that surrounded being athletic was not what Would drive people to be active on a daily basis, and so I started to think through creating a company or an experience where it was really rooted in, in play.

AI assessment note: “I wasn't thinking average Joe's, I was, I was really more so thinking”

Q And what, what was the breakthrough? How did you finally get somebody to say, yeah, I'll give you some money.

A Yeah, I started to realize that going into these offices with, um, mostly males and having conversations with them was not going to get me there, so ahead of going into a number of these meetings, I would start sending product to the women in the offices and the wives of some of these investors. It, it did happen to be only male investors, so I started to find that by getting product, getting the product, the kit onto the women in the offices and the wives, I started to Get people that were willing to spend more time and hear me out and understand, ah, wait, this could be something. This, I, I'm starting to picture this. This could be something real. I started to get more time with folks.

AI assessment note: “I would start sending product to the women in the offices and the wives”

Q Alright, how long did it take for that, for those prototypes to, to be made?

A When I first went to Sunshine, I had the product, I had the designs, I asked them to make the patterns, they came back, and the leggings almost had three legs in them, it was, something had been lost in translation, and, um, by no means did it look like what I thought it would come back looking like, so it took probably two to three weeks to really sit there Up at the, at the factory with them and understand what pattern making was and, and really kind of translate for them what I wanted in, in what seemed like a pretty simple, straightforward running legging and crop top. But two to three weeks later, I got my initial prototypes.

AI assessment note: “two to three weeks later, I got my initial prototypes.”

Q You know, when I think about your story, you can read it one way, like it was just You were determined, and you went from success to success to success, and here you are. But I wonder, like, what, was there a dark moment? Was there a moment on this journey, starting After Voices, where you had serious doubts, or you felt really bad about, about anything?

A I think every day, you, you kind of, ah, run the gamut of emotions. Based on kind of what's happening with the business and with the team, etc. And something that I've been really kind of vocal about with Outdoor Voices, and I think resonates personally, is we're not up against the Nikes or Under Armors of the world. As a company, we're up against people's negative perceptions of themselves. And I think the, the most difficult thing about being a CEO for the first time, sometimes you wake up and you're You know, there's negative perception of your ability to get done and to, to really know what's right go forward. And so I've really focused, um, kind of through this experience on surrounding myself with the right people to help continue to, to drive the confidence in, in my ability to do this and to grow the company and surround myself with smarter and smarter people that, that really make this a strong, strong team for the long run.

AI assessment note: “I think every day, you, you kind of, ah, run the gamut of emotions.”