Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. The Next Guest,
Speaker 1: Our next guest maker of the types of clothes we've
Speaker 1: all been living in over the past year, and to
Speaker 1: be told active where a flee's You're ware it has
Speaker 1: really become a staple in many of our closets, not
Speaker 1: just in the past year, but really over the past
Speaker 1: few years. Joe Coula knows all about that. He's founder
Speaker 1: and CEO at Viori, and he joins us on the
Speaker 1: phone from California. Joe, how are you. I'm doing great, Carol,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for having me. Well, it's nice
Speaker 1: to have you here. Tell us about the past year
Speaker 1: for you and what it's like. Take us back to
Speaker 1: March of and what was kind of going on in
Speaker 1: your world. Well, it's been a roller coaster. I will
Speaker 1: never forget. March thirteenth, We've gathered our leadership team together
Speaker 1: and we decided we needed to close our stores. We
Speaker 1: had five retail stores at the time. Um we were
Speaker 1: getting calls from a lot of our wholesale partners saying
Speaker 1: hold shipments, don't send us any any more inventory. And
Speaker 1: by the way, we don't think we can pay our bills.
Speaker 1: And so it was a rough time. You know. We
Speaker 1: made some tough decisions. You know, at the time, we
Speaker 1: decided to keep all of our we had over fifty
Speaker 1: retail employees. We decided to keep them fully employed with
Speaker 1: the company and reinvest in training. UM. But I was
Speaker 1: so proud with how our team came together in that
Speaker 1: time and we got really creative and we thought about
Speaker 1: how can we make this business better during this momentary pause.
Speaker 1: And what we found out was that there was a
Speaker 1: big gravitation towards comfortable clothing and we we were very
Speaker 1: fortunate to benefit from that. UM. So it was it
Speaker 1: was a bit of a roller coaster at the beginning,
Speaker 1: a lot of worry, a lot of doubt about what
Speaker 1: was going to happen. And then we we learned quickly
Speaker 1: that our customer was coming to us. They trusted us
Speaker 1: for delivering really comfortable clothes during a pretty tough and
Speaker 1: traumatic time. I'm guilty for those comfortable clothes. Working from
Speaker 1: home for I don't know eight months. For me, are
Speaker 1: so a lot of yoga ware and the like. UM.
Speaker 1: Tell me about some of the metrics. I had read
Speaker 1: somewhere that you guys nearly tripled your revenue last year.
Speaker 1: Is that right? Or give some idea of the metrics
Speaker 1: you saw. Yeah, we did. We We came in in
Speaker 1: the year to UM with a plan to double the business,
Speaker 1: and before we were really close to writing it to zero,
Speaker 1: as were a lot of folks, you know, in that
Speaker 1: early March timeframe, but we learned that there was again
Speaker 1: that big gravitation towards our our category, and we ended
Speaker 1: up tripling our business, with a large majority of that
Speaker 1: being direct to consumer. And so hats off to our team,
Speaker 1: Hats off to our supply chain for being able to
Speaker 1: react so quickly to meet the demand. What was your
Speaker 1: supply chain like, because that's something that we've had a
Speaker 1: lot of conversations about over the past year, where we
Speaker 1: know when it came to certainly some of those essentials, UM,
Speaker 1: it was difficult. But what was your supply chain like
Speaker 1: during the pandemic. Well, we're fortunate to have great partners,
Speaker 1: so I'll first say that, but it was challenged, you know. UM.
Speaker 1: You know, one day we called our factory partners and
Speaker 1: we said, look, guys, we need to hold UM all
Speaker 1: new production until we get a better picture of what
Speaker 1: was going to happen. And literally two weeks later we
Speaker 1: called them and after them, the triple the volume of production.
Speaker 1: And so you know, we were working with everybody from
Speaker 1: our textile mills all the way through to our cut
Speaker 1: and sow factories to manage capacity and kind of an
Speaker 1: ever changing environment. You know, one minute we thought we
Speaker 1: were on one trajectory, and then the next minute we
Speaker 1: would get more data, putting more demand and pressure on
Speaker 1: supply chain. But we were able to rise to the occasion.
Speaker 1: And I think part of that was because we had
Speaker 1: adopted nimble UM supply chain models that UM we're where
Speaker 1: we where we partner with some of our vendors to
Speaker 1: manage inventory and to meet that that kind of fluctuation
Speaker 1: in demand. Hey listen, good about forty five seconds and
Speaker 1: I've got to do a little bit of news and
Speaker 1: we'll come back. But how I just want to just
Speaker 1: quickly get your thoughts and we continue with this. But
Speaker 1: this idea that you guys, you know, you you launched
Speaker 1: as a men's brand, then you focused on women. You know,
Speaker 1: you launch our first women's collection. How productive fruitful was
Speaker 1: that pivot? Ultimately for you guys during the pandemic, it
Speaker 1: just turned out to be. It turned out to be
Speaker 1: fantas like women today represents almost half of our business. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's a quick ramp up, very quick ramp up. You know,
Speaker 1: we're famous for soft fabrics, and women kept wearing our
Speaker 1: men's clothing and asking us to do something meaningful for them,
Speaker 1: and it was only natural that we enter the women's market.
Speaker 1: So Joe, a friend of mine, when I saw that
Speaker 1: we were having you onto, like, really cool guest. I
Speaker 1: hear their joggers are the best. Tell me what's going
Speaker 1: on with jogger sales because this has been a big
Speaker 1: momentum play for you guys. Jogger has been an incredible
Speaker 1: product across all channels and distribution. But yeah, we've become
Speaker 1: famous for the jogger, and I think it's a combination
Speaker 1: of great fit and comfort. Comfort being king this past year, Um,
Speaker 1: we have a famous fabric called the dream Knit, our
Speaker 1: dream knit textile. It's a technical fabric. It's brushed very
Speaker 1: uniquely to give it this incredibly soft hand and once
Speaker 1: you put them on, you have a hard time taking
Speaker 1: them off. So where do you go with all of this?
Speaker 1: And I think about I've been doing yoga for twenty
Speaker 1: years and yoga clothes have gone from you know, ty
Speaker 1: tyed yoga pants too. They actually look pretty nice with
Speaker 1: the jacket, And it's pretty amazing how like this stuff
Speaker 1: has evolved and has infiltrated kind of our regular wardrobe.
Speaker 1: How do you continue to see the evolution of your
Speaker 1: brand and the type of offerings that you put out there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great question, you know. I really feel that
Speaker 1: part of the reason Vieory has been successful as we've
Speaker 1: intentionally tried to blur the lines between fitness clothing and
Speaker 1: everyday life clothing. And I really feel that the term
Speaker 1: at leisure is just going to evolve into clothing. I
Speaker 1: think some of the best sportswear everyday clothing, whether you're
Speaker 1: wearing it around the house, or you're traveling, or you're
Speaker 1: going to the office. I think a lot of that
Speaker 1: product is being made and conceived today by activewear brand.
Speaker 1: And I think that a lot of our offering, you know,
Speaker 1: is extending beyond product you're just going to take to
Speaker 1: the gym, but it's product that you know you're traveling,
Speaker 1: you'll wear to the office. It's it's closed, you'll you'll
Speaker 1: go hike and be active outdoors in and it's just
Speaker 1: transitioning into you know, clothing. It's the it's the new
Speaker 1: definition of clothing because it's more comfortable, it moves with
Speaker 1: your body and it just functions better. How are you
Speaker 1: and you guys write about sustainability on your website. That's
Speaker 1: a big deal and we have been increasingly, certainly on
Speaker 1: our program here, looking at the fashion industry and the
Speaker 1: use of water and you know what it does to
Speaker 1: our environment. You guys are focusing on recycled and also
Speaker 1: organic materials. You're committed to sustainability in terms of your
Speaker 1: materials by two. It's a big part of your ethos.
Speaker 1: Does it cost more? Tell me about getting there, because
Speaker 1: we are increasingly seeing more and more companies doing it.
Speaker 1: Is it hard to do it? Is it costlier? Tell
Speaker 1: me about that. Yeah, it costs money, so it requires investment. Um,
Speaker 1: but we believe that's it's a great r o I.
Speaker 1: But but that's not the reason for doing it. We
Speaker 1: did it because the natural world was what inspired the
Speaker 1: brand and we want to make sure we're doing everything
Speaker 1: we can to protect it. And so if you you
Speaker 1: mentioned recycled and organic materials by two were on path
Speaker 1: to meet that UM that goal, but we also invested
Speaker 1: in a lot of different green initiatives to offset of
Speaker 1: our carbon footprint for the past two years. UM and yeah,
Speaker 1: those those that requires dollars to do that. We're also
Speaker 1: investing in going plastic neutral, so UM we calculate all
Speaker 1: the plastic that we put into the environment and we
Speaker 1: take equal if not more plastic out of the ocean.
Speaker 1: So all of these require effort and require energy. It
Speaker 1: required dollars, but we believe it's the right thing to do.
Speaker 1: And you know, building a brand in alignment with a
Speaker 1: value system is really important to us, and I think
Speaker 1: it's really important to our customers as well. And where
Speaker 1: do you mostly manufacture there? We work with a supply
Speaker 1: chain that's that's global at this point, Asia, Cambodia, Vietnam,
Speaker 1: Sri Lanka, So we're we're diversified globally well. And it's
Speaker 1: interesting and I do wonder too about UM that's certainly
Speaker 1: part of the E s G kind of framework that
Speaker 1: we are increasingly looking at when it comes to companies
Speaker 1: and certainly investments. UM, are you gearing towards places where
Speaker 1: workers are treated more equitably and and get a fair wage.
Speaker 1: We have a whole sourcing team UM that spends a
Speaker 1: lot of time on our code of conduct UM and
Speaker 1: and being very clear with the value system that we
Speaker 1: expect our factories to operate within. And it's exciting because
Speaker 1: the more brands that are taking this next step in
Speaker 1: terms of E s G, the more the supply chain
Speaker 1: is being responsive, because the best factories in the world
Speaker 1: want to work with the best brand. If the best
Speaker 1: brands are caring about this stuff, then they are as well.
Speaker 1: And so the more more energy, the more we vote
Speaker 1: with our dollars, the more the factories pay attention UM
Speaker 1: and so we're not only demanding it, but we're also
Speaker 1: seeing some of the best factories coming to us with
Speaker 1: really cool new programs UM and that's really aspiring to see. Yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely interesting to hear and it is inspiring. Hey, one
Speaker 1: thing I want to ask you, after a year of
Speaker 1: many of us being kind of casual, I'm still wearing.
Speaker 1: Also some genes at work I do change for what
Speaker 1: I have to be on air. But U, there is
Speaker 1: a thing we talked about revenge buying where everybody can't
Speaker 1: wait to spend money, but there is also something like
Speaker 1: sweatpant fatigue that you guys are noticing. How is that
Speaker 1: shifting maybe some of the things that you want to
Speaker 1: put up in terms of product offerings in the next
Speaker 1: few months, especially the world reopens. Yeah, it's a great point.
Speaker 1: I mean we are already seeing our product UM focus evolved.
Speaker 1: UM sweatpants are still growing for us as a category,
Speaker 1: but it's contribution to the overall businesses shrinking. So we're
Speaker 1: seeing people move into athletic shorts, you know, our technical
Speaker 1: sports where for traveling products that you can wear on
Speaker 1: the golf course or to the office. They're trending really
Speaker 1: strong right now, and we don't see that slowing down.
Speaker 1: But I don't think in general the movement towards healthy
Speaker 1: active living is going anywhere. And I believe that the
Speaker 1: clothing that we make UM is very much a lined
Speaker 1: and supports that lifestyle. And so while the products that
Speaker 1: we buy might evolve a little bit out of say
Speaker 1: kind of sweat pants for lying on the couch, UM
Speaker 1: into other forms of active where I think in general,
Speaker 1: people are still looking for comfort, versatility, UM and performance. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think people are whittling down
Speaker 1: to and and really want kind of a wardrobe that
Speaker 1: just makes sense with kind of who they are and
Speaker 1: and their work. All right, So what's next? Just got
Speaker 1: about forty five seconds. Are you guys going to stay private?
Speaker 1: Do you want to go public? There's a lot of
Speaker 1: money out there their SPACs. Is that part of the
Speaker 1: timetable at all in the next year or so? Just quickly?
Speaker 1: You know, we're paying attention, we're getting we're getting educated
Speaker 1: on the public market. But you know, we have not
Speaker 1: made any kind of UM statement, intor or initiative to
Speaker 1: move in that direction at this point. We're so focused
Speaker 1: on growing the business. The business is going to double
Speaker 1: again this year. We're getting to a pretty sizable scale.
Speaker 1: We have four hundred and fifty employees UM and so
Speaker 1: we have our work cut out with for us building
Speaker 1: kind of a seck end engine that can support the front.
Speaker 1: And we're very excited about what we're doing with our
Speaker 1: product pipeline. We're going to be expanding nationally with our
Speaker 1: ory retail stores UM and continue to invest in sustainability.
Speaker 1: So we have our work cut out for us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it sounds like, hey, listen, do come back, because I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear how things progress throughout one great to
Speaker 1: check in with Joekla. He is the founder and CEO
Speaker 1: at Vory, joining us on the phone from California.