WEBVTT - While you were Away: DTC Playbook 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.760 I'm off my game today. No, you're not. People are 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:05.600 going to have to start making better content. I think 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:07.160 we're gonna be talking about this for a long time. 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:10.200 When you program for everyone, you program for no one. 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:12.280 I think it's a word purpose driven platform. Like we're 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.640 trying to get to substance. How was that? Are you 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:19.160 happy with that? This is marketing therapy right now? And 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:26.400 it really is? What's up? I'm Laura Currency and I'm 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:32.000 Alexa Kristen. Welcome back to Atlantia. We're going away. Yeah, 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.600 we're traveling. We're traveling with Rubio, very high style but 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.440 also accessible. I'm just gonna say accessible. What's going on today? 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.880 So we have Jen Rubio, co founder of a Way 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:48.080 Luggage in parentheses. We talked to her about the parentheses 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.440 because they are going to become I think, much much 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:53.440 more than just luggage. UM in a studio with us 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.520 today in between flights and a badass away bag. Yeah, 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:00.800 that Camo Green is awesome. New products coming out. It 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.160 looks like UM. But it's been interesting. We've been obsessing 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:08.039 over the DTC landscape for quite some time now, having 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:10.440 a lot of fun watching sort of the cohort of 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.080 founders that exist there, trading notes, comparing best practices, and 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.600 actually executing on them. I think one of the things 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:18.759 that I love the Gen talks about in this interview 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:21.360 that is important I think for marketers to think about 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:25.640 is how not just brands, but their leadership is living 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:27.560 out the brand. I r L and I think it'll 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:31.080 be interesting to hear how she thinks about marketing, communications 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.160 and as much as collaborations and how all of those 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.679 things have to reflect the platform before products. Yeah, and 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:38.640 she has like five titles. We were joking around with her, 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.920 but she is also the chief brand officer, and in 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:43.800 in the beginning like talking to her about like what 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:45.680 does that really mean? And I think, you know, there 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:47.720 are a lot of people who are talking about how 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.800 brand is more important and kind of takes a different 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.840 life in DTC, and I think DTC brands are going 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:59.200 to teach the world of marketing, um really how to 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.760 bring brand back and make it meaningful. They are mad 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.160 woke marketers. You're into the woke. Yeah, it's like a thing, right, 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:08.960 So now we woke with Jen Rubio. We'll be right back. 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:21.120 So welcome back. We're in the studio with the most 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:27.280 fabulous woman in all of travel and more. Probably Yeah. Yeah, 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:29.880 Roland Deep with her luggage here at the studio in 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.760 Brooklyn this morning. It's just the prop. There's nothing in it. 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.840 So Jen is the co founder and chief brand officer 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:41.040 and president of A Way. I'll tell you all of that. No, 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:43.400 we looked it up. I looked it up. Is that 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:45.680 what you go by? Do you go by chief brand officer? 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:49.280 What do you do? They say? A co founder? Yeah? Okay, 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.080 Like what's a chief brand officer? Well, so that's I wanted. 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.640 We wanted to get into that. That's like perfect. What 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.560 is the chief brand officer? I don't know. I literally 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:01.040 don't know, especially for like a DTC brand, Like, what 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.600 is the chief brand officer? Well, you know, brand is 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.919 our moat um. You know how many times I said 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:11.440 that when we were seed fundraising and how many vcs 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:14.840 were like, I don't think so that's hilarious. Yeah, I 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.560 think you know what it's Uh, there's been a lot 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:21.680 of talk lately about about new DTC companies like post Away, 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.040 because I feel like we're phased to phase one. Was 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:27.799 like the warby Parker, like Cobos and like Casper towards 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:30.200 the end of that and then came like our wave 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.720 like Away Glossier, and now there's this new wave, and 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:37.200 I feel like there's a lot of vcs who are like, oh, 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.360 brand is a moat DTC and they just start funding them. 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:43.760 But I start seeing these decks like come my Way, 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.680 and I'm like, but this this isn't a brand. That's 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:48.640 the same deck that we just saw. You actually had 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:50.960 an awesome comment the other day on your I was 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.080 looking at your Twitter and someone said something about, you know, 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:59.080 vcs or over funding DTC brands, and you said, yes, 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.840 brand is start to become like in the minds of vcs, 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.000 like people are thinking about it as just a deck 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.800 and a logo and that is absolutely wrong. Yeah, And 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.560 I mean I actually our seed deck was real bad. 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.360 I like made it empower point, like put a bunch 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.839 of bloggers on it and like a picture of the 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.480 globe and I'm not a designer, um, and I was like, 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:22.479 this is a travel brand. But I think you know, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.720 when we were talking about it to the people who 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.320 ended up investing so like Forerunner and Comcast and Excel, 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:31.680 They're like, Okay, we know we're gonna look past this deck. 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:34.159 And we started talking about what the brand would really 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:35.640 be in terms of like, how are we going to 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:37.839 partner with people, how's the product going to play into it, 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:39.520 how are we gonna how are we going to talk 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:41.560 about this in a way that that is really a 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.919 brand And I think what a lot of people do nowadays, 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.159 and more power to these agencies that do it is 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.760 we'll go to an agency who's like really amazing at 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.720 like at brand identity and brand architecture and like and 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.039 like and gives you like a really good like brand bible, 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.560 and they're like, this is it. But then it launches 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:03.160 like there was not really a community around it, and 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.520 everyone's like, oh, what happened? They had such a nice deck. 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.880 Having sat on the agency side for the last decade, 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:12.920 it's interesting to see the transition in terms of where 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.400 agencies are filling holes for certain brands and understanding the 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:20.599 value of community, ethos, purpose value, all of those things, 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:23.200 even before they land on what the purpose and the 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.640 value prop is for the product. A Way to Me 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:28.560 is one of those brands and where you've obviously created 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.719 an innovative suitcase, but at the heart of it sort 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.520 of the community that you've built around the democratization of 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:36.880 travel and kind of leaning into some of the things 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.159 that the next generation of people is looking for in 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.760 equipment to move from city to city. Can you talk 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.839 about what that looked like when you were developing the 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:48.560 brand in terms of where did you want to put 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:52.240 the emphasis on outward facing. I think we went into this. 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.039 I tell a story different every time because I'm actually 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.280 not sure what came first, like the product or the brand, 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.440 But I think we went to this thinking, if you're 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.280 going to buy utcase, there aren't a lot of great options. 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:04.320 You can spend like a thousand dollars on a bag 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.560 and it might be cool and all designed, but it's 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:08.120 not like when you spend like a thousand dollars on 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.080 a nice handbag. You're not like, oh I love this, 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.920 or you are spending less money, but you know it's 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.080 going to break. And you know, having come from Morby 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:18.719 Parker and um my co founder stuff was at Casper 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.200 at the time, we're like, Okay, maybe luggage is one 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:23.800 of those industries where we can do high quality product, 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.560 lower price point, cut out the middleman, all of that stuff. 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.080 But then I think as we were looking into it, 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:33.960 what really resonated with me more as the chief brand 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:39.440 officer um is that, like no one was talking about travel. 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:41.880 So you have all these incumbent brands that are like, 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.359 look at our ballistic nylon and look at these wheels 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:47.680 and look at the zippers, and this is something that 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.160 people take with them on every trip. People are super 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:51.920 annoying when they talk about travel. It's like all they 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.280 talk about. It's all they post pictures of. So how 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.760 come no one's talking about that? Yeah, and the art 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.520 of packing in the I mean there's so it's like 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:03.080 it's like to true like art and lifestyle. And I 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.000 think if it wasn't for that opportunity, I don't know 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.080 how far I personally would have gotten in this because 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:12.360 I'm not like super stoked about like, hey, here's like 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.640 a suitcase. And I love our product obviously, we like 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.920 we poured like everything into into designing it and making 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:23.000 it perfect. But if there wasn't a way to market 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:24.760 it or talk about it in the sense of a 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:26.920 larger brand, I don't know how far we got in 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:29.120 a Way suitcase. And I gave it to Laura and 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.760 all my friends. Yeah, and all my friends are obsessed 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.400 with their Way suitcase, all of them obsessed into the 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.800 actual physical product. Are they buying into the brand. Yes, 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.920 they're buying into the physical product. They love the brand. 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:48.280 The brand is so much a part of the physical products. 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:50.840 It's so and it's so intertwined. And I think the 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.280 way we've done it is that we went we went 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:56.120 so narrow on the product in the beginning, where it's 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.040 like we're not going to make ten suitcases for ten 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:01.640 different types of travel or whenever we're gonna make. We 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:03.880 literally went out saying this is the one perfect suitcase 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.560 for everyone. And now there's like a few different versions 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:08.480 based on what we've learned about our customers. But we 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.960 went so narrow on the product. We literally launched with 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:14.840 one products in one size and four colors. We're like, 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:17.800 we'll see um. But then we went so wide on 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:21.400 the brand. So from the beginning we couldn't get the 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:25.200 domain and we still don't have it. Um dot com 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.400 it's a way travel dot com, but we had like 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:29.400 Away Luggage dot comment is like this, we can't do 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.040 Away luggage dot com. It's like two narrow and we're 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.200 just thinking about it. We always talked about ourselves as 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.640 a travel brand, even though we had literally one bag, 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.760 and I think that's what made the brand feel so ingreened. 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:44.120 I was with someone the other day and it was 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.199 with a group of people and someone like hadn't heard 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:48.800 of a Way, which means you probably just haven't been 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.640 targeted on Instagram yet. But he was like, oh, maybe 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:54.360 I have in a Way suitcase and someone else in 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:56.120 the group was like, no, if you had one, you 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:00.480 would like you don't just like have one, and you're like, okay, um, 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:02.719 and then he was like, oh, yeah, well I did 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:07.440 research um luggage for weeks and uh, I was like 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:09.439 searching over the place. I had ton of reviews and 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.000 I ended up buying one and I was like, which 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:13.360 one did you get? And he was like I don't know. 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.600 And I'm like, how do you research something for three 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.120 weeks and you don't even know what brand you end 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:22.360 up buying thinking something? So I mean that's the kind 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.200 of stuff that we are. There's so much low hanging fruit, 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:28.040 like in the luggage industry. But then for us for 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.480 it to be like, you know, we don't have experience 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:32.400 in the luggage industry, we had to do a ton 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:34.320 of research and like partners a lot of experts to 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.240 make the product really good. But like what we're passionate 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.360 about is travel. I think that's what's allowed the company 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.120 and the team to to grow so quickly. The discovery 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.960 thing is interesting because the amount of times, like especially 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.839 as somebody coming in and I haven't been married yet, 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:50.840 so I had never had a shower where I was 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:56.000 gifted at luggage, sort of those preconceived notions of when 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.480 you're supposed to get your first set. We went full 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:01.720 fledged and to our corporate jobs, like all of us 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:03.920 sitting around the table, like on the road all the time. 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:06.640 The amount of pieces of luggage that I've gone through 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.240 over the course of my career is nuts, but it's interesting. 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.040 Like the discovery process was always like I was in 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.480 Home Goods or t J Max, or like my mother's like, 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:19.640 here's an extra carry on, or like my mom always 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.480 gives it to you. What is that the basement? And 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:27.120 my mother buys like a set and gives my husband 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:28.959 and I like the big one. She's like, now that 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.320 we've had a kid, She's like, but those are those 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.360 are all I feel like traditional ways of passing down 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.000 this thing that you needed when people didn't used to 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:38.880 travel at the capacity or right that I'm sure some 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.480 of us are and I think it's interesting just as 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:43.600 you're you're talking through it and like the discovery of 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.480 this guy and going through this research, you change the 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:52.280 way I think our generation thought about buying this thing, 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.480 and that they actually do think about it now. It's 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.040 not even people who just who travel a ton who 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.720 think about it. Because I was traveling when I worked 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:02.560 at All Saints. I was traveling to all of our 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.360 stores all over the world, like two hundred thousand miles 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:07.760 a year, and I still had I don't even know 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.080 what brand of luggage, Like, I just had it, like 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.960 my mom gave it to me, and it was likely 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:16.400 the last thing I thought about. And I think people 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:20.160 are now seeing it as part of They're like, I'm 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.240 literally carrying this thing with me around the world. It's 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.240 time to think about it. You're getting in you know, 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:28.000 what's the identity that you're you're moving like it is 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.120 an identity thing. Yeah, for sure. I mean like you 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:31.520 wouldn't buy car and be like, I don't know what 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:34.400 kind of car. I have research it for three weeks 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:40.600 and I'm not sure where I So you So you 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.439 were speaking at Social Media Week yesterday. You were key 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.079 noting a lot of tweets, and I think a lot 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:48.560 of people have been asking this question, like is a 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:54.480 way more than suitcases? And we know, yes, it definitely is. 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:56.760 But I would love for you to kind of talk 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:01.000 about where is a way going? And so is it 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:07.079 easier for a brand like Away DTC to actually quickly 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:11.400 move into other areas in an industry? So I think 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:15.160 we are uniquely positioned because I mean, travel is so broad, 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:17.600 it's so easy, and it's it's so fun, right. I 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.840 think there's a lot of things like you know, Casper 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.640 wants to be like a sleep brand. They're not a 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:25.880 mattress brand, wellness brand. Well, I mean, I'm starting to 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:29.840 get in. There's so many directions. But but inherently, like 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:36.880 people don't talk about sleep that much or um, so 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:39.640 there's like there's a whole movement around that. But travel 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.679 was such an easy thing to plug into. So I 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.200 do think that we can attribute a lot of like 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.240 the excitement around it to that and like travel on 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.000 Instagram and all these things that just like marry Airbnb, 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:55.000 I mean, the industry has thing for us again because 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.440 we went so wide with the brand and people were like, Okay, 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:00.559 here's like a cool travel brand. Oh, they only make 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:04.120 one thing, I'll buy it. Um. But I think through 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:06.560 a lot of the things we've done, like the marketing, 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:08.960 like the way we do social media, like the events 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:10.600 we do in our store, all of that stuff, people 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.360 are like, oh, this is inherently like a travel brand, 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:15.720 so it's not weird. When we um like what we 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:17.760 did last year we went to Paris Fashion we can 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:20.160 did a pop up hotel, people were like, oh, Away 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:23.600 is doing a hotel? Makes sense. If we did something 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:25.880 with an airline, people say that makes sense, I would 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:28.160 get on that plane. So I think. I think just 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.760 the way we talk about travel has allowed all of 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.520 those doors to kind of be open to us. And 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:35.439 when we do want to go into other things, like 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.760 when we did a magazine, um, and a lot of 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.560 people are doing so you do quarterly so just Casper 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.800 like a quarterly print magazine. But people are like, Okay, 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:46.160 there's a bunch of travel magazines out there. They don't 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:48.000 really appeal to me, but like, I like a way 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:49.880 as a brand, so I'm going to read what they 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:52.240 have to say. And the magazine has been doing really well. 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.280 There's like the ad revenue has been great, like it 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:57.440 reaches a really targeted group of because it goes in 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.040 every suitcase, so it reaches a really targeted group of 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.760 people that you know are about to travel so um. 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:04.880 And and the content is great because that's not our 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.320 main business. So we're like, let's just talk about whatever 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.079 we want. Yeah, let's talk about what we think is 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:14.520 cool and yeah in a way representing an idea. I 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.199 think it's really is really interesting that and you know, 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:22.680 broader than just luggage or product or. We have a 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:26.760 couple editors, they're from they're all from Conde. We have 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:31.040 a lot of our contributors amazing Bilze. No, actually we 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.400 didn't go to any of the travel magazines, but we 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:36.920 have just have like amazing writers who worked for other 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.640 big magazines but never get to talk about this stuff. 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.120 So um. So we're like a little retreat for them. 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.640 When we launched that, we were like, Okay, at its worst, 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.920 we have a really cool editorial site, and at its 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.120 best it could be its own business. But since that 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:54.720 was not the goal from the beginning, we could focus 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:56.720 on the content that we wanted to put out. And 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.040 I think that's the same thing, Like, it's really good 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.040 if we if we look at ways of travel brand, 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:05.680 But our core monetization strategy is selling luggage. It's really 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:08.000 a platform to do so many other things, so we 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.160 can you know, we're not going to go buy a 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.440 ton of real estate and open a bunch of hotels, 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:14.760 but like, what do we know about the experience in 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:16.640 the brand and what people want to do that that 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:18.640 could make a really great hotel experience and who do 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:21.000 we partner with to do that? And because people love 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.440 the brand, it's not it's not weird for them to 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:25.760 stay there. Like who doesn't have If you don't have 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.560 wonder Less, you're missing a chip right in my opinion, 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.560 right exactly. And I think everyone has their own way 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.920 of traveling, which we recognize. We haven't been like we're 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.600 for business travelers or were for like super luxury traveling. 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:40.400 We just we know everyone I know, like even one 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.800 person has a few different ways of traveling, you know, 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:44.840 like how I travel when I go to see my 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.520 boyfriend versus like when I'm traveling for work. It's it's 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:49.920 like it's totally different, totally different. Yeah, I was going 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.000 to say earlier, and you both hit on it. This 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.200 idea that what you built and what I think a 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.280 lot of your cohort in the DCC space you talked 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:01.640 about Glossier and Casper in this whole family of brands, 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.360 is that you all are creating platforms before you're thinking 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.520 about product. Product just happens to be one tenant of 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.280 this larger platform. So it's giving you the space to 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:12.360 kind of go in and say content stands up next, 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:14.920 or you know, who knows you might move into a 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.280 completely different line of things within that category, Which is 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:21.880 what we're getting to. How much is your community informing that? Right? 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.360 So you know we've seen you know, messaging that you've 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.320 put out where like the pink suitcases backed by popular demand. 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.560 You went and partnered with Carl Kloss to create this 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.960 partnership around you know, her initiative with code with Class. 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:37.160 How much is a community informing what those pillars become 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:39.920 and how are you evolving the product as a result. 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.840 I mean, they they're informing everything. So I think we 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.560 kind of It was really hard for me the beginning. 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:48.640 It was like a big not at all. I was like, no, 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:51.720 this is what they want and it was actually like 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:53.920 such a blessing. My co founder it was in business 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:57.000 school and she was really into focus groups and research 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.080 and surveys um, and then we get there's all and 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.280 I like, huh, that's weird, um, But they do. They 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.399 do inform everything because I really think, you know, I 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:10.160 think when people think DTC, they're like, Okay, the advantage 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:12.560 is in you're cutting out the wholesale markup and it's 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.600 like the product price advantage and you're getting the data. Yeah. 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.199 The real advantage that people don't think about is like 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.320 that feedback loop. So so if we sold our luggage 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:25.080 and department stores, we would just get a report like monthly, quarterly, whatever, 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:27.880 saying here's what sold, here's what didn't sell. You're getting 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:31.959 it back. Here's the return rate if that, and you 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.600 have no idea why anytime someone returns or exchanges a suitcase, 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.000 we know exactly why, Like there are things we can 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.280 work on. How would we have known that, you know, 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.639 maybe the straps inside the bag could have been like 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.119 an inch longer, but people tell us that. And I 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.479 think also because we started putting it into practice really early, 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.080 people see things like okay, we did a limit edition 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:54.840 of the paint. They wanted it, so we made it. 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:57.040 So now people are like, oh, they listen, so they 0:17:57.040 --> 0:17:59.919 give us even more So it just we just have 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:02.879 I think the problem that we have, which is a 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:05.320 great problem to have, is like there's so much feedback 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.159 to go through and there's so much data to analyze, 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.840 and how do you make sure that Okay, if you 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.040 have like two cohorts of customers who want different things, 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:14.359 like how do you do it? So now we're in 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.760 that phase of of how to listen. But I think 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.159 because from the beginning, we've always listened to people, and 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:22.440 that's how we designed the product. Like when we're like, Okay, 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:24.440 if we're gonna make one bad, we can't screw this up. 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:28.720 So we interviewed hundreds of people about like the weirdest things, 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:31.639 like we would like watch people pack because people are 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.280 really bad at describing that. Um. But that's how we 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:38.040 designed our first product, and so that's like inherently been 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.880 part of of our model. Like listen. I think it's 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:44.200 it's it's cool to be like a director consumer entrepreneur 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:46.720 right now. And I think that people who are going 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:48.880 into it being like Okay, I'm going to start a 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:53.160 warby Parker for whatever, they don't think about the feedback loop. 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:54.919 They don't think about all of the other things that 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.760 actually are what makes a director consumer brand because you're 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:00.760 You're like, you don't become a director because brand, because 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:04.359 like distribution is easy. There were so many opportunities in 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:06.800 the beginning and still now we're like, if we turn 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:08.840 this on, or if we partner with this, or if 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.919 we just sell whole sales with this partner, and they're like, 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:16.720 they're good partners. That's an easy million dollars on top. 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:19.160 But but you have to have a long term view 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.840 of like your customer relationship and your community and all 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:24.040 of that stuff. And I think I think a lot 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.960 of people right now are starting brands and then they 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.800 get approached by you know, like a traditional retailer, like 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.560 a big name department store, and it's like very easy 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:36.400 to want to say yes to that, but you don't 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.120 think about what you're giving up in the long term. 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:40.879 That's the most surprising feedback you've gotten in your loops. 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:46.240 Oh god, Uh. What's been surprising is how particular people 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.680 are in giving their feedback. And I'm like, um, I'm 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:51.840