Dynamic Life Cycles
Inside akta MTB with Travis Bilton
Join us for an engaging conversation with Travis from akta MTB, a trailblazing mountain bike clothing company based in Vancouver. Travis shares his remarkable journey from working as a bicycle mechanic and shop employee to launching his first company, Lavan. Through his experiences with big names like Race Face and YT Industries, and the highs and lows that came with them, Travis provides an authentic glimpse into the bicycle industry, the pivotal moments that shaped his career, and what drove him to create akta MTB.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at how akta MTB came to be and the strategic decisions that have fueled its growth. Learn about the motivation behind Travis's departure from Race Face and the collaborative efforts that went into designing and developing a complete product line. Discover how the brand name "Akta" was conceived and the importance of leveraging relationships with co-founders and athlete partners to build a strong, impactful presence in the market.
This episode is packed with valuable insights and lessons for anyone passionate about mountain biking or starting their own business.
To get in contact with Travis and his team reach out via their website and Instagram
Thank you for listening
- Get in touch via my Instagram
- Hosted and Produced by Jarrad Connolly
Join us for an engaging conversation with Travis from akta MTB, a trailblazing mountain bike clothing company based in Vancouver. Travis shares his remarkable journey from working as a bicycle mechanic and shop employee to launching his first company, Lavan. Through his experiences with big names like Race Face and YT Industries, and the highs and lows that came with them, Travis provides an authentic glimpse into the bicycle industry, the pivotal moments that shaped his career, and what drove him to create akta MTB.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at how akta MTB came to be and the strategic decisions that have fueled its growth. Learn about the motivation behind Travis's departure from Race Face and the collaborative efforts that went into designing and developing a complete product line. Discover how the brand name "Akta" was conceived and the importance of leveraging relationships with co-founders and athlete partners to build a strong, impactful presence in the market.
This episode is packed with valuable insights and lessons for anyone passionate about mountain biking or starting their own business.
To get in contact with Travis and his team reach out via their website and Instagram
Thank you for listening
- Get in touch via my Instagram
- Hosted and Produced by Jarrad Connolly
All right, welcome back to the Dynamic Life Cycles podcast. This week we have Travis from Akta, which is a small mountain bike clothing company out of Vancouver. Come on, have a chat about what he's been doing, how he started, where he started, things like that. He's been around for about two years, worked in a bunch of different brands some pretty big giants, to be honest, of of the cycling industry within the clothing brands and also bike brands, things like that. Um, he was able to get out, do it on his own, um, as I say, he started around uh, 2022 and uh, and has built a pretty big company out of it with only sort of two and a half people and then a bunch of different people with some sweat equity in there. But, yeah, as I say, it's a very interesting story.
Jarrad:I also want to reach out and just say thank you to everybody that jumped online, sent me messages after the first episode that was released last week. It was really awesome. Thank you for that. It's quite scary to to do this, um, jump out and do it without any sort of company in front of you or brand name in front of you. So, yeah, cheers for cheers for reaching out. That made my made the week much nicer after we released that uh.
Jarrad:Lastly, unfortunately we did have some camera issues this time. Uh, there was the camera overheated, uh, but I'll be able to fix that next time. I know what happened. We just sort of overcharged the camera with that, um. So, yeah, sorry about that if you're going to watch it on youtube, but you may hear us talk about a little bit in the uh, in the audio recording, with that side of things, and, as always, don't be scared to jump on like subscribe, download it, share it around with all your friends. Um, it's going to make a big difference in the future for myself having having some better numbers and things like that, um. So, yeah, if you get on and do that, that would be awesome. And if you have any, any guests that you would love to hear from and and go from there, I'm more than happy to try and reach out to them and see if they can come on and and see if they're around, um. But, yeah, it would be awesome to to hear from everybody out there that's listening. So, cheers, enjoy your listen.
Jarrad:All right.
Jarrad:Travis, how are you? Yeah, pretty good, thanks, nice, nice, pretty good weather out there today. You get out for a ride.
Travis:No ride today, unfortuna tely. Got to the gym this morning and then just work.
Jarrad:Yeah, so pretty standard day?
Travis:Yeah. What are you doing? To the gym this morning and then just work?
Jarrad:yeah pretty standard day. Yeah, what do you? What are you doing in the gym? Anything special or just just keeping?
Travis:fit, just a free-for-all. Yeah, nothing specific, just throwing weights exactly, yeah, fair, fair, um.
Jarrad:Yeah, so welcome. Um, that's yeah kind of a pretty cool sort of story you have, I guess, in the sense of building up to, to being who you are in in the industry and things like that. Um, do you want to give a bit of a background on on what you've done? And, like I know, you started way back in the industry bicycle or like a bicycle mechanic, I guess, and then from there, where did you go from there?
Travis:yeah. So I've been in the bike industry a long time. Um kind of started out as just like a shop grom and penticton. Um hung out at my local bike shop all the time and eventually, after high school, got a job there. Um, but even while before that I um started my first company, levan. I'm sure we'll get into more of that in a bit.
Travis:But I kind of ran that side while I was doing other jobs. Going to school. Racing is definitely a side thing for many, many years. That kind of grew into something a bit more substantial near the end, um, but yeah, a lot worked in lots of bike shops, um, after Levan, um, it's kind of good timing. I just finished my design degree and a position came up at Race Face. So, um, they actually interviewed me for the graphic design position and then, um, someone overheard the interview and I didn't get the job. But they're like well, why don't you talk to him about the clothing department?
Jarrad:Yeah.
Travis:So they called me back and they were like, would you be interested in joining Race Face? But if you do, you'd have to shut down your company. And I was like perfect, like tell me where to sign, because at at that stage I was over it. Like there's a bunch of bad business deals, lost a bunch of money, so it was the perfect time to step away from it. Worked there for a while and then went over to Germany, worked for YT. How was that Not great? Okay, yeah, yeah, definitely not what I expected. Um, just, you know, I think I was too excited from the outside seeing how cool of a company they look like. Yeah, just a lot of empty promises and very unorganized corporation. And I say corporation specifically because I, when I was there, it did not feel like a mountain bike company interesting um, so I stuck it out.
Travis:I thought, uh, I thought things were going decent, um, and I mean, it's a, it's a long story there, but anyways it was the first time I've been fired from a job.
Jarrad:Oh, interesting.
Travis:For doing probably the best work I've ever done. So, yeah, it was a wild time, but luckily I didn't burn any bridges with Fox and Race Face.
Jarrad:So, yeah, walked right back to my old job and spent a few more years there before deciding to go out on my own again. Nice, yeah, yeah, nice. And how was Race face to work with? Like, obviously being local company, like essentially started on the shore, was it not? Yeah?
Travis:I think it was before they moved out to burnaby. I think they've bounced around a bit, but when I was there they were always in burnaby. Yeah, um, when I started they were pretty fresh out of receivership, okay, so in a way, it felt like a startup. Um, the clothing department was just three of us, um kind of all hands on deck, and it was probably the perfect job for me. Um, coming out of school, yeah, um, cause I got to be involved in everything from like actually designing the product development and marketing as well. So, yeah, it's a really good time. Um, I think change things changed slightly when fox took over.
Jarrad:Like, we didn't see it immediately, but, um, the corporation side of things the, the shareholder, the profits, the yeah kind of lost its direction, I feel, um, but up until then, like it was a great company to work for and great people, yeah, yeah, really, really good crew of people there and then jumping back to levain, tell me a bit about that, because, like that's such a I feel like every school boy wants to have their own clothing brand that then eventually takes off and like that's their life. Like yeah, how, like? Where did that start? Like because, as I say, like even myself, I was like you start with like stickers or whatever, and then you go and step out from that, like where and how did you get that to take off?
Travis:or yeah, so my older cousin went to fashion design school, um so way back when we were like he's quite a few years older than me, so we were talking about starting like a skate snowboard type company, um, and that didn't really pan out so, but I was still like really wanting to do my own thing, so I kind of just went for it like I had no idea what I was doing. A very supportive mom who was just like, yeah, go for it.
Travis:You know let's get some shirts made and kind of just went from there very slow in the first many years, but just I think persistence and passion just kind of kept it going because I feel like the biggest stopping point, I guess, is yes, anybody can go order a shirt or whatever with a logo on it and anybody can really draw a logo.
Jarrad:Whether it's a good logo or not is another question. But getting it from that like receiving a hundred shirts in a box to then building on that, like what was the steps there? Like was it just like get out and grind the races and things like that, or yeah, pretty much like very grassroots.
Travis:Um, I mean, that was before the days of social media and stuff so like sometimes I look back and don't even really know how, how it all happened. Um, I think it was just such a slow growth and riding with friends mouth of work word of mouth uh, was a huge part of that. Okay, um hooking up friends with product meeting people at races, um kind of just grinding away like that just, yeah, just keep pushing it, yeah, in front of people.
Jarrad:Yeah, which is super funny because I had a conversation about brand. I kind of remember what brand it was is when I was when crankworks came around, maybe two years ago, and they're a european brand. And anyway, they, they come in and they're like, oh, like we don't see any of our products on the wall and I'm like, because you're not putting it in front of people, yeah, I'm like this is north america, like it needs to be big, loud out there, literally jammed in people's faces almost to do anything. And I was like, can you tell me one mountain biker that uses your stuff that's influential? And they came from the road world and they're like, oh no. And they're like, yeah, you're dominating the road world, you're all over Tour de France teams, but probably 15 years since I can remember a mountain biker that uses your product, right, so it's kind of interesting. Like, even at that grassroots level, it's the same, almost the same conversation a little bit, totally, yeah yeah, it's getting product out there, getting on bodies and, yeah, getting brand recognition.
Jarrad:Yeah, out and about yeah, so I guess moving forward a little bit into the world of attacker, sorry actor, I've I've been making that mistake since I saw your brand pop up. Like when was that? Like early 22, I guess?
Travis:so we launched oh man, I'm bad with dates. It's been. It'll be two years in the end this october.
Jarrad:Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, it's like and the the reason is there's an australian road cycling clothing brand oh, attacker, attacker and every time I look at it, I like I, I've never been clinically declared for this, but I always say I've got dyslexia. And then I look at it. I like I, I've never been clinically declared for this, but I always say I've got dyslexia. And then I look at it. I'm like oh, yeah, attacker. And I'm like no, no, it's actor.
Travis:Like yeah, yeah, so I've heard that before.
Jarrad:Yeah, I bet for sure um, yeah, but uh, yeah, you're good, that's, that's fine, that that sweet sound, everyone knows it, don't be, don't worry about that. Um, yeah, it's. It's like, I guess, going back to, where did the name come from, because it's sort of a unique name in that sense.
Travis:Yeah, um, kind of how do I even say it like it's uh, there's definitely inspiration from it for it. Um, I don't necessarily say that in our brand spiel. Um, I kind of just say it's a word we made up that will eventually take on its own meaning as the company grows. Yeah, Um, I think once people experience our product and get familiar with the brand, they'll just they'll know what Akta is.
Jarrad:Yeah, yeah, yeah, like. And when I did a podcast with 7mesh and a bunch of other brands, it's like they really put it out there what the meaning is behind the name and I couldn't find anything I'm like for such a unique name. It's like, as you say, it's pretty much a made up word by the sounds of it.
Travis:And that's kind of what I wanted. Wanted people to be like what's what is the? Story here. Get curious. I think curiosity is a.
Jarrad:It's a good driver, yeah for sure, um, and then obviously moving from race face and what you're doing there into your own company. What was sort of the motivation there?
Travis:like um, there's a lot of changes happening at Race Face. The clothing department had always kind of seemed like the ugly stepchild. Yeah, like we even were moved into a different office and like no one really knew what we're doing and budgets were getting cut and I had to like fight to basically keep my job and obviously all our team kind of had to fight to keep the department alive. Job, um, and obviously all our team kind of had to fight to keep the department alive and I think our department went from seven people to two people in about a month. So it just crumbled and I was like, okay, how long can I stick this out for? Like does not seem like they care or want to keep this department open.
Travis:Yeah, so I actually started interviewing with some other brands, um, had some good talks and almost went ahead with something, but, all in the all, at the same time I was talking to some other people about starting my own thing and putting feelers out. So, um, yeah, the timing kind of just it almost forced me. Yeah, because they're like oh, how do you feel about doing graphics for tailgate pads for your future?
Travis:I'm like no, like yeah, I'm not doing that yeah, yeah, you've got enough experience elsewhere to yeah, so yeah then, uh, kind of, yeah, good timing and made it easier for me to make that decision yeah, yeah yeah, and, funny enough, one of the names that was in the running that we didn't go ahead with, obviously um was notice as in like as in you're handing in your notice.
Jarrad:Yeah, so that would have been funny. Yeah, um, so, yeah. So, like, what was, I guess, the first thing that you started to work with there? Like, obviously, obviously coming over starting the new brand? You've, from what I understand, you almost released a full kit, aside from shoes and helmet, but that's a whole nother ball game, from what I understand, is like, was there a reasoning behind that to just come out with a full outfit? I guess?
Travis:Yeah, I didn't want to just piecemeal it together because I think um to be taken legit, like seen as a legit brand, you kind of need the full package yeah and I wanted to quickly get into retailers and I know they kind of won't really look at you unless you have a solid assortment, um.
Travis:So that was the plan behind that. It was definitely tough, like it was uh, it was uh, it was a crunch to get it all ready for launch and we definitely had to delay the launch. Um, but I was very, very adamant.
Jarrad:I wanted to do a full collection yeah, and were you the majority of like designing and stuff yourself with that, or did you have other people helping you design? That's all me, yeah okay so how many people on the team behind this?
Travis:I guess you could say like two and a half, um, I've got a co-founder, and then um, and then some of our athletes are um, a couple of them are putting in sweat equity into the company. So Forrest, example, for example, is doing our website, most of our photography, videography, product testing and an athlete, so he's he's been a huge help. Yeah.
Jarrad:Nice. And then with the athlete side of things I know you've got a handful of people on board now. Same thing, like just trying to get it out there on people and like I think you got a couple of guys doing the world cups and stuff like that were you able to pull much from like previous? I guess I don't know whether you're allowed to say that or not, but pull much from like previous people that you'd work with and stuff like that to help push it, or yeah for sure.
Travis:Um, once again the timing was kind of crazy. I remember um Forrest actually texts me one night and he's like dude, have you ever thought about starting your own company again? And I'm like man, I'm literally writing a business plan right now he's like, give me a call call yeah.
Travis:So he had this opportunity with um, some financial dude that he was trying to explore options, but we never went ahead with him. But that's kind of how the conversation started with forest um and I've worked with him for years with race face um, so he was stoked to get on board. And then ace um. I've known ace since Levan days. He was one of our first athletes so he's been super involved and kind of helped get our initial team set up. Forrest is good friends with Ben Wallace so that connection was there. And then it's definitely a team effort to create the team. Like we all kind of chat and see who we're feeling and think, see if they fit the vibe of the company for sure yeah, and then building on from that is like I guess, do you plan to expand more into that stuff?
Jarrad:I know the guys from um I'm not always pronouncing connect correctly, but uh, dahoe, darko darko, I think it is from australia and like they're now. They started out same sort of thing like super grassroots, super tiny. He actually designed a mountain bike way back in the day like 2006 as an engineer and then they went into the clothing side of things. But um, yeah, now they're like world cup common cell, like big, big, big stuff. Is that like the goal to go in that direction, I guess?
Travis:yeah, that's definitely the goal and the dream. Like I, I think downhill racing's the best sport on yeah, on the planet. So, um, selfishly like I, just want to get to the stage to sponsor a team. Yeah, um, just have an excuse to go to world cups.
Jarrad:Yeah, be able to write it off yeah, um, but yeah, that's definitely the goal yeah, no, um, and I guess it starts early on in the in the life of like actor, like is there stuff already in the in the works with that side of things, or you? You haven't really looked too heavily not.
Travis:Yeah, we haven't looked too heavily um. It was an interesting year hearing from athletes. I don't know if it's just because everyone was scrambling for sponsorship, but we had some like decent, like big names reach out to us.
Jarrad:Yeah.
Travis:So I don't know if they think we're bigger than we are or they're just willing to take anything. Yeah, but it was cool to to correspond with some of them. Um, I wish we could have pulled it off, but I just would have. Just doesn't feel right to like, yeah, try and undercut them, but, um, yeah, we uh, not much explored there just yet. Um, but one day for sure.
Jarrad:Yeah, and then, uh, I guess moving back into like the, the technologies and and things like that in the gear go, I guess going back into the full lineup and stuff and things like that in the gear. I guess going back into the full lineup and stuff, how was that building that out? Because obviously you were probably restricted with working with different companies and different brands and what you could put in, say, knee pads or what you could put in and the way they looked or how they looked. I guess you needed to meet certain price points. Yeah, Is what was that like designing that out? Like obviously you still want to meet certain price points. Yeah, is what was that like designing that out? Like obviously you still want to meet certain price points to then match the, the market and the retail and and things like that. But I guess you had a bit more of a open slate to to what you put in it. What was that?
Travis:like that was the dream really. Like it was so nice to be able to go in with a clean slate and design stuff that I would be proud of, Like previously at the last company there they're always driving home that they were a product first company, which I love that, but when it came down to it they were a margin first company.
Jarrad:For sure.
Travis:So any corner that could be cut would be cut and I could see the opportunity to build a better product. Um and with with our company, like our, our overheads are quite low yeah so, um, we, we can use the, the better materials and the nicer trims and things like that. So I, I, we are creating like a really good product for the price that we're selling at. Um, so that feels good and I'm like stoked and super proud of the stuff we're putting out.
Jarrad:Yeah, tell me a bit more about the material, because I I can't remember exactly what the story was behind that, but I remember when I first started looking at it, when it came into steed and and things like that, um, and we're sort of I've obviously left there and I wasn't able to get in it before I left. But I remember when we're looking at whether we're bringing it into the store and things like that, and there was, is it something to do with like a recycled material or something like that. Is that correct?
Travis:yeah, most I don't know the exact number I think it's like 90 of the materials we're using are recycled um, blue sign approved, yeah, and grs so global recycle certified. So we've got those certifications behind the fabric um and we're just working with some really high-end vendors and fabric mills yeah, so obviously there's a reason behind that.
Jarrad:is it just just to obviously keep the whole green side of things with the company in that way? Is that, I guess? Yeah?
Travis:Yeah, that's something I've wanted to push for a while and I remember I don't know four years ago or something it was like my kickoff meeting at the last job I was like this is an initiative I'd like to push and have like at least 50 of our fabrics recycled. And I was just told like nah, mountain bikers don't care about that, they just want cheaper products. So yeah, I was like, okay, well, scrap that idea. And sure enough, it's been like our biggest talking point yeah we haven't.
Travis:Initially I didn't want to push it too hard, because I just think it's something every clothing brand should be doing. Yeah, it should just be kind of the the norm norm yeah, yeah, um, but it's just, it's kind of taken off and our, our dealers love the story, our sales reps, athletes like everyone's stoked on those that yeah, and it's a good feeling material too, like yeah, you wouldn't know, yeah, it's any different.
Jarrad:It still performs well, looks great, feels good yeah, exactly, it doesn't feel like some sort of fake or synthetic material as much as it.
Jarrad:When I first saw it and I hadn't touched the materials, I'd just seen sort of photos and things of it I was like it just looks like another brand and at the end of the day, like, but when I say another brand, like still in the same competition as your fox or your, your trolley or whatever, um, but then when you pick it up and you put it on, it's like, oh, you can actually feel like the difference in that material and yeah, it's pretty impressive for sure. Um, and then tell me a bit about the knee pads, because knee pads always blow me away, because there's obviously so many different things behind that how your knees work, what you need to protect and it's kind of funny because I very rarely, almost never, ride without knee pads Did a triple crown when was that end of June with Kim Steed and didn't ride knee pads. Because you're riding 100 odd kilometers, 3000 meters. You know like big, big day, short travel bikes kilometers, 3000 meters. You know like big, big day, short travel bikes.
Jarrad:But coming down some of those trails I was so surprised how much my legs whacked the seat from just getting back behind the seat and not even realizing it with knee pads on, because obviously you don't feel it, but then wearing them you do, and then I'm a like a pedal with knee pads up type of guy and how they sort of I guess articulate is the right word but around the knee and move around the knee. What's the theory behind that? How, how do you get to that point, like, of making a fully finished product, like where does that start?
Travis:Uh, for this knee pad, I'd say it started like five years ago with um knee pads that I was designing for Raceface NYT. Um, it's funny, like I think, if you include the elbow pads, the last five protection pieces I designed didn't go to market.
Jarrad:Oh, interesting.
Travis:So I think I learned uh from all those and uh essentially with this knee pad it was.
Travis:It was a pad I wanted, it was like I didn't have any you know, design by committee type thing. So I just like, fully I knew what I wanted. And it was the first product I started designing, cause I just knew, like this is there needs to be a better knee pad. And I knew, yeah, like right down from the materials and the the way it fit, I knew what I wanted out of a knee pad. Um, and I was like I can't be the only one that wants something like this. Yeah, and it's been our best product by by far.
Jarrad:yeah, yeah, yeah, no, definitely, and I know, and the reason I asked about the knee pads is because I'd literally got a set of the um chromag ones about a week before I had the opportunity to grab yours, so obviously I'm not going to double dip on that side of things, but it was quite amazing to have such a brand new company as much as you've got plenty of experience but such a brand new company to have this almost redefined feeling of knee pad. Um, that, realistically, is a fairly chunky knee pad at the end of the day, when you look at the, the protection range, I guess, yeah, um, not to say that the chunkiness is a bad thing because there's protection there.
Jarrad:Yeah, but it felt so nice to have on and it's like um yeah, it's just interesting to understand why you did it that way.
Travis:Yeah.
Jarrad:And then, do you use D3O or have you used a different company for the like actual protection? It's D3O.
Travis:It is yeah. I've worked with them since the start at Race Face.
Jarrad:Yeah.
Travis:I've tested some of the other stuff, like I think it's SOS Tech that like 7IDP the sam hills use. Um, that's the only one I've really kind of tested and I just the d3l stuff's great.
Jarrad:It's comfortable, it's pretty hard to beat.
Travis:Yeah, and it protects really well yeah, so do you know much of the technology behind that stuff, or I mean I know the, the marketing spiel that it's like the whatever it's the phone that hardens up when you hit it and it absorbs the energy yeah yeah, it's, I don't.
Jarrad:I I don't know enough about it to to really talk. I guess that deep on it. But um, yeah, it's super interesting to play with yeah oh, I don't know if we just lost the camera. Oh, I'll try that again. Yeah, technology, hey, yeah, um, yeah, I don't even know where we were talking about.
Jarrad:Talking about the d30 stuff yeah yeah, um yeah, as I say, I've only ever played with it, like in, uh, product knowledge sessions and things like that, and it's. It's pretty insane that you can throw like a tennis ball sized piece of rubber at the ground as hard as you can and it pretty much bounces a foot off the ground.
Jarrad:Yeah, like it's pretty cool stuff yeah um, we had we're able to have that in the store for a little while that like rubber ball, yeah, and it was like the biggest selling feature for pretty much anybody that came in. They're like, oh, why do I need pads? I'm like, come have a play with this, yeah, and it's like it's huge for sure. So, yeah, um, what have you got sort of coming up with products? Have you got new designs that you're thinking about adding to the range? Um, yeah, what's going?
Travis:on there. Yeah, so our sales reps are out on the road right now um doing um showing our next year's line, so gathering bookings for that. Um not a whole lot new going on, just refinements, new colors. Um changed up a few fabrics. We got our jersey costs down. Yes, um just seems like it's a. It's a tricky one, mountain bikers yeah just want to wear t-shirts and cheap.
Jarrad:I feel like there's, there's almost two levels of mountain bikers, and I know both people are going to take offense to this, but you've kind of got your like stereotype, uh, like park rat type that will wear a cotton t-shirt with holes in it. And then you've got the people that are willing to spend that sort of hundred dollars on a, a nice jersey, whether it be a like a jersey like yours with the the better material and things like that, or a merino jersey or whatever. Um, but there seems to be, as you say, like a pretty big divide in those customers. Yeah, for sure, and even working with certain brands that are like that sort of $50, $60 range is almost the hardest one to sell, because you can have like a $25 t-shirt or you can have like a $125 jersey. Yeah, but it's that, yeah, that middle one that's almost a little harder, right, so, but yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's that, yeah, that middle one, that's almost a little harder, Right so but yeah, yeah, jerseys have been a bit slow for us.
Travis:It's not like an absolute dog, but the price point's been tough for, I guess our target customer.
Jarrad:What is the retail of the jersey, if you remember?
Travis:So right now our long sleeve's $ 109 and short sleeve is 89. Okay, so a bit high, but I think still good for what you're getting. Yeah, yeah.
Jarrad:Sorry, that camera just died again.
Travis:Oh shit.
Jarrad:Anyway, we'll just keep running with it. Yeah, so, and then shorts and things like that. Are you doing much with that in the new season or is it still fairly similar?
Travis:Yeah, all all fairly similar, just slight tweaks here and there. Um, we are launching one outerwear piece, yep, uh, keep that on the quiet, for now but uh, we're just dipping the toes in that market just for now. But I'm pretty I'm super stoked on the item we're putting out. It's kind of, uh, I think it's a very niche product, um, but it's something a lot of friends and and people I ride with are stoked on, so that should be good nice yeah, that's awesome.
Jarrad:Yeah, um, and how do you find, like, as you do develop these like different sort of items and stuff like that, just the changes in the industry? Like obviously, when you started, it was sort of that middle of covid timing and things like that, and there was a lot of change happening there. And then now we're I feel like we're almost out the other side, pretty much in the clear, and sort of everyone, I guess, is waiting for this massive downturn, but I don't well, haven't really seen a huge part of it in the retail side of things. But how, how are you going with that? Is there like sort of ideas in the back of your head that you're sort of like oh, I'm not sure whether we should drop that just yet or how's that playing out?
Travis:uh, nothing like that really. Um, we're kind of just sticking to our plan as normal. Um, it has been a bit challenging competing with such big discounts, like we literally launched at the worst time, like yeah right before the the crash and you know everyone's stuck with all this inventory and um, but it also it's been motivating to see the brand doing well during these tough times, so that definitely keeps the motivation high yeah, yeah.
Jarrad:And then are you still canada wide or have you gone into the states and things like that, or what's the plan there?
Travis:we have one retailer in the states. Um, actually we're probably not going to go ahead with them next year, not because of bad business, but it's just doesn't make sense having one retailer right now, just logistically and um duties and all that stuff. So we want to expand canada, like I think we're at 22 23 retailers in canada. Yeah, wow, um, so we're we're pushing that again for next year. Um, we've got randomly one dealer in japan, okay, doing quite well with it, and we are in talks with Europe, someone in Europe right now. Uh, we'll see they. We almost made it happen last year but, uh, the conversation happened too late. So, yeah, we're uh in the works again.
Jarrad:Yeah. And then with the uh, canada side of things, are you distributing yourself or have you got someone doing that, doing it all ourselves? Yeah?
Travis:wow, yeah, so we actually had a storage locker just down the road where we picked and packed all our stuff ourselves, and recently we moved all our inventory to a buddy's place. So him and his wife are actually helping, or? Basically doing our logistics, so it's a pretty small operation. All hands deck.
Jarrad:It's pretty yeah, yeah, and you're running a b2b with that, or are you just?
Travis:how's that working?
Jarrad:yeah, yeah, yeah, all online then yeah, yeah, I've worked with a few brands and that don't have that in this day and age and it's like it's almost not worth working with them.
Travis:Yeah, just because it's so hard to keep track of what the stock is and things like that, yeah Well, sorry, like it is kind of spreadsheets and uh, you know, uh, ats reports every month, um, but yeah, we're, we're keeping it pretty simple working there.
Jarrad:Yeah, yeah, pretty crazy to think and, as you say, like there's so many people out there that probably look at the brand as, like this massive brand cause, you do have a pretty solid presence online and things like that, yeah, to think that it's only sort of that two and a half people plus, like, a couple of people throwing in a hand here and there, yeah.
Travis:It's like insane to think it's we've, we've got that from a few people when they kind of find out behind the scenes or like, oh shit, like we thought you were way bigger yeah and maybe that's why athletes were reaching out too, because they they thought we were bigger.
Jarrad:So I mean it's cool, yeah, to hear that and it probably, I guess it gives a good sort of light on the, on the clothing and the quality of the clothing at the end of the day, because to have such a small company or a small amount of people producing that level of content or content, whatever you want to call it- I guess it's something like that is uh, yeah, it's huge yeah, it's been cool to see yeah um, just want to go into a couple other bits and pieces in like your past, in the sense of like even I guess how do I say this without sounding rude?
Jarrad:but um, more more for myself, more than anything. But like, tell me a bit about like some of the like, some of the quotes and stuff people are giving you to motivate you to get to that point, because I've done a handful of things never opened anything, clothing wise, but, um, like, coaching companies and stuff like that and it's like even doing this is like such a nerve-wracking thing that there's like nowhere to hide. It's like you're literally putting everything out there. You're, yeah, it's pretty insane. I know like this is what the second episode and dropping the first episode with ash I was like, do I do it? Do or not do it? Yeah, um, and then, as soon as I did it, like a bunch of people reached out and they're like pretty stoked on it. How, how is that for you? Like, obviously you've always worked well I shouldn't say always, cause you had Levan but stepping out from some of these sort of major companies or big industry people into your own thing, how was that into?
Travis:your own thing. How was that? Yeah, it was scary. Um, I it was. It was very hard to give up a very comfy paycheck. Um, I mean, I didn't. I wasn't like super in love with the job at the time, but I think I was. I mean, I was getting paid very fairly and I thought the job was relatively chill. So that was. It was a very hard decision. But the thing that kept coming up when I was talking to people is like, if you don't do it now, you're you're going to regret it forever and it's never going to get any easier as you get older. So if you can make it happen, if you can pull things together and actually go for it, uh like, just do it. Like you know what's the worst that can happen. You, you know you yeah, yeah it could be shit.
Travis:You lose a lot of money but you just go back to your old job and carry on. So it was just like, yeah, like I knew I had to do it. And even when I shut lavan down way back, when it was kind of always on the back of my mind that I need to do my own thing again, I didn't know when or how or if I would, but I thought about it a lot so I knew I kind of had to pursue the idea and see where it went.
Jarrad:Yeah, yeah, and that's almost how I feel with the podcast a little bit as well, like it's sort of I spent two and a half three years doing it with steed and building it up and and learning and everything like that, and then stop doing it and then it's like I still want to do it, like you have that itch yeah and it's like I sort of feel in a different way, but somewhat somewhat the same, in the sense of I'm able to now just reach out to some, some very different people that obviously I couldn't do with the, with the steed podcast and um, in the sense of like reaching out to like snowboarders and and skiers and stuff and and there's been a pretty good sort of reception back from some of these people to to come on, which is pretty sweet for the future.
Jarrad:But I sort of feel like when we're talking and like when you're mentioning about the, uh just almost having no restriction to what you can do with the, the materials and the company, the way you want to design it, almost, yeah, feel pretty much I can relate in that sense a little bit so yeah, it's pretty sick.
Jarrad:Creative freedoms pretty nice yeah yeah, um, and then building on to that with the the size of the company and stuff I know we sort of touched on a little bit earlier there is there plans to bring other people on to help with this, or is it more just like, let it grow until it needs more people?
Travis:yeah, I think we'll let it grow until it needs more people, um which I would love to be able to bring on more people. Right now, yeah, just the numbers don't add up um, but when it makes sense we definitely will. Um, someone asked me that recently. He's like who would you hire next if you could hire anyone? And I yeah I basically have to be someone that can do it all like yeah, it'd be very hard every time.
Jarrad:Yeah, is there a particular role that you would be fulfilling, or is it pretty much whatever needs to be done on the day?
Travis:I guess yeah I think it's a bit of everything. I would love to have someone that just deals with social media. Yeah, like I, yeah, it takes up a lot of time. Yeah, it's huge. It it's huge and I think you need to do it, and it's been a huge part of our brand presence because it's like one of the first things people check out when they see a new brand, and we constantly get compliments like oh man, your guys' social looks great. Like who's doing it? Like what? What marketing agency are you?
Jarrad:doing. I was like yeah, that's, that's just us yeah. Yeah, so I guess we're doing a good job, but uh, it does take up a lot of time, yeah, and are you, I guess, going down that that path a little bit more? I guess you lean on a lot of the athletes and ambassadors to help create that stuff. Yeah.
Travis:Decent amount. Um, it was tricky, like when we brought on athletes. I mean, no one's getting paid, so it's we feel kind of silly like forcing them out to create content for us. Yeah, so we try and um arrange shoots for them so they're not like going out of their way. Um, but some have been great, like some of them are just super keen on pumping out content. So, yeah, gotta love those guys yeah.
Jarrad:Um, but yeah, yeah, we try and try and get out and shoot with our athletes when we can. Yeah, nice, and how many sort of athlete ambassadors do you have on, do you know?
Travis:I think we're at seven now. Yep, yeah, give or take, and then we've got a few kind of like flow guys just giving discounts too and um, yeah, I'd definitely like to expand that um, but it's, we're pretty stoked on what we have right now yeah, yeah, definitely.
Jarrad:It's obviously a bit of give and take with that, like you can't give out too much without sort of letting the brand grow and yeah, and warranting that a little bit as well.
Travis:Yeah, we, sometimes we got to pump the brakes and remember like we're still a fresh company like it's easy to get ahead of yourselves.
Jarrad:Yeah yeah, I guess it's like, when you've got the items sitting on the shelf, it's easy just to throw someone a set of like a jersey or knee pads or whatever and it's like oh yeah, that's nothing. And then it's like you do that 100 times. You're like, holy shit, yeah, yeah, that's exactly.
Travis:I do think we could have like in hindsight we could have given out more product, uh, at launch yeah because we've seen word of mouth and having shop, uh, having product in retailers has been huge for us, yeah. So I think we could have got our name out even quicker if we did kind of spend more money like um yeah, just like getting yeah for sure that hindsight, yeah, and I I sort of see that a little bit in the like the retail, like the shop level stuff.
Jarrad:Um, obviously, with everything we went through in the past few years a lot of that free swag, slash, product placement, I guess you could say in the store has changed a lot, um, and like not to name certain brands, but there's brands that have gone into this, almost like if you sell our product, uh, you upload the receipt to an app and then they'll give you like five dollars per item they sell or or something like that.
Jarrad:Yeah, and like that's all good and well, but at the end of the day, the people selling the items are not really getting a benefit from it. Like, I've probably made a couple hundred bucks from selling certain brand products and it doesn't change my life in the way that I would sell it, right, but at the same time, if, like, they were to give me a set of glasses or whatever, a Jersey or whatever that I'm going to wear, even just like a casual t-shirt, it's like yeah, like you're going to wear that around, and then people ask about it and you're like, oh yeah, check out this thing. Like yeah, and it sort of like creates that community, I guess for sure. Um.
Travis:So yeah, it's interesting to hear you say like finding that balance obviously is pretty hard yeah, and I think there's some brands that have gone too far the other way and basically everyone is sponsored and everyone gets a bro deal and it's. You know, it's like there's some brands I'm like who pays retail for this?
Jarrad:yeah, um, I think it devalues the brand, so we definitely didn't want to get into that for sure, and you could almost we can, we can say, like someone like a terex that is such a massive global company. It's like if you live in vancouver and you pay retail for a terex in vancouver, yeah, what do you? Yeah, you don't know the right people. Like, yeah, exactly, um, so yeah, I can fully see how that would be. Yeah, like an issue as well on the other side, for for a small startup at least anyway, yeah.
Jarrad:So um, and I guess talking a bit more down that, what other challenges have you found, like starting a new company?
Travis:oh um, good question, nothing comes to my head other than like uh time management and like consuming your life yeah and just being like you have to be okay with that. Yeah, um, but I think it's a good sign that I'm doing the right thing. I love what I'm doing because it's like I'll work you want to work all the time I'm keen to keep always working, yeah yeah, how?
Jarrad:how is that as a job? Because, like I'm going to relate it to myself a little bit here starting a new job with Norco and things like that. It's been pretty hectic for myself the last three months there and I'll get home and I still want to answer emails and I still want to like look at reports, I still want to like build out certain areas of the store and things like that.
Jarrad:Yeah, and you almost have to stop yourself. And I'm working for a company. I'm not owning the company in that sense. So I almost have to stop yourself. And I'm working for a company. I'm not owning the company in that sense. So I can only imagine for yourself that you've gone from working with these brands now doing it yourself, that you're happy to spend literally 24 hours a day just like head in the head in the trenches and just like getting it done like totally how's. Do you ever find yourself like having to pull yourself backwards out of it a little bit?
Travis:yeah, I think, yeah, you, I find I I'm more productive if I force myself to take the odd step back. Um, it's hard. Um, I just figure like, if I'm not doing anything, why not be working?
Jarrad:or yeah, there's yeah, it's almost like, exactly as you say. If you're just sitting there on the couch, it's like you could actually be just doing something more productive. Yeah, so yeah, yeah, interesting, yeah, um, I've never really spoken too deep with someone that's like started something they're obviously super passionate about in the sense of a business side of things, and coming from like where you've come from and things like that. So it's yeah, it's like I can only imagine how hard that would be to just almost stop yourself and be like right, I actually need some chill time or I need to go and go ride my bike outside, or whatever. You know, totally, I think that'd be.
Travis:That'd be pretty hard yeah, it is, and sometimes I'm like you know, I run a mountain bike company, I should be mountain biking more. Yeah, um, but it doesn't always happen that way, but it's, I like it, so it's yeah, it's yeah, you're not gonna complain at the moment.
Jarrad:Yeah for sure, yeah, um, and then I guess in the sense of, uh, the rewarding side of it, because obviously, as much as there's hard parts and things like that, what's been the most rewarding side of it, I guess, in that sense?
Travis:um, I think the the feedback on our product um kind of cheesy, but sometimes like I'll go read the reviews on our website. If I'm ever just like man, what am I doing? You know, you have those struggles running a business and it's just like these complete strangers are just fired up on this product so like that's cool and that's kind of what I got into this for.
Travis:So if I can make someone's day on the mountain bike better and they're stoked on the product that they're putting their money into is so cool yeah um, especially in today's I mean economy like times are tough and I just sometimes I'm like man people are putting their hard earned cash into stuff that I designed like it's so cool, so, yeah, people are almost like investing in you. Yeah to to continue, yeah, I just say so yeah, very grateful and it's uh, it's a cool feeling to see those reviews and people stoked yeah yeah, yeah, that's, that's such a cool thing.
Jarrad:Like I didn't even think of that, as, like I was, I didn't even know where you were going to go with that question, to be completely honest, but that's, that's such a cool thing to just be like, yeah, like changing somebody's world just by a product you've made and like you understand what's gone into it, and they're just pumped on on everything, but they probably don't know half the story, you know like, yeah, yeah, that kind of makes it all worthwhile in the end to be like, yeah, putting all that effort in did pay off and people are noticing it.
Travis:So yeah, it's super cool.
Jarrad:And then I guess the other funny thing of it is like you're almost a little bit hidden, in the sense, behind the brand as well, I guess. Yeah, like there's probably not too many people out there that would recognize you, even walking through a mountain bike event type thing.
Travis:You know totally which is good, yeah's cool, and I've kind of wanted to keep it that way, like I never wanted to really be the face of the brand Like.
Jarrad:I'd rather the product just speak for itself and yeah, yeah, I think it definitely does that for sure. So, yeah, yeah, we're coming coming up to sort of almost that hour. Point now, cool, what's the best way to sort of connect with you guys? I know you've got your website out there. What's the other ways to get involved with you guys?
Travis:Website social media, linkedin. I guess People seem to be big on that these days.
Jarrad:Yeah, it seems to be blowing up. Linkedin's a weird one. Hey, it's almost like social media for adults yeah, it totally is just like humble brags.
Travis:Yeah, all day.
Jarrad:Yeah, that's all I use it for is literally be like oh, check out this sick thing I just did like yeah, just pump your tires, yeah but yeah, full ego pump off, but yeah yeah, lots of dms, yeah, lots.
Travis:Uh slide into our dms on instagram whatever, yeah.
Jarrad:So yeah, and I'll be able to talk direct with the guy that made it.
Travis:Yeah, so it's pretty funny, like I'll be uh, messaging. People will be messaging me on instagram and then I'm packing their order and it's like people probably have no idea that. It's like, yeah, such a small operation, but it's cool. I'm stoked to have that interaction with our customers. I think it's super important for early days. How?
Jarrad:is that? Do you get involved in asking questions and things like that, like when you are talking with customers via?
Travis:you're good legs crap, oh no tight, tight, little, tight, little studio here um yeah, actually like um, if we've got a few kind of not super positive reviews on the website, um, and I reach out to them personally right away because I just want to know, like why aren't you happy? What can we do better? Um, and people are stoked. They're like it's usually super pumped to be talking to the company owner about products. So, yeah, most people are um, like give good feedback and are open to giving their opinion.
Jarrad:So I I really appreciate that yeah, and I I guess if they feel like they're being heard, then then they're probably going to be able to sort of feel more of a release and, yeah, I guess, go from there with it. Yeah exactly no sweet Well, cheers for coming on.
Travis:Yeah, thanks for having me, Thanks for coming and sitting down my first podcast. Yeah.
Jarrad:Well, we'll get it out and yeah, sorry about the camera issues, but we'll still get it up there and go from there. Sweet.