Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / "Survivors in crisis pivot fast and act fast”. Using the current global crisis to innovate and evolve to let your true brand DNA shine, with Phoebe Greenacre from Silou

Transcript

"Survivors in crisis pivot fast and act fast”. Using the current global crisis to innovate and evolve to let your true brand DNA shine, with Phoebe Greenacre from Silou · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is episode 9 with Phoebe Greenacre.
• 0:16
  Hey, and welcome back to another episode of Female Startup Club. Just a quick note, we're still in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis as this episode is being recorded. So like the last episode, it's being filmed from the comfort of my floor and the sound can be a little interesting at times. But don't worry, I'm getting quite familiar with technical issues. So bear with me while I navigate these online recordings from home.
• 0:41
  Today's episode is with Phoebe Greenacre, the co-founder of a women's activewear brand, Silu. When Phoebe and her business partner, Tatiana, weren't able to find premium, sustainable activewear that they wanted to wear day in and day out, they knew they'd spotted a gap in the market and went for it. And what's really special about this episode is actually how a brand has been able to thrive during the pandemic and let their true DNA shine through.
• 1:07
  A brand that's always put their community first, now more than ever have been able to innovate and bring people together from all over the world through live yoga classes, guided meditations, and a calendar of heartwarming activities on a daily basis for the women in their network. This is Phoebe for Female Startup Club.
• 1:25
  Let's talk about the background story and how CELU came about and, yeah, where it all got started. Sure. So back in 2015, I met my now business partner. I was actually a marketing consultant, so I had my own agency work.
• 1:44
  And I looked after everything from brand story to branding to social media. And yeah, so kind of after 10 years working for like brands like David Jones, Napoleon Purtis, I kind of went on my own and freelanced. And so when we were introduced to my now business partner, she actually hired me to help her create a brand, help her kind of bring to life this idea of an activewear brand.
• 2:12
  So there was no samples. There was a few sketches that she had done and there was a name that she had registered, but we know that was not the name that we end up launching with. So that was how it all started. And two months into working together, she realized that it was gonna be a lot more work than maybe she had anticipated. So she asked me to be her business partner and CEO.
• 2:41
  Oh, wow. That's so cool. And so when you were initially in that beginning kind of phase, how did you determine like she's going to do X and you're going to do X or was it really quite a natural, you're just going to manage all of that kind of like creative brand positioning and she's going to manage the manufacturing or something else like that? Yeah. So it was definitely probably not discussed. I suppose we started out with like the things that we had to do every week.
• 3:09
  to get the business up and running. So anything from creating barcodes to writing social media,
• 3:20
  copy, I was doing pretty much most of those kind of things. And Tatiana was focusing more on the design side of things. So the fabrics and the finishings of the products and that kind of thing. So that was not my forte. And so she kind of focused on those kind of things and more of the designs. Yeah. And so then what was the kind of next process from that early initial design and creative phase to being like, okay,
• 3:50
  Let's find a manufacturer. Let's find someone to produce somewhere in the world. It's such a big, daunting task. Task. We had, it took us a while actually. Like, so from our first meeting, from when we started to work together, it took us nearly a year to launch. So it was quite a while.
• 4:13
  in terms of like sampling, finding the manufacturer, and testing as well, that we would get some samples made and be like, these are terrible. We're not going to be using these people. Or we would get some really good ones made and they'd be like, yeah, you have to place a minimum of 200 pieces of this one legging in one colour. And we're like, yeah, we can't do that. So it was definitely, it took time and testing too.
• 4:40
  to be able to find who we who we now work with um so yeah and what did but what did you actually do to find those people i know from my experience with the jewelry brand it was very like i started by going on alibaba and messaging every single factory i could that could have been semi-relevant to then i mean i went to china then i went to like
• 5:04
  a few factories there. Then I switched my production. It didn't work again in Bali. It was a bit of a nightmare. Then I finally got connected actually through a personal connection to someone in Bangkok and they're my factory now. But it was just such an ordeal to get to that person. So what did you guys do when you were looking? It is an ordeal, isn't it? It's very painful. It is painful. It is painful.
• 5:27
  Looking online and looking where people like manufacturer we knew just from like, I think, personal context that a lot of people had were getting made. We wanted to stay in Europe as well. So that's one of our really kind of key values is that we're locally produced.
• 5:44
  and also sourced. So all of our fabric comes from Italy as well. So we went to the, the, like activewear sportswear producers that had good reputation. So we could obviously find them via Google we found, and then it was a process of elimination. Like, A, do they email you back? Probably not. Cause you're like this random person that wants samples.
• 6:06
  And B, then again, like, do they produce, because we produce a really high quality. So like the quality of the fabric and the production was really important to us. So we had to like, we wanted to have at least some assurance that they were producing other high quality brands. Yeah.
• 6:30
  And did you have to go to the factory and do you spend a lot of time there? Yeah. So we went to the factory first when we first, before we kind of initiated because we wanted to see what type of standards there was there, make sure that it was like above the board. You know, you don't know. You find something on Facebook.
• 6:49
  Google and you don't know if it's like an above the board thing. So yeah, we went there, we went in the peak of summer and it was so hot. It was like 45 degrees and it was in the middle of Lithuania.
• 7:03
  Um, and yeah, it was once we went, we went and met them. We went and met a few different, like an account manager and then kind of start the process from there. But we went, we like had lunch in the lunchroom and we wanted to make sure that the standards for like the women that were producing our clothes were going to be like above, um, like a living standard wage. And also just like the facilities were really lovely. Like I was like, oh, I could work here. It was really nice. Like we went to the design rooms and everything. So.
• 7:31
  Yeah, I found that was really important for me as well. Like when I found the current factory that I use now in Bangkok, when I spent time there and actually got to know the women who were making things and see how happy they were. And, you know, they were all just such a big family. And I really felt so proud to be included in what they were producing and like what they were making, because it's a family owned factory. And the guy who owns it, he's Australian, but Thai and, um,
• 8:00
  you know, he's just so lovely and was just this kind soul that instantly I was like, oh, I'm so like happy to be part of this. And I think it's so important because when you're working with China and there's a really big kind of distance and there's a lot of hurdles you have to go through to even just get to China with the visas and that kind of thing, it just seems a little bit disconnected. Yeah, it is. It's like there's no face behind the person you're emailing or trying to email. Yeah.
• 8:29
  Yeah, I'm trying to. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. I put something up on my Instagram asking my community what they were really interested to learn about from you today and what the kind of main theme was that came back was about manufacturing and that kind of sourcing process. So I really want to talk a little bit more about it. Did you feel after that first meeting that you were like, yeah, these are the people like we're done here kind of thing. We can stop looking. Yeah.
• 8:57
  Yeah, so that was probably maybe months down the track where we had, yeah, so it wasn't like we're just going to fly up to every person that we met or online and that kind of thing. So that was like a process of elimination. We had samples sent to us before we would go. It was, yeah, we had samples made at a few different factories and then it was like this is the best quality. So then we flew out there to meet them to have our first initial kind of meeting with them.
• 9:25
  And if people are listening now who are in the business of wanting to start an active wear brand or wanting to start any fashion apparel brand or in that kind of space, um...
• 9:37
  Is there anything that you would say to look out for or like advice that you would kind of share? Make sure that you really want to do it. And it's not like an overnight success. Like this is just before you even think about wanting to do it. Like it's so, it's a really hard game and you're playing up against lots of big players. So one thing that we struggle with at the moment is that we're still the little guy.
• 10:06
  in the big grand scheme of like the orders. So we have like certain deadlines that we would need to meet and that kind of thing. But if a big order comes in from a huge activewear brand like a Sweaty Betty or a Lucas Hue or someone that's like more established than us, then we get pushed back.
• 10:28
  which is, hasn't been the best for us, but in the grand scheme of things, you know, Sweaty Betty is a multimillion dollar company, like 200 and whatever million dollar company a year. So you can imagine how much they're ordering compared to like a business has been around for three years. So that's one. Yeah.
• 10:49
  Yeah, that's one thing that like you want to make sure that you really want to do it. But also I'm very much on an energetic level connection with people. So if the energy doesn't feel good, I don't work with them. And that's really important from everything from working with a manufacturer to people that I hire in my team. I trust my gut with everything. Yeah, driven by intuition. Exactly. Yeah.
• 11:18
  When you first started ordering with the factory that you use now, what was the kind of minimum order quantities or the MOQs that you kind of had to respect? So it goes on like a pricing structure for us is they give you a price for 500 units. And then if you order less, then they charge you a surcharge.
• 11:41
  So if you order 300 units, you get a 5% surcharge. And if you order lower than 100 or 100, I think 100 is the minimum. It's 15% surcharge. And then if you order below 100, it's 50% surcharge. Oh, wow. Okay. It gets, obviously, with economies of scale, the more you order, the cheaper it gets pretty much. Yeah.
• 12:05
  And we, yeah, so that kind of, it's 100 pieces with a 15% surcharge is like the smallest amount. Because if you're paying a 50% surcharge, then you're not really going to make any money. And in the beginning, when you guys were placing your orders, were you already thinking about the wholesale process? Or were you thinking just selling them online? And how did you think, oh my gosh, just for example, if you ordered 500, how were you like, okay, how are we actually going to sell this now that we have it?
• 12:35
  So 100% honestly, I had no idea about production, manufacturing, wholesale, markups, any of that. I've learned everything myself through tears and frustration.
• 12:52
  Because my background is digital marketing, building websites, social media, like e-commerce, business strategy, all of that kind of stuff. So when it came to like knowing what seems cost a certain amount to what would, how do you calculate a markup for a wholesale margin? I was just like, how to calculate wholesale margin on Google. And that's how I learned.
• 13:18
  And there was a lot of, you know, we had no idea, really had no idea. And in the beginning, did you launch initially with wholesalers already on board or you just had to start marketing from? Yeah. So we initially placed our first order and we,
• 13:36
  A had no idea with what, how much we should order. We're like, yeah, this would be a good amount. We'll sell through this. No, we still have that stock now, three years later. We sell out of like current stock, but we still have stock from our first collection, which, you know, the whole ethos was around staples and really good quality staples. So they're still good quality staples. We just have a lot of them, but we definitely have not ordered as many units as we did in that first.
• 14:06
  trial yeah yeah that trial and error order um so yes and then it was only in that first um collection we then brought on wholesalers for order our first order and we still have stock from that um from that order and again we brought on some wholesalers uh from that first collection but it was like midway as after we received the stock and that kind of thing
• 14:28
  So, um, yeah. And what was the process of finding the wholesalers? Because this is another, um, kind of really the, the main theme of people on my Instagram are wanting to know what, like, how do you find these wholesalers? Did they approach you or did you approach them? Yeah. I am an A grade stalker.
• 14:49
  So I would stalk people on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on Instagram to find out who the buyers were for, think, people like Net-a-Porter or Selfridges. And it's really hard. You send out a hundred emails and maybe you get one back. Maybe. Obviously now it's a lot different being a little bit more of an established brand.
• 15:19
  and like following up and it's just like you're sending them to a blank space in the universe where no one replies. Yeah.
• 15:28
  You have to get really okay with rejection and like the feeling of being ignored. Yeah. Yeah. Completely. It's a really tough one. I found that really, really difficult to deal with actually. Yeah. Yeah. I was so busy like doing everything else that that was like, I would plan out some time of my week every week to then follow up that email one week later.
• 15:50
  send some press that we got and then be like, hey, just featured in Vogue, like, do you want to fuck us now? Or, you know, just like continually being front of mind for them because if you're not emailing, then they're thinking about other things. But if you are emailing, like I now know buyers and they're just like, don't worry, just keep sending the lookbooks. We do open and read them. We just don't reply if it's not relevant because we don't have time.
• 16:16
  And do you have any tips, like if you're thinking about what were the successful kind of emails that you got a response from, what did you need to have in those emails? Usually short and sweet. Nothing to, like people don't want to, like they get bombarded. If you think of like a buyer at Selfridges, they get how many brands are they buying into in their category? How many new brands are trying to get into their store? Yeah.
• 16:42
  So it's like short and sweet, punchy, even if it's like lookbook attached, like look at the new collection, maybe two or three sentences. But when you start like going into like the whole story of it or the backstory, it just really –
• 16:57
  you know, doesn't catch their attention, but also change up your target, like your, um, strategy. Maybe it's like one week you send some, if you have some press or one week you like were be able to address an influencer or something, change up the strategy. Don't keep sending the same information because they'll just delete it and be like this. A lot of the people don't even open their attachments. So maybe pop a photo inside the body of the email.
• 17:21
  so that it's like as soon as it's there, as soon as you open it up. Yeah. Cool. And so when you're talking about like –
• 17:30
  your wholesale strategy versus your actual kind of online store strategy um what what are you doing on your online store to drive sales and drive traffic and kind of your marketing your marketing mix shall we say of like organic and google and all these things because I guess there's like two completely different strategies going on for you at the moment are you managing both of those
• 17:53
  Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I just asked you a million questions in one. We will go. So it's an ever evolving practice of, so we do do some Google ads and Facebook, Instagram ads. I would to drive new traffic to the website, but a lot of majority of our traffic is organic, which has been great. And that's growing month to month as well.
• 18:17
  So we use those two. We use gifting through some influencers and teachers and people that we admire in our industry. So working on building relationships with them rather than just like blanket gifting and sending out a whole bunch of stuff to random people because we, A, can't afford to just be giving away really good. It costs us a lot to give away a pair of leggings. It's not just like the cost for that is really still quite high
• 18:45
  for a premium product. So we have to make sure that like the person is like believes in the brand and wants to be part of our Women of Sulu community, which is a community I started to build last summer or maybe a little bit before that. Because that was one thing that an active, a lot of the activewear brands out there didn't have that kind of accessibility point. So through a whole scheme of like free events that I would teach yoga at,
• 19:14
  and like other events that we would get people to come to our Women of Salu community kind of gatherings and start to build this like a hashtag that people belong to the brand just as well as much as like the people that own the brand or work within the brand and that's really helped to drive this like I would the tribe or something like that like a little kind of
• 19:37
  people that believe in the ethos of the brand and also the ethos of what a woman of Sulu stands for. So that's, so paid ads, content. So driving out our organic content is through, we have a lot of journal content and blog content. So helping us gain our SEO.
• 20:03
  And then we have, we really build, focusing on building our newsletter subscriber database. And that's really one huge one for us at the moment because we're really focusing on mentoring and nurturing our people, like our women of Salu that have signed up to our newsletter. And yeah, we find that they're really a supportive community as well.
• 20:26
  Yeah, that's so nice. I love a great community to be part of. How do you guys grow your email subscriber list or what's your kind of strategy behind growing the database? Yeah, so we have a mixture of like depending on what month it is or what our focus is that month. There's collaborations with other brands, so doing like giveaways or collaborations with other brands on other newsletters and maybe the mechanism to enter is to sign up to our newsletters.
• 20:54
  We have a pop-up box on our website, so capturing emails for 15% off. We do have ads out at the moment to drive. The call to action is to sign up to our newsletter as well. Yeah, so I think at every point in time, even when we do events, we do a lot of pop-ups. Like before this day and age, we used to pop up at studios and,
• 21:20
  And everyone that would buy at those events, we would ask them if they wanted to opt in to our newsletter. So we were trying to gather newsletter subscribers at any point, whether it be in person at a real life event or online or through a collaboration. It's really kind of our key. Like, I think it's more important than Instagram followers.
• 21:41
  I saw on your Instagram that you mentioned you have, I guess they're called partnerships with SoulCycle and Equinox. Is that the pop-ups that you're talking about? So they, no, they're stockists. So they're stockists, right? Yeah. Yeah. You go. So a lot of smaller studios don't have a huge budget or cash flow to buy stock from us.
• 22:08
  And also it's a really kind of big investment for a brand, for like a smaller studio to upfront lay out the cost of buying stock that they may not sell. B, like don't know if their customer likes it. So we do pop ups at studios, like a revolving pop up. So how are you growing your email database? Yeah.
• 22:31
  So depending on the month or our focus, what we have going on in terms of events and that kind of thing, we do giveaways and collaborations with other brands. So having the entry mechanism as sign up to the Silloo newsletter to enter or when we do pop ups and events, we make sure that we collect data with every sale if people want to opt in as well.
• 22:54
  archive sales as well we do them quarterly at our our office in Belgravia so people come and then again they have they if they want to opt in as well so at every touch point we try to get newsletter subscriptions at the moment I feel they're more powerful than an Instagram follower so that's what we're focusing on.
• 23:14
  And when you were talking earlier about the pop-ups and the partnerships that you're doing, is that with the smaller boutique studios that you're talking about or is that with – that's a different thing with brands? Yeah, yeah. So SoulCycle, Moda Operandi, Selfridges, they're all places that we've been sold in or sell in and the pop-ups are more with smaller brands. So like smaller yoga studios or Pilates studios,
• 23:42
  because it's really like if you're a small business owner, it's quite difficult to pay a couple of thousand pounds or more to buy into the depth of a brand of leggings and bras and that kind of thing. So we pop up at places for maybe a week or a month and then sell through whatever they sell through and then at the end of the month they pay for what they've sold. And then that works for us because we're still getting
• 24:10
  eyeballs onto the brand and brand awareness and people can test and try. So like a lot of our fabrics or all of our fabrics feel like amazing on the body and they're soft and they're like feel like butter and we really can't
• 24:25
  describe that enough online on our website so having that like physical store presence to have that can direct connection to customers or potential customers is really important for us and when you've got that like woven into your strategy is it just again all about your outreach and you just contact as many different small studios that you find yeah yeah
• 24:48
  Yeah, so I'm very much like it needs to be of a certain aesthetic and a certain like level of premium, I suppose, premium service. So we don't go to everywhere and I don't want to be everywhere. Like we have a certain we have a price point that is not going to suit every yoga studio. So it's definitely the yoga studios or the Pilates studios that have a certain clientele.
• 25:13
  and that are willing to pay for quality as well as the performance of a legging. And I was reading on your website about your sustainability efforts. And so I wanted to talk a little bit about what makes an activewear brand sustainable and how you actually deliver on that promise when it comes to like the manufacturing process and any other processes.
• 25:38
  Yeah. So we set up a sustainability promise from 2021. But that was our goal is to finalize, well not finalize, but reach all of our sustainability goals by 2021. And so everything from the how we dye our fabrics to how we, the types of fabrics we're sourcing as well, as well as our packaging to even like the hygiene strips on our swimwear.
• 26:08
  that is all from plant-based or recycled materials or materials that are not as harmful to the environment as others. So next month we're launching our first 100% recycled fabric collection, which is really exciting for us because it's taken us nearly a year to be working on that. And then from then on, everything that we launch will be either recycled, upcycled or from cotton or,
• 26:36
  fabrics that are not as harmful to the environment. And does your factory help you with that? Or do you have to source that separately and then take it to your factory to like manufacture it? So the factory, when we first started working with them, this is something three, like three years ago, we were asking them, like, what are the fabrics that do you have available or that you work with right now? And that was literally none, or they'd be really like terrible and hard and gross and not really nice on the skin. So,
• 27:05
  As we have progressed, obviously the whole sustainability thing has become a thing and it's been a little bit more easier to access but still when we ask our fabric mills, so we work separately with fabric mills and then also with the factories. So individually working with both of them to make the fabric and also the production more sustainable. So definitely over the last, definitely the year, there's been the factories have been coming to us with,
• 27:34
  more recycled fabrics, which has been great. But yeah, so it's still growing and changing and we're in the process of actually making our own fabric right now, which is super exciting. Wow, that's so exciting. Some of them, yeah, really, really exciting. It's been like three years in the making as well. So it's, so most of it is like, you either get like the elastin is recycled in it or it's the polyester is recycled or,
• 28:04
  the cotton is recycled so that we're trying to make a blend at the moment that includes every single part of the material is recycled, which is exciting. And you do that with the factory that's like got the... The fabric mill. The fabric mill, sorry. Yeah, yeah. So their whole thing is they just create fabrics. So we're working with them at the moment and we get... If they do a role for us, like a test,
• 28:34
  Then we send it to our factories, then make it one pair of leggings, and then they send it to us to try it on, wear it, test it. And as soon as we pick it up and touch it, I can tell that if it's going to be good or not because –
• 28:47
  That's one thing that we want. A lot of fabric, recycled fabrics don't feel great. When you pick them up, they feel really dry and, like, you can just, you know, you don't want to put them on and then go for an hour running them. So that's where we're trying to make, like, something feel super luxurious as well as recycled. So that's why we haven't found something yet and we're still in that process. But we're really close to launching something maybe later this year. Wow. The final stages. Very cool. I'll keep my eyes peeled. Yeah.
• 29:16
  Yeah. And where are you at like now with the brand? Because obviously three years in, you've probably gone through a lot of ups and downs, but you've probably started to really find your feet and get into that nitty gritty growth stage. Can you talk a little bit about this kind of phase where you're kind of ready to scale and you've already got a big handful of amazing online retailers who are just huge and obviously –
• 29:42
  elevate your brand to the level that I'm sure you had in your vision three years ago? And what happens from here? So I think with this current climate, we are re rethinking about our strategy, whether that be a direct to consumer strategy or having the wholesalers in the mix as well. So and again, it just brings back to with the current climate and with retailers shut, they're not really there.
• 30:11
  they're not there, they're online, but it's the, we're online. So it doesn't really give us any, um, foothold in the market. So at the moment, our focus really is just direct to consumer at the moment. Um, and that's really where we're driving and, and trying to build, um, our online community so that we can offer, um, more, I think, price point options as well, because obviously wholesaling, um,
• 30:40
  through retailers, they take the biggest margin. So if we can maybe just have people come straight to us, then we have like availability or more opportunity to do more with what we have and reduce prices if we don't have them in the mix. So it's an interesting situation right now and we're reviewing that every week.
• 31:02
  Yeah, I guess everyone's had to kind of pivot so quickly or innovate so quickly with everything that's going on with the virus that maybe you had all those ideas in your head already, but you've had to basically go from zero to 100 in a day, essentially. Yeah. Which is quite tricky, I imagine. Do you want to share a little bit about what you guys have been doing and how it's affected your team and like your day-to-day? Yeah.
• 31:29
  So I am a very big believer in survivors in crises pivot fast and they act fast. And it was pretty much like that first when the studios were closing because I teach yoga in the studio as well. As soon as they shut the studios, I knew that like things were going to change and fast as well as like people weren't going out and shopping as well.
• 31:55
  And when, you know, Selfridges closed their doors and all of the like department stores closed their doors, it was like, okay, things are going to change. We need to act soon. And I think what I really focused on is rather than like, what do we have to do as a business? It's like, what do we have to do to support the community and make them feel good? Because me and my business partner, we are part of the community and everyone was suffering with anxiety, with anxiety.
• 32:22
  you know, not the not knowingness of what was going to unfold. And so obviously with my background of holistic therapy, coaching and positive reinforcement that we kind of really focused on like, what does, what do they want to hear from us right now? How are we going to support them through this? And how do we continue to support them through this? Because I know when I was getting emails from,
• 32:49
  insert brand's name here, I was like, they're not even mentioning that we're all locked up at home or how are they not like evolving and, you know, you don't need to say this is the end of the world, but, you know, acknowledging that things are changing and how can they help support us. So we put together a wellness schedule with a combination of,
• 33:11
  all of our women of Salu yoga teachers, Pilates teachers, bar teachers, and we made a schedule of where everyone was teaching, whether it be on IGTV or lives or Zooms. And we put like free paid or donation based to really support that community. And we continue to build that this week as well. Like every week we're updating that schedule and we kind of made it. It was one of the first, we were one of the first people that were making, like making the schedule.
• 33:39
  and having to add all of the people that we love as a brand, as teachers. So we don't put every single person on there, but it's people that we've experienced and really know that they're top of their game and we really love their classes. So we want to continue to support them through this time as well. So that was one section of it. I went live teaching yoga as well. Like it's just amazing that I have these skills that we can then put online as well. So, yeah, it was just like, I mean...
• 34:10
  I've always been in the wellness kind of industry. So it's just great that I can leverage my other skills at this point in time. So hosting live meditations, really kind of offering different types and pieces of advice in our newsletters and that kind of thing as well. So just really trying to help support our community rather than just saying, oh my God, it's the end of the world, buy a legging. Yeah, it sounds like you've really kind of shifted
• 34:38
  like into a space of already what you were doing about building a community for women and all this kind of thing and really stepping into that space and being like, yeah, this is how we're building a community for our women and kind of rather than just like another sales message. Yeah. It's been a nice opportunity. It sounds like. Definitely. And we have like a really strong program of content coming out in the next couple of weeks, just, um,
• 35:05
  of and everything from mindfulness to wellness to cooking at home to just really bringing in all of those other lifestyle areas that inspire us as like women of SILU but also in help support the mental physical emotional um things that people are going through um and we'll continue to go through and overview
• 35:26
  over the next few weeks or months. It's kind of like a grieving process, a grieving what the life was. And we all do that at different times and stages. It sounds like when things go back to normal, whenever that is, or whatever the new normal will be, that this is the kind of thing that might live on on your channels in this online capacity.
• 35:50
  Definitely. We've had like emails, which we never really get, like replying back to our newsletter saying, thank you so much for this content. It's what I needed today. And like, just, you know, just having that you're like, wow, we're really touching people. And like, having like my business partner get her friends that live in Russia, screenshotting like our newsletters and sending it back to her saying, this is beautiful. Like, this is so nice. We really know that we're like on the mark with what we're creating.
• 36:19
  And again, I just, I always say to my Nicole, who manages all of the content, I'm like, go back and make it more human because right now, like they don't know that you're a human behind this, like go make it back a more human. Like you're talking to me, like you're giving me advice.
• 36:35
  And so from what our Instagram copy to our replies in our social media, I'm like, make sure you put your name on there. Make sure like, you know, you're seeing that person for whatever they're coming to us for and just make it a human. Cause at the end of the day, we are all humans at the end behind these little computer screens and Instagram.
• 36:52
  accounts and everyone's really craving that human connection right now. So if we can touch those people in our community via newsletter or how we reply via our email to a lost package, you know, make sure that you're really just being a human in this situation. Yeah.
• 37:11
  Yeah, absolutely. I've seen a lot of brands who I think are really like stepping up and being people to really follow and you see that true DNA shining through and you see people who don't have the DNA kind of going to the back of your mind and you're just not really interested. No. Yeah, you opt out pretty quickly. Yeah, you're opting out. I feel like I'm unsubscribing from a lot of places right now. Yeah, definitely. Definitely.
• 37:39
  And what about your team? So did you guys used to work in an office and now you're all obviously remotely or your warehouse team who are shipping the things? How has that all started to change? So our warehouse is still, they're still shipping. So people can still order. They're on like a, I think they're on like a, a roster. So like people work on Mondays and Wednesdays and then the other people work Thursday, Friday. So, so it's a lot less people in there. And also if people go down with coronavirus that the whole team doesn't go down. So.
• 38:08
  they've kind of split that up. And then my team, yeah, we used to work in an office altogether, but I had a very much, you can work from home, flexible working arrangements each week. So at least one of the girls, or all of the girls would work from home at least one day each week if they wanted to. Like it wasn't forced, but if you wanted that option. So that's really kind of just gone into full blown work from home every day, every week.
• 38:35
  And so we are around, there's a few of us that are in London and then two girls are in like outskirts of London. So that's where the team is right now. And it's, it's been fine. I like, I think, I mean, checking in with them, Nicole, who I do all about like marketing with, I'm, we email and text and every day, all day with Instagram slides and Instagram stories and
• 39:02
  IG content and everything. So that's really kind of, but then the other girls, maybe not so much, but I've been having like, just a ring and catch up a Zoom call just because. Be like, hey, how you doing? Like, do you wanna grab a tea and catch up? Just because, you know, people are craving that connection.
• 39:21
  whether it's from their boss or from their like person they used to hang out with. It's just being making sure that they're okay on a work front, but also just on a personal front. Yeah, absolutely. So I touched on already some of the IG questions that I had come through, but I had two others that I wanted to ask you. Someone was asking about specifically around business plan. So when some people have started kind of with sampling and no business plan, they're just kind of starting...
• 39:51
  you know, fresh slate. And then there are other people who really start with a business plan and everything's written into a document and you've kind of got the vision from day one. How did you guys start? Did you have that business plan and how did you wrap your brain around where to start with it?
• 40:07
  Yeah, definitely. When Tatiana came to me, there was like sketches and a name. And so there was no business plan. And so as the months unfolded, we definitely put together, like I wrote a business plan of like what sets us apart, what's our US like unique selling point.
• 40:25
  Who is our target market? Who is she? Where do they shop? Like I went and dived deep in the whole like marketing and behavioral demographic kind of sides of things. So we knew who that customer was or who we thought she was. Did it differ? Yeah.
• 40:43
  I think as our brand grows and we and the people are growing with it, that maybe at first we thought it was like 30 to 40s. But now there's definitely we can see like 25 to 35 is where our kind of
• 40:59
  our buyer or our customer is sitting. So she's a little bit younger. And maybe the younger, the people, they watch us for a few months or six months and wait till we go on sale. Whereas the other customers are happy to buy at us at any point in time. So there's different women of Sulu in our groups of, in our community as well.
• 41:23
  So yeah, so I kind of really wanted to dive into who that person was to then be able to market to them and create a strategy around who she was. Otherwise, you're just going out there with like tone, different tone of voice and like different like aesthetics online. So we wanted to make sure that we had consistency throughout that. And that's where my expertise came in, because that's what I did for myself.
• 41:47
  10 years before launching this brand. So, and that's what I love. I love creating that brand DNA, that storytelling and the consistency of brand voice.
• 41:59
  And the other question I had come through was what are the pros and cons of stocking with big retailers? So I imagine like the Selfridges of the world. And I guess your answer would probably be a little bit different, you know, three weeks ago to what it is now. Yeah. So pros is obviously you're getting a whole new, well, access to a physical point. So we don't have a store. So we do pop up stores. We did one last summer over for three months. So
• 42:27
  and just having the ability for people to try on leggings. Cause like, if you've never tried on our leggings, you don't know how they fit or how they make you feel or how they support you. So having that physical space was really important for us, for people to just walk past, touch us and want to try us on. So that was really great. And then just being able to, you know, have that brand alignment or the status that comes with being in a, in a really big retailer. It just people perceive you in a certain category or a certain kind of,
• 42:58
  ballpark of brands rather than just being like an unknown brand on an online website. Um, so that was really like positive for us. Um, the negatives or the cons is that they take such a big chunk of the margin, which is not great. Um, so a lot of the times they won't want to pay you up front. So they want to go on consignment and they pay you once the season's over.
• 43:26
  So that's not great for cash flow. They return stock and I'm not saying any brands or particular, but they return stock in like 30 to 40% of it is soiled. So it's like got makeup on it or it's like,
• 43:42
  got deodorant or it's being like, looks like it's being used to mop the floor or just really not great. And then like, and then they don't even pay for the stuff they've sold for like two months later. So, you know, some are worse and some are better. And yeah. Yeah. And then it must be a big problem when you've got a big retailer placing a huge order with you and you need to pay it up front with your factory.
• 44:09
  Yeah. So that's the one, the biggest thing is that factories want upfront payment and then, and then you're only selling that like for the next, for us, it's like six months. So we don't really work to a really tight seasonal strategy, a seasonal collection because we, our kind of whole ethos is like creating seasonless silhouettes for the active woman.
• 44:34
  Yeah. And do you have any kind of final advice for anyone who, I mean, I know we spoke a moment, a few moments ago about making sure if you really want to do it, but some more kind of final advice for any young woman or any woman in general who is wanting to start a brand in the fashion or active wear sort of space?
• 44:56
  Yeah, I think if I was to now start a brand, and I'm definitely not disheartened from starting brands, just make sure that there is, you know, a difference with your brand. You know, there's no point creating another Lululemon or another Rickso. Just, you know, you need to have that differentiation about what makes your brand special. And it doesn't need to be rocket science. It doesn't need to be that it's like, it solves this amazing problem. It might just be that,
• 45:26
  There's no really good quality like insert brand here in the bridge category, in the price, you know, and knowing as a customer myself that there wasn't, there was like a gap in the market, say four years ago, there was no, there was either like Nike or Lululemon and they were doing not so much like different styles and unitards and things that we were really inspired by.
• 45:54
  Obviously, now that's been a trend and like there's been new brands, boutique brands that have popped up as well. So it really came from a need to want to design something really beautiful and functional and things that you didn't mind going wearing to brunch on a Saturday or walking around just being seen in it.
• 46:14
  Um, cool. That's all my questions. Thank you so much. I always... Amazing. Thank you for having me. I always end every interview with the six quick questions that I ask every woman, which I find is just so nice to get kind of a data set across everyone I speak to, the similarities and the differences between the women that I speak to. So it's just a quick fire round. It's really fast. What's your why? Why?
• 46:42
  My why is making sure that what I'm doing makes me feel good and then so I know I'll make other people feel good. So anytime I put on a piece of Silu, I feel amazing before I've even worked out. And then when I work out, I have the adrenaline from working out as well. So it's like a catch-22. Always a plus.
• 47:08
  What's the number one marketing strategy that made your business pop? The key kind of thing. It's such a, I think that definitely it's the mix of everything that has created the strength is like the variety. So not all having your eggs in one basket. But I think what makes us different is having our Women of Salu community. Yep. And number three is where do you hang out to get smarter?
• 47:38
  Books, podcasts, internet, people, all the things. Yeah, I podcast. I love podcasts. At the moment, that's when I used to commute or when I go on my daily exercise walk now, I am listening to podcasts. And ones that I listen to are podcasts.
• 48:00
  Almost 30, below 30, something about 30. I'm not really good at remembering names. I'm so bad. I'll listen to like five things in a day and then be like, well, I can't remember. I'm exactly the same. Here we go. I'm going into my – what I know now is one. Almost 30 is an American one. It's with two girls and it's about –
• 48:28
  people reinventing themselves. Second Life podcast is about people that have had now a second life and been successful in their second life rather than, you know, they may have been a lawyer and then their second life was creating a pregnancy wear brand. They're really good. I can continue on. The Business of Wellness by Lauren Arms because obviously we're in wellness, which is really. Oh, I need to chat to Lauren. I haven't caught up with her since I've been back.
• 48:59
  um i do love um the goop podcast as well i mean my the joe rogan experience i really am um yeah deep in the podcast deep in the podcast yeah brene brown has just launched her um not really business focus but um it's called unlocking us um
• 49:20
  And she is, yeah. I started that one the other day. So good. Yeah. Number four is how do you win the day? And that's kind of around your AM and PM rituals, things that you do that make you productive and succeeding or in your own personal way, like just achieving things that make you happy.
• 49:40
  I need to move every day. So I need to move my body. My human design chart is generating manifestor or manifesting generator. And it's in my chart that I need to move. And I didn't realize this until a couple of weeks ago, but like my first thing I do is I get up and either
• 50:00
  go to yoga or go to Pilates or go for a run. And my husband is like, why do you always get up so early? And why do you make sure? I'm like, it makes me feel good. I'm addicted to the endorphins, whatever it is. So, yeah, that's my AM. That's a human design chart. I've never heard of that. I need to have a look into it. It's kind of like a mixture of like your star sign, your mood sign, your what makes you up, like, you know, like how you do your Ayurveda, like all the different things that make you up as a human. And yeah.
• 50:29
  And then it also explains to you, like, helps you to get really, like, nut down on your purpose and your why. I can send you a link after this. Oh, my God, please do. Live Your Design is, she's on Instagram. I did a design, a reading with her. So it's like a.
• 50:45
  not a horoscope reading, but kind of just like breaks down on what makes you up, how you're connected with your body, where you should be making most of your decisions from. And I knew this, but I didn't like, it was more of a reinforcement. Like mine all comes from my gut and it either has to be a hell yes or a hell no. And if it's anything in between, don't act on it. Like if it's, oh yeah, that sounds good, be like, no, it needs to be like a hell yes or a hell no. So yeah, I would definitely look into that. It's really, really, really good. I love that. I'm going to do it this afternoon.
• 51:16
  question number five is if you only had $1,000 left in your business bank account where would you spend it or where would you allocate it buy a one-way ticket to somewhere else no $1,000 I read this question when you sent it to me and I was like oh my goodness I would have no idea I guess it's a question that's kind of really it's trying to pinpoint what the most
• 51:44
  important revenue driver for your business is to keep you going? I mean, our Google ads do really help. So I do spend pretty much majority of our advertising budget. Not that we have a huge budget. I spend what we can spare on Instagram ads and Google ads. So it converts for us. So I continue to do it. Amazing.
• 52:09
  And last final question is how do you deal with failure, which can either be a specific example or just your general approach to crisis? And I guess crisis in this time is rough. Yeah. I mean I've failed a lot in the last three years with what we've like with just manufacturing and all those things, like making mistakes, not I can't think of one. Like our first collection we did, we ordered way too much of,
• 52:39
  things that we shouldn't have ordered and we still have them now but we had no idea I had no idea neither did Tatiana of like how much should our first order be like um yeah I would say go small um and test the market before you spend all of your money on your first order and then spend the next year trying to sell it thank you so much for talking to us no thank you
• 53:09
  taking the time out of your day. Yeah, no, thanks so much for having me. It's been a pleasure. Where can everyone find you? So you can find me on Instagram at Phoebe Greenacre and Silly London at Silly London and SillyLondon.com is where you can find all of our activewear. Join our women of Sallu for 15% off. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Thank you so much.
• 53:37
  Thank you. Have a great day.
• 53:43
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 54:08
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 54:30
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 54:47
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 55:11
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 55:34
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.