Jason Daniel: You can be yourself and create something and find that there's a community of people that feel the same way around that. We did it differently. You know, some people throw a huge party and these big events. We just did it and didn't really tell anyone. It was hard, but at the same time, it's like for the customer, it's more important. You know, we want to get it right. It's not about a quick style, it's about getting it right for them.
[Voiceover]: Welcome to Add to Cart, the podcast that Express delivers all you need to know in the fast moving world of E commerce. Every month, Nathan Bush from 12 High and an E commerce industry expert share the news, research and insights that you need to know to keep you at the top of your game. And of course, keep your customers adding to Cart
Nathan Bush: hello and welcome to Add to Cart. My name is Nathan Bush, host of Add to Cart and director at E Commerce talent agency E Suite. Today I chat with Jason Daniel, who is the founder and CEO of lskd. They produce high quality functional sportswear with a street aesthetic way too cool for this nerd. But I was lucky enough to speak to Jason on the day that they placed the first shovel in the ground of their brand new 3,500 square meter headquarters. And it's not your typical headquarters. It will house up to 50 of their team and include a warehouse, a retail store, a gym, a product testing lab and even an events area. But the best thing is that it's smack bang on the highway at Logan, which where Jason grew up and first came up with the idea. How cool is that? This chat with Jason covers how they have rebranded three times and the things that Jason looks out for every time. How a mentor relationship changed the course of his business and his initial impressions with their drone delivery experiments. So, thanks to our partners, Shopify plus and Signet, here's our conversation with Jason Daniel from lskd. Jason Daniel, welcome to Add to Cart.
Jason Daniel: Thanks, Nath, how are you?
Nathan Bush: Good, mate, good. I understand that you've come off the back of a very exciting morning, mate.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, yeah, it's been a long time coming. I mean, we just pretty much got to throw some shovels in the ground at our new global headquarters that we're building at the moment. So they've just started digging ground after all the rain and we were meant to be in the April right now or this month, but it looks like we'll be in there September, just before kind of the Christmas period. So, yeah, really exciting. I mean, the location is going to be amazing. Right on the highway in Logan and have a retail shop that's got click and collect. It's really open plan office. The upstairs area's got a 120 square foot gym for our team to train and ambassadors and athletes and test product, which is great to constantly test our functional sportswear. So yeah, it's exciting, man, it's really cool.
Nathan Bush: That's awesome. And you got to design this from the ground on up in terms of like the physical experience that you want to give for your customers and your team.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, we're working with an amazing developer who's letting us do a design and construct and we're working close with him. So yeah, it's been amazing. I mean it's about a 3,000 square foot facility and the location itself I think is around 12,000 square foot with hard stand and car parking for containers and for the community to park and our team to park. So yeah, it's been great. I mean, big upstairs area for events and we can enclose it. If we do outgrow the bottom floor, we can obviously move upstairs and then has our warehous as well to the side of it we can ship from too. So yeah, that's cool. It's been amazing actually to deal with the team. They put on a food truck and everything today for us, so it was great. We, yeah, everyone got spuds today, so it was good.
Nathan Bush: Was there any time in the design of the new facility that you had one of those. Oh, fuck it. I'm going to put something crazy in here. Is there something like There's a little bit out there.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, I mean, kind of I went about it a little bit differently and instead of just kind of going, I'm going to design this thing and I'm going to create it epic for the office. We told the entire team straight away that, you know, we couldn't find a location and we were really thankful to get a location that we could build on. So we actually did a, you know, just an old school whiteboard session and asked everyone what they wanted in their departments and just pretty much said like, what does everyone need to be the best in their career and how can we improve this location? I mean, kind of going, I don't know everything. I've got some cool ideas. But also there's, you know, our team are very creative, so what do they need? You know, across customer support, warehouse design, production, marketing. So yeah, that's kind of. It kind of created a lot of conversations. There's some really cool stuff going in there and yeah, but they helped a lot. They were a big part of the whole shift of it. Which is, which is good.
Nathan Bush: Awesome. And it's in Logan, Brisbane, which I understand holds a pretty special place in your heart and your upbringing.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, I mean that's where it all started. So, you know, we were on the Gold coast shire pretty much for 10 years when we first, first kind of, you know, moved to an office just, just on, just. Just on 10 years and before that was in my mum's bedroom so we had some containers at her house. So yeah, we knowing, you know, we're working with Logan City Council and you know, they want us to come back and you know, I grew up there and from around the area, so it was, it is, it's cool and it's right on the highway, you know, as you're heading, you know, north or south to the Gold coast or north to Brisbane. So you'll see it from the highway. So. Yeah, it is, it's. It's really cool. And. And what is also cool? It's great for the team and, and you know, we have team on the Gold Coast, Brisbane Redlands, Ipswich Way. It's actually really central for everyone which is also part reason why we wanted to do was awesome.
Nathan Bush: So good the pictures you showed me earlier, you should be so proud of what you've created there and stayed in my community, which I love.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, thanks.
Nathan Bush: It's really cool. So tell us, for anyone who doesn't know lskd, can you tell us what lskd does?
Jason Daniel: LSKD is a functional sports where with a streetwear aesthetic. So we make, you know, essentially sportswear and streetwear clothing with women's tights, men's shorts, a lot of customized fabrics. We develop fabrics from the ground up for our community and through that our mission is to inspire people to chase the vibe through sport, fitness and adventure.
Nathan Bush: What does chase the vibe mean?
Jason Daniel: Well, that's a great question. I mean it can mean anything. And I think that's what the kind of exciting part is about it. You know, I grew up wanting to be a professional motocross athlete and trained in the gym every day. Was massive in the fitness. I mean did nippers as a kid growing up played soccer and you know, has always been into sports. You know, still mountain bike. Today I did it, you know, did my second triathlon ever on the weekend. And so I think chase the vibe for me, you know, obviously between sport, fitness and adventure has a really. A broad term but we try and shrink it down and for us it's about inspiring people to get out and chase the vibe through sport, fitness and adventure. And it means a lot to us because it's something that I personally have grown up doing a lot. And when I say when I'm most happiest is when I'm out doing, you know, different sports or hanging with my family and, you know, or doing something that involves getting out and doing something which actually gets you outside or gets you involved in something. Whether it's training at the gym with a crew of people or getting out and hiking with a crew or riding with a crew, it just gets you outdoors. And we make that functional sportswear with the street aesthetic for that community. So, yeah, it means a lot when I get up in the morning and say, what is our why and what do we stand with? We're actually there to inspire people to chase the vibe. I got to remember I live and breathe that myself and get out and do it and stay fit and healthy and what I love to do in my own way with it, you know, especially in fitness. And yeah, I mean, I'm even training for a marathon, my first ever marathon this year. I try and I'm doing a little bit on. It's a lot of early mornings at the moment to make time for it, but it's fun, you know, and I think it keeps me motivated to get up every day and have goals to work towards as well.
Nathan Bush: Nubar are manufacturers of solid shampoo and conditioner bars that are designed to provide a plastic free hair and body care solution. What will they think of next? They partnered with our partners and packaging supplier Signet to create a sustainable supply chain with eco friendly packaging solutions while keeping product Transit damages at 0%. 0%. Signet has over 5,500 packaging solutions that help leading e commerce businesses step up their packaging game. Visit signet.netau to find out more. I listened to a couple of the podcasts that you've done before and I think the last one you were talking about how you had new, new baby arrived. Congratulations.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, thanks. Yeah, she's nearly four months old already, Freya, so it's gone quick. Wow.
Nathan Bush: But you're still setting yourself these big goals like, and I know how hard it is juggling everything. How do you make sure that you make time to kind of chase the vibe while still being a family man running this magic business?
Jason Daniel: Yeah, look, it's a lot harder. I mean, my wife's a legend, Ali. She's, you know, and she's just got back into training. So I mean, this morning I Was she went to the gym and I was on duty earlier this morning and I didn't train so you know, you just got to make time. I mean I'm, I mean literally I'm running at 4 to 4am in the morning in the city at the moment, you know, doing hour and a half runs in the city to get ready. So I'm actually home by 6:30 and helping with the kids. So I mean and before I get to the office. So do you know, I think starting your day that early is sometimes tougher. You're up at 3am but it also doesn't. You get used to it. But yeah, look, it's changed a little bit because the free time changes because kids are everything and hanging with my family as well, but just making time in between that. I mean I'm very schedule driven and having a plan of attack. So I've always, I know what I've got on that morning and what I've got to do and kind of just in scheduling it out, you know, by almost a minute sometimes. So yeah, I mean it is harder, don't get me wrong, especially with a really, you know, a growing brand that's, you know, taking a lot of my time. But at the same time I know that's what, you know how it's became that as well. So yeah. And you know we have a run club. Yesterday afternoon the team we, you know, we did a 5k run club and some of the team went, a bunch of the team went. You know, we haven't for the last few weeks because it's been raining and all the storms. But yeah, getting together and running and seeing everyone, it's just 5k walk or run, which is kind of exciting. We're going to do that at the new office when it opens and do morning and afternoon ones and anyone can go and just get you out there training with the team as well and kind of breaking ground to start authentic conversations with each other. You might not in the office on a day to day basis so that you're kind of fitting in exercise within, hanging out with the crew as well at the office, with the team. So yeah, you just kind of make it work at the moment. I mean whatever happens, I mean I might be cycling tonight, you know, on a cycle, on a stationary cycle, maybe at 8 o' clock tonight just to get it, get us quick session, you know, the kids go to bed, who knows.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that's awesome. I was this week speaking to another founder who's leading in outdoor adventure gear and one of her Main concerns with her team was that she actually had trouble because they're in such a high growth phase. Her problem was that the team are working so hard and are so committed that they've actually gotten out of the habit of living their outdoor lifestyle.
Jason Daniel: And her challenge was actually trying to
Nathan Bush: get the team to go and live it because then they become better in the brand.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, and that happens. Hey, I mean we've had that here and we actually, you know, we lost a team member for that. You know, we were so busy and she's actually like, I actually want to. She lived probably an hour away from the office which caused a lot, you know, two hours of driving. But she loved what we were doing in the brand but she was working long hours and didn't want to anymore and we understood that. So that is tough, you know, I mean we work a lot of hours, you know, and a lot of the team is. And they're absolute weapons, you know, they put it in when they need to and you know, I mean it's dark, getting dark at 5:36 so we're like run club at 5. So it's like well you know, we Normally finish around five. Well let's just leave at 4:30 and you know, 4:40, quarter to five and go run, whatever, start earlier, you'll make the time up. You know, we don't need a micromanage. So it is harder. It is, it is harder. And finding that balance between it, you know, I thrive off people that are, you know, off crew that are out there getting added and doing different sports. So I think if everyone's setting different mini goals together and doing their own little thing, you thrive off it and want to and you'll just make time. I mean if you're starting at 8 o' clock in the morning, you know, you've got four hours before that to do something too. So there is possibility to get out and do something that you love. You know, you could go on a hike from 5 till 6 if you really wanted and then get still get time to go for breakfast or a coffee and go to the office. You know, it is harder with kids but it is possible to do.
Nathan Bush: Absolutely, absolutely. And I love how you've also said it's up to you. But it's also we'll schedule in a run club here which you have full permission and we actually encourage you to do it and get you out there.
Jason Daniel: Actually we sent it out today in our slack chat was like we're off at 5 and then we'll figure out where we're going next because it'll be dark at five soon, which is even worse with winter. But, you know, it's only for a short period of time with winter.
Nathan Bush: Awesome. So take us back to those early days before you building your own buildings and dominating Logan.
Jason Daniel: You started out. I wouldn't say that, but, you know, having a go.
Nathan Bush: I'll say it for you. So you started out as Loose Kid. Tell us about Loose Kid.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, look, I mean, the journey is a long conversation, and it definitely inspires me when I even talk about it. But, you know, the journey started pretty much around 2002. It started out as a word, and I was still at school and it was, you know, that's loose. Hey, kid. And it literally was just a word. It was honestly, a lot. Just a bunch of fun you have. Everyone has their little high school word or nickname they have when they're at school, you know, and this started from riding BMX with a bunch of pro BMXs and then ended up going over to America and winning X Games. One of the guys, and I was actually coming up short on one of the jumps, and I think at the time I was 12 or 13. And he was like, you're riding loose today, kid. I was the youngest out of the bunch, riding with a bunch of older guys. And that's pretty much how the word started. And from there, it was just a word. And if anyone remembers the MSN days, it kind of was a chat with a friend of mine on the Gold coast that I raced with, and he was like, you should turn this into a brand. And I was like, oh, okay. And actually told my mom about it, and she helped me grab the paperwork, you know, still at school. And we kind of had a signed off a trademark of Loose Kid ind and didn't really know what we're doing, but, you know, we. We made some hats. You would go to the local Surface paradise store that sold like three truckers for $5, and I'd go buy a bunch of trucker caps and. And then go and find a way to get some heat transfers on and, you know, either sell to friends or just wear them. And my high school teacher would take a bunch off me. I was telling someone the other day, I actually paid a friend. I paid a friend in a cab to help me finish my maths assignment. So maybe I was already thinking, back then, people do things for me, but I wasn't good at everything. But, you know, and then from there, it wasn't honestly a bunch of fun. I wanted to be a professional motocross athlete. So I didn't, I didn't. It didn't really crossed my mind to build this. I didn't understand what building a big brand or a business was back then. You know, there wasn't really a thing called entrepreneurs then. It was, you know, there wasn't even social media then, really. It was MSN chat. There was no Facebook. It was 2002, 2003, 2004, all the way to 2007. And then in 2007, I was actually finished school in 03 and I did a year out of school working in a bricklaying yard, kind of managing trucks, and decided I actually wanted to be a carpenter. So I end up getting a day off a week to ride and just said, you know what? I'm actually. I don't think becoming a professional motocross athlete is going to be for me. So I ended up doing a day a week for free as a carpenter just to get my apprenticeship for three months. So I worked with this guy so he'd take me on. And I was working as a carpenter and in 2007 I decided to put some effort into the brand. Said, I can do something with this. I believe I can. I really want some clothes to wear when I'm not racing or when we're actually training or I think then went to a few music festivals or going out or we were hanging out with a bunch of our friends. So I just started from the ground up and had to find a way. And then we turned it to LKI and abbreviated it and then from 07 to 2010 it turned into I finished my apprenticeship and went back to another apprenticeship with LKI in 2010 and went full time and we moved into a little office and, you know, just grinded away. And it was predominantly a wholesale business. We really didn't focus on E commerce and probably until 2018. So we had the store that really never any focus. And from 2007-18 it was a wild ride. I mean, with Oki, we got into some major retailers, we started making everything for everyone. You know, I think I was telling you before, Nath, we were making life jackets and gloves and, you know, we're just trying to do a bit of everything and if anything, it was just learning. You know, I was going through this, really my twenties was almost this real apprenticeship of learning of what to do and I would get, you know, I traveled to China a ton of times in 2011 onwards to and built amazing relationships with factories and, you know, one of them recently painted A picture of my family and I for a Christmas present, you know, then sent over, like, really good relationships. They're like friends with us, you know, some of our manufacturers and, you know, we are doing manufacturing in Australia, we're working on as well, which is really exciting. But we had amazing partners as well, all over the world. And yeah, just. It was just this journey that just learned and made tons of mistakes. And I finally actually said to myself, like, where are we going with this with lki? Like, where is it going? Like, I was almost running myself to the ground, making everything, and said, hang on. And I ended up getting some mentors around me from brands and ended up getting to catch up with the founder of Penny Skateboards, Ben Mackay. And I hassled him. I think I've said this a couple podcasts, but I hassled him for about eight, nine months for a coffee on email. And I think he just got sick of me and said, okay, I'll catch up with him for a coffee finally. And that first meeting kind of just got. I left with a bit of a headache and was like, fuck, I've got to listen. Hey, I've got. I've got to listen to someone. I wasn't stubborn, but I think I just. I don't know, I was young and, you know, I'm going to listen. He's built an amazing brand that's very inspiring. And he grew up in Logan and he's built a brand office in the us they were in some of the biggest retailers all over the world. It was huge. And I just said, you know, I'm gonna just. I'm just gonna have a. I'm just gonna listen and what he's to say. And he was just asking me, why are you doing all this stuff? And it just got me questioning it. And I went, okay, well, it makes sense. And from there I just started making slight changes and asking questions and then just started to meet other people. And I think it was about 2016 and then 2018. About 2016, we had LSKD on some product. 1516, we actually had it with the LKR logo. And it almost started to become two brands. We're like, hang on, what's going on here? We almost have two brands. What do we do? And we actually just asked our team here, there's about 12 of us, then we just asked our team, they said, what do you like? And they said, lskd and then asked some athletes and ambassadors, what do you like in some of our community or customers? And they all said, lskd and we're like, well, the lskd logo is selling better than lki. Let's listen to the customer and our team here and change it. So September 2018, we decided to change the entire business to LSKD and removed the LKR logo and said, let's abbreviate and change the word LS KD and develop product for our community and start to listen to our customer, essentially what they want and gets focus groups together and learn. So it's really organic. I mean, we had the word live your lifestyle back then. That was created. We created the first hashtag live your lifestyle, which was, ok, I live your lifestyle. And then Dil, our head design manager, created lskd and chase the vibe. And everyone said, oh, we like chase the vibe better. And I'm like, oh, maybe I just haven't got the. I ain't got the knack for this. You know, the team. The team have got it. So I was like, all right, do you like chase the vibe or live your lifestyle better? And they were like, chase the vibe. Cool. Let's go. I like it too. So it just became really organic and we just said, you know what? But let's develop product that we aligns with the brand. And let's go back to our why we first started the brand. You know, it was like the good times club. You know, we want to bring good vibes and create amazing product. And then we just started developing our sportswear and spending time on it, and it just kind of, kind of slowly grew and grew and grew quicker and quicker and quicker and the snowball effect happened and understood E Commerce and our customer and understood, you know, media buying and understood building a brand. We had a brand, but we. We had an amazing community, but we didn't know how to talk to them. So it was just understanding all the metrics around that, but also how to build an E Commerce brand. But we'd already had this amazing community because we did so many offline events. We sponsored events, we had athletes, but it was just, how do we speak to them? We even went down to the point of we don't make stickers anymore. We said, we're not making stickers anymore. No more stickers. And we were the king of stickers. Anyone knows the brand from the early days, we had stickers on every single cup. You know, we do hundreds of thousands of stickers a year. So it was a big deal for us to stop, but it was like, let's just do this slow and change it. And, yeah, so I think it's It's a crazy journey and lots of mistakes, tons of mistakes. And still to this day, you know, that's how you learn and have humility. But, yeah, I mean, it's very humbling to know what we've created because it's been years and years of learning and making the mistakes to get lskd where it's at and the culture we want to build and our why around it with the mission. It's taken time and what we want to do for our team here. And we're over 30, well, close to 50 with Casuals now. And it's growing very quickly. But the appreciation for that hasn't changed. I mean, we chucked a photo in Slack today of the office in 2010 to say, wow, what a milestone team. Like, 10 years ago, we just moved in an office and now we're digging ground for this huge facility. It's like, wow, we got to pinch ourselves and what we're creating together. So, yeah, it could talk about this for hours, but, you know, it's in a short, sharp moment. It's been a long journey and it feels like now it's, you know, we're two and a bit years into lskd, and it's only early days, but the years of experience before, I think is what's helped us the kind of shape of product development and production and an amazing community that's come along for the ride as well.
Nathan Bush: So, yeah, it's really interesting the way that you tell it from inside, because from the outside, you can obviously see the progression of the brand from Loose Kid to LKI to lskd. And now where lskd is, you've got such a strong brand. You go on the website, you go on your insta. Like, the branding is schmick, like. But from what you're saying there, it's more than what you see on the outside. It's how you do product, it's your why. It's everything behind the brand that's important that will be on the scene, on the outside.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, it's hard to explain that, too. You know, we're really learning how we can do more of that and talk to our community. I mean, because there is. There's so much work that goes into the. I mean, my office, I don't have an office, actually. My desk sits in with product and marketing, and we're constantly working on product. We work enough until January next year. At the moment, we work so far in advance and we're just so product focused on making sure it's Perfect. And if it's not right. We recently didn't release any new types for four months because we weren't happy with it. So we literally haven't released any new innovation that we were supposed to because we wanted to make sure it was perfect for the customer and for them.
Nathan Bush: Are you able to say what went wrong there?
Jason Daniel: So we weren't happy with the fabric and the feel of the fabric. You know, it wasn't our buttery, soft fabric. And, you know, there was a couple of things we learned there which we fixed. But, you know, it takes time to make those changes. And, you know, so we didn't release anything for four months in that. In that space, which is our fastest. It's such a powerful side for our brand and community. So, yeah, you know, it's. It was hard, but at the same time, it's like, for the customer, it's more important. You know, we want to get it right. It's not about a quick style. It's about getting it right for them.
Nathan Bush: It takes discipline to make those decisions. Right.
Jason Daniel: Yeah. And I don't think there's any, as you said before, a lot of brands share. I don't think there's any brand that ever goes through, you know, production issues. You know, you always got something going on, and you've got to. Got to have that humility to listen to your customer when something goes wrong and understand why, because they might have an idea that you didn't realize that you could have minimized that mistake. That's happened. And it happens to the best of them. You know, it's. It's everyone's human. It happens.
Nathan Bush: So we've likely got a lot of listeners and founders who are considering a rebrand, you know, coming out of 2020. Covid going, okay, cool, we're on the upwards. We've got to kind of do it before everything goes too crazy. What advice would you give them before pulling the trigger on a total rebrand?
Jason Daniel: Oh, look, we did it differently. You know, some people throw a huge party and these big events. We just did it and didn't really tell anyone. Like, we just did it the day the website changed lki brand at lskd Co. And for us, we did it differently. We did it long and slow, and essentially it was like, let's just slowly transition. And we didn't back then, we didn't have the budgets to just change all the swing. Swing tag still had Oki on it for maybe five, six months after. Right? It was. But product had lskd on it. But I saw the Oki logo on the back of the swing tag. So it was a slow transition for us. But if I could give any advice to anyone doing a rebrand, I think the reason for our rebrand was we wanted to. You know, it was a ton of books I listened to and I was actually like, I want to have a purpose. Like as in, I felt that we could have an amazing sportswear streetwear brand, but have a really strong mission that inspired people. So for me, it was a little bit different. I was like, I want to do this from the bottom up. And for us, we came from action sports and I wanted to change the perception of action sports at the same time. And I appreciate the kind words about the strong branding, you know, and we're constantly trying to make sure we really keep improving our channels and always trying to challenge ourselves there. But back then we were putting a lot of photos of bikes on there and different things and it was like, hang on, that's not what they wear. So we went through this whole learning period as well of going this the channel. We sponsor professional BMXs like Logan Martin, who's going to the Olympics this year, but he doesn't have a sticker on his helmet. He wears our clothes when he chases the Barbie's training in the gym or he's training, he doesn't wear it when he, he doesn't have to wear when he competes. It's fine. He can we perform product, but it's like he might have to wear his bike brand. That's okay. Like we want it when you every day in your life, training, practicing, hanging with the fans. So for us, our rebrand had a strong why behind it and we listened to our customer as well. Right. So there's a couple of things. We listen to our customer. We had a why we wanted to create more of a mission. And the mission has really evolved over the two year period. Like we didn't know it overnight. We kind of really tweaked it and learned and asked questions. Then I suppose the next thing was, was we just did it slowly. You know, we didn't, we didn't throw a huge event because we didn't know how to Essentially we were like, let's just do it and let talk to our community and just slowly change it. We weren't like, let's throw this huge big party and you know, like a big event. We'll just, we'll just do it our way. So I think anyone that's wanting to do a rebrand, you can do it in your way, there's no rules. Do it how you think feels best for you and your brand and your community and ask them what they want to see. You know, you don't need to follow what everyone else does. You can do it your way. So we were completely opposite of how probably everyone would do it, but it's worked for us, and we're, you know, stoked with it. And I think the community actually notices it now more than ever, because, like, oh, that's actually okay. Oh, my God. I love what you guys have done. You're like, yeah, thanks. Like, it's been a crazy journey. Yeah, we love that. They really, you know, they're really like, they love knowing about it now. More and more, they want to know the story where back when we changed, they probably didn't care, but now they've seen it go, wow, this is really cool you guys have done that. Thanks. You know, it just took us time.
Nathan Bush: Yeah.
Jason Daniel: You know, it's. It's what you do now matters in two years time, you know, it's that slow. Everything you do, just. It takes time. You know, it doesn't happen overnight. I've always learned you want it to, but it doesn't.
Nathan Bush: And I love that story around the chase, the vibe where your designer came up with it. You just asked the team was like, does this feel right? And. Yeah. And because you've lived it so long, like, you have a good, great gut feel, like you probably don't need consultants upon consultants and slide decks over slide decks on what feels right to you. Like, you kind of know what works if you've been in it for so long.
Jason Daniel: Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting you think you do, and it's kind of like you just need to dig deep into your memory box of what you did growing up and what you were passionate about, if that's what the brand revolves around. That and I, you know, we, you know, my design manager, Dill, was one of our second team members. He actually left for 18 months and came back. It was a bit of a dick coming over job site, learning to grow a brand with the team. And I had to go through my own personal development journey of learning how to manage a team too, because I'd never done that before either, so that also played a big part of it. But, you know, Dylan used to race motocross. He's big into fitness. He's just an amazing designer. And, you know, we have an amazing design and production team, but he was, you know, a massive help in making that shift and kind of he kind of dug into my brain because he grew up doing a similar thing. So it just, you know, he came straight out of uni and he wanted to, like, he already wore the brand because he rode bikes. And it was like, oh, cool. You want some work experience? Yeah, like, it was just very organic. You know, you start to read a lot of these books of, you know, I mean, if you read the Lululemon story or Nike story, very inspirational stories, a lot of it happened authentically. You know, Nike was a story because he loved to run, you know, and it's like they just were runners and they didn't. They wanted to make a shoe to run in. It didn't, you know, And I think that's really inspiring that you can be yourself and create something and find that there's a community of people that feel the same way around that. And it's not about you, it's about the brand and what you create. And that feeling you give your community, I feel like, is what's special about it. So, yeah, and it feels really present now to what we're doing. And it' like it makes sense. But it took us 10 plus years to figure it out too.
Nathan Bush: So, so good. Speaking about community, you've got incredible network of athletes and adventure people, and you can tell I'm so far out of the category. Right? But you've got an incredible community there who are creating content and endorsing you. How do you go about creating those relationships?
Jason Daniel: I mean, just being authentic is a big part. I mean, we got an amazing team here that run that site, that division, and Tegan does an amazing job with the team and I work close with her every day. But yeah, I think it's being authentic. I mean, I was lucky enough to work with a lot of athletes growing up and a lot of professional motocross athletes. I got to travel to America for a couple of weeks of the year every, you know, only just chatting to the team about the other day, it became apparent as I used to go to America for every year for three years traveling with Matt Moss, who was a professional motocrosser riding at the Supercross. So I go to the first two rounds of the year and didn't realize those learnings helped me deal with athletes or, you know, deal with different, you know, they say influences in that space. But, you know, I didn't realize it was just. It's just a. It's a relationship thing, I think, you know, it is. It's. You've got to have a genuine connection and you Know, and we've just built such an amazing connection and our team does as well, you know, through creators and athletes and, you know, our partnerships. And yeah, I think it's just happened really authentically. We haven't forced it. And for us, if, you know, we want to work with an amazing, I suppose, you know, if it's, you want an influencer or, you know, an athlete, creator, ambassador, you know, we. We want to make sure the synergies align and if they believe in our mission as well as we love what they're doing as a brand, then I feel like it just. It just happens organically, you know, it doesn't need to be forced upon. And we got an amazing team of, you know, team. They're so amazing. The content they're creating and the sharing around the world is phenomenal.
Nathan Bush: That's what I was about to say. In terms of. It's one thing to have people that align with your mission and your brand. How do you then make sure that the content they create or get for you aligns to your brand as well? Because I can assume that not all motocross riders are great photographers as well.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, look, and I mean, when I talk about motocross a bit, we don't. We. That. That was a lot of. When I was growing up. Yeah. Now we have a lot of athletes, but athletes don't just revolve. It's athletes. We have, you know, professional paralympians, track runners, you know, that wear the brand and create content. So it's different broad of athletes, but it's however they do when they're not, you know, it's different from a motocross. I mean, we have professional. From. If we looked at a motocross perspective, a professional motorway is the brand. But he doesn't post content riding in lskd. It's when he's not on the bike and he's actually creating content wearing the brand itself, whether it's hiking in the off season, etc. So from a creative perspective, it is tough, you know, but we try and let them be themselves of what their community loves from them. And we all, if we're, if we're trying to find someone, we find something that aligns to go, wow, they align perfectly and you know, even try and get on a phone call and have a chat with them. So, yeah, look, it's different. We know we don't. We actually don't sponsor a lot of motocrosses so much anymore. We have some professional motocross athletes that wear the brand. Yeah. They can't because it's. We don't make gear. It's, you know, sportswear and street products. But yeah, no, it is. I mean, you know, you want them to be. Be theirselves. You don't want to make them create something that's not them either. I feel like someone might be looking something just for a Facebook ad. Well, if you want that for a Facebook ad, go and create it yourself. You know, go and create the content yourself. If you, you know, and get an amazing photographer and your team out and go shoot some content. I mean, we do. We. We got a campaign shoot tonight from 6 to 8pm we built a massive set and you know, for our new puffer jacket shoot and, you know, the team worked on the weekend to build this huge set that we're shooting in and creating rain and snow and for that new dwr, you know, water repellent jackets that are, you know, they're made from recycled out of bodies made from recycled poly. And, you know, it's exciting. You know, we're doing that, but we're going and creating content ourselves. And then we'll do chase the vibe content with that of how you can wear it every day out there. So, you know, you also got to, you know, focus on your own content that might resonate with the community as well. And it's a big job. You know, it's. It takes a lot of time to create content.
Nathan Bush: Especially trying to create snow in Brisbane.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, I know snow's a little while away. I mean, the New Zealand borders open up very soon. I'm super excited that the snow this year. Year and snowboard. But yeah, no, no fun. A snow machine. I think the team are on it. I'm excited to watch it tonight. Actually. I'm going. So they're on point. Should be a cool campaign.
Nathan Bush: Tropeaka is an Australian nutrition brand born on Shopify back in 2016. Such a long, long time ago. Four years later, volumes have increased. B2B has become a priority and it was time to scale. This meant a transition from Shopify to Shopify plus. And what a transition it was. With the addition of personalized discounts, cart optimizations and a custom checkout, Tropeaka were able to increase their average order value from $89 to $94 across 15,000 orders per month. That is a sign of a very healthy partnership. To read more of Tropeaka's story and see other case studies, visit the customer section on shopify.com auplus. You mentioned before about your shift from wholesale to direct to consumer. Yeah. Was there a particular moment or situation where you went, that's it, we've gotta
Jason Daniel: go, oh yeah, look. We started getting some of our majors cutting back orders because a lot of majors have their own brands in house. So we started getting majors cutting back their orders and we started to notice a shift where they had their own brands of similar product but a cheaper price. And we worked so hard to build a community and a brand and stand for something that it costs more where they to do, you know. So yeah, we noticed that happening. And then obviously I was always trying to understand E commerce. I look up to a lot of brands all around the world that have built amazing e commerce businesses and I'm sure a lot of the listeners do as well. And, and I was in the same boat. How they doing this? What are they doing? And I honestly just started researching and trying to talk to different people and understand the whole model and understand it. But it was, it was a shift and I had amazing CFO join us a day, a week, Matt Geldard in August 2018 to come and help and really help teach me a lot of the financial side as well and plan financial forecasting, which is a massive thing, you know, for any founder. I understood margin and understood it all, but I didn't understand sometimes that next level of planning because you're so focused building something you love, you've got to have all the sides of the metrics to understand. So that was a part of understanding the metrics and what was happening there and seeing the decline a lot more and going. It's getting harder and harder. And in that wholesale world, E commerce is coming how. And the pie is big. There's a big community out there. You don't have to be, you don't have to try and sell to everyone. Right. You need to have your own community and focus on that. So yeah, it was a big shift in learning. I mean we were okay. I didn't, you know, was, it wasn't like booming, it was getting harder with wholesale pre book indenting. If anyone's listening knows about indenting, you would design 13 months in advance, you'd be on the road selling six months out. You would pre forecast what you would sell and then you would understand your numbers and you would then order based on that and then you would order your E comm stock. It's a completely different model where E commerce is. You can, you can order whatever you want essentially if you have the minimum quantities or you can do hype drops and we do a lot of Hype drops with limited runs that you might only be a hundred units and sell out. So it's like, it's not everything is bulk units. It's like, you know, if you supplier can look after you, you can, you can do little hype jobs. Which means it's not, not everyone can get it, which you want to do and create that really cool hype piece that creates that word of mouth marketing that, you know, people would love it. But it's like, no, you know, we don't want to give everything, you know, you don't want to make. Yeah, just keep making it, right. So yeah, it was a big shift and I, look, I'm not going to say I remember it all because it's been a blur the last couple of years, but it was just something inside and we started to understand what was possible in E commerce and globally. In E commerce, right, you could build a global brand through an e commerce store where it was easier to ship direct from your warehouse in Australia in three to five days with DHL than you would have to with trying to find a retailer and sell to them and somehow get the order to them. And they want all these big discounts and you're like, oh man, this is hard and they don't want to pay you. So it made it a little bit more apparent to go, okay, well we want to learn it and we want to be an amazing e commerce brand and how do we do that? So we're just asking a lot of questions and literally listening to pod. I listen to so many podcasts of founders. I would, you know, same thing I'm getting to. I'm so stoked I get to share my story. But I was the same. I was listening to how I built this with Guy Raz and I was just on every episode CFO and I would just share episodes and share books and you know, we share books in house, in book club now. We're just constantly learning, you know, there's so much to learn out there of how to improve every day. So good. Yeah. But we just wanted to play in that world and I think wanted to play in the world to control our brand message, as in, you know, make sure we kept our brand message of stay true to our brand message. I think that was one of the big reasons too, where sometimes in a retailer you can't control it because they can merge it however they want. You can't control that. Sometimes when you're a smaller brand, you can't. You're not the big 45 sportswear brand. So, so you have to be able to control it in your way where E commerce allows you to have self expression and control your brand message and speak to your community directly. So yeah, I hope that makes sense.
Nathan Bush: Oh, it does. It totally makes sense. And I love your focus on continued learning and not knowing all the answers and asking people for help as you talked about with your mentorship as well. One thing, I've got a list of questions here and we've gone through a tiny amount of them and we've got a wrap up.
Jason Daniel: I'll try and talk, I'll try and everything's.
Nathan Bush: No, everything's great, everything's perfect. It's my job actually to keep us on track and I'm not very good at it. The question that I want to ask before you go, and it's a little bit off topic to where we've been, is I saw last year that you had successfully done a drone delivery in Brisbane. How was that?
Jason Daniel: Yeah, it was pretty epic. I mean there's actually a company that's actually owned by Google started at Wing drone delivery. So we partnered with a company that started, I mean they're only, they're in Canberra and they're in Logan actually funny enough, so it just so happened they're in our hometown, which works perfect. But it's early days for them. So it's really exciting. I mean once it starts to open up, we're hoping we can get one at our warehouse so we can drone delivery from our office. And that's gonna, it's gonna be the future, you know, and we wanted to get on there on board very early, which we're really excited to be the first kind of sportswear brand on there with them partnering. And I think for us it's knowing where it's gonna be in five years time to have drones at our office and be able to deliver, you know, probably 40, 50 kilometers away from our office, which is super cool, you know, and so, you know, yeah, it was cool. We got a bunch of media around it which is really exciting. And the drones are so rare, they kind of drop down like wire drops down and drops the package off. You can only ship up to I think about 1.5 kilos, so you couldn't actually put like a big jacket in there. But man, they're delivering coffees and things like that as well. Wire drones. So they're getting very technical with it and what's possible. So yeah, we're starting soaked. It's kind of exciting where it's going to go in the Next five years.
Nathan Bush: So cool. Was there anything, any surprising or unexpected observations from that?
Jason Daniel: Well, I haven't got it yet because I wasn't in the area so I couldn't get delivered. So they only were delivering to two locations within, within the area, so I couldn't get it. Don't worry, I tried. I was like, come on, it's, it'd be nice to get something delivered. A coffee to the office would be great. So. But I don't think it'll be far away. I think it's more that they're going to map the sky out, so there's a little bit of work to be done.
Nathan Bush: Map the sky out? What do you mean by the.
Jason Daniel: Look, I don't know how it all works, but obviously you've got planes flying and different things happening, so you've got to get approvals to fly big drones in areas and it's a little bit over. You know, I'm not in the detail of it too much but I know there's a fair bit of work to do it. But you know, they're early days and. I know. And the company is actually, I'm pretty sure a subsidiary of Google. So it's not, not, you know, it's, it's, it's a long term play for those guys. You know, it's, it's, it's going to be exciting.
Nathan Bush: So good. Jason, I know you've got to go,
Jason Daniel: so I'll keep going if you want, but yeah, it's all good.
Nathan Bush: Well, I would love to, but I can't. I know that you've got a phone call after this. You're so generous to keep going but you've got to be on time to China. But thank you so much for everything that you've shared. It's just really cool and I love, love hearing about your plan for your own brand and what you're building there in Logan and just connecting with your customers. It's really great.
Jason Daniel: Yeah, thanks, Nath. I really appreciate the time. It is awesome to share the story and where the brand's headed.
Nathan Bush: Awesome. So if people hear this and they want to get in touch with you or the team, what's the best way to do that?
Jason Daniel: So our company channels skd. I mean my personal is Jason Daniel. The entire name was taken. So that's my. But yeah, reach out. It's all good. Yeah, I try to respond pretty much as much as I can as in within the week. But yeah, love to. Any feedback or questions. Always open to learn. So is the team. So yeah, those are the channels.
Nathan Bush: You're a legend. Thanks mate.
Jason Daniel: Thank you. Appreciate it.
Nathan Bush: So LSKD wasn't always lskd. It started as Loose Kid, went to LKR and then evolved into lskd. And I loved Jason's advice when it came to branding and rebranding. Jason is really clear that when you start a new brand you need to start with your mission or your why rather than a logo, a color or a design for him and the team. LSKD started with Chase the Vibe more than a new slogan, it meant new product, new distribution models and potentially new target customers on top of this. I love that his advice was to listen to your gut when taking a new approach and to let it all roll out organically rather than one big bang approach. There's plenty in there if you are considering rebranding, but as Jason said, there's no rules. Do it your way to finish up. I have three resources for you. Firstly, if you're a first time listener of Add to Cart and you want to stay up to date with new episodes, head over to addtocart.com au and you can sign up for our weekly newsletter. We'll let you know every time a new episode drops as well as giving you my three takeaways from each episode and a link to the transcripts so you can know that this is an episode that you want to dive straight into. Secondly, if you want a weekly roundup of the best e commerce case studies tools and research, sign up to the Hi5 Friday newsletter which is delivered to inboxes at 8am every Friday morning. I read all the e commerce news and send you the bits that I think you can take action from. Sign up at 12 high 12h I g h.com au high 5 and the last thing if you are looking to explore your next e commerce opportunity, head over to esweettalent.com we are a dedicated e commerce talent agency connecting the best e commerce talent with the fastest growing brands. Check it out. Sign up to the email and get in touch with me if you want to discuss your next move. Until next time, thanks for listening and keep those customers adding to CART.
