Nathan Bush: Happy holidays. I hope you're enjoying this episode of Add to Cart on a beach or somewhere really relaxing after a big 2022. We're taking a break at Add to Cart, so we're bringing you some extra checkout episodes that haven't gone to air yet. We'll be back with our feature episodes from Monday 16th January, and the very first episode we have lined up is an absolute star of the industry. We can't wait to bring it to you. Until then, enjoy the downtime and we'll
Tony Corrales: see you in the new.
[Voiceover]: Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous Add to Cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get you through your Friday.
Nathan Bush: Today's checkout features Tony Corrales, co founder and director of no Skin. No Skin is a vegan clothing brand that aims to strike the perfect balance of ethics and aesthetics. Based in Collingwood, Melbourne, no Skin produces a made to last range of shoes and clothing using high quality, innovative materials such as Japanese denim and get this, cactus leather.
Nathan Bush: Tony, thank you so much for joining us on the checkout. We've had a brilliant conversation around what you created at no Skin, everything from sustainability to vegan to unisex clothing. But we're here to learn a little bit more about you. So, five quick questions.
Tony Corrales: All right, go for it.
Nathan Bush: Number one, what's the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Tony Corrales: I've just totally. I know, 100%. A cat teepee.
Nathan Bush: A cat teepee? Like just literally for your. For a home for your cat?
Tony Corrales: Yeah, it's like a little kind of TP tent thing that I was a couple of beers in and saw an Instagram ad for and I was pure sucker. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only person who's ever bought it. It was way too expensive for what it was. And next question will be have the cats used it? No, they have.
Nathan Bush: It's always a gamble with cats. Like, they either love it or they won't touch it. Wouldn't matter what it is, though.
Tony Corrales: That might as well just get him a box. But hey, it's. I had fun.
Nathan Bush: Good stuff. All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer?
Tony Corrales: My favorite retailer is a New York company called Knickerbocker. They do absolutely beautiful and amazing. What? You know, kind of a Melbourne aesthetic which is very similar to a New York aesthetic. And I'll say every day we're very inspired by them. And it pains me that being Vegan. I can't buy some of their products because it is wool and leather. So I'm like, we'll make our own versions. Like aesthetically, they are just outstanding. They do some amazing collabs with brands like Kodak and the New York Times. They just ooze cool and they're so good. Worth checking out.
Nathan Bush: Nice. Great recommendation.
Tony Corrales: Yeah.
Nathan Bush: All right, number three, which E commerce practice do you wish was history?
Tony Corrales: I think probably like content driven SEO, like long form content driven SEO. I think that's such a contrast from where people's attention is focused now and we're still trying to get these long form blog posts in, but the reality is that's not how people are consuming content anymore. You know that eyes aren't on it a lot of the time. It's extremely time consuming and you just end up with people being absolutely verbose and overstated in what they're talking about because they're doing it for SEO. So it's counterintuitive to what they're trying to do of providing value for the user as well. We're now just writing things for the sake of it. So I think we've seen that.
Nathan Bush: I agree with you. We've got so many better indicators of what is engaging for customers and what's meeting demands.
Tony Corrales: Absolutely. I just think even now, and I really do think people. And I've been using TikTok more as a search engine now. If you want to search, I was in Singapore last week and I want to search things to do in Singapore and you type that into TikTok and you get people showing you the videos of it giving a thing. You can see the comments. That's so much better than like a 3,000 word essay where somebody's doing their travel blog because they're doing it for SEO purposes and seeing how many times they can put Singapore into the content.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. The worst is when people try and write long form blog content and then insert TikToks into the long form blog content.
Tony Corrales: I know that's it. And like, and I actually, I love long form content. I love to write and I love to read that way, but I don't love reading long form content that is just expanded for the purpose of SEO.
Nathan Bush: It's.
Tony Corrales: That's got to go long form content
Nathan Bush: for humans, not robots.
Tony Corrales: Absolutely. That's very well put. That's much better.
Nathan Bush: Number four, can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? Yeah.
Tony Corrales: The podcast is producing with purpose. I recommend you listen to it right away.
Nathan Bush: Brilliant. Podcast Absolutely. We mentioned the main episode, but you've interviewed founders like Bellroy, people from Patagonia, so some great e commerce brands in there.
Tony Corrales: Yeah. So of course I'm going to plug that one. And thanks for going with me on that. In terms of books, a couple. I think I do love to read to get myself pumped up and I recommend people read for the time and place as well. You know, I think the Brand Gap is an amazing book if you're wanting to build a brand and not just a business. It's short, it's to the point and really gives you like, actionable insights. That's great. Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. That's also a really good one. That makes you think, you know, customer first rather than brand first. Some great stuff there. But then on the other side of things, if you're just stressed out with your business and you're worrying where the sales are or something like that. The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday. A great book that takes on stoic philosophy. Like, we always just be looking at the metrics and the growth. Sometimes we need to take a little bit of introspection and look after our own selves as well. So they're my recommendations.
Nathan Bush: Brilliant recommendations. Ask for one. Got three, plus a podcast. How good.
Tony Corrales: There you go. That's my brow. I'd do a whole podcast on that. So.
Nathan Bush: All right, I'm noting that. Thank you. All right, last one I have for you is finish this sentence. The future of retail is bricks and mortar. I can't see the writing on the wall here.
Tony Corrales: Yeah, no, I think, look, I think the future of retail is. Is obviously massively online, but I think unless there is some significant evolution in the way that we shop online, whether that's in the metaverse and getting experiential stores or something like that, perhaps that is the future, but in a way that is still in a way, steel, bricks and mortar retail. I think it's hard to take away that experience of interacting with a product like sail rails, seeing stuff thrown everywhere, going through, you know, the TK Maxx or something like that is stressful and it's not enjoyable. I can fully see the end of that. But you just look to brands like Aesop, who, you know, have absolutely dominated in Australia and then further beyond. They're absolutely taking the world by storm. And that's because they're providing experiences, not just retail stores. I think there will be fewer and I think it's going to be very hard to meet the kind of high quality of it. But I think that's still got a massive place in our society and culture for us to go and engage with those things.
Nathan Bush: That sounds like a pretty exciting future for retail, I reckon.
Tony Corrales: Yeah. I mean, more stores like that, it's. Why wouldn't you. I think a lot of the time people will go and experience those stores and they will then go and buy online or they will buy in store to have it delivered to their house by drone in, you know, 12 hours or something. But I just don't think you can. People like to shop and people like the experience and I just don't think the. I don't think the online environment can fully give you that. Especially as we start aspiring for more quality and buying less but buying better. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's actually going to take a turn back to where people want to experience the product and hear the story about it and get to interact with.
Nathan Bush: Beautifully put, Tony. Thank you so much for joining us on the checkout.
Tony Corrales: Thanks a lot, mate.
Nathan Bush: To hear more from Tony, jump back into episode 242, where Tony shares how no Skin finds the right balance between D2C marketplace and wholesale. He also talks about the challenges of ticking off every side of the ethics triangle and why his brand, no Skin, has no male or female categories. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep adding to car.
