Preppy Podcast

WanderFull Brand

• Patricia Mae Olson

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Stay hydrated and never forget or lose your expensive reusable water bottles with this stylish water bottle bag. Shop at https://wanderfullbrand.com

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SPEAKER_00

You're listening to the Preppy Podcast, and I'm your host, Patricia May Olsen. I'll be interviewing the brands, businesses, and influencers who are keeping the modern preppy lifestyle alive. Each Tuesday, I'll bring you a new episode, but if you're craving more preppy, then shop the merch and listen to past episodes at thepreppy podcast.com and be sure to follow at the Preppy Podcast and me, Patricia underscore May underscore Olson on Instagram. I am chatting with the founders of Wonderful, who they have the most innovative bag to carry your water bottles in. It's something that I really enjoyed their conversation of how they came up with this because it sort of combines fashion and convenience. And I mean, who isn't carrying around a giant water bottle these days? They're like part of an accessory. Um, so they came up with a way to carry them so that you don't lose them, so that you look chic. Um, and I just love this product for travel, for every day, as well as our Camp Preppy Colorado campers are actually going to get one of their wonderful bags to try and use in person during camp. And I just think it's so ideal for the outdoorsy lifestyle of Colorado. And it's so funny because ever since I've interviewed the founders and discovered the brand, I have been seeing their bags all over the place. Like when I've been traveling on vacation at the country club, um, just truly everywhere. It's clearly a hit. It was featured on Oprah. Um, and we get into so much more, you know, how they came up with it, some of the pinch me moments, the challenges, um, exactly what makes their bags so different and so useful. And they were generous to give us a discount. If you use the code PreppyPath, you get 20% off. Um, so definitely check that out. But let's get into this week's episode. But before we do so, just a reminder, you guys totally should join Club Preppy, which is our monthly subscription. We do at least one virtual event per month. So think of things like wine tasting, cooking classes, style workshops. Plus, they get an amazing little gift from me in the mail. It's a great community. Um, I think so many of you are sleeping on it because it truly is so much fun and such a valuable tool to hear from these experts, uh, make those connections firsthand, learn a new skill or hobby, and connect with other prepsters. So you can find out more information at thepreppypodcast.com. But now let's get into the interview. Okay, well, why don't you ladies first let everyone know who you are, where you live, and what you do?

SPEAKER_02

Um, hi, I'm Katie Hill. I'm along with Lisa Watkins, co-founder of Wonderful Brand. Um, we live in Fairfield County, Connecticut. And um, like I said, we are the co-founders of Wonderful. And I'll let Lisa speak for herself.

SPEAKER_01

You've said it all already so well. Um, so I'm Lisa Watkins, um, and there's not much more I can add than that, but yeah, her her better half. Uh take that back. I I've not had enough sleep, Patricia. So would you like to do that? You're good, I'm Lisa Watkins, um, co-founder of Wonderful. Also live in um Fairfield County, Connecticut, although I'm originally from Chicago.

SPEAKER_00

Excellent. Okay, well, that leads me then to my first question. My listeners know that I love to start at the beginning. So tell me a little bit about you ladies as kids, because I find so much of who we were as kids like comes back later and we like refind ourselves almost. So, what were you like? Were you entrepreneurial, like had a lemonade stand? Um, were you creative, like always drawing and making things? Um, or you know, were you just someone that loved to learn? Tell me a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

I have to start here because um I always, this is Katie, I always loved fashion from the time I was a little girl. Um and I always knew that's what I wanted to do. Um, and I did work in the fashion industry for um from the time I got out of school for many years. Um, I would dress my mom, I would dress like everybody. So um, and I always wanted to own my own business. So creating wonderful with Lisa has been like a full circle moment for me. Um, taking, you know, my my career in the fashion industry and making it my own, our own brand. So um, yeah, I love that question. It's always been in me, and I feel like this is kind of you know, my whole life coming full circle.

SPEAKER_01

I love that question too. It's a great question. Um, I was actually, I was very different from Katie. I was a tomboy and I played a lot of sports and I mean loved sports, but I was also um very, I know Katie was too. Both of us were academic, um, but I was also bossy. Um, and I mean my parents tell stories that I would like fire our babysitters and I'd say, you're not coming back. And some things never change. Some things never change. Um and I always wanted to own my own business. And when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say, I want to run my own company. And I didn't know what that would be or what it looked like. And when I started to, you know, be out in the in the workplace in my early 20s, um, and I worked in business, and it was like all I could think about all the time. I just really wanted to have my own company, but not sure what it would be or what it would look like. And, you know, it just always seemed so daunting, and I was so awed by and inspired by people that actually took the leap and did it. And so um, yeah, and so and here we are. We've taken the leap and and and what a leap it is.

SPEAKER_00

I love that. I feel like you guys and I would get along so well because I it was very similar. Like I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I always knew I wanted to be the boss. Um, and I always loved fashion and I hated working for someone else. So I feel like we would totally get along. Um, but then tell me a little bit about so when it comes time for college, where and what did you guys end up studying? Was it like business, entrepreneurship, fashion, or was it something else?

SPEAKER_01

So I um I went to University of Pennsylvania and I my father was a doctor, um, and my mom um was in real estate, but I really didn't I didn't have parents who were like business people. So I didn't really understand as a teenager what the business jobs were, right? Like my parents weren't in finance or um traditional business disciplines, so I didn't really know what there was to offer. So I went to Penn and I became a psychology major just because I really liked it and I thought it was really interesting, and I didn't really know kind of what my next step was going to be, but I thought it was a good background for whatever I wanted to do. And I I have actually found that it's been very helpful throughout life. Um and then when I graduated, I went through recruiting processes and you know, found my first job um in tech in like a business training program in California. Um and so started there, and then I worked in Silicon Valley um for five years. Then I went, I got my MBA at Kellogg, and then I was in uh consumer packaged goods at uh Unilever and then start, you know, started having babies and couldn't it was very difficult to do the full-time thing because they wanted us to travel a lot, like you're gonna go to Asia for four weeks, and I couldn't do that. So I started doing consulting on my own, and that was kind of my first foray into entrepreneurship, where I quit working full-time corporate and I said, okay, I'm gonna try to figure this out. And um, I met someone on a plane who was working, you know, doing um like consumer insights market research, which I had experience in from Unilever and using a new technology to do it, and they were franchising it. So I did that first on my own and like was able to find my own clients. I had large pharmaceutical companies because I started just finding RFPs online and submitting bids and got clients and then just built from there. So anyway.

SPEAKER_00

Very cool. I feel like consulting is like the gateway for a lot of people to entrepreneurship. I have to be honest, right? It's a good first step. Now, what about you? Tell me a little bit about your college and first career journey.

SPEAKER_02

So um, as I said, I always wanted to be in fashion when I was young, but I also wanted to leave my options open. So I did go into college with the idea of getting a degree in business because I knew that if for whatever reason I wasn't happy in fashion, it would afford me other opportunities. So I went to the University of Virginia and I was in the comm school, commerce school. Um, and I actually have a double major in Spanish, um, which I may have let lapse just a little bit, but I I still, you know, use it here and there. Um but in any case, so I have my degree in business and out of school, I got a job in the management training program for Saxeth Avenue, um, worked my way up at SACS to become a buyer. I was actually the first buyer when they launched SACS.com. And um I was, I actually moved around to a few different companies and helped launch a few different dot coms back in the day. I'm dating myself, but um that was very exciting. Um, and then I actually did take a um a leave from work to raise my three kids. Um, I always really wanted to be home with my kids, so I did, but it was always in my mind like what's gonna be next. You know, I knew that my story wasn't done from a work perspective. And I did, you know, a few things um before before uh we launched Wonderful. But Lisa is always, you know, kind of charging forward and we were friends first before we two meet. Yeah, friends and neighbors. We actually lived until she moved about, you know, seven, eight months ago. We lived, I don't know, six, seven houses apart from each other. Um, and we were friends, our kids are friends. Um and Lisa was like, I want to start a business. And I was like, ooh, ooh, ooh, pick me. Let's do it together. So um that's kind of how it started. Yeah. We actually, speaking of how we met, we met through mutual friends at a mom dinner, but we did a PTA.

SPEAKER_01

These ones were in second grade at the time, just starting second grade, and they're now both in college. So it was a very long time ago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. And then fast forward, we worked on a project for our uh PTA at their elementary school. And um, I I have to admit, we kind of knocked it out of the park. Um, so we we had good evidence that we work well together.

SPEAKER_01

So it was a Halloween party for 800 people. And yeah, so we did that two years in a row, and then um I was like, I'm done, I'm never volunteering again. Katie kept doing it. I was out. Um but it went really well and we enjoyed working together. And then yeah, I just was like, I I just really wanted to start a business and I felt like I'm not getting any younger. And so I started listening to podcasts and kind of figuring out what I wanted to do. And I I I actually listened to podcasts for a good year before, and even though I had formal business education for my MBA program, like things have changed so much, right? Like with technology, what you learned 20 years ago is not what's relevant today. And so I felt like it was very important to catch up on what is happening now in the marketplace and with different platforms and um like Amazon and TikTok and all that, all that, all of the different ways that one can can make money, frankly. And so I did a lot of research, and then I told Katie, I was like, okay, this is what I'm doing. And yeah, she's like, I want to do it too. I was like, great, let's go.

SPEAKER_00

And I love that. So it sounds like you both had this passion to start something, to be an entrepreneur, and then really to work together. So, how did you land on what what the product offering would be? Like, how did that aha moment come?

SPEAKER_01

So I did not want to do this at all, I will say. I am not, remember, I'm a tomboy, like I don't like clothes, I'm not a big shopper, I don't like fashion, it's not my thing. And so this was so out of my wheelhouse, but I will let so it was Katie's idea, and of course she was right, it's a great one, but I wanted to do something much less uh sort of fashionable and trendy and something I always joke, like toothpicks, you know, something that's very easy. Anyway, I will let Katie tell the story of how we Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So when we decided we were going to start a business, we would, you know, like I said, we were neighbors very close, we lived very close, and we would go to each other's house and um and ideate on what we wanted to do. And I, you know, always have been very into both fitness, of course, fashion, but also health, nutrition, et cetera. So I was always carrying around my water bottle. Um, and while we originally wanted to start before COVID, because we both have three kids, we both kind of hunkered down for COVID. And then like 2022, we were like, all right, it's time. We gotta, it's now or never, right?

SPEAKER_01

And so late 2021, we really late 2021. We launched in 22, sorry. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

My bad. Right. Um, so I was, you know, meeting with Lisa with my water bottle in tow. And um, I was like, you know, Lisa, and I also lived in New York City for many years, um, many, many years before moving to Connecticut because I was pregnant with my third child. And I was like, you know, Lisa, I want to be able to go into the city and I want to bring my water bottle. I don't like plastic water bottles. I don't like, you know, buying them, throwing them away, rinse, repeat. I wanted to bring my bottle, but I was like, I don't want to carry it. And I said, I would love a bag that I could carry my water bottle and all of my essentials, right? And uh I said, I think we should do a bag like that. I said, you know, I know they exist out there, but they're not very stylish, right? They're more like just black neoprene meant for hiking. Well, then from my experience as a buyer and merchandising, I know to like kind of look at the runways and see what's happening and what what the designers are kind of introducing. And I started noticing coming down the runway, they were sending like water bottles on like, you know, straps or whatever designers were doing it in all different ways. And I was like, you know, Lisa, this is happening, and I want to, you know, meet in the middle for something that's very stylish but affordable. Um, because it's a matter of time before it happens, and I want to get there first. And then Lisa, uh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

Who's like, are people really gonna want to carry a bag just for their water bottle? Um, like people love their designer handbags, whatever. But uh sorry, so I went over to Katie's house one day and I had a 32-ounce bottle of water, and I threw it in my tote bag with my computer. By the time I got to her house, which was eight houses away, the entire thing had dumped into my bag. So I'm literally pouring the bag into the sink. And I was like, I think this is the universe's way of saying we should do this because it drowned my computer and everything. And so we did, and Katie was absolutely right. And what you know, we identified was like this great white space of you had the runways, as Katie mentioned, and it would be like a Chanel strap for $2,000, which didn't even hold your phone, or there would be a $10 neoprene sleeve on Amazon that no woman would ever want to wear out in public. And there was this whole big white space, there was nothing in between. And so what we did, we sat down um at her kitchen counter actually, and we created out of a paper prototype like what we thought it should look like, and you know, aesthetically what it should look like and the features it should have, and and and all of that, and just designed it um ourselves and our our very first um iteration. We had five colors, that was it. Um, now we have hundreds of SKUs, but we had five. And apparently, when I said to her, who's gonna want to buy a bottle bag? Apparently, thousands and thousands and thousands of women, including myself now, want to buy water bottle bags. And so um yeah, it's just been amazing. Like it's really taken off, and it's been such a ride.

SPEAKER_00

So that is a such a cool story, and I love how you like were just smart enough to go and look at the runway, see what's happening, and then come up with this because I was curious like how this idea came up. I know everyone carries their big water bottle everywhere. I've been in the position mostly at the airport where my water bottle breaks open in a giant tote bag and gets all over everything. Um, so it's just it's truly so smart. And then I love putting a stylish spin on it. So then what from idea from chatting, coming up with a prototype to launching a website? Like, what did that in between look like? Like, how were you finding manufacturers? Was it just something on you were Googling or did you have connections then? Um, how what time period from idea to launch did that take? I'd love to hear more about that um, you know, in-between area.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. I mean, there are so many parts of starting a business, right? From you know, setting up the LLC to figuring out what's your business name gonna be to, I mean, there are so many things that people don't think about in addition to just getting the product made. So we were working together on all of that, and then at the same time, um, designing the prototype and finding the factories. And Katie, I'll let if you want to go ahead, you know, how we found the factories, et cetera.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So because I come from that industry, you know, I had some knowledge about how to vet factories and, you know, um, we do have it produced overseas because even though we said, you know, it'd be great to do it here in the US, we we tried and it's just unfortunately too expensive, right?

SPEAKER_01

Um, so we found we found um a bunch of different factories and just to kind of check for one second, this is where the podcast that I listened to came in really handy too, because I listened to hours and hours and hours of other entrepreneurs talking about how they got started, similar to like what your listeners might be doing right now, right? And learning the best ways to vet the factories um and and and what to look for, like in addition to Katie's knowledge. But I mean, the all the podcasts and and things really, really helped. And we did it all online. I mean, a lot of entrepreneurs the thing that's funny is we have this very successful business. We've we've not been to Asia, and we were going to go Do they want to admit that?

SPEAKER_00

I think a lot of entrepreneurs honestly, I think a lot of people haven't been to their manufacturers these days because everything can be done online now.

SPEAKER_01

Like you can do it online, like with right, I mean, video calls and Zoom and and and we had a trip planned, and the funny thing is our trip was planned for March of 2020. And I think we all know what happened in March of 2020, and our trip was immediately canceled and it didn't happen. And every time we've said, okay, we're going, it just feels too busy and too difficult, and like we're running a million miles a minute, but we we are gonna go in October and visit our factories and go to so Canton Fair is actually um to to give you specifics. Canton Fair is a a fair in China where you know thousands of factories come and show all their wares, and so you can go and see like the quality and what are they producing and what are they producing for who and where is it distributed. And I mean, you might find something really cool that a factory is making for their Japanese customers that's only in Japan. And you say, wow, like if I took that and tweaked it for the US market, like this would be really cool, right? Or oh, I have an idea for um a water bottle bag, and I know this company makes bags. I like the quality of their bags, I like sort of you know, some of the designs that are different, and so I wonder if they could do this or that, right? Um, but the biggest thing that as an entrepreneur you don't want to do, right, is is like a me too type of product. Say, oh, like, well, I love, you know, I don't know, gold uh bangle bracelets. And I want to do gold bang, you know, there are thousands of them out there, and so Well, how is yours going to be different? And is it going to solve a problem? And so I think that's where people sometimes don't remember that like you you have to be different and you have to it also helps to solve a problem.

SPEAKER_00

So yes. Yeah, a thousand bumps.

SPEAKER_02

So I I just wanted to say too, besides like, you know, my background in in knowing how to vet a factory, that does not mean that like there were not plenty of bumps along the way. Um, you know, we and we just deal with it as it comes, right? You're learning, you're growing, and you figure out a way to make things right and keep on going. We've had quality issues that we've had to deal with, but like now we're still with the same factory that we were at at the beginning, and we had a lot of issues, and now it's like amazing, and they do everything so perfectly, but it's been a work in progress, like so much of our business, right?

SPEAKER_01

Can we tell the story of our first production run, Katie? I think we can at this point, it's so funny. So, our very first production run, we ordered 800 units across five colors. And, you know, we'd had samples back and forth, and we approved them. We're like, okay, great. So we were trying to decide because a lot of people said, you know, you should so we Amazon was one of our platforms, like you should send it straight to Amazon because you don't want to pay to have it shipped to you in the US and then ship it from the US to Amazon. And we decided ultimately we really need to take a look at these and look at the quality and make sure. So we got them and we inspected every single unit, and about half of them did not pass our inspection. They were not up to our standard. And things like like threads popping and things like that, we were like, oh my gosh, what are we gonna do? Because you know, we started this business obviously with our personal money and um had a lot sunk into it. And so we ended up saying, okay, we have to fix every single bag. And Katie's like, well, I know how to sew. I can so Katie would literally sit on the couch at night, like watching TV with her kids, and be like hand sewing these bags to fix them to make sure that they were perfect. And then we ended up, I'm like, okay, we we like we can't have you doing this. Like, we gotta, there's all this other stuff we have to do. We ended up finding like a seamstress. We would put, we would like take deliveries to her house and like drop off like 30 bags at a time, and she'd fix them and we'd take them back and then you know, package them and sell them. I mean, it was insane. And um, we ended up being able to salvage most of them and sell them and and and make them up to our standards, but it was such a good lesson that like you really have to be micromanaging the quality, and that's why our people love our products because to this day, we even though we're ordering thousands at a time now, like we're we we inspect all of them.

SPEAKER_02

We're pretty fanatical about our quality, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we make sure that the quality is there. Um and it, you know, we started out our first production room was 800 units. We sold the very first one to a mutual friend of ours, and we said, How are we gonna sell the other 799? And um, fast forward, we like shipped and sold 44,000. 44,000 from my house and Katie's house, like shipped ourselves. And I mean, we had bags. I mean, my husband is such a patient saint of a person. We had boxes like in four rooms of my house, my garage, Katie's garage, and we would hire au pairs from like local au pairs. So when the kids that they were taking care of were were at school during school hours from nine to three, they would come over and help fill orders and ship. And then Katie and I would take over at three and fill more orders, and then we would take these huge loads like to UPS and USPS, and then we started having them come and do pickups. And our neighbor, my neighbors like thought I was crazy because they'd like walk by they'd walk their dogs past the house, and on my porch, I'd have like, you know, 60 or 80 boxes that that all had to go out. It was very funny.

SPEAKER_00

So I love that though. Like, I think sometimes entrepreneurship gets glamorized, and there were a few points that I think are important. And the one is that like you guys were willing to get down and dirty and do like the little jobs, right?

SPEAKER_02

Very down and very dirty, very, really.

SPEAKER_00

Like you have to be willing to do it all and to make it work, right? Um, so I think I think sharing that is so important because, like I said, sometimes it gets glamorized. Now I'm curious. So you have um the product, like what was your launch plan? Because you mentioned launching on Amazon. So that was part of the initial plan, like launch on Amazon and your website. Like, did you create social media? Kind of how did you get the product out there then to customers?

SPEAKER_02

So ironically, we originally planned to just be an Amazon and D2C business. Okay. And as soon as we did launch, Lisa started doing, you know, posts on like Instagram on social media. And ironically, that's what I just interject.

SPEAKER_01

I hate social media, hate it. And and, you know, and and being you know, Katie and I were both in our late 40s when we started our business, right? And so there was a lot that we had to learn. Neither of us are big social media people. So, not just that, I mean, learning Amazon, Shopify. I built our website myself, like I taught myself how to do it. I mean, you can learn anything these days through YouTube and a podcast, right? It's just sitting down and doing it. And then the social media. So the first week we launched, we coordinated, we were having social media, Shopify, and Amazon.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And go ahead, Katie.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And so uh Lisa started putting, you know, ads out for our bags. And very soon, very quickly, we got um a response from somebody who does pop-up shops. And she was like, Oh, I love your bags. I really want to carry them. We were like, Well, that wasn't the plan. But Lisa was like, let's try it. And we were like, All right, so we try it. And I mean, this woman to this day, we call her our you know, OG because she started selling them, and pretty soon she was ordering by the dozen, then the you know, caseload, which is 50 units, and then like multiple cases. And to this day, I mean, she has done well over six figures with us in four years, and she's a dynamo, and she started selling them so well, and we were like, I don't know, maybe we need to look into this. So we did a few pop-up shops, and the next thing we know, we're at the Javits, you know, doing wholesale trade shows, and it's just been like a rocket ship ever since.

SPEAKER_01

Can I tell that story? Um I I have really bad back problems because I was in a car accident years ago. So I don't like to stand for long periods of time. So we were doing, um, we did like the the mom, like there was a Mother's Day uh little pop-up thing in Westport, like in a parking lot, right? And so like moms would come by and buy gifts. And we did well and we got good feedback on the bags, and Katie was really excited, and she's like, we should do more of these. And I just looked at her, I was like, girl, if I'm gonna stand all day, like we're going to the Javit Center. Like I am not doing these little pop-up jobs. And uh, we were nervous to do it, and you know, it was expensive, but we took the risk and we, I think it was a good calculated risk, and we just knocked it out of the park. We made our money back by noon the first day of like the four-day show. And then everything past noon the first day was just gravy. And we opened up how many stores did we open?

SPEAKER_02

Like a hundred and thirty or forty in that show.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, like that's that we were at a hundred and forty stores from that one trade show.

SPEAKER_00

What do you think was that element that made you guys successful then? What do you think, you know, you mentioned earlier having this product solving a problem and doing something no one else was? Do you think that really was a sacred sauce? Or do you think, you know, it was you had all these different patterns and colors and designs? Like uh the fact that people were just naturally carrying water at the time. Like what do you think really set you guys up for success?

SPEAKER_02

I think that we just had the right product at the right time, right? I mean, when we created this, as I said to Lisa, you see everybody running around with a water bottle in one hand and a phone in the other hand, and we only have two hands, we gotta free them up, right? And more and more people like me not only want to carry their water and all of their essentials, but they want to be environmentally friendly, right? So it's a way to carry a reusable water bottle. And oh, by the way, you know, environmentally friendly and wallet friendly because you save so much money. Lisa and I now travel so much with this business. And I mean, we all know you go to the airport and you're paying like stupid amounts, six, eight dollars for a bottle of water. Our favorite is we were in Las Vegas for a show, and our hotel, which was not even like the highest end hotel, they wanted to charge us $13 for a bottle of water because we couldn't find like a filling station there. And we were like, are you kidding me right now?

SPEAKER_01

You know, so water's not optional. I mean, yeah, as human beings, we have to have water or we die. So it's it's so annoying to get price gouged like that. But the other thing too is that people are spending a lot of money on their water bottle and then it's in their hand and they set it down and they walk away. I mean, we would laugh because at our trade show, there would be buyers coming in and they would leave their water bottles in our booth and forget them. And it's like, well, if you had our bag, you wouldn't forget your water bottle. You didn't have to replace it because you carry it with you. We would find water bottles in the ladies' room that people left. Um, so it does save you a lot of money, and you can, I mean, you pay back the cost of your bag very quickly with you know, all of the beverages that you aren't then buying, yeah. Um, or replacing your water bottle. And by the way, it also fits a bottle of wine, which is oh that's good to know too.

SPEAKER_00

Good for a BYL.

SPEAKER_02

And for gifting, right? Because everybody's always needing a new birthday gift or Mother's Day gift or holiday gift or you know, whatever. That is yeah, a major selling point of our bags.

SPEAKER_00

I'd love to talk a little bit about the design too, because I know you know you guys have so many prints. We did a really cute preppy plaid um for Camp Preppy, but you have stripes, you have um, you know, corridors I saw even coming for fall, like you even have game day and war for college students. Like, how did you develop the assortment of prints and colors and decide on what to add? Like, are you looking at fashion trends again there?

SPEAKER_02

So we definitely, when we're doing a new collection, we look at what's kind of trending, you know, coming down the runway. But at the same point, we're not beholden to that because we know that we're not necessarily like high fashion, but we want to be kind of in lockstep with where color trends and whatnot are. Um, but then we also look at our different segments because our bag works in so many ways, whether it's for the woman who's, you know, just life on the go for travel, things like that. But we also cater to things like country clubs, right? Where we have, you know, embroideries for golf, tennis, pickleball, and the plaids and things like that. Um, or we have ones for particular school, school colors. So we have just so many different, you know, roads that we're kind of roaming, um, and thus all of our different colors.

SPEAKER_01

But but to your point, we do a lot of research as far as what's coming down the runway, what color trends are, pan tone color trends, vogue, etc. And then we take what we like and we don't do what we don't like. Like if a color is supposed to be super hot and we don't like it, and we don't think our customer will like it, we won't do it, you know. But and then if there's something else that might not be, you know, the coolest thing, but like we have a segment of our customer base that just happens to love X and we know they love it, we'll do it. You know, so we we kind of yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And we really listen to our customers, whether it's our D2C customers or our wholesale customers, right? We're interfacing with the buyers at these wholesale shows and hearing like, oh, we're just selling this so well, and we love this, and or what do you think about doing this, you know? So we're just always kind of getting that feedback.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm curious, like a pinch me moment, and I know that you were featured um in Oprah magazine. So I'm curious if that was like a big pinch me moment that changed things for the business, um, or if there's another and sort of the story behind that, or whatever that pinch me moment may be.

SPEAKER_02

So I I'm gonna start here. Um, so that first show that we talked about where we gained like 130, 140 customers, that was August of 2022. And then we did our second show in January 2023. And by our third show, which was right after that, so it was like two shows back to back in January. I remember our first one, we got some really big things happening and we were like so excited. And I remember saying to Lisa, because we had heard like, oh, Oprah's people are at the show, and like it would be amazing if they, you know, come to your booth or whatever. And so we had two things happen, and we all know that things happen in threes, right? So going into the second show of January, we were like, now we just need Oprah's people to come. Now we just need them to come. And wouldn't you know it? In they walk, you know, while we're super busy. And I was just like, oh my gosh, Lisa and I are big believers in like putting out in the universe what you want to happen, right? And it comes back to you.

SPEAKER_01

And that was the start to interject that point. So when we were sitting at Katie's um kitchen counter with our paper prototype, yeah, I made a joke. And I'm like, okay, like we're gonna get on Oprah's favorite things, like this is gonna be amazing, and we're gonna be on Oprah's favorite things. And and she's like, okay, and and it was like a joke, and we would say it all the time, we're gonna be on Oprah's favorite things. And um, so sure enough, we go to the shows, and one of the first pinch me's was we were on Good Morning America, Good Morning America found us, and they wanted to put us on Deals and Steals, and that was like incredibly exciting. Um, and so that was like the first time we were like, wow, like this could really be amazing. Um, but then Oprah's people, we noticed they were watching us um because there was another entrepreneur we had met who had um who knew who they were, and um so we started talking to them and they asked for samples. And I have a video of Katie from years ago um where, you know, like we're in our like sweats and we're packing up this box of samples to send to Oprah and her people. And um, and I was like, all right, Katie, what is this for? And she picks up the box, she's like, it's for Oprah's favorite things, like we hope Oprah likes it. And you know, and she did, and and we were so blessed. We were it was so exciting, and so we were picked uh as one of Oprah's favorite things in 2023 and 2024. Um, and yes, it just it really blew up our business.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean, we were already very blessed to have our business growing organically, and then that happened in we found out in September and it launched November 1st, 2023. And I mean, that just took us to another stratosphere, so it was insane. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I love that. Um, I'm curious, what is your favorite product, Pattern, um, on your website right now? And then what's the best seller? Because I also I don't think we talked about the other, like besides um the bag that holds the water bottles, you also have like purses and other ones as well.

SPEAKER_02

So I want to just clarify that every single bag that we do carries a water bottle or a bottle of wine. So um our our best-selling bag, our original bag is the hydro bag, which is you know, to carry up to a 32-ounce bottle and your your phone and your credit cards and your passport, lip gloss, all that jazz. Um but we have other, yes, other iterations. And honestly, one that I carry a lot and I love um is our hydro hobo. So it's a hobo bag, um, but it has a place and it actually ships with a 12-ounce water bottle. Um, because so while you can't carry like a 24 or 32 ounce water bottle, there's so many filling stations these days who needs to necessarily carry all of that. So yeah, if you want to open it up and show Yeah, show me because I didn't realize yet.

SPEAKER_00

So, how does the water bottle fit in there then?

SPEAKER_01

You know what? I don't know that I have a mini uh in my home office. Let me just just show her the sleeve where so this and this might be well, there's so many amazing parts of this. Um, I'm just seeing if I have hold on. I'll put my water glass in it so that you can see. But so if you look here, it's really hard to see because it's black. Um, but my glasses in here, it's like a neoprene, and there's okay that tightens. So what's really cool is that you can, and here's a key leash, by the way, so you don't lose your keys, but you can um sorry, zip the bag, and um you have a hidden water bottle in here, which is is really nice because no one knows that you're you're carrying it, so it's not like hi. This is my water bottle bag. And one of my favorite features of it is that there's this hidden magnetic pocket here, so you have very easy like in and out for your your phone, your AirPods, what have you. So you don't have to unzip the bag and open it to get what you need. This is super comfortable, and then you can wear it cross body or you can wear it um over your shoulder.

SPEAKER_02

So and there's also a longer strap that you can wear across body, so it's everything we do, we try to make it very multifunctional. Um, and just yeah, we wear everything that we make and we'll make changes. And but that's a bag that I wear all the time.

SPEAKER_00

I love that because it not only I feel like some, you know, purses have a little spot for your water bottle, but I love how it's intentionally designed for the water bottle, like with that drawstring, so it actually is secure, like we talked about. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Lisa can tell you, uh, because we we joke about like what's the worst spill that you've had besides her tote one was spilling with her water and goldfish and making just like a nasty goldfishy, you know, muck on the bottom.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely disgusting. And it was like a just like designer tote bag, which these days I end up calling like a garbage bag because it's just like you just throw everything in it. And yes, I had goldfish in there for one of my kids and water spilled, and it I mean, it was disgusting. I had to throw it away. I couldn't even, I couldn't even salvage it. So along, so it's a good segue because my favorite bag right now. Um, and the great thing is we get to try all of them is our tote bag. Um, and I didn't plan this by the way, so this is my actual tote bag that I use, and it's I probably love stuff shoved in here. But what's great about this, there's a trolley sleeve, so you can put it on your suitcase. Um, and then you can also, if you're not using your suitcase, you zip this, and now it's just another pocket, um, which is great. It also has it has the hidden magnetic pocket as well for the phone, kind of like the easy in and out, so you don't have to unzip. And then um on the inside, of course, we have a water bottle. This is a little bit easier to see because it's lighter color, and again, this is embarrassing because I didn't plan this, so I have no idea what the inside looks like right now. Um, and it's a little bit hard to see, but there's a sleeve here where you can put a full-size water bottle in and it will keep it nice and secure. You are not gonna spill it and have a goldfish mess like I did. Um, it comes with a laptop sleeve right here. Um, and the laptop sleeve actually is removable, obviously, and then it also kind of buttons in because one of the things we didn't like, and this is where Katie and I get very into the design. Like we wear test things and we design them according to like problems or issues that we have with other products. I tend to overstuff my bags, so I don't sometimes I don't want to take my laptop sleeve out because when I try to put it back in, I can't fit it. So I would rather it be clipped into place and I can just unzip it, take my laptop out, put my laptop back in and not worry about fussing with it. But there are times I have, you know, taken it out. So so I love that feature. And then we have, and it's just hard to show you. I'm so sorry, but there we have all these little pockets, like we have pockets for glasses because we all have either regular glasses, sunglasses, reading glasses, a great zip pocket for your wallet, etc. And it's just I love traveling with it. It's like the easiest bag in the world, and it's super, super comfy because of the um the straps, which are very cushy.

SPEAKER_00

So this looks like seriously the perfect travel bag. And I love how where you can slide it on a suitcase that that can zip clothes and use it as another pocket, like just so genius, ladies.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you. And then, of course, our regular our Hydra bags, too. Katie and I came. All the time, and I mean I have my routine down because we travel a lot. I have my Hydra bag, which um here we'll show you. Uh this is our sage, although I don't think I have the strap on here. I'm sorry that we didn't plan this better with the process.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, you're good.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I don't even have one of our water bottles right at my desk. Do I? No. Um, next time I gotta do this in the office. So Katie gives you the water bottle. So here, so usually we have a beautiful one with the gold top, but here is um like a plastic one. So I mean they all fit, and then this this are this is a uh sample, so this is wrapped in plastic. If you're wondering why the zipper looks funny, but it's very pretty gold hardware with our logo. So here is for your phone, it's water resistant, and the Pro Max is all fit in it. You can also put like your phone and glasses and fit that in here, and then here um inside, this inside pocket is perfect for your passport, so it's a perfect size. So you can stick your passport or cash in this sort of hidden pocket. There are slots for um hotel room keys, uh, your ID, credit cards, etc. And then there's also enough room to put car keys or a wallet or whatever you need.

SPEAKER_03

Lip gloss, yeah, lip gloss, etc.

SPEAKER_01

So, what my routine is like I will wear this in the airport crossbody. I have my tote bag and my roly, and then I have my ID and my water, like very accessible, easy peasy, going through security, hanging out at the gate. Right before I board, I just pop this in my tote bag and I just board the plane. So I have my two items, but I know like where everything is, it's all consolidated. I'm not like looking around for everything. And then you have these rings um that you can clip other things onto AirPods, sanitizer, whatever. And some of our straps have additional rings where you can hook things as well. And one of our customers, um, think if I have one here. I don't do you have a vegan leather strap on you, Katie. I do, but um, yeah, but there's like a little ring on on some of our fancier straps. And like one of our customers, I love it. She walked up to us and she had um her readers hooked through it. And I'm like, that's that's genius. That's what she's using it for. So I do that now. I do that now too, because I definitely need reading glasses. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I love how hands-free it is, and like everything stays organized and easy to access.

SPEAKER_02

Here's our vegan leather strap. So this is um getting a little bit of a sneak peek, but we do this in a handle version, and now we're gonna do it in a hydro bag um uh uh you know version. It's canvas. I don't know if you can.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, pretty. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But this is um one of our straps because I have it turned around. You can see you can hang things here as well.

SPEAKER_01

Is that a handle bag, Katie? Do you want to show that feature?

SPEAKER_02

This is actually the uh hydro bag, but I can get a handle.

SPEAKER_01

Well, we have a version that's a little bigger that has a side zip. So for people that carry Stanley's with the handled tumbler, um, you can unzip it and then the handle fits through, or you can zip it up and then use it for a regular water bottle. So it's it's very versatile, which is nice because there are some people that do like the handled tumblers. So we have that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yep. No, I know exactly what you mean. Um, well, this was so fabulous getting a little, I feel like a fashion show almost.

SPEAKER_02

Here we go. Okay. So here's our glush handle, and you can see I'm holding the handle here. So there's a zipper that you can unzip to put your handle in. Or if you want to use it with a regular water bottle, you just you know take this out, obviously, zip it up, and it's a slightly larger version of our hydro bag. We call this the hydro bag.

SPEAKER_00

So fabulous. I love this. Um, thank you so much for walking us through them all. So, since this is the Preppy podcast, I'm curious what does Preppy mean to each of you? How would you describe it?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I think Preppy to me means timeless and tasteful and classic. I mean, that really is what preppy is to me, right? That it sort of transcends fads and trends. It's still like hip and cool, but it's it's just timeless and tasteful. I guess that's what it means to me.

SPEAKER_02

That's good. I I definitely like classic. I also think that preppy can not only just be an outward, you know, look, but also I equate preppy and peppy, you know, kind of like a state of mind of like um kind of exuberance. And I'm gonna do that.

SPEAKER_00

I love both of those answers, ladies. Um, I'm curious for listeners, and you shared some of these earlier, but what's like a resource or a tip in terms of business or entrepreneurship you could share? Like it could be a book, uh podcast, um, a YouTube series, or just like a tip in general.

SPEAKER_01

So my tip in general is that find people that are doing what you want to do, right? So if you want to be an entrepreneur, try to find a group of entrepreneurs. There are different masks, they're called masterminds where you can join and it's like a group of hundreds of people all working to the same toward the same goal. Um, and you learn so much. I mean, there's no reason to try to figure everything out yourself from square one because so many people have been there, done that, and have made mistakes, and they're happy to teach you and tell you. Um, and so that goes along with like books, podcasts, etc. Um, if you can't find other actual, you know, people who have been doing it. Um, but for me, that's like the biggest thing, I think.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, don't do it alone. Find someone, right? Find your group.

SPEAKER_02

One thing I find myself telling people that want to start their own business, I always say to Lisa, I'm so thankful that we're business partners because some people want to go it alone. And I cannot imagine doing this business without Lisa. Like we just complement each other so well. We kind of bring complimentary skills and points of view. We jokingly say, like our employees call us mom and dad. But we um because we kind of we jokingly say we're like, you know, married to each other because of our business, but we bring very separate points of view, but we kind of like wrestle until we come to a good meeting point. It generally seems to be the right decision.

SPEAKER_01

But our boys will say, mom and dad are fighting again.

SPEAKER_02

Um we do jokingly, but jokingly, we push each other.

SPEAKER_01

And it's important here. It's important if you have a partner to be partners with someone that you trust implicitly, implicitly, and who you know is committed to the success of the business. And like I know that Katie, first of all, Katie is such a hard worker, and I know that she there's no one else who wants our business to succeed more than she and I do. Like, she's equally committed. We are both equally committed, and and you know, both of us are in in real life, we're we've both been married for a very long time to our husbands, and like we know what commitment is. And I think if you can find that business partner who shares your same deep level of commitment and who you trust, I mean you can make great things happen. Because there are times when I am thinking, oh, like, you know, something that I want to do for our business is is great, or uh we we must do it. And then Katie will bring up a point that I hadn't thought about, right? Or vice versa, right? Or it's just two heads really are burning me.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and not too boring, yeah. Not to mention the you know, the plenty of hurdles that we've overcome. And I think like, oh my gosh, having to deal with this myself, like I know. I mean, our partnership is such a blessing, and and it has made it fun. Like, believe me, there's plenty of times when it, you know, we're like, is this fun? But it is fun because we have each other to kind of like, you know, pick up or like laugh with or cry with or whatever it is. It just it really makes all the difference, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01

And you know, when you were talking about how entrepreneurship is glamorized, and I have to say that it is a lot of, even though it's a cliche, it's true. It's a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. And I mean, both literally and figuratively, I mean, I've cut myself moving boxes and blood. Like we, Katie and I have sweat plenty of times setting up trade show booths, tearing them down, carrying boxes, carrying packages to the post office.

SPEAKER_02

I've slunk 50-pound boxes on repeat from you know, deliveries we've gotten from UPS. I just have to add, one time we got a hundred fifty-pound boxes delivered on her driveway, and I'm just slinging them into the garage, you know.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, it's just every tears, right? I mean, there are just times where we're exhausted and something didn't go the way we wanted it to, or there's a hurdle, and it just, I mean, you know, as women, you you break down and cry, not because you're weak, but because, you know, or the biological makeup of the hormones, and it's a good stress relief. But I mean, yeah, we've cried, it's all true, and um it but it's been such a great journey. Do you want to say one more thing? So you're saying, like at the beginning, you definitely have to get your hands dirty and do all of those, do absolutely everything. And I think it's important because when you do those things yourself, then when you eventually hire people to do them for you, you know the right way that it should be done, you know what success looks like, and you know how it has to happen. But we're now at a point, thankfully, where it's like we got to the point pretty quickly where it's like if if you can pay someone to do this for 20 bucks an hour, you as the owner should not be doing it because that those hours are better spent developing and growing the business and doing the harder things that a $20 an hour employee can't do. So we've we would repeat that a lot. Like, is this a $20 an hour job, or is this we should be doing job, right?

SPEAKER_00

And anyway, so well, it sounds like you two have a great partnership in business there, and you're lucky to have each other. Um, I'm curious then. Last question for listeners is where can they find you? Let them know your website, social media handles, all of those important details so they can shop, they can follow along and support you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so you can find us many different ways. Our website is wonderfulbrand.com. You can find us on social media at wonderfulbrand for uh Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. And we're in, we don't know the exact count of stores, but somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 stores across the country.

SPEAKER_01

So let's spell it for all of the listeners too, because it's not wonderful, it's wonderful as in wandering around, full of life, full of hydration and water. So wander W-A-N-D-E-R-F-U-L-L, brand brand.com.

SPEAKER_00

I love the story behind the name there. And that's it's funny because it reminded me when I was in Vale, um, just scaling out stuff for our camp preppy in August. I saw someone walking around with one of your bags. And it, you know, they were enjoying, they were wandering, they were traveling and staying hydrated. So love that little story. But thank you, ladies, so much for being on the podcast today.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you so much for having us. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we it's such a great thing that you've built yourself.

SPEAKER_00

So thank you. Thank you so much for listening to the Preppy Podcast. I hope this put a little prep in your step for the day. Please subscribe, rate, and review on wherever you listen to your podcast. And follow along with at the Preppy Podcast on social media.