Riding the Waves with Jetty

In this episode, Jeremy DeFilippis provides an in-depth look into the evolution of Jetty, emphasizing the company's strategic decision to bring all operations in-house. By managing every aspect internally, Jetty ensures meticulous control over the quality and reputation of its brand. Jeremy takes pride in the fulfillment derived from employing a dedicated team of 51 individuals in Stafford Township, New Jersey, across three established buildings. This shift reflects Jetty's commitment to fostering a blue-collar work ethic and a strong connection to the local community, values deeply ingrained in its East Coast roots.

Reflecting on Jetty's collaboration with the New Jersey Devils, Jeremy highlights the success of their limited edition partnership and the overwhelmingly positive response from customers. He offers a glimpse into Jetty's future endeavors, teasing upcoming collaborations with industry leaders like Lowtides, Priority Bicycles, and Kona Big Wave Beer. These ventures showcase Jetty's versatility and its ability to expand into various industries while staying true to its coastal lifestyle brand identity.

Additionally, Jeremy discusses Jetty's foray into the brewing industry with its own beer line and plans to introduce technical outdoor gear such as wetsuits, further diversifying its product range. Underlining Jetty's dedication to community engagement, Jeremy sheds light on the Jetty Rock Foundation's multifaceted initiatives. From supporting environmental causes to promoting community education and disaster relief efforts, the foundation plays a pivotal role in giving back to the community.

Jeremy also emphasizes Jetty's extensive retail presence, spanning over 700 stores across the US, Canada, and the Caribbean. He discusses the company's strategic approach to balancing wholesale, retail, and online sales channels, ensuring broad accessibility to Jetty's products. Encouraging listeners to stay updated on Jetty's latest offerings and events, Jeremy invites them to explore the company's website and engage with its social media platforms. The episode concludes with gratitude for the opportunity to connect with fellow entrepreneurs and a commitment to continue sharing Jetty's inspiring journey of growth and community impact.

jettylife.com

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Music: "Ride" by Jackson Pines
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Transcript

1:06

all right what's up everybody welcome back to another episode of greetings from the Garden State powered by the New Jersey Lottery I'm Mike cam we are here

1:11

in manah Hawkin today at the jetty flagship store with Jeremy D philippus Jeremy welcome to the show thanks man

1:17

thanks for having me here uh so we got all the apparel back here you know there's there's so much so many things

1:23

happening and this has been one that I've talked about quite a bit with like friends you know like rout talk oh what

1:29

what episodes you're recording this week and I say Jetty and surprisingly I mean a lot of North Jersey people so that's

1:36

maybe like a little bit different they're like oh I didn't even realize Jetty was a jersey brand and I'm like yeah been here for how long uh this is

1:43

our 22nd year in business yeah started in 2003 um and yeah started right here in

1:51

in LBI in man hawen yeah which is crazy to think that you know like this brand that you guys have been able to build

1:57

right here just kind of in a town you know and you're in like across the country now too and you're like a major

2:04

a major brand yeah we uh we definitely have our place in the in the surf Market

2:10

in the outdoor market and uh yeah we always talk about how Long Beach Island is kind of a great Hub yeah and so many

2:17

people from the Philadelphia and the New York and North Jersey area visit here and even beyond that um and feel like

2:24

that was crucial to Jetty growing over the years cuz they they were able to take that home with them yeah maybe not

2:30

necessarily knowing that we were a jersey rooted company but but you know obviously we own and operate um in this

2:38

region yeah which is great uh so let's talk about this space that we're in right now because this is kind of like I

2:44

feel like the brain St Center of everything that's kind of happening with Jetty and all the other things you have

2:49

going on so talk to me about this physical location that we're at right now yeah this is the Bay Avenue location

2:56

um with our flagship store down downstairs is you know about 1,600 square ft uh our first proper store and

3:04

we built we bought this building in 2021 and refurbed it um and it's become kind

3:09

of our headquarters so upstairs where we're at right now is conference room um

3:15

the the operating Partners the marketing department and the product development

3:20

uh department so um people that the Departments that collab every day and

3:26

obviously we we communicate and and uh collaborate with the other departments

3:31

but those are the ones that come to work every day here yeah and so you know the stuff that you're doing you know I think

3:38

is really interesting because I'm sure the brand itself has evolved a lot over the 22 years that it's you know been uh

3:46

been a Brand so talk to me like let's do kind of like origin story and then what those first couple products maybe that

3:52

you produced were and then kind then we'll kind of go through the whole trajectory of the brand cool yeah

3:59

Origins story is is a good one um five high school buddies that went to Southern Regional High School which is

4:05

right here in manah hawen um went on a snowboard trip the the funny part is I

4:11

didn't go um I was broke at the time just couldn't make the trip up to Mount

4:16

Snow um and my four buddies basically came back and said jhm you know we had

4:22

the idea of starting a surf brand and one that's rooted on the East Coast because everything we grew up wearing in

4:28

high school was was basically West Coast or International based um whether California or Australia um and um we

4:37

just thought there was a niche there to start a East Coast lifestyle surf company and uh you know fast fast

4:44

forward a few months after that snowboard trip and we had three t-shirts that were locally printed and yeah went

4:51

from there there you go so like what were you doing at the time like how old are you at the time when this when this

4:57

all gets started I was fresh out of college like just trying to figure life out yeah

5:02

so yeah definitely I'm still trying to figure life out um that's part of the fun of me uh but yeah I think it was

5:09

2003 so I graduated University of Delaware in 2001 so you know I was 23

5:15

years old really you know searching for something for a career yeah and then so

5:22

like three t-shirts locally printed T-shirts that's kind of how you get started did like was there the plan that

5:28

you guys I guess there was a plan cuz this show started with no plan and here we are 2 and 1 half years later but like

5:35

the plan in place at the beginning was it just like we're going to do like print t-shirts that people are going to think are cool and they'll buy them

5:42

which you know I could lie to you and say there was an elaborate business plan have to but there was not there was

5:47

somewhat of a business plan um but basically yes you're right it was let's make some cool well-designed t-shirts

5:53

people will buy them and that will allow us to work for ourselves and travel and surf yeah and so print the t-shirts you

6:01

get started and uh Jetty I'm assuming comes from you know just like the shore

6:06

stuff and like that was like where the name came from yeah we good another good origin story is there were two names

6:12

that we picked from one was Jetty and one was Daybreak obviously we picked Jetty yeah and um yeah we grew up

6:19

surfing off of the Jetties fishing off of the Jetties and you know kind of pinpointed that although Jersey is kind

6:26

of f famous for them they're all over the world yeah um and they protect the Shor line and um it's just the brand

6:32

that we picked and trademarked yeah and it looks good on a shirt and a hat and all that you know it's like tight nice

6:38

and tight yeah it's it's pretty Timeless you know right the type treatment the logo that exact be ran with yeah so what

6:45

was was there like a positive initial reaction to like those first few products that you produced or was it

6:50

kind of like hey we did three two shirts then we did a couple more out of that kind of happened yeah there was um I

6:57

guess in two facets one was the surf shop that we grew up um patronizing and

7:02

going into to buy boards and apparel and get wax and and get what we needed um

7:08

three of those local shops faras Surf Shack and surf unlimited kind of put us

7:13

right into the mix cool it's funny looking back because the t-shirts looked really crappy and the designs were

7:19

suspect but um at the time you know 20 plus years ago it was something new and

7:25

different and it was it was something that a few local guys were thrown

7:30

together and it was received really well yeah which is cool and so then like almost divvying up the work so to speak

7:37

too like how did how did that come cuz like you said you don't even go on this initial trip but yet here you are

7:44

sitting here with me kind of on the on the show but like talk to me about that like cuz you know working with your

7:50

buddies to kind of get the business kind of off the ground at the start yeah I mean obviously that has evolved a ton

7:57

over the 20 plus years but in the very beginning um I was kind of the numbers

8:02

Financial guy um one of the other guys kind of headed up the scream printing or

8:08

two of the other guys um because we outsourced the first couple few runs of shirts but quickly found that um we

8:16

wanted to do them yeah and learn the the art of Screen Printing and do them on our

8:21

own um and and there was you know one or two guys that kind of handled the design

8:26

and we you know we delegated stuff to each other and and had meetings and tried to act like a a real business but

8:33

the reality was it was just trial by fire sure you know just learning from doing and um we were all college

8:40

graduates and you know all fresh out of college but education got to be good for

8:46

something right right um but you know they don't they don't tell you you know they don't they don't tell you how to

8:51

run a business there's aspects that you learn but you really just have to jump in and and learn it yeah for sure and I

8:57

totally feel because this is what I do fulltime you know so it's just like try to build something into a business

9:03

that's like kind of like a creative project and then all of a sudden it's like all right I'm just going to start trying stuff and lose money make money

9:10

whatever it is um so those like first cuz 22 years is and a really impressive

9:16

run for an apparel company I feel like and so at the beginning was it kind of

9:21

like were there moments of all right this is this has kind of run its course or was it kind of something that you

9:27

kind of saw the success and there was moments I'm sure there's both uh moments where you're just like we got something

9:33

here like this is pretty cool yeah the the uh the original Founders five of us

9:38

there's uh only two of us that are still here uh there's a great story about um

9:44

another co-founder Bill mclenon who actually runs Jetty INC now so he circled back um and you know is a

9:51

director senior director in the company now and the other two just kind of found their way with families and homes and

9:58

different career BS um so it it changed in regard to the partners um I

10:07

forget the question like uh the company itself kind of having like you know those moments of like yeah this is kind

10:13

of yeah so there so there were there were moments of clarity for in the individuals involved yeah um I think

10:20

Corey and I always saw this as um a means to an end as far as like this is

10:26

what our career was going to be yeah um we stuck it out out bartending and um for a lot of years and multiple jobs

10:33

wearing multiple hats I owned a tax preparation business from 2006 to just a

10:39

couple years ago um but yeah there were definitely moments financially where

10:46

some of the other guys saw the writing on the wall yeah and we weren't getting paid and we stuck it out but there's

10:53

there were times you know there are Still Moments where you know it's pretty tough we have a lot on the line

10:59

um personal guarantees our houses big Bank line um to buy that inventory but

11:06

um but I'd say the dream is still fresh and Alive yeah rolling right along yeah

11:11

and so also take me through kind of like the the product this is going to be a better question we'll get into like the

11:17

actual products that you sell in a minute but you talked about you know when you start this brand and at the

11:22

time a lot of the you know surfing that kind of stuff outdoor Brands were more West Coast focused or uh you know based

11:29

um and obviously this one's East Coast base which is one way it kind of stands out in the sea of brands that exist in

11:36

that space But from from your opinion or you know your guys uh business plan or

11:43

whatever um what is some ways that Jetty kind of separates themselves from other

11:49

brands in that market yeah competitive Advantage um one just geographically

11:55

being from the East Coast um especially the Northeast um feel like the blue

12:01

collar Work Hard Play Hard mentality is is really firm yeah um and what jett's

12:07

about and that and that separates us um you know distinctly from the West Coast

12:12

where things are more laidback and chill and and sunshine and rainbows and palm trees I mean whereas here we're surfing

12:20

year round in frigid Waters and and dealing with the waves not being good all the time being pretty

12:26

fickle um and and chasing in a bunch of other passions too when we're not in the water surfing um you know the the hiking

12:35

the the fishing the hey there's no waves let's find something else to do and just

12:40

with the Four Seasons here you know summer's really great it's warm everyone smiling and that is a little touch of

12:47

that sunshine and rainbows basically the other three seasons you know aside for some moments of brilliant are cold and

12:56

tough and rug rugged and raw yeah um and you know being an outdoor Surf Company we're we're out there fighting the

13:02

elements doing what we love to do yeah talk to me also like about CU what I am starting to gather like a little bit

13:08

just from this conversation and some of the research that I did you know prior to this episode and all that is like I

13:14

feel like Jetty does a very good job at the community aspect of business you

13:21

know so like you you talked about how when you guys first got started it was local shops that you frequented already

13:26

that kind of was you know uh selling you were do the first couple T-shirts yeah and then over time with like different

13:32

collabs that you've done uh we'll get into the foundation a little bit too um like talk to me about and you know just

13:38

kind of being local guys with a local brand that people wanted to support um talk to me about like the importance of

13:44

that too because I think that that's a huge part of what jett's all about yeah Community is you know another pillar

13:51

that the company's built on that the brand um is passionate about and uh

13:56

really what happened was opportunity presented themselves early on in the early 2000s where you know it was

14:04

Hurricane Katrina and and we made a shirt and raised a th000 bucks um or it

14:09

was a local that um needed eye surgery and we were contributing to a party at a

14:15

local bar to help raise money for them and as the years went on and as we

14:20

understood the power of the events and the community a little bit more we really laid into um running fundraisers

14:28

and I mean today we run eight to 10 major events a year and they're all run

14:34

through the jetty Rock foundation and they're all charitable in nature yeah um so we like to keep that connection um

14:42

with the brand that hey yeah you're supporting us by buying clothing that you can use as in your active

14:50

lifestyle um but behind that is you know we're really channeling money through our nonprofit to help people and to um

14:58

support the environment as well talk about Jetty rock or Jetty Rock Foundation a little bit too cuz like

15:04

when did that start was that early on in the process later on in the process CU you know to have 8 to 10 major

15:11

fundraisers kind of going on over the course of the year is a lot too yeah so the the the events I just mentioned

15:18

early on were like 2005 and we ran a couple fundraisers for friends in the community that needed help um but when

15:26

Jetty Rock Foundation became official a 501c3 was

15:31

2012 when Hurricane Sandy hit sure so that was the watershed moment and um you

15:37

know we were such a small company looking back 10 plus years ago um but

15:43

again we had kind of learned from Katrina like hey we print shirts you know the the few surf shops we're in at

15:49

this time are are trash there's piles of sand and water in them yeah uh so what do we do we rally the community we get

15:56

some volunteers um to come help us print this now kind of famous uh superstorm

16:03

Sandy shirt unite and rebuild was the name of our campaign and uh I think we

16:09

sold like 2400 of them in the first 24 hours like broke our website yeah um

16:15

exposed our small company for everything it was not yeah right exactly um and it was a tremendous learning experience but

16:23

an incredibly powerful one yeah and basically um one of our partners um said hey we have hundreds of

16:30

thousands of dollars coming in here like we're going to get taxed on this we better form a nonprofit and that was

16:35

kind of the Epiphany sure at that time like hey let's let's kind of Legally separate out the fundraising and um you

16:43

know we can Market it and still do all together yeah but um they're separate books for the for the jrf and uh it

16:50

works nicely yeah I love that it's just kind of like like you said this whole trial by fire and kind of figuring out as you go because you really don't know

16:57

you know I mean you could put the best plan ever in place but it doesn't always

17:02

I mean in the beginning we definitely didn't have a ton on paper budget or or um business planwise but you know what

17:09

over the past five years we did have a lot on paper down to the nitty-gritty details and between covid and recession

17:18

and economy and just industry stuff and too much inventory like it's just really hard

17:25

yeah and and you just need to you know roll with the punches and keep keep the boat afloat and every you know for us

17:32

with 50 plus employees keep everyone rowing in the right direction sure is really important yeah so before we kind

17:40

of get let me just check the time oh we're doing great so before we kind of get to the end of this segment of this

17:45

episode but and kind of pick up again in the second half so as far as just like the people are unfamiliar with the types

17:52

of products that Jetty sells now you know started with a couple T-shirts now you can see there's still t-shirts but

17:58

there seems to be a lot lot more stuff so like what are the things you're producing making like what what are things that they come buy from Jetty yep

18:05

we uh started with three t-shirts um men's only and that grew quickly into

18:11

hey the our women our female friends want stuff so there were tank tops and uh and our friends with families budding

18:18

up on you know infant onesies and jumpers and toddler gear so in the

18:23

beginning it was it was basically printing designing and printing on blanks

18:29

um and then as as the retailer count grew they wanted to see more product

18:34

diversity yeah and you get into hats and then you start to um figure out how do

18:41

we build a flannel how do we build a waterproof jacket to the point now where

18:46

we have so many SKS um we can fill up the full store downstairs as you saw

18:52

yeah um and you know we've become more than just kind of a fashion forward

18:58

t-shirt line which it was in the in the beginning years to um everything really

19:03

except Denim and and Footwear um we can cover you head to toe with head wear um

19:10

with outer wear um we've done a collab with uh Bas layers and underwear we've

19:16

done socks um so we're constantly tweaking that and searching for that

19:21

perfect mix of uh product yeah then what I also like too is you were talking to

19:26

me off mic a little bit about how we talked about like this location but then also other pieces of it other parts of

19:34

the company kind of all being pretty local you know and being able to kind of produce stuff and get it out there for

19:40

people to uh know that a lot of it's done like right here in the state or in this area too yeah we're we're blessed

19:47

and um you know we rented a lot of different office spaces and warehouses and worked out of our own garages over

19:54

the years really even initially had inventory in my bedroom in file boxes

19:59

yes yeah um and now we're to the point where we have three buildings two of them owned one of them leased um one is

20:06

the screen printing facility Jetty Inc where we print uh all of our we call

20:12

printables and blank garments that we print on um and also print for other um

20:19

events contractors uh Brands oh we just did a great thing with the New Jersey

20:24

Devils so we have a whole separate business of printing for other people while we support you know a good part of

20:30

our product line um and then we have a distribution center which we um we

20:36

purchased an old gym uh that was owned by hackin sack Meridian okay last January and um that was a trying time

20:44

because we basically ran out of space outsourced to a 3pl in 2022 let other

20:50

people distribute our Goods they did a less than Stellar job we'll keep it at that yeah forced us to buy a pretty big

20:57

piece of Real Estate and um as of January 2023 we brought everything back

21:03

in house and kind of abiding by our montra draw your own line sure you know

21:08

and it just seems that when we do stuff on our own authentically with our own hands whether it's the screen printing

21:15

or the shipping and distrib distribution it seems to work a little bit better and feel a little bit more right yeah a

21:21

little more control you know cuz you can't put your I mean the the quality and the reputation of your brand and I

21:27

mean in some cases you have to but you know in the hands of somebody else sometimes it makes it harder and it let less control yeah yeah and I I just I

21:35

love the fact that we have three buildings in a couple few square miles

21:41

here in Stafford Township um and a great group of you know I think 5 51 employees

21:49

yeah is the count right now um and we just make the dream work you know we

21:54

have an unbelievable team and it's just it's so cool that I you know I grew up here in this

22:02

town and now we're giving back in a different way where we're employing

22:08

people and coming to work every day know in an area that's like not known for

22:13

manufacturing warehousing at you know before we bought that building we were kind

22:19

of cringing at the fact that like we may have to go up to Lakewood to an industrial park or and we just have

22:25

everything so tight yeah right here in Stafford and you know with some room to grow so it's fulfilling yeah no it's

22:32

awesome uh so for time we're going to take our break and then we'll be back we'll talk more about a bunch more stuff

22:38

that I have that kind of jot down here but uh so this is the green with the g a podcast powered by the New Jersey Lottery I'm your host Mike ham we're

22:44

here at uh the jetty flagship store at man hawen with Jeremy D philippus we'll be right back the male Performing Art

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all right we're back for Segment two of this episode of greetings with the Garden State powered by the New Jersey Lottery I'm Mike C we're here in manah

24:02

Hawk and at the jetty flagship store with Jeremy d philippus uh so I think

24:07

what prompted me reaching out to you guys you mentioned it in the first segment was the devil's collab which I

24:14

thought was really cool we had done some stuff with the presedential center and we're going to do some stuff with the Devils a little bit later this year but

24:21

um talk to me about like kind of how that happened we'll get into some of the other collabs that you're doing with other you know local businesses and

24:26

stuff like that ones that you've done on you have coming up uh so talk about the devil's one because I think that one's really interesting and cool yeah and

24:34

it's uh it happened early in 2023 and I guess the story is someone on

24:40

the devil's marketing team is a jetty fan or had some Jetty gear and walked into a marketing meeting and they were

24:46

doing a campaign um which is basically like Jersey Roots

24:51

like homegrown Jersey type of thing yeah um and this person uh suggested that

24:57

they work with Jetty to do a collab and so many months later after um many many

25:03

many design mockups um we landed on some agreed upon designs and they placed an

25:10

order and we shipped it to them it's only available at uh the team store at

25:15

The Devil's Den yeah um so it's pretty limited as far as who can grab it by actually going to the credential Center

25:22

sure um but the good news for us is I think we're on like shipment almost shipment number four at this point oh

25:28

cool um and it only launched later in 2023 so um the response has been amazing

25:35

and you know kind of Jersey strong and proves that our customers cross over

25:40

with their customers and demographic yeah and um it was really fun fun to

25:46

create content and create some great videos really fun to to go there with the crew to a game um the night that it

25:53

launched and see it up on the big screen yeah and to see um C customers pulling

25:59

it down off of the racks and you know just very fulfilling and cool to to work

26:04

with you know a National Hockey League team sure like to me that's got to be such a crazy experience because like you

26:10

know thinking back at that point you know 20 21 years since you started the business and kind of like those first

26:16

couple shirts and then now to being like on the Jumbotron at a devil's game and collaborating directly with them and you

26:23

know then watching people like in their store buy your stuff that you made and then continuing to by them you know even

26:29

after that first launch that's got to be almost like surreal experience yeah

26:34

can't even WRA my head around that yeah we were you know we walked into the Devil's Den and the six or seven of of

26:40

us were all holding our phones up basically just videoing people RI stuff off of the racks and we were turning to

26:46

each other like yeah like holy [ __ ] man like there's not even much left and we went there with like lists for our

26:52

friends to bring stuff back because again you have to go to the game to buy the stuff yeah um but yeah it it's a

26:59

little bit of like pinch yourself type of moment yeah um to be working with an

27:04

NHL team and and for them to come to us sure um it's not something that we

27:09

dreamed up but it does open up our minds creatively to do yeah what else what

27:16

else can we do who else can we collab with um and there's you know there's power in collaborations and sharing

27:22

audiences and and marketing yeah absolutely I 100% that's literally what my whole this whole thing is built on is

27:29

collaborations and different audiences and all that so what are some other businesses that you've uh cuz we could

27:36

just let's say low tides I know is one because we had low tides on the show I forget when it was probably like last

27:42

year at some point maybe the year before um but other ones ones you have coming up let's talk about those yeah low tides

27:49

was a great one um and we're releasing a new collab with them this year um great

27:55

number one CU they're from jersey and number two because they're adding a hard good to our line of soft goods um so

28:03

really cool to be able to put Jetty beach chairs out there yeah um the other

28:09

hard good excuse me the other hard good was priority bicycles we've been working with um out of New York for the past

28:17

couple of years and there's going to be a third installment of that one um and

28:22

have done some great runs of beach cruisers I think we've done 50 beach cruisers the last two years that's cool

28:28

last two summers and they've sold out yeah and um those guys are great they've supported our events on the jetty Rock

28:34

side and in fact we have an event fundraiser this weekend Arctic Outreach and they sent down just today um a

28:42

custom Arctic Outreach bike cool that we'll raffle off um so that's been a

28:48

cool one again a hard good and kind of fits with the lifestyle but it's not something that we make yeah and uh I

28:55

guess the the one that we're very excited about this year is uh Kona big

29:01

wave beer oh cool so anheiser Bush's team came to us uh last year

29:07

and again we've been developing a great marketing plan um that includes

29:13

fundraising events that includes includes a collab design that we got a sneak peek at last night actually um and

29:21

kona's been blow it up as a beer yeah um so you know they're they're partnering

29:26

with us because of our relationships on the Jersey Shore yeah and hopefully Beyond there um but

29:34

to get their beer out there and we can kind of celebrate it together um they're

29:39

from Hawaii but yeah the beach coastal lifestyle and the surf aspect perfect it

29:45

fits together really well so we're excited about that one yeah also speaking of beer I you told me before we

29:50

started recording I didn't realize but you guys have your own beer we do yeah about that so started

29:59

jeez over over 10 years ago oh wow that long yeah we contract brood with flying

30:06

fish which I believe is no more but was a jersey Brewery yeah um just recently no more I think yeah yeah so just

30:13

thinking back to when we visited their facility and they kind of said hey we private label stuff all the time that's

30:19

cool so we experimented with that um and then we really wanted to push it into

30:25

having a unique beer and a unique recipe um tried another Brewery down in North

30:30

Carolina was too far away too costly to ship beer all the way up 95 yeah um and

30:37

landed with Double Nickel which which really is another collaboration that has been going for several years now and um

30:44

have a few unique beers sell a couple few thousand cases a year last year we did a 20-y year anniversary beer which

30:52

went over really well limited edition and um even though we're doing the Kona

30:58

thing this year the jetty beer will live on in the background as sort of a fun marketing Endeavor yeah um and a lot of

31:05

people say well why do you guys have a beer It just fits the story yeah you know we go surfing we have a great

31:10

session you get a barrel you have a great wave you want to toast after it and talk about the days events yeah sit

31:17

around the fire um you know bring one up on a hike up in the mountains um so it

31:23

just it's a fun marketing piece to the equation right now maybe it becomes a revenue stream one day but for now it's

31:31

more um it's more of a marketing piece yeah just having the name out there and a lot of different ways so I think

31:37

that's a really cool thing so uh as we're kind of going through all these different pieces of the business I think

31:43

it's really interesting where it's not necessarily pigeon hold into one thing

31:49

you know and it's evolved quite a bit over the last 20 years um what are

31:55

things I mean if maybe that Su some as that we just talked about but some of the other things that you're trying to

32:00

kind of break into like different types of stuff uh like what's next for Jetty

32:07

yeah I get hyped up talking about the jetty Rock foundation and you know we've donated over I think 2.2 million since

32:15

our Inception amazing and just such an awesome part of it I love that we print our own stuff with Jetty Inc um I love

32:21

the beer obviously but I think sometimes we skip over what we truly are which is an apparel business yeah um we are

32:28

selling in I think upwards of 700 retail stores across the country now yeah um

32:34

and in Canada and in the Caribbean um definitely you know have

32:39

focused a lot on brick and mortar and growing that wholesale business I think those Retail Partners are a really

32:45

important part of the marketing puzzle yeah you know they're giving us space they're giving us either wall space or

32:51

rack space um and you get you could tell your story in in lots of different places um which is different from

32:58

downstairs at our flagship store which you know is our headquarters and and where we grew up and where we're

33:04

operating our business um but different than these Retail Partners that come to

33:09

trade shows and pre-book orders from us and and allow us to produce in in true

33:15

quantities yeah um so I think moving forward the plan you know is to grow the wholesale base you know continue to sell

33:23

more to our existing customers and grow our storytelling within those retail Stores um also open up a couple more

33:30

retail locations likely in Jersey um we got to find the right sweet spot was out

33:37

stepping on the retail partner toes and and just finding those right

33:42

situations and and growing you know the Direct Customer business as well which is obviously heavily online yeah right

33:50

um so again balancing the wholesale with the flagship store with the online and

33:56

then we also have a box truck that we outfitted that rolls around to events that's cool and um I think we did over a

34:03

100 events last year so kind of Tastefully and tactfully putting Jetty in front of

34:10

people across the country and certainly a lot in Jersey yeah um in the in the right spaces in the right locations at

34:17

the at the right events finding the right locations for a couple new

34:22

stores and just diversifying the product assortment yeah um you know I think we

34:29

just had a meeting this morning it sounds like we're going to probably offer some more technical pieces okay

34:36

for the outdoor aspect um we actually have wet suits coming in this year

34:43

something we never did um so that that's a cool piece to the story and a cool product I'm surprised it took that long

34:50

yeah yeah and and like everything you know you test it out and there's a lot of competition in every in every skew in

34:57

every space there's competition but this one is going to be a really fun test and again just fits the story so well yeah

35:03

because three quarters of the Year we're in wet suits you know sometimes we're in wet suits in July yeah if there's

35:08

upwelling or there's just you know a lot of South in the uh in the current

35:14

bringing the the go pushing the Gulf Stream out but um yeah I think some more technical gear you know hopefully as our

35:21

customers grow Beyond just the fashion and lifestyle pieces um will come to

35:27

trust that we have you know pants that are insulated and you can wear hiking or a jacket that you can wear snowboarding

35:35

or fishing um stuff that just combats the elements that we survive in yeah and

35:41

Jersey is not you know you're not looking at Jersey like maybe this super harsh environment but

35:49

it really is can be it it can be pretty harsh the water gets really cold the air gets cold and and like unpredictable

35:56

especially like these last couple months it's been you know 60° one day we get the first snow two times in a week that

36:02

we got you know in 3 years basically it's crazy yeah I can be frozen in q1

36:08

January February March surfing or there could be these crazy spring like days

36:14

where you know I'm golfing or I'm outside in a t-shirt right so yeah very unpredictable yeah um I do just I should

36:22

have asked this question earlier but because of like timing with the first segment but when we're talking about uh

36:28

Jetty Rock and this is totally outside out of left field kind of question uh

36:34

just given the the process of questions we've been going through so far the events that you're doing uh is there

36:40

like a like a focus of the foundation like uh like the events that you put on the fundraisers that you do is there

36:46

kind of like um a theme to those yes and there's there's basically three buckets

36:53

where we donate to one is environment and specifically uh clean water

36:58

initiatives we have a great oyster recycling program and can dive into that another time yeah uh community and

37:06

education which is really helping people that are are down and out um whether

37:11

it's cancer related we have a couple surf contests that are kind of dedicated specifically to the people um or or

37:20

whether their house burnt down um and then the other one is really how it started was storm relief right so I

37:26

think there's 10 or 15 different natural disaster type events over the years that

37:32

starting with Sandy um and even you know like the Australian W wildfires or the

37:39

flooding in Vermont last year there's little not little things but there's events that happened and spur us to say

37:46

oh who do we know in that area that just got affected you know it might be a retailer in New Hampshire that their

37:53

shop are down yeah so let's let's use Jetty Rock Foundation to support them or it might be someone closer to home

38:00

that's a friend of a friend that just you know is down and out and needs help whether it's medical bills or you know

38:08

help pay in their mortgage yeah and so sort of in the same vein as Jetty doing

38:13

just this vast array of different things yeah yeah but I think it does kind of bring it back like we talked about community in the first segment a little

38:19

bit and why that's a big piece of what the brand really kind of stands for and

38:25

then that bucket is is that that's your roots right there yeah I think at the

38:30

end of the day it just comes down to people yeah you know we're we're managing a bunch of people who are our

38:36

staff and have become friends and we're managing a network or retailers that are

38:44

people that visit us at trade shows and that have become friends and we're existing in communities not only right

38:51

here in Stafford but basically across the country across the huge retail Network

38:59

where there's just people that we that need help from time to time yeah and I

39:04

guess that's that's really the most incredible thing for me is along this whole journey all the people we've met

39:11

you know including you today yeah sure and whether there's a jersey connection or a surf connection or an outdoor

39:17

connection or even a competing brand that we hang with at the booth next to a

39:22

trade show there's um you there's been unbelievable amount of relationship ship

39:28

building and the vehicle for it has been our brand yeah that's really cool and I think you know you mentioned before kind

39:35

of the the different ways the different audiences the different kind of communities that are involved like I've

39:41

never surfed before in my entire life but I know of jetty have owned Jetty

39:46

things before it's just like like one of those things like now like you said that now you you and I are here talking about

39:52

this stuff because there's like a common ground type thing which I think is really cool yeah yeah and I think I mean

39:58

at the end of the day surfing is cool and um like I mentioned earlier when the

40:03

surf's not up we do a tremendous amount of other things that we're passionate about yeah um but at the end of the day

40:11

the story is basically rooted in Surf and us growing up as New Jersey Surfers

40:17

um throughout all the seasons and you know even if people don't surf they it

40:24

appeals to them the lifestyle appeals to them um it's it's a cool thing and we have we have a great story to tell

40:31

whether we're surfing or we're not surfing yeah for sure so um as we get kind of closer to the end of this

40:36

episode I want to make sure that we hit like links and where people can go to get stuff and all that so like we'll do

40:43

maybe the the digital stuff so like website socials like where should they be going for that stuff so website is

40:49

Jetty life.com um everything that we have is available there yeah um and that's where

40:56

also we'll try special drops or you know last year we did like a Lucky Fishing tea on St Patrick's Day yeah yeah um and

41:04

keeping up to date on our Instagram Facebook um LinkedIn Tik Tock is where

41:11

those announcements take place yeah and also on the website you know um our

41:18

flagship store downstairs has our full offering uh as well and um and then big

41:24

shout out to our retailers um we have a function at the bottom of our web page where you can search the retail

41:30

locations I I was going to say and you know I look at that map and it's another like pinch myself type of moment because

41:38

there's so many pins all over the United States and Beyond um but there's you

41:43

know if you want Jetty you can find it yeah and um you know search us up visit

41:49

our website and check out all the cool stuff that we have going on Amazing well this has been really cool just to kind

41:55

of like learn the story a little bit get to know you a little bit more actually visit the store I think it's been

42:00

awesome so I appreciate you having me down here yeah thanks so much for reaching out and it's been great to meet

42:05

another Jersey entrepreneur that's right yeah for sure uh so we'll make sure that we put the links and stuff in the show

42:11

notes people just go click them and that way you can get stuff find out where the you know if there is a retailer right by

42:17

you you can go check that out or just get some stuff from the website uh we'll put the socials in there as well um and

42:23

we'll also put obviously greetings with the gate.com which is of course the website for the show so you can get all of our other episodes there uh Jeremy

42:30

thank you again and this has been the green with the G State podcast powered by the New Jersey Lottery I'm my cam we

42:36

were here at the jetty flagship store in man hawen with Jeremy D philippus thank you for listening and we'll catch you

42:41

next time do

42:50

you do you all right oh tell me before you don't all

42:57

the way do you want

43:26

ride