Western Life & Style Trailblazers
Western Life & Style Trailblazers
Ep 8: The state of the economy, Celeb Sightings, & WESA recap
The tea from WESA and what the economy looks like for 2025, plus celebrity sightings.
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Hello. Welcome to the Western Life and Style Trailblazers podcast. I'm Ali D with me, Nicole James in the house. Hello. Okay. So we are so excited. It is a brand new year, 2025, a lot of excitement in the air. And Nicole and I were talking this week and we were like, let's jump in and get the podcast rolling. So we hope to really bring some more fun podcasts for you all year long. It's one of the goals that we've had for Western life and style for a while. But with Nicole being a mom of two littles, me being a mom of two littles, plus we run businesses and we own Western Life and Style together, we have a lot going on. So, um, I mean, Nicole, just for you to be able to jump on here today is exciting because you are literally hiding in the closet right now.
Speaker 5:I am hiding in the closet. I feel like nobody would believe me, but this is true life. I'm hiding in the closet while my girls are napping.
Speaker 4:Yes. And my son, he is, um, with his dad at the, as he calls it, the animal doctor, which we all call it the vet, Pegasus. Well, doctor, so he's at the animal doctor, Monroe's taking a nap. And so it just worked out that we both have napping children. So we are going to jump on here and talk about some great stuff that we just experienced last week, which was WESA market. WESA WESA depends on like the age group. I feel like on how you say,
Speaker 5:right. I never know if I'm saying it right. Oh, and it's been what? 10
Speaker 4:years. So we call it WESA. Do you call it WESA or WESA?
Speaker 5:I call it WESA. I've only heard a few say
Speaker 4:the other way. WESA. Yeah. WESA. I know. I feel like that's very old school. So anyways, we're going to talk about WESA, what we experienced there, because I feel like if you are in this community, Um, you're part of, you know, the Western community, then kind of like the state of what goes on in Western businesses and with people that were around all the time as business owners in this community, it's always like, uh, fun to be aware of how things are panning out for people that are in business, influencers, social media, all the things, and I feel like we've got a pretty good Um, look on the pulse or the heartbeat of how this community is doing as a whole, and just to kind of kick it off, I feel like, and Nicole, you can jump in and let me know what you think, but I feel like this market, uh, which by the way, what WESA is, just really quickly, is it's a wholesale market where store owners and brand owners from across the world, literally, it's global, fly into Dallas to essentially do business. So brands, like all the brands, you know, and love like Wrangler, Justin Boots, Stetson, all the major brands plus brands like, you know, mine, um, or quote unquote, smaller brands, even though I don't like to say that, but you know.
Speaker 6:We are a large brand now.
Speaker 4:It's still hard to, it's still like sometimes feels surreal that we are, you know, we have grown so much, but, um, brands that are really like owned by people individuals. So not necessarily just corporations, but also brands that are quote unquote, small business owners, meaning it's owned by real people, not wall street. So we all meet. at WESA to trade, to do business, and basically store owners come to buy for their stores, whether they're in the United States or overseas. They come here to buy from brands and businesses to bring product into their stores to sell to you folks.
Speaker 5:Right? Yes. Speaking of, I couldn't believe how many people were there from like Canada, Australia, the UK. I mean, there was people from all over that I got to meet. It was pretty exciting.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was really exciting. And so why don't you just kind of like, Tap in and give me your initial thoughts on what you felt like the vibes were even just going into the week
Speaker 5:Oh, this market was so exciting. I can feel the energy, the liveliness. Like it was so exciting to just start West End. Everybody was very positive. The auras was very positive. Um, I haven't seen it that full in a long time. I mean, all of the floors were actually pretty loud. You can hear, I mean, music going everywhere. I think everybody was really excited to start the year off there. Um, so it just made it, I mean, even regardless of just the networking of people, it's so fun just to meet people from all over the world as well. Um, we, I'm just talking for us as in the booth with Allie Dean, rodeo ranch. I mean, we had, our booth was. Filled. I mean, filled. And I looked around and looked at all the other booths as well, and they were filled just as much. So it's so exciting to see you're right from the large corporations to the small, smaller brand owners getting to network and meet with all of these other boutiques and store owners. Um, and by store owners. It's from, you know, like the boot bar and Cavendish are coming to buy from like your local small town, hometown, just one store owner business owners also buying there as well. So it's such a huge mix. It's so diverse. Um, I love that. It's just business owners meeting business owners, really?
Speaker 4:Yeah, and what I love about you mentioning that it's not like the buyers, the type of buyers spans the gamut, right? Because you have boot barn coming into buy, which they are a publicly traded company, you know, um, hundreds of stores. You have that caliber all the way to just like your mom and pop, your main street USA, your local Western store they're buying. So yeah, yeah. For us, we really get a good overall picture of what the economy looks like, what the vibe is out there, how many people are excited to spend money again. And also we get like an inside peek on what business look like for the past few years for a lot of people, whether you were You know selling products or buying products a store owner or a brand owner The past few years were really hard on a lot of people And one thing that you mentioned to me that was really interesting was a lot of stores feel like now they've come out of whatever Situation they were in in the past couple of years that they feel like there is this new sense of We have money to spend again. We have budgets back. So talk to me a little bit about um You know how you witnessed that? Because I certainly heard that as well.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that was so exciting to see that I was hearing so many and it almost made me want to cry. I remember the last market, people were at their wits end. People were like, if this things don't change or, you know, the economy doesn't get any better, we're going to close doors. And a lot of them, you know, some of these have been like generational, like store owners or brand owners are like, we can't do this anymore. This market was. Complete opposite people were, I mean, even the big corporations alley, it was crazy. Like those, the large, large ones were like, we actually can move inventory now. Like our stores are doing better. And so of course it trickles down. It's like a domino effect. You know, if the stores are doing good, then the brands are going to do good and it just kind of continues on. And then if the brands are doing good, then, you know, the employees are doing good for the brand. So it was. It was so much fun just to see that. I loved it so much.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And that's such a great point you make is that not only is it like, is it about the brand or the business, but it's like, there's so much that goes into that, that people don't see. It's like your employees and their families and their worries and all that stuff. It's really like takes a toll on business owners to make sure they're doing what they can to keep the livelihood of not only themselves going, but also the people that depend on them for. jobs. So seeing that sense of like relief a little bit in everyone's eyes. Yeah, it was actually like, it could even be, and I think I, I did have like an emotional moment where you're just like, Oh my gosh, it's so refreshing to see the light in everybody's eyes, people spending money, people being excited because it really wasn't that way for the past few years. And it's just, yeah, it's turned a corner.
Speaker 5:It really has. I'm so excited that I didn't even, I usually, I mean, I miss my girls. Don't get me wrong, but this market was so much fun. And I think it's because of that people were so much more positive and really the last few years. And I don't want to like harp on it too much, but it was. getting very scary. So this market was just, I'm like, let's do all the shows. Let's do all the fun things.
Speaker 4:Right. So, yeah, so just, um, overall great vibes. We're very happy about that. Another fun thing that goes on at market and Nicole, you are like Definitely going to be able to have better insight on this because I feel like you are super in the know with everything that goes on is there's like a lot of quote unquote celebrity like Western celebrity moments that happen when you're at these markets because see a lot of these big brands. Um, have indoor seats. So people that they support or they work with throughout the year, Nicole, I know you connect a lot of influencers with brands. So you're very involved in this. Were there some like celebrity sightings or do you want to just tell me like any like scoop that you saw of people that you were like, Ooh, I'm excited to see them. My
Speaker 5:favorite that I got to see was, um, I actually got to meet Martha Josie and I've always wanted to meet her. Oh my gosh. I saw that. I was like, yeah, That was so exciting. I love seeing her. But I mean, there's so many, there's so many people that are like wandering around like huge influencers from Tik Tok or Instagram where you kind of get a little shell shock. Like, of course, Dale Brisby saw him walking through him. Yes, of course. I'm trying to think of who else I saw. You're one of them, Allie. Oh my gosh. I know people still stop you and I see it. I'm there. I witnessed it. It's so funny. People still
Speaker 4:want to talk about Texas women, the TV show. from CMT years ago. They still I love
Speaker 5:it though. That's exciting. I would be excited. I like stand back and let them take pictures with you. It's so fun. Um, I'm trying to think it's lost. There's, I saw that there was some people there from like the real housewives that they bring in from Dallas locally. Yeah. But I think it's because the apparel market was coming into Wessa market. So I saw a bunch of that stuff going on. Um, West Esperanto was there, Shaley. Um, I'm trying to think and she has a huge following.
Speaker 4:Wade Bowen sang, didn't he?
Speaker 5:Wade Bowen was there. I forgot. I screamed. I had no idea he was about to play. Um, and I was walking down like the escalators and then I can hear his music. I was like, I know that song. And then I turned the corner and he's actually playing as a huge concert. They said they're going to start to like add more of that going on. So I mean, it's, it's really like we're working and we're networking, we're making business deals, but it's like so much fun as well.
Speaker 4:It is fun. Um, I, um, I missed out on that because what happened this year is the Fort Worth rodeo actually, um, always falls on this week, but normally WESA is the week prior. So this year, WESA was. moved to the exact same week that the stock show begins. So my husband being involved in the Fort Worth Rodeo and all that we had in the PBR, we had to like shift our schedule. So I ended up not being able to be there as late as I want or as much as I want to say when I was on the 10th floor, um, to cove us. Opened a new showroom there. And so I went to go like, check it out. One of our friends is helping, um, you know, get that, get some of that going there. And when I was in there, you know, I saw neon wrangler. I was so excited. I was like, because I love following her. She's so creative and just has such a great spirit. And so I saw her and she was busy. So I didn't want to really like, you know, Like pry and be like, Hello, I'm Allie. I like, you know, right. But I love
Speaker 5:following her for influencer as well. And so when you just like turn the corner and see these girls that you're like, Oh my gosh, you get giggly about they're all there just walking around and making, you know, their deals and networking as well. I love seeing it. It's, it's great that everybody from all aspects are networking and doing some kind of collabs as well.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's really fun seeing, um, you know, all different types of business owners there. And then even like in our showroom, you know, there was like, there's kind of a lot of action going on there. We had, you know, the whiskey tasting and tell me a little bit about, I know you got to be in the showroom, like what was the vibes like in there? And tell us, tell us what the showroom, like how different that is from being on like the WESA floor.
Speaker 5:The 10 floors. Yes. That's kind of confusing to people. So I know a lot of people are like, what is cash and carry? What is this? So we're on floor seven and we're talking about Western life and style. Um, so we have a showroom there where we have, I mean, quite a few brands actually that have their items that they're going to showcase or items that they're selling or they want to feature in the new show. Um, it's very pop in. It's like a party down there. Um, and I say down there because we were on the 11th floor with temps. So you're just going back and forth. Um, and it is so much fun. People are exactly like what you said there. There's lots of alcohol flowing, the bars going, music's flying, but. Essentially in that place, the store owners get to do kind of a no minimums, um, rule there. And they kind of do, it's called cash and carry where you don't have to have cash, use your card, but it's just a term that everybody uses that market. And you can shop and take it with you. And the store owners would love that. They love just having the items there. They get to take it with them and sell it in the store ASAP. It's not anything where they have to, um, wait for the order to come in. Which that is also an option. You can order right as well, but they just like to grab and go. So you see all these ladies coming in with all these big cases and you kind of just get to fill it up. And that is what we do in our room at Western life and style. It's heavy on that. And it is crazy busy in there. Did you, did you get to go in there when it was just like crowded and you couldn't even walk in?
Speaker 4:Yes, I did. And you know what's so fun about the showroom as well is, so, um, we have a lot of brands in there that I know you guys listening absolutely love. Um, we have American bonfire. We have. We have Rowdy Crowd, we have Ranch Rays, we have Marigold Kiss. So all these brands that we essentially rep inside of the showroom are some of like your most favorite brands. So it's really fun for us to see people walk in and go, Oh my gosh, I love this brand. And to be able to purchase right there, take it back to their store and then sell it to their customers. So. That's a really, really fun part of the showroom. I think as well that people like sometimes don't get to see that aspect of it, which we need to like, we need to show some more sneak peeks on our Instagram stories. So people can be like, Ooh, we're getting, yes,
Speaker 5:yes, yes. We definitely need to, I mean, darn that social media manager, huh?
Speaker 4:Um, okay, so another big thing that is going on in the Western life and style world is we have our 30 over 30 class of 2025 that we just wrapped up nominations that went on during NFR and post NFR and uh, Um, I know we're getting ready to kind of ramp that up a little bit. So dive into if you don't mind, or I can do it, but you're, I mean, you, you definitely are like involved in this. Tell us a little bit about 30 over 30 and like where we are right now. And what does it look like for this year?
Speaker 5:You know, this is so exciting. I didn't think that anything like this was going to turn so big. Um, this is our third year doing it. And, um, the first year, you know, we were just kind of getting the word out there, but now this has turned into. Um, and I know everybody is just waiting for us just to kind of have some kind of event, but we are a small company. Um, Allie and I are kind of, you know, the ones running the show. And like we said, we're moms stay at home moms and we're trying to do all of our businesses from home as well. So we're, we're trying to get everything together, but we are excited to announce we're going to have our. First actual mixer, and we're going to reward the winners in May with, um, in collaboration with the Women's Rodeo Association during the Women's Rodeo Championship. So that's going to be exciting, and we'll have more information on that, and we'll be able to announce the winners on our, one of our next podcasts. We'll announce them there, and then all of our past winners will also be invited to come and get awarded their Buckles and from Alamo Saddlery. Thank you, Alamo Saddlery for the buckles. And it's just going to be a fun time. We're going to have a mixer. We'll have, you know, live singing and some food and we'll get to watch actually the women's rodeo championship as well. So that's going to be great.
Speaker 4:And you know what, um, you just made me think of this and so hopefully you're okay with this, but I would love to just put the feeler out there. Like Nicole, you said we, you know, we, it's just me and you, I think it would be really cool if we could like, see if there's some volunteers out there that would want to hop in and be like, you know, help us out with our party or help us help us out. We are all about. You know, getting any kind of support that the community has grown so much. And I know there's women out there because we do get messages all the time that are like, oh, I love this. I love what you're doing. So if you're listening to this podcast and you want to volunteer to kind of jump in and help in one one area, Shoot us a DM on Instagram and we'll kind of see what we can come up with there. Just putting the feelers out because we, you know, this community is for all of you. And so we just want to make sure we're doing the best we possibly can and we just love and appreciate any kind of support you have. So just throwing that out there, Nicole, is that okay?
Speaker 5:Yes, that's totally fine. I didn't expect it to grow as much as it did. was obviously the plan, but then it's kind of overwhelming as well to see it grow so fast. And then we're like, ah, kind of need,
Speaker 4:we need to know some help. Yes. Okay. Well, what an exciting way to start off 2025. We got things looking in the right direction for business owners. We've got, um, exciting things going on with all of the brands and businesses that we work with. The. influencers, you and your business, me and my business. And then ultimately our community, we're just seeing so much, um, excitement and energy behind the Western community as a whole. It's crazy how it's so cool to be Western now. And I'm just, I'm all about it because. the more visibility we get on our lifestyle, just the better it is for our businesses from top to bottom. And I'm seeing that, you know, again, with small business owners who, you know, maybe it's like small boot makers or leather makers that are actually getting to. get their products either on stars or out into the mainstream, you know, being on like, you know, crazy celeb names just because it's so cool to be Western, which obviously helps all of these business owners. It helps everybody. So what an exciting 2025.
Speaker 5:Yes, we welcome everybody to join Western Community. Everybody's invited from all over the world. You are invited.
Speaker 4:Exactly. I love it. Okay, so we'll have more coming up on who our 30 over 30 winners are, um, in the next few weeks. So we'll get that announced and start rolling on all the other information that I know you guys have been asking about, but yes, Nicole and I's plan is to hop on here more to produce more podcasts for you. So if you have any ideas or topics you would like us to cover, we. I would love to hear from you again, you could just shoot us a DM on Western life and style at Western life and style on Instagram. Let us know your thoughts. Let us know your ideas. And then if you have a second, give us a little five star review on here.
Speaker 6:It
Speaker 5:helps us. It
Speaker 4:helps us grow the podcast. So if you have a minute today. Um, just hop into your, your apple podcast and give us a five star review. It really helps. We want to push, you know, everything Western out there as much as possible. So your support just means the world to us. Yes. Okay. That being said, I feel like this is a great way to kick off this new journey with us. And for everyone listening, thank you so much for your support. Be sure you're following us on all social media. Um, but otherwise from me and Nicole, we will catch you next podcast right here. Thanks so much for listening to Western life and style trailblazers podcast.
Speaker 5:Bye guys.