The Feedback That Made This Brand Olympic Material

0:00There's so much value to just kind of going out and kind of cutting your teeth first and making a mistake on other people's dime. really establish yourself, gain your life experience, gain some business experience, and then really figure out who you want to be after that. I think that's a really great time to just venture into entrepreneurship. Hey, everyone. Welcome to Shopify Masters, your companion for starting and building a business. I'm your host, Schweng Esther Shan. Working at a corporate job can sometimes give you the learnings you need to start your own business. Laura Loaki and Shannon Savage made that transition with their company Left on Friday.

0:39It's a premium swimwear and active apparel brand and Laura and Shannon met while working at Lululemon. They applied what they learned there to make custom fabrics and design for Left on Friday. Their pieces are beloved by active customers and athletes, so much so that they were tapped to make the official uniforms of the Canadian beach volleyball team for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Laura and Shannon, thank you so much for being here. Hi, thanks for having us. Thank you, thank you. We're happy to be here. So great to have you both. And I love the story of you ladies meeting at Lululemon, working together for over a decade, and then starting off into your own path.

1:24Tell us, how did the idea for Left on Friday come about? Yeah, for sure. So left on Friday, we are premium active swimwear. So in the world of bathing suits, there's fashion bathing suits like solids and stripes or res. And then there's function bathing suits like Nike and Speedo. And our goal is to make one bathing suit that sells for both in a really premium way. So the idea really came from us just living our best lives. So Shannon and I both live like super active lives around the water. Shannon surfed around Australia. I happened to be on sabbatical in Maui for a couple of months. And it was really there where I was surfing in the morning, kiteboarding in the afternoon, then hanging out with friends on the beach.

2:07And I was wearing Lululemon sports bras for activity, then bringing a string bikini to hang out in to wear afterwards. words. So fast forward, end of sabbatical, Shannon and I are catching up in a hot tub in Vancouver, BC, where we were both living. And it was really there where we identified nobody is making cute active bathing suits you can be active in and hang out in. And nobody is applying the knowledge of fabric and fit we knew from our Lululemon days to the swimsuit industry. So that's where we really got clear on the idea. And that was about six years prior to us starting Left on Friday.

2:44But it's really through just us living our best lives. Truly looking for that multi-purpose piece that you can use in any sort of activity. Shannon, what do you remember about that fateful evening in the hot tub in Vancouver? Well, exactly that. I mean, like, Lauren, I always connected so much over just, like, talking about product and being active and always going on adventures, like, whether it was, like, skiing or snowboarding or, Or like we bumped into each other in like the south of France because we're like going on surf trips, both on like our own path. And I just remember when we were sitting in the hot tub and we were just like, you know, why hasn't anyone figured this out?

3:23Like, why are we always so disappointed with the swimsuits that we're wearing when we're going out to live our best life and do our most favorite things? And we just there's always something that's going wrong with our swimsuit or something that is bothering us because they're too frumpy or they're ugly or a clasp is breaking or there's ties like flipping around and hitting us in the face. And we were just like, why hasn't somebody cracked this open yet? And then we were like, we could do it. We can do this. And it was just one of those like aha moments. And we're like, oh, but we really like our jobs right now.

3:53So maybe we need to just like stick with that and then just keep this on like the back burner. And we would just always like, I remember just like casually walking past Laura's desk at work being like, I saw this really cool swimsuit idea. And I'd just like drop off an image on her desk and she'd be like, oh, that's a good one. So it just was always there. It was always percolating. And I think having such an iconic job at a brand that everybody dreams about working, there's a lot of comfort with that. And it's often really hard to leave that behind. So were there some big concerns that was kind of in the back of your mind when you were contemplating starting out your own brand?

4:32Yes. I think anytime anyone is considering leaving like a massive career that's been years, like for us, it was like a decade in the making to where we were at in our careers at Lululemon. We both actually left for different reasons. Like at the end of our time at Lululemon, we'd really felt like very complete with what we'd accomplished there and just really felt like we were ready for the next step. And we both didn't know what that was. But we knew that we were towards the end and decided to exit. No matter who you are, when you're at that point in your life, trying to decide to do a huge career pivot, like you're always going to be weighing the pros and cons of like I do have some comfort I do have some like quote unquote job security which I don't actually believe exists but you've done so much and you've built so much so then does like jumping off of that path or off of that ladder onto another path is that going to give you the chance to do it again or you know is that the right decision the wrong decision it's just it is a massive decision for anyone to undertake and so really making sure you're understanding like what's driving that decision like is it an ego play is it that you are actually just done with the path that you're on and you're looking for a different challenge.

5:38You want to be an entrepreneur versus being, you know, in a big corporation. There's so many, so many reasons that can drive a decision like that. So really giving it the time to like think it through. Yeah. How about you, Laura? Were there any signs when you guys first started that made you feel like, ah, this was like a good decision to actually give entrepreneurship a try? Early indicators. So right away, I think it felt great working with Shannon. I love working with her we could achieve so much we didn't have a fancy business plan but we did know by being end users and so experienced in the space about creating product we knew that there was something to this and working with Shannon was easy and fun and we got up to big things and we're in the real conversations and we could just go back and forth and like land on a sharp point so that was super fun but it was really when we launched Left on Friday we also were wholesaling at our friend's shop.

6:33So we opened up the website together. We opened up a computer there and then people started coming in and trying on the bathing suits. And it was that day, it really was validating that we're up to something. When somebody went to the change room, tried on bathing suits and started crying because of the way it made them feel and how that they had been searching for this type of product and didn't even know what they were looking for. But that's exactly what we're about is to make transformational product and so make you feel your best so that you can go and get up to big things and big things is whatever it is to you so that was incredible on day one and then our friends validated that we made great suits too but it was the people who didn't know us was the best and then it kept on going so it was we have incredible UGC on social and I'm like it's so fascinating women who are tagging themselves and being like best bathing suit ever and we're like We're not peeing these women.

7:27But it's truly that there's that need in the world. Finding a bathing suit is so hard and it's such a sensitive subject that when you find something you love, it makes you feel so good that they were sharing it. And so that was, again, really validating that we're onto something and that we were doing what we set out to do. It must be so rewarding to see strangers write reviews or make videos talking about products you've made. and I think it's a testament to both of your experience, which is so valuable for building this business. Why do you think it's so important to actually live life, have work experience, and then enter into entrepreneurship?

8:10It's like going for a test drive first. I mean, you're never going to stop learning in your entire life. So you could say, well, maybe if we had done this 10 years ago, would we be in the same place? I just think that there's so much value to just kind of going out and kind of cutting your teeth first and making a mistake on other people's dime, like really like establish yourself, gain your life experience, gain some business experience, and then really figure out who you want to be kind of like after that. I think that's a really great time to just like venture into entrepreneurship, at least in this case, where it's like an apparel-based business, where apparel is just not something that you learn overnight.

8:42It is a massive industry, so much knowledge to be able to do it well. And then on top of that, you add in like brand and marketing and logistics and everything that goes with running a business, I think that that is, that's just like a tough business to build without any like true hard skills. And at Lululemon, the both of you worked at different areas of the business, which gave complimentary skillsets. Laura, tell us about why this partnerships work so well. Well, first of all, I feel very lucky because I truly believe Shannon is one of the best in the world at creating athletic apparel, from creating the fabric to picking the threads to understanding fit to understanding how lining and self-fabric go together.

9:27So like I was, I still am super flattered that Shannon picked me to work on this project with her. But yeah, my background is really, I had an interesting career at Lululemon for 12 years. I started in the store. I really gravitated towards visual merchandising. I was then the assistant to the head of product at Lululemon and she was an amazing mentor to me. me and really educated me in the 360 of product and retail, everything from pricing to margin, to colors, to assortment in stores, to flowing product. I was in merchandising forever. Then I led to a speed to market product team, which is really going from like concept to in store really fast.

10:05So I was responsible for each element along the way. So really gave me an exposure to being an entrepreneur because I led that team off calendar as well as just like knowledge and it was great because at the time at Lululemon a lot of people took me under their wing and helped me like this is how we want to negotiate this is how we'll set the supply chain so that was really awesome Shannon's expertise lie in truly design everything from fabric to fit to what the design looks like. So very complimentary. Two things that were really great is we set the company vision together. So we were so clear on who we want to be from a product lens, as well as a brand lens.

10:49And then it turned out Shannon took product to life, and I took the brand to life. And then I took on some of the business things just by default, it was two of us. That was great. And it saved us like a lot of money and we went really far just the two of ourselves you want to compliment your business partner it means you have a broader range of things and I think another the one of the reasons why we could go so far just the two of us is because we had worked together so um blue lemon is really clear on like had very at the time where they're clear standards on like communication how to work together how to effectively be together and it was just like straight working for greatness for me and Shannon.

11:33So we could easily like give each other feedback, bounce ideas off of it. We really respect each person brings to the table and has to say. Yeah. So you had all the skills for developing the product and then you also had the understanding of business framework and also the brand to like really coexist together and also grow your friendship into a business partnership. And I think the past experience also allowed both of you to understand how you wanted to run this business where you were able to reach profitability and both agree on your funding philosophy, which is also something really hard to get right when you're starting a new business.

12:15Yeah. So talk to us about the funding side of things. Yeah, absolutely. Well, we bootstrapped the company to begin with. And I think that that's also goes into like the question of like choosing the partnership and like and why why each other and how we overlapped but when Laura and I came together to talk about this we really like we valued each other because we valued the same things and I think that that was the foundation of our business relationship and our friendship that we like we value risk the same way we value money the same way we value like friendships the same way because of that when times get tough I I know that like underneath everything that Laura and I have the same value.

12:55So she's going to react to a situation probably the same way that I'm going to react to the same situation or we're going to come to the same solution if one of us isn't even there. Or if it's a conversation of like, what do we value most to spend money on in the business? We're probably going to come to the same conclusion without even almost needing to consult each other. So I think that that's been a really incredible part of the relationship. And so as we entered into the business, we put in our own money and we wanted it to be the same amount so that we were risking the same amount. And then we valued the money the same amount and we built it out of that.

13:26So we came in 50-50. And I think that that really set the foundation for like a very strong partnership. It put us on the right track. We also knew we couldn't do it separately by ourselves. So that was helpful too. You know, we valued each other's skill set that they're bringing to the table. And I think, Laura, for you, because you grew from in-store to bringing products to market to really understanding business framework, that attributes so much to how the both of you want to build a business that has profitability at the top of mind. When new founders are starting a business, how can they actually be aware of their profitability and build a healthy runway for themselves?

14:10Yeah, I mean, I think margin is really important in our past lives. So we were always aware of margin. And I didn't necessarily have the business, like how to do a P &L entering left on Friday, I definitely learned and got educated by people around me. margin was important and just how we spend money and so we didn't understand not making money like why would you have a business and not make money and then if you did that we didn't know where you'd get the money if you didn't make the money so we kind of fell into it but also consciously always knew that making money is important yeah profitability is something that you need to build right into the business model in the early days and i think the other important part about this business is the fit and fabric and how it's differentiated amongst the competition.

15:01So Shannon, how were you getting the fabrics and the fit right when you're designing? Great question. So when Laura and I came together to actually define what we wanted to get up to in what you're saying, this massively saturated market, we knew that we needed something that was going to stand out. So we came together and we defined all of the things that were wrong with swimsuits and all the things that were wrong with fabrics and who did we want to be. We landed on four criteria that we needed to solve within the suits and the fabrics that we chose. So number one was it needed to be compressive when wet and dry.

15:33We know that we're solving for an active female. She's going to be playing beach volleyball. She's going to be jumping in the water, surfing on a waxy surfboard, swimming laps. So that fabric needed to perform in and out of the water. We wanted the fabric to be buttery soft because it was important that we positioned ourselves as a luxury product. So the hand feel needed to be amazing and stand out from other performance apparel, which actually tend to be quite dry and scratchy. Durability was the next thing. Typically doesn't go with luxury, but we wanted something buttery soft and durable. And we knew she was going to be up to all of these sports and activities.

16:07So it needed to hold up to her life. And then the other one was smoothing coverage. So a lot of swimmer out there, once you do get wet in it, you feel quite naked and exposed. And so we were very specifically going after something that had some beautiful, thick, buttery coverage to it. And so if you do try on our suits, you'll notice that it stands out. It is quite thick. And that's done very intentionally because it provides that feeling that's very differentiating to our brand. And then with all of that together, we were able then to find the fabric. We went out and cast a net and brought in like a hundred fabrics, like felt everything, broke that down into maybe about five that we loved.

16:46And then And our friend's mom sewed up suits in her basement and we gave them to friends and we each took them, like Laura took it to Maui to product test and I took them to the desert to product test in a different climate. And we all came back together and everyone chose the same suit of the same fabric. And we knew that we'd found that, like that diamond, the thing that was going to define us as a brand. And we call the fabric Smoothing Dream Fabric. And it has, it solves for those four components. And what we know is that great products start with great fabric. I love that you guys had the funnest testing period in Maui and the desert.

17:26And it sounds like every single detail was so thoughtfully designed and it's very intricately selected, which because there's so many details, you have to also just steal all that information and actually tell that story to a potential customer. Laura, how did you guys go ahead and like share that story in a distilled way to someone that hopefully is a stranger that would be interested? Yeah, I mean, it took a while. But once we found our sharp points, we just let in. I think our branding is cool suit, power suit, play suit, do it all in one suit. So it's cool power plays or North Star for everything from making product to how our brand shows up.

18:08So because it's so simple, hopefully it had cut through. So pool is like, can you be active in it? Power suit is, do you feel amazing and powerful in the suit? And play suit, is it cute enough you'll wear it to the beach with your friends? So if it solves for that, the product, then you could do it all in one suit. And that's how we tried to bring the brand to life and just really lean into that. what was something early on we decided is we didn't want any marketing jargon words like performance so it was really important that instead of saying like performance empowerment it's like what makes it performance the straps stay on the seams when you swim don't chafe your armpit so it was really about telling her like the exact thought that went into the product and communicating that and relating to her like buying swim suits isn't fun so I would say number one like how we communicate with her is we say like the details of what makes things performance versus using big words we um connect with her and let her know we understand her real problems so it's you're gonna machine wash your stuff because the reality is who has time to like hand wash their bathing suit so you know like how many times can you wear this bathing suit well we'll use words, not like fancy numbers.

19:32So I think we really just were on our site, very like thoughtful on saying it as it is and talking to her like a friend. Yeah. And I think one of our brand values is like simplicity, like keep it simple. And so then knowing that we had created the product to such a high level and it was solving for everything that we knew that it was meant to, then like to distill that into the simplest form of like, what like why does this product exist and then you know when you've nailed it when you hear your customers then picking up that information and telling other people so it was when when you got that customer she tried it on she loved it and then it was the word of mouth that then spread and we knew that the message was making sense because it was so easy for other people to tell other people about this brand so that was really like that was very validating to see and that's and it's um it's like a constant exercise to keep things simple because things can get really complex and over over marketed or over like just over overdone so easily.

20:30And we're constantly reminding ourselves and our teams to just like, just keep it simple, keep it simple, and it'll do the work for you. Yeah. And you've simplified it into three words. And I also love alliteration. So it's so easy to grasp. Very excited to chat more about the launch process. before we do that i would love to take a moment to thank our listeners thank you for tuning in to the show did you know that we have launched a youtube channel where you can watch some of our favorite in-person interviews check it out and thanks again for supporting shopify masters so when the both of you launched left on friday it was a omni-channel approach where you had wholesale relationships as well as direct-to-consumer selling online.

21:21What were some of the advantages of having both approach? When we launched, like our approach, and this probably ties back to our profitability standpoint, was really we wanted to like beta test it to make sure that the product was best in class before we did put a ton of marketing dollars behind it. So we launched online with Shopify, And then we also launched with wholesalers. And the way we thought about that is wholesalers are really word of mouth and marketing for us. So if they loved our product, they would tell their followers, their authentic audience, and then that's how word of mouth just started spreading, both from partnerships as well as people trying the product.

22:00I think one of the key things about launching, like the way I look at it, it was like launching online and then launching in real life at the same time. So the product that we were launching is a very intimate product. And then I feel like there would always have been a barrier. We were very much a direct-to-consumer company, but there's always that barrier between I'm going to tell you what this product is and then the customer being like, well, you're just marketing to me. Why would I believe you? And it's intimate product as well. So you've got like a couple barriers to get through to get somebody to actually make that purchase.

22:31But being able to launch in real life as well, where people could touch and feel and try on the product and have the physical experience of the product, which is actually like that's the golden nugget right there where we are telling people that we did it differently than anything that's been done before. having them have that experience physically immediately was able to create that word of mouth and that like brand demand and the desire that that could spread as well as us then like trying to magnify that online to say like here's what we've done here's what we've done but it got other people being able to actually validate it and then carry that forward and then taking all those learnings you've also expanded into retail having pop-up shops so what do you want to learn from all of these different iterations of having interactions with customers in real life?

23:18Oh, yeah, that's a great question. I mean, I think we believe we can be bigger than$100 million brand and diversifying the channels is amazing. And trying on product is a touching and feeling is so much about like who we are, that that is where we differentiate ourselves is the touch, feel and sensation of the suit, not just the color. but what's awesome about stores and pop-ups Shan and I both have worked them is just getting direct feedback from the customer there and then also like it can be overwhelming to see all our products especially as we layer in more assortments and just getting her in the right suit that's what the opportunity of retail is to tack on to what Laura said I really agree with that it's just that touch point with a customer and staying in tune with the customer is so important as we grow so for the first couple years like shana and i were responding to customer service emails and you could book an appointment and go to shan's house and try on bathing suits or my house and then i was on social and it's just like you get such incredible feedback from people and you can you truly people do want to interact with you and they don't know it's the founders responding to their email or instagram message but it keeps us close to what's like actually happening and how our products landing and if there is a problem with the product like Like, what is it?

24:38So just being at the forefront of that, I think Shannon and I will always, like, make sure we're in touch with the customer. And I think the way that you have decided where to have pop-ups and retail collaborations is so smart, too. Yeah, tell us how you decided which location to experiment with. Yeah, for sure. So we are in a shop and shop in Vancouver that's been since day one. And it's grown. It was a wholesale account, changed to shop and shop. And that's just like our hometown with the most amount of cheerleaders for the brand. So thank you, Vancouver. Toronto, we opened this year as well as Muskoka last year.

25:14So we had Toronto and Muskoka this year. And neck and neck, Vancouver and Toronto are our top two cities in Canada. And then 80 % of our business is in the US. So we opened a pop-up in New York, just knowing that it's our top city, followed by LA. So our head office in the US is in Venice. And so we opened on Abbot Kinney, a pop-up store here. So really just going where our digital traffic is and major cities. And what's great about both New York and LA is people travel here. So we get a lot of even Canadians in the store or people on vacation who have heard of Left on Friday and never tried it on.

25:52So retail is a big lift. It's, you know, you need to be there in person. So it makes sense that we opened our first long-term lease store right by our head office. So we can just like pop down there anytime and check it out. It's great to hear the online digital analytics can provide insights into where you open next. And it feels like you're both constantly learning a lot from the customers and also your ambassadors. So you've got to tell us about the experience working with the Canadian beach volleyball team and what you've learned through that design process. Canada beach volleyball has been amazing.

26:32well we had the Olympics this year which was incredible the partnership started about just shy of three years ago and it actually came out of one of the athletes on the team had discovered us as a brand we were such a small brand at the time very honored that she found us and she had reached out to ask if we could actually personally sponsor her we didn't actually have the money to do that but we had product that we could then trade for product feedback and they could be involved in photo shoots and come be a part of the brand so that was the beginning of just that type of relationship with the professional players.

27:04And then, so then her partner became aware of the product and then the product kind of spread through the team. So at that time, Lululemon was still the sponsor of Team Canada Beach Volleyball. And they pulled out because they went after like the big sponsorship for Team Canada. And then they had no sponsor. So we came together just about three years ago to talk about Left on Friday becoming the national team sponsor. And then we were so excited to do that. And then through that, we had access to like the entire team, which has like over 40 players and elite players. And then they get to wear it all season when they're competing or when they're just practicing and constantly giving us feedback then on like what's working and what's not working.

27:41And when we were working with Brandy and Melissa to develop the Olympic uniforms, this was another one of these situations where product design and development comes from that loop of feedback and listening to why people like product? What are they using it for? Why are they using it that way? And when we started working with the girls, because they'd already been wearing the product for about two years, they were quite familiar with our product line already. So it gave us a really good starting point. And so when we got into like, well, what are your favorite suits and why are they your favorite suits?

28:13They let us know that we had a one shoulder style. It's called the offshore top in our line that they loved playing for volleyball. And they loved it for two reasons. One was it was a unique style because it was a one, like a one shoulder style. So it was quite trendy and they felt like they really kind of stood out when they wore it. But the, um, the second part that I thought was really interesting is that Melissa as a right-handed server, it meant that she didn't have a strap on her right arm. So she had, so she, so she felt very, um, like unrestricted when she was serving. And it was, that was this like aha moment for me where I didn't know that, like, I just had never considered that as part of the design.