How Gen Z builds brands, with CharCharms' Charlotte Trecartin

0:08Welcome to the Modern Retail Podcast, where we discuss the ways retail is changing and modernizing. I am your host, senior reporter Gabby Barco. I am here with senior reporter Melissa Daniels. How are you this week, Melissa? I'm doing well. I'm excited to chat with you again. I don't think we've had an episode doing the news together since like before Halloween. Yeah, it's been a couple of weeks with travel and the hiatus and everything. So we are back. Yeah, and we have so much to catch up on. And Gabby had an amazing whirlwind adventure at BravoCon in Las Vegas, which we will get into. And I can't wait to hear more about.

0:52Yes, I am back and still getting my life in order. But, you know, we will get into it. But yeah, I'm excited. So on this week's episode, we have the featured segment where Melissa has an interview with Charlotte Tricartan, who is the CEO of water bottle accessory brand Char Charms. And we're essentially talking about just living online as a Gen Z CEO, which sounds exciting. So I'm excited for that one. Yeah, it's a great conversation. I'm excited to get into that. But first, yeah, let's talk all things BravoCon and then get into a little news of the week with earnings from TJX. Gabby not only was this your first time in Las Vegas but it was your first time at BravoCon so just to set the stage for the uninitiated what the heck is BravoCon?

1:49Yeah so a lot of firsts which was a little overwhelming especially with the time difference it took me a minute to adjust but yeah for those uninitiated BravoCon is essentially the fan convention of all things Bravo TV. So if you're a Real Housewives or Below Deck or Summer House or Southern Charm, I believe is the other one. If you're a fan of any of those, most likely you know what BravoCon is. And it's been going on for a few years, but this year it was bigger than ever. And, you know, I did go for business and pleasure, I have to admit, because I am a fan. But I also got to really actually delve into the brand and like retail aspect of the convention and cover it.

2:36So, you know, you can also go on Modern Retail to read my coverage there, but I'll give you a little preview of what I saw because, you know, more brands than ever. Let's just say that. Yeah. And I think if you think about the Bravo watcher and the Bravo fan, that is just such a ripe demographic for a lot of brands. You know, I imagine it leans heavily female. I imagine it leans, you know, mid to high income, you know, folks who care about aesthetics and shopping, given some of the content of the Bravo shows. But, you know, full disclosure, my Bravo days are kind of behind me. I'm not as in the zeitgeist.

3:18I'm trying. I'm trying to get you back. We'll see what happens over holiday break. Yeah, I'm trying to get Melissa into Salt Lake City because it's just it's so much. But is there like an equestrian Real Housewives? Like, who are the ones riding horses? That drama I would watch. I don't think there's a horse one. Not officially. But no, this one is very like Mormon culture, which I find fascinating. and skiing, a lot of like APRE ski meetups, which is like, in theory, sounds like something I would love. But yeah, I mean, you know, this year, just to give you context, they had about 30 ,000 attendees at Caesars Forum.

4:01So I was one of them over the three days. And they had 22 brand sponsorships, like official sponsorships, and 15 of those were new, which is a lot. So in And speaking to NBCUniversal, who is the parent company of Bravo and who organized the event, they had just more interest than ever. So I can rattle off some brands. I talked to Clorox. I talked to Tresemme, which is under Unilever. They had a bunch of their brands there, like Vaseline, Nexus. And they all have tie-ins with some of the talent or the Bravo liberties, shall we say. There's also Instacart, which was like the traders. I don't know if you watch that.

4:48That's a peacock entity, but the traders tie in. They even had Kellia by Dix, which I feel like is kind of like a really hot brand right now. Right. They're like the athleisure brand that Dix has. Yeah. Yeah. I'm seeing them pop up a lot more right now. Right. Yeah. And then there was Wayfair. So that one had like multiple showrooms that were curated by different housewives. And people were, you know, going in there and doing like photo ops and whatnot. Oh, tell me. So everything is very, a lot of photo ops opportunities, I guess, photo ops. With the fans, like you're standing in line and you're waiting to take a photo with your favorite housewife, which to me, I know, felt very strange to watch.

5:34Picture this, like you're walking around a convention floor and there are so many branded booths. And then everyone is like walking around drinking wine. Like it's just the most, I was talking to some people on the ground and I'm like, this feels so monetized, which I guess is the point. Yeah, yeah. Well, and that makes sense for all the brands to be there. I am so curious about these shoppable showrooms from Wayfair. So were they like different aesthetic rooms? Was one like your New York penthouse and one was your like Utah Chateau? Like how did they design them? Sort of, yeah. I mean, actually, there's been another aspect is that there's been ads and spots on across like, you know, NBC Universal's platforms.

6:15Like if you watch Peacock recently, there's a lot of ads featuring these collabs. So, for example, Heather Gay, who is a real house of Salt Lake City, her showroom was pretty much like a spa bath style. So, you know, it's got the freestanding bath and you've got, you know, just all of this sort of bedazzled aesthetic. And so the idea is that they created a collection exclusively with Wayfair that was shoppable. And the other one was Reebok, which I feel like you're excited to talk about. Yeah, yeah. I checked out this collection. It's the Reebok and BravoCon collab. And it's each Reebok sneaker is like branded as one of the Real Housewives arms, whether that's Atlanta or New York, Beverly Hills.

7:09It's very interesting to me because they look like pretty just like lovely, casual, you know, city sneaks, so to speak. And then you look closer and it's like embossed with the show logo. Yeah, the little Bravo icon. Yeah, it was actually a great call because I was walking around with my friend Tyler, shout out to him, and his mom, Gina. And, you know, she showed up with what I thought was an amazing outfit with heels. But, of course, you know, midday, your feet get tired. And she did end up buying the Beverly Hills, the silver ones. and is, you know, just happy to fork over the, I think about$100 for them because when your fee are killing you, you're like, I will take the Reeboks right now.

7:56So yeah, these were exclusive to BravoCon and Reebok.com. So a lot, there is a sense of urgency with merch on the ground of like people being like, I need to get something here, you know? And so I was watching a lot of purchases being made. That's actually not much of a merch premium though, 100 bucks for Reeboks. I mean, I feel like that's pretty comparable to what you've seen in a department store. Yeah, that's fun. That's fun. Considering sometimes the inflation in those environments can be a little bananas. That's so interesting. I think what I'm hearing from this about BravoCon, though, is like the confluence of shopping, brands, and celebrity lifestyle shows.

8:41like it's all just kind of reached a fever pitch or it's like you can't even tell the brand from the show from the celebrity because yes, she's on The Real Housewives but she's also designed a collection that's also sold at the brand. Like it's all layered on top of each other. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, one example, there's just these tie-ins like Tresemme who I spoke to had this like glam suite where you can stand in line and get like a hair touch up. And they had the collab with Ariana Maddox, who I feel like even if you're not a Bravo person, you know who that is. And she was newly brunette. So, you know, they really wanted to highlight the shiny hair with their new hair oil.

9:24So you have these, like, some of these, you know, make a lot of sense. And it's like hair and beauty. But you also had some other brands that on paper you're like, wait, what? Like Clorox, for example. This is the second year that they are doing it. And their whole tongue-in-cheek was that, you know, these shows create a lot of mess and spill a lot of tea. And so you're using your handy Clorox wipes to wipe in. They had all these, like, bedazzled wipe canisters in all the bathrooms. It was a big to-do. So, yeah, obviously they feel like the engagement and the brand recall and all of the KPIs were worth it, that they wanted to come back.

10:09And I think really the big theme that everybody was driving home is that this is a highly, highly engaged audience. And like you said, is willing to make purchases or at least consider them on the ground. And so they just wanted to tap almost like this captive audience, right? Where you're just there and you're ready to consume all things Bravo. So it makes a lot of sense. And yeah, I'm just wondering what it's going to look like next year. I feel like probably even more brands. All right. Well, maybe I have to do some Bravo watching in the name of research, of course, and taking note of the brands that show up.

10:51But maybe I'll join you out there next year. We'll see how far I get into it. It's true leather reporting is what I think it is. Yeah, well, okay. So speaking of, we're going to talk about TJX next. And what do you know, TJ Maxx was also another sponsor that was on the ground. They had a Get Ready With Me booth or sponsorship with one of the housewives. But, you know, they also had this blockbuster quarter this week. Yeah, we saw earnings from TJX this week. And I don't think anyone was surprised, but I think it verifies a lot of what we've been saying all year about the changing ways of shopping behavior and the ways that off price is just ballooning to new heights.

11:37Their company-wide comp sales were up 5%. Their net sales reached$15.1 billion. That's up from 7 % one year ago. And it's all just coming from much, much more foot traffic than they saw this time last year. Placer.ai, shout out to them and all their awesome data, shows that the third quarter foot traffic was up 9.6 % at TJX HomeGoods. So that's HomeGoods and HomeSense stores. And then TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Sierra saw 8.1 % foot traffic increase. So that's a substantial amount more, you know, when you think about what that means in terms of people going in and spending. So I don't think the why is surprising here.

12:22People want to save money and then want cool new things. Yeah, pretty much, right? That's the big takeaway whenever you look at off price these days. And then their CEO, Ernie Herman, said that their holiday season is off to a strong start because people are seeking out these major deals on gifts this season. And then, yeah, I mean, really the short of it is that the economy and wallet share is very small right now. And people, even wealthier shoppers, which they actually shouted out, are trading down because, you know, they want to be Maxinistas. That's kind of the official academic term I'm using, you know, is that you want to deal on like some sometimes like pretty legitimate high-end brands.

13:10Yeah, absolutely. I think the art of shopping a TJ Maxx or Marshalls is the art of the treasure hunt, right? You know, what can you find? That's your size. That's the ideal brand. How is that all coming together? And they've really mastered this. One thing that I think is also interesting to know, especially about the gifting, is how much they've been able to put gifting front and center in their stores. If you walk into a Marshalls nowadays, you know, the first thing you see is these curated collections, you know, of a set for men's grooming or a women's beauty set or a kid's pajama set that comes with a toy or stuffed animal.

13:49They've done a lot of the thinking for you when it comes to gifting. And that's just something I've observed as a shopper and a frequenter of these stores, that they're really trying to take a lot of the guesswork out, but still make it feel special. And I think that's really going to pay off for them this year when people are trying to save money, but still want to give something valuable. Yeah, that curated aspect, I think with merchandising strategy, it seems like, you know, it's no longer just like you walk in and it's a utilitarian. There's just stuff everywhere you're sorting through. There is a rhyme or rhythm to it.

14:27And actually, speaking of merchandising, they are benefiting right now because there's just a lot of great merchandise to be had out there. So Herman did say that the availability of merchandise continues to be outstanding, and we are excited about the deals we're seeing in the marketplace. So of course, the way it works is that the buyers at off price are out there shopping any sort of, you know, excess inventory, any offloading, all of that. And so because of the way, you know, retail is shaking out right now, they it's almost like they have their pick. Yeah, what a time to be a Marshall's buyer.

15:07I'm seeing that same effect at some of the companies that I cover, you know, in my sort of beat on the home and home goods area, places like Rebel and Goodbye Gear that sell open box kids items, they're similarly getting a ton of new items and seeing a lot as retailers are figuring out what to do with their inventory. And, you know, this points back to something we've talked about a lot this year, which is tariffs. You know, tariff-induced price increases at other retailers are benefiting them, not just from the merchandise and inventory standpoint, but the overall consumer environment. Yeah, so they had pointed to that in previous quarters too, that this is something that's benefiting them.

15:50But I think this holiday season is going to be a big test. So it'll be interesting to see what their sales look like next quarter. Yeah, I mean, I think these earnings just point to the same trend that we've been seeing really over the last few years, which is that off-price retail continues to be a bright spot, you know, especially in brick and mortar and getting people in store for a great experience and leaving with, you know, merchandise in their hands. They continue to just excel at that. And with TJX in particular, I think they have a very resilient customer who wants to keep coming back and wants to keep seeing what they can provide.

16:29And that's going to help the company get through this sort of weirder macroeconomic environment we're all in. Cool. Well, next up, we have the featured segment diving into the art of founder-led brands, but from the perspective of Gen Z. So this cohort, of course, is coming into the space and more and more we're seeing younger Gen Z founders. But yeah, how was your conversation with Charlotte, Melissa? I'm curious to hear a preview before we dive in. Yeah, this was such a fun conversation. It really stemmed from something that I think we all see when we log online, whether that's on Instagram or LinkedIn, and that's these young energetic founders talking about their brands and selling them, right?

17:15And she did this with Char Charms, which is a water bottle accessory company that's now in Target, Dix, tons of other stores. And she's currently building a second company, a home decor company called Wall Candy. And we just got into, you know, what it means to build in public, what it means to share your journey, building your company with your audience and some of the do's and don'ts there, some of the challenges that she's encountered and ways that she's learned, you know, to sort of present herself when to pull back and that balance there. It was a really fascinating conversation. And I think I learned a lot in particular about how younger business owners and entrepreneurs are really using digital tools to their fullest, but in a way that I don't think is as like off the cuff and unstrategized as it may seem.

18:07Yeah. Yeah. I feel like we've seen this trend pop up in the last few years, which is like, I call it like reverse influencer where you've got founders that essentially choose to become the face of their brand and really like walk you behind the scenes. I mean, I watch a lot of videos of people, you know, looking at inventory and packing boxes and really just like showing the ins and outs of this is what it's actually like to build a brand. And so it's like, they're not necessarily full-time influencers, but that is essentially the role they've taken on at the company alongside, you know, of course, doing all the day-to-day operations.

18:44So yeah, I'm excited to hear what she says and kind of like, how do you balance that? Because to me, that feels, I mean, I've always said, I'm like, that feels really exhausting just kind of being on all day, you know, like posting and that pressure to, you know, be public facing and create content. So yeah, it's exciting to listen to. Yeah, I'm looking forward to sharing this one. Enjoy after the break.

19:22Every generation does things a little bit differently, including building companies. and Gen Z is no exception. So today we are joined by Charlotte Tricarton, the founder behind Char Charms. They are a water bottle accessory brand that has grown into an eight-figure business. They've landed in more than 5 ,000 storefronts, including Target and Dick's Sporting Goods. After posting 100 % growth, Charlotte is doubling down on a founder-led approach as she expands into her second company, Wall Candy. What I love about these businesses is the way that Charlotte has been building them in public. She shares wins, she shares misses, she shares product development openly with her audience via Substack, LinkedIn, Instagram, you name it.

20:07And it's just been a core part of how the brands have grown. I think a really great look into what Gen Z CEOs are doing differently these days. Charlotte, welcome to the Modern Retail Podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. it's great to have you i've loved watching you build these companies um and you've been a little bit of everywhere um in your entrepreneurial journey you know some stops at shark tank and the like um but i want to start with the beginning um with char charms you know why water bottle accessories you know what was sort of the white space here that made you think hey i could build a business around this absolutely so truly we didn't just pick a category we started noticing a cultural shift.

20:51And so although this idea of water bottle accessories came out of a time of boredom during COVID, it was also a moment when people were just accessorizing everything. And we saw stickers on hydro flasks. We saw people charming key chains up at the wazoo. Backpacks had accessories hanging all over them. And so when we looked at water bottle accessories, we knew people are already decorating everything with phone charms and nails. And so I thought that it would translate very naturally to now water bottles. What I love about that is you saw something that was happening and found a way to apply it to a new area.

21:29But I'm wondering how you think about the aesthetics of, you know, personalization. Like, why is this so big? And how do you as a company translate that? How I look at this is really interesting because young consumers, I'm talking younger than myself. So, Gen Alpha, we're looking at, you know, 12, 13 year old girls, they want something that's accessible to them. So, and something that their parents will buy for them. So they, they have these aspirations of like, oh my God, I really want this because it's so cool, but it's$300. Your mom is not buying you the coach bag charm. And so Char Charms took that and we made it mass market and we also made it really cute.

22:08And so the aesthetics that we lean into is this cutification of a category. And so Stanley and Awala, they've done this really well in hydration, but with accessories in general, that's what Char Charms is doing. So I like to say this because it's Gen Alpha shopping through that emotion of like, oh my gosh, that is so cute. And that's something that customers are shopping, trying to feed that emotion of cuteness. So it's really an emotional economic engine in a way. Yeah. And I like that you mentioned making this, you know, applicable in a mass market category, because I think a lot of times you see trends start at the high end and then, you know, there's an ability for that to trickle down if companies can scale appropriately.

22:55But, you know, behind the scenes a little bit, as you were starting Charge Harms, what made you want to, you know, be a founder-led brand or build in public? What did you take inspiration from? I think there's so many amazing founders out there that are older than me, different generations have launched in completely different categories. And so I personally, my first, one of my first big founder inspirations was Eric Ryan. And he's the founder of Method Soap and then Ali Vitamins and then now Welly with Band-Aids. And so something that he did was he looked at a really boring category and brought something new to the market.

23:31And he obviously crushed and disrupted CPG categories from soap to vitamins. And so that's the same take that I had with Char Charms, but now also with Wall Candy, where we're taking the hardware category that 3M with their command brand has really owned for the last 20 years with white stick-on wall hooks. And I've walked that aisle for the last four years and had Eric Ryan in the back of my brain whispering to me saying, do something fun here, make this more cute. And so that's what we did with Wall Candy. And now we have cute, fun stick-on wall hooks that essentially work the exact same way.

24:12But again, we're looking at categories that retail is wanting to bring new customers into and thinking about how can I, as a brand founder, give that to the retailer. I also would love to hear a little bit about what those early days were like for you. You know, you want to build this company. You're thinking about the founder pros out there like Eric Ryan. And you're thinking about yourself as a CEO. And you're thinking about yourself as an entrepreneur putting yourself out into the world. You know, what kind of things were going through your head as you were starting this brand and thinking about, okay, what do I want to be out front with?

24:47It started with TikTok. and a lot of brands obviously know that TikTok and social media is so important, but we took it to the whole new level of we are posting three times a day, every single day. And we are growing this audience based on a just like really unhinged content that is so authentic. A brand could never make this. And so that's the energy that we took from the very beginning. And we listened to those social signals really early on. So when I saw certain videos going viral, there was no pulling back because it was too unhinged for our page. It was now you're stepping on the gas and going all in on that.

25:24Even if that audience is maybe like not your core audience that you thought it was, but maybe that you, maybe that's an unlock and maybe you realize, wow, there's a whole new customer base out there that really loves this type of product. And they're giving me all these ideas. So at first it started on TikTok and social media. And then we very quickly realized that retail was a spot for Char Charms. And of course, now Wall Candy. And we were building that customer base in those early years on social media so that by the time we were in retail, we had customers that were excited to shop. When you were building Char Charms in those early days and putting things out on TikTok, what worked, what didn't?

26:07And how did you sort of pivot appropriately? One of the biggest lessons that I learned in those early days was that virality is not stability. And as a solo young founder, every single viral video was like this dopamine hit and it also equated to sales. Truly, truly it was. But you can't have a brand that relies solely on going viral where you've only make sales when you go viral because you might have a month where you don't go viral. And so what we realized is that D2C only requires a lot more energy in all the other channels of getting customers. And so that's why we thought retail was such a great pivot for us because I did not necessarily want to be the dancing monkey on TikTok Live having to make money.

26:55And so retail is where we were able to really scale that. But how did you sort of decide when you did want to get in front of the camera versus when to pull back? And you've probably learned a lot over the last few years, and we can get more into this later. But I'm just kind of curious what your insights or your kind of approach is on when is this Charlotte speaking? When is it Char Charms? Is there a difference? Like, how do you decide when to go in front of the camera? If you are a Gen Z founder or just a founder in general, and you're launching a brand, you are going to be able to build a brand much more easily if you are the face behind it.

27:37And the reason I say that, Melissa, is because people are trusting people. And so if I'm showing up there for that first year of building this company and saying, I'm building it, here's my journey, here's why I'm so passionate about this, here's why you should buy it, here's exactly what I'm going through, oh my God, Target said no to us. I'm devastated. Like those emotions that you can share with the people watching are so strong. So I think in those early days, being able to be the founder behind the brand and show up every single day on social media, like you start to build that brand affinity with your customers.

28:12I think when I realized that I needed to step away from the camera on Char Charms, so you won't see my face on Char Charms that much anymore. But it was when I realized that our brand could live on its own on social media and I could make content that sold the brand and did not need me. And so it was just a matter of kind of like we got to a certain scale of revenue and my team and I could hire someone to be that like personality behind the brand. And so it's been definitely a challenge of we want someone who can still build that same emotion on Char Charms. And we finally found that, which I'm really excited about.