On this episode of Honest Ecommerce, we have Austin Duvall. Austin Duvall is Co-Founder and Creative Director of Duvin Design Co, a lifestyle brand known for its vibrant and retro inspired leisure apparel. We talk about learning from past mistakes, finding customers in person and online, combining different approaches to marketing, and so much more!
Austin Duvall is Co-Founder and Creative Director of Duvin Design Co, a lifestyle brand known for its vibrant and retro inspired leisure apparel.
You can find the brand at DuvinDesign.com and find him at @duvallnightlong on Instagram and Twitter.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
Resources:
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Austin Duvall
That's our biggest thing… We just try to do one thing at a time and make sure that it works and it's profitable before jumping from thing to thing.
Chase Clymer
Welcome to Honest Ecommerce, a podcast dedicated to cutting through the BS and finding actionable advice for online store owners. I'm your host, Chase Clymer. And I believe running a direct-to-consumer brand does not have to be complicated or a guessing game.
On this podcast, we interview founders and experts who are putting in the work and creating real results.
I also share my own insights from running our top Shopify consultancy, Electric Eye. We cut the fluff in favor of facts to help you grow your Ecommerce business.
Let's get on with the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Honest Ecommerce. I'm your host, Chase Clymer.
And today we're welcoming to the show Austin Duvall. He is the co-founder and creative director of Duvin Design Company, a lifestyle brand known for its vibrant and retro-inspired leisure apparel. Austin, welcome to the show.
Austin Duvall
Hey, thanks for having me, man. Stoked to be here.
Chase Clymer
I'm excited. As a customer, you're definitely someone I would love to have on the show one day and look where we are now.
Let's tell people, for those that don't know, what are the actual products you guys are selling online these days?
Austin Duvall
Yeah, we have a wide range of SKUs at this point, but it really started out with swim trunks. That was the core of the business.
And it expanded to cabana shirts, Hawaiian shirts, t-shirts. And it's a blend of a surf brand...There's a little bit of streetwear in there.
And it's just a cool combination of a couple of different things. But at our core, it's really the trunks, the button-ups, and the leisure side. So we have some athletic wear as well.
Chase Clymer
All right. So take me back in time.
Where did the idea for this business come from? How did you guys get started?
Austin Duvall
Yeah. So I started it with two of my buddies almost a decade ago. And it was such a small idea. And it took...a handful of years to really do anything with it.
It was just kicking the idea around for such a long time. But it started at its core working for my parents. They own surf shops.
And at the time, there were just all these core surf brands coming out of California. It was a ton of dark colors, browns, blacks, big logo stuff.
And we just felt like there was nobody on the East Coast, specifically in Florida, kind of doing brighter stuff. We were all wearing tie-dyes and Hawaiian shirts.
And now it's become more of the norm. But at the time, that was definitely something unique.
And so we saw an opportunity of, hey, there's a hole here. How do we fill it?
And so we started by convincing my parents to carry the brand and we would just work on the sales floor and see people's reaction to it.
And at first, it was, obviously, this is working, this isn't. And we would take that feedback, just talking directly with the customers and see what's working.
And then we just shifted the brand through the early years like that.
Chase Clymer
That's amazing. Getting out there and really just talking to customers, finding out what works. Doing the stuff that doesn't scale at the beginning is always something that we hear on the show.
So when... How did it evolve from there? What were the next steps?
Austin Duvall
Yeah. So originally, the whole concept was we definitely had a little more experience on the retail side of things than D2C.
So the original couple years there were all us just hustling trade shows and trying to build it on the wholesale side of the business.
We didn't have a ton of capital. It was really just what we put into the business, which wasn't very much at all.
And so it was just scrappy for a long time. We would go get the pre-sale orders. We would make it and we would give everybody their 30, 60-day terms.
And we were just in a constant cash flow battle for years.
We built up the wholesale side pretty substantially that way before we really ventured into the online sphere.
Chase Clymer
And how long was it from ideation and first products that you're putting in your parents' store to landing these wholesale accounts?
Austin
It was probably... We built that up for, I'd say, 2 or 3 years, maybe a little bit more. But once it started catching on, it caught on pretty quick.
So we built up a nice...a group of stores there and then we started factoring as well. So it helped ease some of the cash flow burden.
And then probably a year before COVID, we really looked at it and we're like, we need to start building this online business and give that a little more attention.
So kinda timed that well in terms of getting everything set up there and giving that our attention and then COVID hit and online took off.
So it was a nice one-two punch.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. Let's talk about shifting what was historically like a wholesale business to online.
What were the challenges of finding your customers online versus where they are in these skate shops and surf shops?
Austin Duvall
It was definitely a big learning curve. None of us had a huge background in that.
I do a lot of the creative and the marketing side. So I understood what I wanted the vision to be and what I wanted people to see for the brand and how to interact with it.
I had all that in my head, but really it was how do I get that to the customer? How do I get them to see it?
And so, it definitely, you know, the beginning was pretty tough and then we caught a couple good breaks.
You know, we had some pretty big celebrities wearing it and Chase Stokes, he was, there's a show Outer Banks on Netflix and he wore it the whole show and it became the biggest show in Netflix's history. And so… within a couple months, our warehouse was completely cleared out and I was like, oh, okay, this is a different beast all of a sudden.
And so we just had to cut a few good things there and just kept building and I just kept our head down.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
How did you guys get these products to these influencers, for lack of a better term? Were you actively reaching out to them or is this one of those strike of lightning moments where… you guys just have such a good product that people really want to wear it?
Austin Duvall
Yeah, I think it's a combination of a lot of different things. A lot of it's organic and half of it, we don't even know where they got it from, how they got it.
I think a lot of it is stylists pulling it from retail, now we have a PR agency. We are ceding a ton to different people.
It doesn't always work out but it's... I think it's a combination of the organic, some of the relationships we have.
And then I think just the clothes stand out and so much now on social media. All these influencers and celebrities, they want stuff that looks different, stands out, and it's part of their image.
So it's worked out in that sense of like, people are excited to wear it and post it. And so it's just paid off.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
Let's talk about your marketing angle and the value proposition behind what you guys are doing there that helped drive this online growth.
Austin Duvall
We kind of straddle a couple of worlds like I mentioned earlier. You know, it started out very surf driven and core surf.
And you know, we all have interests on this side in the fashion world and streetwear world.
And so we're kind of melding a few worlds there. And so we kind of combine a couple of different models like we do the big lines and the pre books for wholesale and then we do super limited collaborations and drops.
And so it's just been kind of straddling that.
And then ,on the value prop side. I think we sit in a really good price range of like, we have a great product for the end customer and then it's not to the high end that like some of the fashion competitors that we have are charging.
It's definitely not on the cheap end either. But I think we're in a nice middle ground where the price makes sense but then you're still getting the quality of product that some of these top end fashion brands are making.
And that's always been our goal is like, how do we keep it reasonable in price? And then...deliver the highest quality product we can.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. And I think what helps immensely with direct-to-consumer is being at a price point that allows for impulse buy.
And luxury products…it’s a lot of consideration there. Takes a lot more marketing to move an expensive piece of clothing online.
I can tell you that from experience.
Austin Duvall
No, I was just gonna say, I mean, that's a constant tinker. We're always looking because we are in a unique spot where we're sitting.
So it's like when you're DTC and you're looking at all the costs and the inputs, you are squeezing your margins a little bit but you're selling more of the products than you probably would if we were coming in at a much higher price.
So it's always weighing that and making sure we're sitting in the right spot.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. Now I know our listeners would like me to ask, could you break down what is your marketing funnel? Is it super complex or is it just straightforward?
Here's the things we do. How do you capitalize on all this organic growth that you have with some other channels?
Austin Duvall
I mean, I'd say it's pretty simple. It's getting more and more complex. And as we're getting bigger, we're kind of reaching out to different people to come in to help build out some of the other stuff as well.
But I'd say the majority of paid is still, you know, your standard Meta and Google with the majority of that being in the meta side. And then it's really just trying to get as many people into our funnel signing up once they come to the site as possible, we hit them with the standard welcome flows.
And then, you know, we have a RadReport we send out every week that's become super popular where it's just us curating the best of the Internet, music, art, all that good stuff.
And then we're sending the standard sales emails every week.
And then we've been digging a little bit more in on the affiliate side, trying to build out those relationships on the marketing and just getting PR press, the backlinks linked to the site, and that's been pretty successful.
So we're hoping to dig in there and build out a more extensive network.
Chase Clymer
And I like to ask this question and then just point out, look how simple and focused your marketing is.
I feel a lot of young entrepreneurs get caught up in needing or thinking they have to do everything and it comes almost like a shotgun approach to marketing.
And it's like, look, if everything's important, nothing's important, and you're probably not going to see any progress.
Austin Duvall
Yeah, I think that's our biggest thing is we just try to do one thing at a time and make sure that it works and it's profitable before jumping from thing to thing.
And I feel that on even the organic social side of just there's so many platforms now, there's so much going on and even that's like you starting to feel like you're spread thin.
And so that's one of our goals is to really dig back in on just purely organic content and how are we going to build that out and really have it be organic or… I guess the term would be natural for each platform in terms of like your TikTok is not the same as your Instagram or your Twitter and all that.
So I think that the next thing is like we want to put some more love towards that and just kind of create content for people, that it's not just buy buy buy all the time.
Chase Clymer
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Chase Clymer
Let's shift gears here. And obviously, you guys had a lot of major wins. You got a rocket ship of a brand over there.
Looking back, are there any failures that you can think of like, hey, look, it's not all sunshine and roses.
Austin Duvall
Yeah. I mean, there's... We could probably spend a few hours on the mess-ups and the craziness that's come through the years. I think there's a few stories that come to mind.
There's stuff like us being in a meeting with our factory and they're like, oh, you're short 10 grand on this bill and we're not making anything.
And we had deadlines, so my business partner, Garrett, went and he's like, “I got to go to the bathroom,” and he goes in the other room and transfers personal money out to be able to pay them.
So it's just like, we were operating so tight for so long. And then it would be like, the next month, the factory just takes our deposit, goes out of business, declares bankruptcy.
And so it was just a constant learning curve on how you work with these factories, the pay schedules, cashflow.
And thankfully, we made it through, but it was definitely pretty rocky for a few years there.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. Yeah. You guys do a lot of your manufacturing right there in LA, don't you?
Austin Duvall
We used to do a lot more. So we started that way.
We would fly out to LA and we would go to the fabric district and just walk around, pick up old fabrics from other brands and take it down the street to a factory and ask them to sew it together for us.
But then with scale, obviously, none of that was custom. It was just like we were finding scraps.
So we really got to build up the infrastructure here. So we've moved it kind of elsewhere. It's all over now.
There's a lot in China, but we're building out a lot in Peru right now, which I'm pretty excited about. The quality is pretty insane there.
And so we're just constantly looking at other places, but I think LA was super fun.
It was a big learning curve. We had no experience in the business. So I think that was cool, getting hands-on experience and learning the process and dealing with the factories because we're not in China all the time, obviously.
So now that we have a better understanding, it makes things easier.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
Building this business, how long were you guys working other jobs, real jobs, quote unquote, until it became this was your full-time thing?
Austin Duvall
Yeah, it was probably four or five years. So right before COVID was we were like, all right, let's do this full-time. We all quit our jobs.
And it was a little scary at first. We've got the first check hanging on the wall because like I said, I mean, there's no outside funding.
It was just scrapping and all the growth was self-funded for the most part, other than small loans, things like that.
So it took a little bit and then taking that jump was a little scary. But obviously, we were very stoked.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. Now, is there anything I didn't ask you about today that you think would resonate with our audience?
Austin Duvall
No, I think I mean, overall, I just think this is such a fun space to be in.
So I'm super... I just got on Twitter personally. And that's how we connected. But I'm just excited to connect with more people in the space, keep learning, and if anyone has any questions or anything, don't hesitate to reach out.
Chase Clymer
Obviously, we're going to link to your Twitter in the show notes.
But if someone is interested in seeing the awesome designs that you guys are putting out and why you have such a... Almost a cult following at this point.
Where should they go to check out the stuff?
Austin Duvall
Yeah. The website is duvindesign.com. And so we're just constantly dropping new products there.
We just recently launched our women's division. So I'm pretty excited about that.
It's been a long time coming. And so there's a ton of different products. Check it out.
Let me know what you think from the leisure side, the surf, the swim stuff. And then the athleisure side, our sports shorts or mesh shorts are doing really well.
A lot of different categories, fun stuff. Check it out.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Austin Duvall
Yeah, man. Appreciate it. Stoked to have me. Stoked to have me.
Chase Clymer
That's a good place to end it.
Austin Duvall
Appreciate it, Chase.
Chase Clymer
We can't thank our guests enough for coming on the show and sharing their knowledge and journey with us. We've got a lot to think about and potentially add into our own business. You can find all the links in the show notes.
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