Funding — 3 success stories of DTC brands not taking on big funding
A recent Venture Beat article called 2019 “the year of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) retail brand,” with a significant amount of VC funding going to DTC brands at big valuations. But “there were definitely some misses as brands struggled to meet the valuation expectations set by unicorn status funding and failed to focus enough on early profitability.”
On Mytus, my focus is on small, independent brands, so I would generally shy away from brands that have raised big rounds of funding. Here I’m profiling three brands that have managed to make it in the DTC world while maintaining independence. Here’s what they have to say about their funding journeys:
Wolven
Wolven is a brand of sustainable women’s and men’s activewear with the mission to “make sustainability sexy.” It’s artist-founders are the creative minds behind the brand’s unique patterns and designs. Women’s leggings are $68, board shorts are $72
Founder Kiran Jade reflected on her brand’s growth without taking VC funding on the Story of a Brand podcast in May 2020: “I’m really happy to be building my business sustainably and at a pace where I can maintain control and not take on VC funding and just keep ownership. That’s been challenging because we have so many ideas, and obviously with more capital we would be able to execute more of our ideas, but we are also building something that is growing at such a healthy and sustainable pace and we get to keep control of it, we get to keep ownership of it, and at this point that’s actually more important to me than growing really big really fast.”
Read the full Wolven story on Mytus:
- Founder Story: Family Business, Female Founder
- Goodness: Charitable
- Sustainability: Carbon Offsetting, Sustainable Materials, Sustainable Packaging
- Business Model: Bootstrapped
Faherty Brand
Twin brothers/founders Alex & Mike first launched Faherty Brand as a swimwear label in 2013. They traversed the USA introducing the brand in their “beach house on wheels.” Fast forward to today, Faherty has multiple retail locations and has expanded significantly beyond swimwear to carry apparel for men, women, and children as well as blankets. Faherty focuses on sustainability and durability, and their beautiful, aspirational catalogs are worthy of a spot on my coffee table. Men’s & women’s clothes from a $75 tshirt to $500 cashmere hoodie
According to a 2017 interview in Forbes, the brand had at that point reached $15M in revenue while being conservative about funding: “Keenly aware that this is a long-term pursuit, the trio are hesitant to take money from anyone. With Alex’s background in private equity, he’s learned to juggle the finances of the company. Bootstrapped and supported by friends, family, and a few angel investors, Faherty has been rolling based on sales and these injections of capital.”
Read the full Faherty Brand story on Mytus:
- Founder: Career Change, Family Business
- Sustainability: Sustainable Materials
- Business Model: Bootstrapped
Knickey
Knickey is a direct-to-consumer women’s basics / underwear brand made using sustainable materials, and offering a recycling program. Undies are $13 each.
According to a 2019 article in Forbes, Knickey was bootstrapped to date: “With a small team and an army of contractors, [founder Cayla O’Connell Davis] hopes that they can keep costs low and continue to bootstrap the venture for as long as possible, giving them enough cash flow to finance inventory.”
But Davis told Forbes they may choose to seek funding at some point: “I want to make it really lean and mean, maintain that equity. But we will have to consider that since we’re growing faster than we had anticipated, we may have to pump some money into it to keep turn rates competitive.”
Read the full Knickey story on Mytus:
- Founder: Female Founder
- Goodness: Better Factories
- Sustainability: Sustainable Materials, Sustainable Packaging, Recycling Program
- Business Model: Bootstrapped, Direct to Consumer
Originally published at https://www.mytus.co.
