#10 Creating a Magnetic Wholesale Line Customers Love, with Chad Riggins owner of Texas True Threads

Can you believe it? We're all the way to episode number 10 of Boutique Chat. And this week, we're diving into what it takes to build your own wholesale brand and to scale it at a crazy rate. We're going to be meeting up with Chad Riggins, a founder and owner of Texas True Threads. Let's talk about your business strategy and the juicy details of what actually works, from mainstream fashion to fashion on Main street and the entire ecosystem behind it. How do we scale your company and do it with a balance and the happiness that we all seek? Let's hear from those insiders, experts and strategists that actually make it happen. I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub, and I can't wait to chat. Welcome back, guys. As you know, Boutique Chat is all about creating a stronger boutique industry, not only for our retail boutiques, but but also for those who design, create, and sell wholesale as well. So this week, we're visiting with someone who's not only built and scaled a wildly successful wholesale brand, but two of them, plus two additional retail boutiques. You may already know Texas True Threads, but this team also owns the Sports Zone, an embroidery business focusing on team sports, along with two retail boutiques, Horse Creek Boutique in Spearman, Texas, and the Blessed Buffalo in Canyon, Texas. When I first met Chad Riggins and his wife Mindy, they were perhaps two of the nicest people I had ever met. They were humble and genuine, and you knew right away that they truly cared. It was obvious that they knew what it would take to build their business because they had a willing, positive attitude. Every single time an opportunity has come along, these guys have taken it and run. And I believe that one of the keys to their success is is who they are as people. Because it shines through every day in their company and in the wonderful team that they've hired. Wholesale today, you guys, is not an easy game. You guys know this. Those creating T shirts have fierce competition and it seems that everyone with a cricut in their garage wants to enter the market. But contrary to popular belief, simply having a product does not mean it will sell. Being original 10 taking care of your customers and seeing the big picture will but interwoven throughout all of that, building a culture around your company is really what matters most and it keeps your customers coming back again and again. This week's interview with Chad took place a while back. After our Boutique Mastermind session held in Dallas, Texas, and hosted by dmc, we took some time to chat and reflect on what has made their company successful and how you can grow yours, too. So let's dive in. Get ready to meet Spearman, Texas own Chad Riggins of Texas True Threads. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you guys so much for joining us. I'm so excited about the guests that we have today. In case you hear a little bit of background noise with us in our interview today, we are live at Dallas Market center, and we're in the middle of a market where we are in the boutique hubs. We have, like, our own little showroom here this time. That's so cool. DMC is just. They're such an awesome host. So I can't wait to introduce this guy to you because, first of all, it's rare that we have a man inside of the boutique hub. Right? So he gets grief for this all the time. But second, if you're in the hub, you are going to know him and you're going to love him because of the multiple businesses that he's built. So, Chad Riggins from Texas True Threads and Horse Creek Boutique in the Sports Zone. So much for.

Well, thanks for having me coming on. Yes, thank you very much. And she's right. The DMC has been very accommodating, and they're. They're doing a great job of helping everybody out. So thank you all.

They've been a great host.

They have been.

Yeah. So you and I were just kind of talking before we got onto the podcast about how our relationship first started, how we first met each other, and for both of us, really, what a difference a year makes. Like, what a whirlwind this year.

This has been crazy. And love seeing Ashley's the boutique hub grow and super happy for her. But on the same note, we've kind of gone a lot. You know, we've come a long ways and ours has really been six months. But, you know, six, eight months now has been the big change for us.

So when you and I first met, I'm not even sure, but I remember the very first phone call that we had. It was right before the NFR last year, because you're in Texas and you were asking about getting into the NFR style guide, and it was our first year producing the magazine, and you told me about the companies and I said, oh, you should join the hub. Well, okay, tell me more about it. Send me the link. And you got in. And now just to see the companies take off, you guys came through boutique boot camp and what a tremendous company you've built and what an amazing team you have.

Tell us more about that. We do have an amazing team and again I'm going to give shout out to Ashley because a lot of our growth is because of boutique hub. So if you're listening to this and not a part of it, please join because it's a great thing as she's handing me money to say this. No, she's. She has helped tremendously and all the team, not just Ashley, but now the team, her team is growing. Yes. When I first contacted Ashley, I've been in screen print and embroidery for 15 years and was new to the whole brand. And so anyway, didn't know, wanted to make sure we fit. I'm the guy that have all the confidence in the world but always second guessing myself. If I know I'm right then I can go forward with it. But Ashley was kind of that, hey, give me the confidence that I need. Do we fit in? This is what I was asking her when I made that call because I knew I wanted to be a part of it. And she said, sure, do it, do it. That's where it started. And then it's kind of gone from there.

Pretty remarkable. So let's break to the businesses and I want you to talk to because I know a lot of whether it's a boutique or a brand, an entrepreneur has an idea, they want to do something and a lot of times they're still working another job and they're juggling multiple things at once and you're no different. So let's start from the beginning.

I've been an entrepreneur all my life. I have done everything from lawn and landscape to hauling cars. Sports Zone is where this really started. So one day someone had asked me, hey, if you had your dream job, what it would be? Well, I'm very, I was at the time not as much anymore but very into sports and said, I don't know, something to do with sports. And so anyway, long story short, I have a ton of friends that are in the, that are coaches and needed T shirts and stuff like that. So never had. I didn't know how the screen print process worked, didn't know anything about it. I got online and started researching it and told, I remember telling my first customer yes and thought oh crap, I better get my stuff together because I didn't have anything. So in the beginning I farmed everything out. I didn't have the equipment. As I grew and demand grew, I wanted more control, quality control over my product and timing and stuff like that. So that's when I really started researching it more and taught myself to screen print. I never had any formal training, started putting a team together over time. Sports Zone, I've had it in 15 years now. We do quite a bit of business. It's one of those deals that you do what you say you're gonna do and it takes care of itself. And that's kind of been.

I guess you're a man of your word.

Yeah, well, I try to be. I mean, we're all human. We make mistakes, but. But again, how you fix those mistakes says a lot too.

Absolutely. You know, the cool part about that story is I think a lot of entrepreneurs fall in the trap of they have a big idea and then they make this beautiful product and they won't let anyone see the product until it's absolutely perfect. And then they brand it and then they look for customers. But really it's completely backwards. You have to have the idea, but then you have to prove the concept.

I agree with you. And you know the one that I always. That people always talk about is don't have kids till you can afford them. Well, you never have kids. And it's kind of the same thing. If you wait and make it perfect, it'll never happen. It'll never happen. That's exactly right. So you got to jump out there. And I know a lot of times it's a huge leap of faith and all these prayed a lot. Sometimes you just got to do it. And I've been very blessed because we have done it. And for sure, along the way, we've made plenty of mistakes. But I don't regret anything I've done. I just look at it and try to move forward and not make that mistake or learn from it so smart.

Because it's that fear that stops so many people that in their tracks. But the fact that you don't let that fear even faze you. You just embrace a mistake or failure. And a failure is just a redirect. Right? It's going to lead you in a better place.

There's still fear.

Oh, come on.

No, but there's still fear. Don't get me wrong, there's still fear. But you're right. You.

But you owned it.

And you just gotta go do it. You just gotta do it. And if I had any advice for anybody, that'd be it. Our life is short, and we never know when it's gonna be done. Live life to the fullest and just go do it.

Absolutely. So you have the Sports Zone. So talk about how the Sports Zone then turned into Texas.

Okay. My wife and I, we started a retail store actually, when we moved to Spearman. So when we first started the Sports Zone, it was in Lubbock. And then we moved home to help a family business, and we took the Sport Zone with us, which we went from Lubbock, Texas, to Spearman, Texas. So we went from 250,000 to 3,000. And so staff. And it's just a whole different dynamic. There was not any retail in Spearman at the time. We were kind of going through a slump in the economy, and Spearman. And so when we put the business in, of course we put a storefront because we had the space. And so that's kind of how we got into retail. And we did it as a necessity or almost a service for the community. And so from there, we started coming to market. And when we started coming to market, we started seeing what some of the people were selling, and we're like, we make that in our shop. Why don't we, you know, why don't we do our own? And this was a long process. And so that was about six years of me always thinking of another idea and my wife keeping me in check. She's a great balance for me because if it was up to me, we'd have have 32 companies going and probably not good at any of them. I'm just always thinking outside the box and trying to do something new. So in that, I had an idea, and I could never get her to bite on it. And I just told her there was something there in a brand. But we finally met in the middle and kind of came up with the line that Texas Tree threads. And of course, just like with everything, it's grown with the help of a team. And so, yes, the idea was there, and it took a lot of work to get it to where it is now. And it wasn't an overnight deal. I mean, and that's what some people have to understand with new ideas or stepping out there. It doesn't happen overnight. This has been in the works a while.

Talk about that a little bit. I mean, you know, you have a tremendous team, but as you and I have had many discussions just about team and growing pains and how do you manage it all, because your shop is running 2477 at this point. Talk about those growing pains and how did you bridge that gap of where you started, and then the business really took off and how you're trying to manage that at this point.

So in the beginning, the idea that you come out with is not necessarily where you end up. And so that's the biggest thing with me is You've got to eventually, like you said earlier, step out there. Now, from when you step out there to where you are six months later is usually a big difference how you get there. There's lots of changes going on, and that's. Then that's exactly what happened with Texas Tree threads. So we went out and thought this was how we were going to do it from the way we had sales reps. And one of the biggest things we did in the beginning is I got to get sales rep. I come from sales. All my life I've been in sales. And so we've always had a sales team and you put them on the road and they knock on doors and all that. And that was great in the beginning. And we built a foundation for the sports zone. And so I was searching for sales reps scattered all over because travel is expensive and getting sales reps to doors is hard. Well, through Facebook Boutique Hub, I still want my girls to go see these, but now I want my team to be in Spearman, Texas, because we do so much of it online that I need them in house to help and carry through. So that's one of the biggest things that we did different. Our product from where we started to now is very similar, but the process and the personnel put on has changed quite a bit.

Well, so let's talk more about that, because I think as we look at this industry as a whole and whether it's mainstream fashion or whether it's the Western fashion industry, you know, there's. There's been a certain way of doing things for a very long time. And so the way that you're doing business through Facebook groups and through the way that your team has created such a personal relationship with your customers through Facebook is pretty unique. There's not a lot of people that have caught on to doing what you're doing yet. So talk about that and how you see the direction of this industry shaping and the role of the sales rep shaping which this might be a hot button topic for some people that are listening. But there's definitely change coming.

My mom was involved a long time ago, so they did market years ago. I remember as a kid she was so excited to get to come to market. And just knowing how they did it then, how I did it eight years ago and how we're doing it now is a huge change. What I see going forward. And I told my girls we had a meeting the other day, told them I said this Facebook and not to knock any of the other social media. We're not as versed in it right now. So I'm going to talk about Facebook a lot because that's what we do, 99% of our stuff on right now. I said, this Facebook deal is great, but I still want. I want them to have a relationship with you. I said, you can look through my sales or their sales, but ours as a whole, the ones that we have a relationship with are big buyers. These others that come on are great. I love the customers. But once we develop that relationship and they trust us, that's when the sales really start to pick up. And you can see it. You can see it. And so as we go forward, it's going to become less and less in front of each other. And I hate that because I'm a. I'm an in front of you type of guy.

Yeah.

But you also got to take advantage of what's, you know, the 20 tools in front of you, social media. And so my recommendation would be use those, but still pick up the phone every once in a while. Go see your customer when you can. And I think that's super important.

Yeah. Makes a huge difference.

It does.

Yeah. And you know, the funny thing we talk a lot about in the boutique of the retailer and how their authentic brand influences their customer. How people want to do business with people, companies. And it's the exact same thing in terms of wholesale. Right. People want to do business with your authentic brand.

They do.

It speaks to them.

It does. This goes back to all these reality shows, and I think. I think you're the one that brought it up. But they want to see the shit show. I mean, they do, and excuse my language, but that is what it is. And I think Ashley's the one that said that to me in the beginning.

I coined it from Grigsby's boutique, though, in San Angelo. Those girls are amazing.

Well, they're right. Those girls were right on. I'm just telling you because I tell my employees, and I have to remind myself every once in a while, own it. Be honest with the customer, even if it's not what they want to hear. But I promise you, at the end of the day, that gets you way further along than, you know, whatever, but that's it. Just. We're real people, and they're real people, so they can relate that. Relate to that. And so that's always been a big deal, too.

Makes it so much easier when it comes to the policies that you set forth, too. And let's talk about some of those, because there are hot topics in the Hub and in your business. Whether it's zip code protection or not selling to buying groups, which some people don't even know what that is, and they're selling to buying groups, you know, all those little pieces that, that come to that part of your authentic brand.

So two of the biggest. You just nailed two of the biggest topics that we have to deal with. And so we do zip code protect.

And is it zip code or is it like mileage, like area protect?

Don't start that. Oh, gosh, no, it's. It's zip code. Okay, we zip code now. I completely. Growing up in a small town and living in a bigger city of Lubbock where there's multiple zip codes, I completely understand both sides. I do. But as a business, you've got to, you know, you've got to make some decisions on that. And the management part of it is the tough part. Ashley. I spend the majority of my time anymore just managing that because it's a job in itself. It's not that you don't trust somebody else to do it, but it's so important that you've got to do it yourself to make sure it gets done right. And so I handle all the zip code protection and it stinks. And I understand. I talk to ladies. I get on the phone and talk to them. Sometimes I understand their side, but sometimes you got to understand we're a business too. And it's unfortunate. I can't please. I am a people pleaser. I've been that way all my life. And it's hard for me to say no. But as we continue to grow, you just got to learn to manage that. No, it's not a no, but let's figure out a solution. And sometimes there's not a solution. And I hate that. I don't like that as a, as a business owner, as a person. But so zip code protection is a very hot topic. And it's tough. The buy in group, I'm going to tell you, I'm one of the less educated on that, but I know we try not to do it. We do get a lot of them to apply and we try to nicely ask them not to do that. All these girls have worked hard to, to run a true business, you know, trying to think, you know, pay their taxes and pay their employees and pay the rent and, and it takes money to do that. And by somebody coming in and, you know, undercutting everybody just doesn't help anybody out. And so I'm sure in my group, and I'm sure somebody's gonna listen to this and go well he sells to so and so, please let us know. I mean and then that's the thing. And, and it's not against so and so. I'm not, it's not that I'm out to get her, but you can't be everywhere at once. That's right. And so we try, we screen for that. But again, social media is an awesome tool but it creates a lot of work too in trying to manage it.

Right. So let's talk about maybe there's some people listening that are like what is a buying group? I don't. Because there's some different definitions out there. So if someone's listening just to help them kind of understand there's, let's start by saying this. There are several types of boutique owners, right?

Yes.

There is the well established brick and mortar that's been there for 20 plus years and they've got their better brands. And then there's a newer brick and mortar store. Then there's this whole realm of E commerce and a powerful E commerce store that's doing big business. And now with Shopify and tools that just make it so easy for anyone to get into the business, there's a whole new, you know, breed of brand new online store owners. But then to take it even one step further, there's just boutiques on social media media like they just have a Facebook page or Facebook group and they're someone's commenting that they want to purchase something and you're sending them an invoice. Well, there's now this whole group of, you know, a lot of times they're stay at home moms and they want to have some other type of revenue and they want to get some clothing at a discount.

Right.

So they have basically posed as boutique owners and they're buying from all types of brands, not just your brand, all kinds of kinds of brands or knockoffs of well known brands from overseas and they're selling them for a fraction of the price to these buying groups that are, you know, a lot of times like garage sales. Right. The buy sell trade local page that you have and all of these unknowing consumers are jumping in and grabbing this stuff that a lot of times has consequences in terms of trademark infringement and they could be sued for even having the product.

Yes.

So there is a real, there's a whole nother like underworld that we have to really be careful of and protect the brands that are selling and the true retailers that are running their business.

And we've ran into that. You know, of course China you're not going to stop them. And actually by them knocking off one of our shirts, it actually helped put us on. I mean, we picked up a ton of new business because people did finally get. In the beginning, people weren't educated. And I'm going to have to say I was one of them that wasn't as educated on the underworld, even though I'd been in the business a while. That it's again, the beauty of the Internet, but it also makes it real easy for people to do stuff. And so one of our designs got knocked off and we started looking into it more. We realized that there was quite a big underworld and we wanted to protect the buyers that buy from us. That, you know, and it is a stand we've taken.

And I think you guys have done a great job of handling it just in watching. So, yeah, that's a tough one.

That is. That's two big issues for us and that's. That's two of the major. We love what we do and we're happy with our customers, but, you know, I mean, anytime you've got you conduct business, there's going to be problems. And these are two of them.

Yeah. So let's switch gears. Let's talk about the boutique for a minute because so you've got The Sports Zone, Texas 2 Threads, and then Horse Creek Boutique, which fills a need in Spearmint.

It does. And so back to the. When I very first started the Sports Zone, we had the retail side, or we had the brick and mortar, the storefront over time. We started out as kids when we first started because our kids were that age. And actually the building we occupied back in started, it was built in the 80s. And I don't know, I don't remember exactly when they closed, but it was called Kids Stump. That's the building we're in. And so we thought, oh, we're gonna do kids in retail. And we figured out real quick when, since nobody had bought retail and Spearman for X amount of years, say 10, 12 years, they had gotten used to buying online. And so we struggled with that a little bit. And we're like, why do we have this retail storefront? And so we kind of got away from it. Since we screen printed embroidery, we had our own stuff that we would put out there. And that was doing better than stuff that we were coming to market to buy because, you know, that was unique for Spearman.

Yeah.

And so that's what kept the doors open for quite a while. And then as we, as the Texas Tree Thread brand started Taking shape, we realized the, you know, women are the buyers. I mean, and I'm a guy in a woman's world, but women spend the money. And so you appeal to the. You get the women in and they're gonna, they're gonna buy. And so that all to be said, we started slowly transitioning into women's apparel. Once we did and we had a full store of women's apparel, nobody wanted to go shop for blouses and skirts and jeans at the Sports Zone. That just didn't make sense. They were expecting to go in and buy a jersey or whatever.

You know, didn't fit the market.

It didn't fit. And so. And of course you got to stop and realize. I named that 15 years ago. And in 15 years we've made a lot of changes. There was a. My mom worked at the boutique in Spearman and Horse. There's a creek that runs around Spearman that's called Horse Creek. And so years ago, and I called one of the owners, the previous owners from the 80s, and I said, hey, I'm thinking about doing this to name my shop better so that people understand a little bit better about what we're doing. And I said, I want to call it Horse Creek Boutique. Do you mind? And she's, oh, no, please use it. That's awesome. I'm glad you're doing that. So that's kind of how it transitioned it. We didn't really. Other than carrying different items, nothing really changed. It's still my same staff, it's still this. But we wanted to name it more appropriately. And they're still, to this day, and we've had Horse Creek going, I don't know, close to a year, I think, I don't know, maybe somewhere around that. And there's still this day, people that don't realize that what all we carry. So it's always fun when, when new people come in and go, oh, this is great. So that's. That's Horse Creek. And so it is our storefront. We named it so that people would understand what it is a little bit. We renamed it so that people would understand. Fits the market.

Yes, perfect. What do you think in your business is, you know, and either either one of them. What do you think is the biggest challenge that you're facing right now in your business?

Personnel? People.

People.

I tell them a lot. I love every one of them like family. And we truly do. In the town of 3,000, we employ 30 full time and part time employees and 10 sales reps. So I mean, we truly are that's amazing. It is. And it's. It's a. It's not me. It's. It's everybody. I mean, it's taken that smaller team to get the bigger team, but that's a daily challenge. It really is. That's my. Probably my biggest challenge. Lots of personalities.

You know, as a leader, that's hard.

It's tough.

So what is one thing that you do right now to try to combat that? Try to make it easier for everyone? What's one trick up your sleeve that gives you some kind of relief?

Leave every once in a while.

Go to market, go shopping with Mindy.

So I was horrible about letting things build.

Yeah.

Build over time. People getting frustrated with each other or myself getting frustrated. And so I've learned over the past few years, few months, whatever you want to call it, go ahead and take care of it. The quicker the better.

Yeah.

And I. And it was on the Boutique Hub, I think it was at Summit, actually. I know it was. Now that we talk about it. There was more than one person that got up on that stage and said they cleared house. You remember? I mean, two different people I know of said that they had a successful business, something wasn't right, and they wiped the employees out and started over. And not that I'm looking to wipe out, but I was also the guy that wanted to keep giving chances and keep giving chances when you're a people person like that. So. So that was. That's something I've learned. And believe me, I've. The sports zone is called Second Chance U. We have. We have a lot of people that have made mistakes in their life. And I think at one time, we had three people reporting to a probation officer. You know, and these. All three of these people are. If they listen, they'll laugh about it. But we do. We call it second chance. You. And so forever, I just kept giving them second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth chance. And unfortunately, you've got to learn to win this, because what it was doing was changing me, how I handled my other person, my good person.