Episode 176: Give a Shirt! with Showpony's Sean Mooney and Lindsay Buschermohle

Welcome to Skucast, the podcast for entrepreneurs in the promotional products industry. Skucast shines a light on our industry's best work, features maverick personalities, and discusses what's really involved in running a modern promotional products business. SkewCast is the official podcast of Common Skew.

You know that old saying by Edison that inspiration is perspiration? Well, when the pandemic hit, many of us were inspired with ideas about how we could help our communities. Show Pony is a branded merch company located in Augusta, Georgia. Together with their sister company Wear Stewart, a strategic creative firm, they too wondered how they could help. So they scrambled to put together a campaign called "We Give a Shirt." The premise was simple: local companies, particularly those most impacted by the pandemic such as bars, restaurants, and local retail, could sign up to have Show Pony design a shirt, build an e-commerce shop, sell it, and ship it. And to tie in that Edison quote, Show Pony shipped over 25,000 shirts, sold over half a million in total sales, and raised over a quarter of a million for local companies. Fast forward to today, and what started as a simple way to put money back in the pockets of their favorite bars and restaurants during the pandemic evolved into a full-fledged fundraising platform for local businesses, nonprofit organizations, schools, and causes all across the state and beyond. When I first heard about the story, I hopped onto their website at showpony.co and fell absolutely in love with their irreverent but cheeky brand and their distinct voice. And when Show Pony partner Sean Mooney and Show Pony's merchandise designer Lindsay Bushermole decided to show up and talk about not only this project but multiple projects, what I was really sold on was their conviction. We chat about mechanics of pulling off that massive project.

We'd stack 'em by size, we'd fill orders, we'd place 'em in poly bags, we'd slap the labels on 'em and ship 'em out through USPS. All in a matter of a day, and we could clear about 600 orders in a day, which is a lot for a very small team.

The primacy of design in establishing competence.

People want to work with experts. So that's our job, is to make you look like the expert in your field, because then people want to work with you.

And since many of us are in the process of rethinking our office spaces, with some of us reimagining our showroom experience, We talk about their stunning showroom and the purpose behind it.

We've also embraced elements of technology with our showroom space. So we actually have a wall full of headwear and we have a projector that beams their logo on each of the hats.

We chat about a lot more where they derive inspiration, lessons learned from that massive project, and the realization that what they and you and I do every day on items like a simple t-shirt can greatly impact our world. Hi friends, I'm Bobby LeHew, the Chief Content Officer at Commonsku. This episode is brought to you by Commonsku, the work from anywhere platform that powers your connected workflow, enabling you to process more orders and dramatically grow your sales. To learn more or to begin your free trial now, visit commonsku.com. Now I hope you enjoy this conversation with Sean and Lindsay as much as I did. You launched a campaign called We Give a Shirt that raised over a quarter of a million for local businesses impacted by the pandemic. How did this campaign come about?

How it kind of came about is an interesting story. It really was kind of a group effort through our company and our sister company, Wear Stewart. But, you know, we really wanted to find a way to help a lot of our clients who were suffering because of the pandemic. You know, these businesses were closed. Oftentimes they were on the borderline of whether or not they were going to survive.

Yeah. And a lot of these businesses didn't have the luxury of working from home or working remotely like we did.

Right.

And when the pandemic hit, literally, I mean, it was a Tuesday and it was like, all right, everybody go home, set up your workstations. And I can remember we had our first Zoom meeting the next day and everyone was like, How does Zoom work? What is this? Like, what planet are we on?

Yeah, Zoom was very foreign. But, you know, I think for us in particular, we really wanted— we had a lot of people in our community who were looking for ways to help these small businesses. And we were trying to figure out a way that we could kind of create a vehicle to facilitate that help.

We wanted to use our strengths. You know, we're really good at producing things. We have a great team of creatives that are great at designing things. So we kind of brainstormed and landed on this t-shirt concept. You know, it was also great because we were able to utilize one of our local decorators to make all of this happen.

Yeah, that was a, that was a kind of a key part to it is that, like we said, we really wanted to help our local businesses. And so by partnering with our local decorator and working with all the different businesses, we were really happy in the way it turned out. It was really key to make sure that it was an additional revenue stream for them, um, not just kind of a supplement. A lot of restaurants were, you know, pushing buy, buy your gift certificates, help us out, but really that's just, that's just displacing, you know, the money.

Yeah, good point.

You have to cash that in eventually, um, and that business may or may not be open. So by creating this program where people could buy t-shirts and, you know, $10 of every t-shirt would go back to that business It gave them an opportunity to have a new revenue stream.

Yeah. So it supported them financially and it gave the community an opportunity to show their support by wearing these shirts for these local businesses.

I know this is basic. How did the mechanics of that work? You created the designs and then you worked with your screen printing partners. Did you— and you have a website up that has all of the shirts on one site, which we'll link to in the show notes. But how, since you're speaking to an audience of merchandisers, how the mechanics of that work?

Yeah, so I can kind of take us to the beginning. Lindsay can probably take us more through the middle, and then we can wrap up around the end. But really what we wanted to do is we opened it, we tested it out with a small group of small businesses, and the premise was we would reach out to that business, or the business would reach out to us, request to be part of the program. And the program was our designers would design a t-shirt. They would have the creative license because we were going to be doing so many that they would have the creative freedom to choose to design, and we would send it over to the company usually about 4 hours or so before it actually—

4 hours if we're lucky.

We had to minimize the amount of, you know, feedback just because we moved quickly. But the shirt would go on for sale for 7 days, and during that 7 days, their only obligation was to push it out to their social media networks as much and as frequently as possible. In an effort to drive sales. Shirts were $20 apiece, and $10 would cover our costs for production, and the other $10 went directly back as a charitable contribution to that business. So for some businesses, they sold, you know, 600 shirts, they got a check for $6,000. And it was, it was pretty fun. But of course, we had a lot of people reach out to us about, you know, following the model. And all of that sounds easy to do. And there's the logistics.

Yeah.

Yes, I'm familiar, I'm familiar with that part. Go ahead.

Started with building our e-commerce platform. Our wonderful web team at We're Stuart threw this website together in less than a week for us to launch our first set of shirts, and they were pivotal in helping us manage the e-commerce platform, get it up and running the way we needed to. They were always there to help us when any issues came up.. But the groundwork they laid with how easy it was to continually upload and launch these batches of shirts every week, twice a week for months on end, really led to the success of this whole campaign. And so throughout the campaign, that's what we were doing. We were launching batches of shirts twice a week. For the good part of it, our designers were cranking out 20 shirts a week, 20 designs a week. So we, you know, manage their time in terms of designing all of these awesome custom shirt designs and getting them on the website for people to buy. And then it was also our job to manage the production aspect and working with our local screen printer to have the shirts produced. And then Sean and one of our other team members, Stacy, were integral in setting up a huge fulfillment station at our office, which, you know, was empty because everyone was working from home. But we were able to then set that up to be able to fulfill all of these orders and ship them out to the thousands of people that bought shirts.

So we would, we would literally, we literally converted our back of house. Um, we bought, I think it was about 8 or 9 full-size racks. We'd get a shipment in, we, we got a team of interns who volunteered. I, I give major props to them because they were very much into philanthropic aspect of, of the campaign. And they would come in, we would fold shirts for hours, we'd stack them by size, we'd fill orders, we'd place them in poly bags, we'd slap the labels on them and ship them out through USPS, all in a matter of a day. And we could clear about 600 orders in a day, which is a lot for a small team.

Yeah, it's logistically impressive. I mean, for over a quarter million, just my rudimentary math, you've done over 25,000 25,000 shirts, it seems like.

We did. We did 25,000 shirts. And of course, you know, I mean, a quarter million went back to the community. We did half a million dollars in sales. Ah, okay. Yeah, the numbers were fun for us. They were fun.

And when this all started, like he said, we did a test batch the very first week. And originally we were like, what if people don't jump on this? Like, what if we have trouble selling shirts? We're not hitting our minimums to actually have the shirts produced, right? Since financially, and we were really blown away.

Yeah.

At what point did you go— at what— sorry to interrupt, Lindsay. At what point did you go, oh my gosh?

So one of the first shirts we launched was for a local restaurant called Sports Center. And I think our oh my gosh moment was when they sold over 400 shirts. Now, this is a restaurant that has been in Augusta for a long time. They are a cash-only restaurant, if that gives you an idea of the sense of this restaurant.

They're old school. Old school dive bar. Wow. They don't have a social media presence. You know, really, when Sandy found out about it, you know, she said, well, I don't really know how to push it online. I said, Sandy, don't worry about it. Well, this, you know, these are people we knew. I said, well, we'll figure out a way to help you. And it's so beloved in the area that it really spread viral. I mean, people were sharing it left and right.

That's so impressive.

That's a great story. Yeah, that was really our oh my goodness moment. And we were like, this can be what people need. This can be really big. And we knew we had to see it through and keep doing what we were doing to help as many companies around our area.

I think for me though, the biggest like, oh crap moment.

Right.

In a good way, of course. Sure. We had put a request a t-shirt on there. So we had a little button where people could go on and say, hey, I want a shirt for my business. And within 2 or 3 days, we had a list that was 300-plus long. Wow. And that to me, I mean, I'm getting a little chill bump right now just thinking about it. We weren't able to get to everybody, but we were really happy to help those that we were able to.

That is so impressive. And impressive too, because again, the audience listening knows how much energy you and your team and part your heart and soul into this, but just the sweat equity you built into this is, um, it's impressive. I know you shared a few stories. Do you have another favorite story from this campaign that you did?

Um, well, yeah, I think, you know, one of the early ones that we did was actually a little bookstore called Book Tavern, and they were down the street. And they didn't tell us at the time, but when we had done the shirt, they were really thinking about closing up their doors. They weren't sure that they were going to make it. And they've been in downtown for a long time, and after they saw how many people purchased the shirts and supported them, it really motivated and energized them to, to find ways to, to stay afloat, and they're still open.

Oh, that's great.

Yeah, it was a nice story to hear from them, um, after, you know, when they came to pick up their check. It was nice to hear that.

So, wow. How about you, Lindsay?

So we did, um, several for schools, um, once the end of the school year was nearing and students finally realized that they weren't going back the rest of the school year. We did a cool series that was two different high schools in the local area that have a long-term rivalry, and that's Augusta Richmond County and the Westside. So we did two shirt designs for them and launched them the same week. And so the principals got on board. They were key in promoting to all of their school members and their alumni. To go buy the shirts. They were kind of having their own competition to see who could sell the most shirts. And this was really cool, not only to get more of the community involved, but it was also great because the schools were able to use this money to help do some special things for their, their seniors that didn't get to have a normal end of school year, didn't get to have a normal graduation. So it was very cool to see them be able to use this money in a way that was needed. At that time.

And they helped teachers too who needed like, you know, PPE and different things like that. So, you know, truly to see the community support them and then them turn around and help their students and their teachers through selling t-shirts, I mean, it was, yeah, fun.

Sean, you, you mentioned that comment with an emphasis on through selling t-shirts, and I'm curious, how did this experience change you both? Both in terms of just how did it inspire, change, or challenge you personally? And then how did that change your reflection of what we do?

I think oftentimes we kind of get caught up in margin, margin, margin. And sometimes it's really nice to be reminded that doing the right thing for someone, doing it for an altruistic kind of mentality, can be beneficial in and of itself. You know, if we, if we hadn't done this program, we would have been fine, sure. But I think by doing this program, we built relationships with businesses, schools, you know, nonprofits that we have begun to see a return on, which was not the intent. You know, the intent was to help them, but now they're coming back to us because we helped them in their time of need.

Right.

Of course. So I think that was a neat change. I mean, I think we always tried to lead with an altruistic mentality, but to really see it in effect and in a grand scale. Yeah, it was really nice.

That's great. Lindsay, did you want to add anything to that?

I think Sean summed that up pretty well. It was a weird time for all of us, and I think it definitely did change our perspectives about selling things. Yeah.

Yeah. Also, you know, I mean, if I may just add another little comment, please. ShowPony is the tangible and Wear Steward is the digital, and we leverage the design from Wear Steward a lot. And I think When the pandemic hit, a lot of people's budgets were affected and they were less likely to take creative risk because they had to spend their money wisely. And when that happened, you know, a lot of creative license kind of went out. And so giving the designers the reprieve and the ability to have their own artistic license on things really helped in a time when it was easy to be discouraged.

Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of the designers had some pet projects almost with these. They got to pick some of, you know, the businesses that are restaurants that they frequent and, you know, really feel a connection to and say, you know what, I want to design a shirt for this company. I've got a great idea. I feel, you know, passionate about this and really get to express themselves and grow because a lot of our designers are special designers, right?

So web designers or even photographers hopped in on it and they're honing their skills. And now we're all experts at making t-shirt designs, which as many have people listening know, uh, you know, when you're dealing with halftones— we, we did all of these one color, by the way, uh, which is to some people impressive and to some people confusing. But, but, you know, we did them all with one color to make them super soft and super comfortable and feel like ink on it. And so our designers really had to get up to speed quickly on how to use halftones for depth and dimension, uh, and, and how to make it so that our production teams could actually facilitate the design.

So it sounds like you were surprised by a lot of unintended benefits.

You can plan all day long, right? Yeah, right. I'm not an overly religious man, but if you want to hear God laugh, you tell them your plans, right? So you can plan all you want, and the best laid plans do, you know, come to fruition, but it's always nice to get those little side kind of periphery benefits that pop up and really teach you something great.

That's cool. That's cool. Is this campaign done now? Is there a part 2? What is the story now?

So we have actually— we did pause We Give a Shirt, mainly because we had market saturation. By the time we had sold half a million dollars in t-shirts, people were asking us to slow down a little bit.

They were like, I want all these t-shirts, but I can't fit any more in my dresser.

I've met so many people who have told me that. They had to go out and buy dressers, like, to fill drawers full of t-shirts. I, in fact—

I know I had to.

I literally have, like, a Rubbermaid full of them.

Do you walk around town and see, like, one out of every three people are wearing one of your t-shirts?

They're everywhere. I see them on TV. I've literally— I was down in Orlando visiting old Disney World and saw someone wearing one, and I didn't know who they were. It's very weird. Yeah, it's very weird. But yeah, I think the future of it now is that we're using it as a fundraising opportunity for a lot of our nonprofits. We have a lot of nonprofits in Augusta. And so, you know, things like the Miracle Mile Walk, they'll be able to use our logistics and our e-commerce site to facilitate, you know, t-shirt sizing and all that stuff. And now that kind of collecting showing up and picking up your t-shirt is kind of a no-go in the pandemic. Having the logistics to be able to ship those out directly to people has been really beneficial for those.

Wow, what a beautiful evolution. That's fantastic. The Show Pony experience— I have to tell you, I have seen a lot of branding, I've talked to a lot of really cool professionals in this business, but I am fascinated by your branding, particularly the design. And I have to say, for me, the voice of your brand. I mean, you, you on your homepage, you've got a Deion Sanders quote. When you look good, you feel good. When you feel good, you play good. When you play good, they pay good. I know that's tongue-in-cheek. The whole website is tongue-in-cheek. It's a wonderful tone. Is there truth to this?

Yeah, there really is.

Yeah, I know that's a dumb question, but I mean, it's a leading question, but it's a beautiful site. It's a beautiful tone. Tell me a little bit about the branding behind ShowPaw.

Yeah, so, you know, Show Pony was— when we kind of came up with the name and when we came up with the thought, Show Pony— a show pony in a stable is always the best looking, right? Um, you're award winner. Uh, and that's really how we want to position each of our clients within their own industry. Yeah. And so yes, Show Pony is kind of a little fun tongue-in-cheek name there, but it does have truth to it. And just like Deion Sanders says, you know, when you, when you play good, they pay good. And you got to look good to play good, right? So, right, that's what we try and do for our clients. It's really important for us, and Lindsay can speak to it better than I can, but, you know, we have a really high concierge level of service, and it doesn't cost more.

It doesn't. So Sean and I both have our backgrounds in graphic design. Okay, so we have the ability to create virtuals instantly. As, you know, as quick as we can really customize all of our presentations and proposals for our clients. So they don't have to imagine what their Patagonia sweatshirt is going to look like with our logo on it. They don't have to imagine what this Peter Millar polo is going to look like. We're going to take the time to find the quality items and can mock them up for them to really have a cohesive proposal for them to look at and really know that we spent the time to pick the, the items that are going to represent them and their brand well. Um, so like the quote, you know, the tangible things are, are really what gives you an appearance of professionalism and expertise, and people want to work with experts. So that's our job, is to make you look like the expert in your field, because then people want to work with you.

Lindsay, I love what you just said about design being a demonstration of competence. I think that's a big missing element in many of our businesses today, but The fact that design is an expression of competence, but also proof of competence. I was talking with Lee Fine of Juice Marketing yesterday, and he said he probably tells his team every day, we eat with our eyes first. And so you're appealing to an audience that I just love everything about that.

You're 100% right. I think that's that when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you play good. That's that mentality. And for us, taking that concierge level of service and We kind of have our show pony picks, not to dig on anybody in particular, but, you know, the industry kind of has a reputation for spray and pray, right? Here you go, you, you want some pens? Here's a catalog full of pens, right?

Right.

Let me know what you want. Yeah, look through these 100 pages of pens and let me know which one you think is good, right?

We, we work really hard to minimize what we call decision fatigue. Yeah, we have so many clients that, you know, they— oh, thank God you only do this pen. Okay, cool, I love that pen. Thank you, I love it, I'll take 1,000. And we just try and minimize it because we've done the work on testing products, we've sourced it to make sure that it is in fact a quality product, that what you're going to get is quality. And I think people come to us specifically for that reason.

We've also worked really hard, um, in our time in this industry to build good relationships with our suppliers so that if any issues do arise, we want to be the resource for our client to get those things resolved rather than taking away their time, you know, for what they're being an expert in. Let us be the experts in our field. If anything goes wrong, we'll take care of it for you and provide that service level to them. A lot of people, you know, it's great that there are budget-friendly do-it-yourself options out there on the internet. But a lot of people don't realize that what you may be saving in money can come back to bite you later on in time if things don't go how you expect them to go.

Well, and I love that you're speaking to the art of curation because it's somewhat surprising that as an industry of professional curators, because basically that's, that's what we do is select, organize, and present merchandise. It's surprising that as an industry of professional curators, we've never codified the skill and the art of curation. So we never talk about it as a special skill. We never teach about how to master the art of curation. But that's exactly what you're talking about, that decision fatigue.

Yeah, frankly, it's a hard thing to teach because it does pair with style, right?

Yeah, it has to do with taste. It's the same way with design. You can teach design skills, but you can't necessarily teach good taste. Yeah, it's, it's a learned skill.

Can you develop it?

You can definitely develop it. You can spend time around people who have good taste and, you know, pick up on on different things. Obviously, there's always trends in all aspects of the world, but especially in our industry. And so sometimes it's knowing whether those trends are a fad or something that's more classic that will stick around. But it's interesting because Shawn and I are both designers by trade. But the way that we use our influences, both in the design world and in the merchandise world, I think kind of sets us apart and has lent to us focusing on that curation of good products.

You are part of a larger agency experience, Ware Steward. Why did you feel it was important to start your own brand, Show Pony, outside of the agency branding?

That's always a good question. We get that a lot. Mainly it's really because of process. Our processes are so very different from the creative side. We actually— our building is a shared building, but it is in fact two buildings. We just have some little cutouts in between down in our space. But we have a wall that separates the two buildings, and we tell our clients when they come in that this wall separates the digital from the tangible because they are different. On one side, you'll get your branding, you'll get your new identity, you'll get a website to go with it, you get marketing concepts. All of that. But the moment you walk through this door, this is where you— everything gets tangible, um, and everything's real. So for us, it was really important to separate the two, um, because the processes are different, and it, it's a natural handoff between that wall. And since the process is so different, it's really important to kind of have it as its own business.

Yeah, I'm curious how they intersect with each other. Do they— obviously they complement each other and you work well together, but it's interesting to me that visually you connect, but there might be an intersection that's fun to explore too.

You know, a lot of times Lindsay and I will be— we're introduced very early into a process on the, on the digital side. What I find most interesting is oftentimes we anticipated that we would get a lot of clients from our sister company. We knew that would be the case because it's a natural, natural handoff. What has been interesting, as you talk about an intersection, is the amount of clients that Wear Stewart has gotten through Show Pony. We are a little bit more accessible in terms of a project. You know, we can sell you 1,000 pens for a couple hundred bucks and you're good to go. And that can be a little bit of a gateway drug to the creative agency of Wear Stewart.

I think there are some people who might know of We're Stuart, might have their perceptions about We're Stuart as a full-service marketing agency and might be timid about that. But like Shawn said, they may still need some basic promotional merchandise and come to us and, and see what a great experience it is and then realize, oh, you know what, maybe, you know, when I'm working on this event that I'm going to be giving these things out, I, I need to freshen up my, my marketing plan. I need to have a stronger campaign idea for this year. And we're always there to recommend where Stewart to be able to help with those types of projects for them.

Yeah, I can see where the marketing agency is far more abstract and Show Pony is far more concrete. Absolutely. What are the parts of the business or the industry— you touched on this lightly earlier— But what do you hope to radically change or improve upon?

Well, I think one thing that we already have radically changed within our own industry here in Augusta is— and maybe we could provide a link to some imagery— but our showroom is radically different than many. We invested a fair amount into making a really nice luxury experience. And the reason being is we, we kind of go back to that Deion Sanders quote right? When you, when you feel good, you play good. When you play good, they pay good. And so it's always easier to introduce your client to, you know, a really a little bit higher price point item. And if they don't like it, you can work your way back down a little bit to something that's a little more cost effective. That's kind of the similar approach that we took with our showroom. If you introduce them to a luxury space, it's easier for you to sell them a luxury item But if they want to move back down, that's fine. Uh, it's hard to get them to buy Peter Millar shirts or Yeti coolers when you're selling in a pegboard room with glass shelving.

Yeah, it's a beaut. I'm looking at images right now. We'll add these in show notes or link to it in show notes. And it's, it's a beautiful showroom and it reminds me of a fashion designer's showroom, or you're in the South, so You could walk into any oak-lined fashion store and see something similar, but it's definitely a high-end vibe. A lot of folks might not be returning to offices again, but many folks are looking at overhauling their showroom experience and literally turning into an experience as opposed to just anything they can throw up on the wall or the rack. What's the most important aspect when you're developing that?

I think by having this really nice, comfortable space, it allows them to feel comfortable when making their decisions for their marketing. Needs. Yeah, we've also embraced elements of technology with our showroom space. So we actually have a, a wall full of headwear, and we have a projector that beams their logo on each of the hats. So the hats are all— love it— hats are all blank hats that are our favorite hats that we like. And when the client— and there's actually a t-shirt smack dab in the middle of it too. And when the client comes in, we've already beamed their logo onto all the hats. So it's a digital mockup on an analog device. So it's a physical mockup, if you will.

Brilliant. I'm actually stunned. I'm not normally stunned. This is brilliant. Thank you for reflecting on it. That's cool. Your showroom reminds me of Billy Reid's. Stores, just beautiful fashion experience. Are there ideal clients that you work with at Show Pony?

Yeah, we don't really define our ideal client in a particular industry or anything like that. Okay. The way we kind of identify our ideal client is a client that's really going to truly trust us, place their trust in us to kind of deliver the very best product for their project parameters. You know, we work very hard and we don't come from a kind of an ego standpoint when we say that we're experts in this. We've worked really hard to make sure that we've positioned ourselves that way. And when you walk through our doors and you come to us with your marketing quandary, we're going to work really hard to solve it. And if the client trusts us to do that, if they give us their budget, if they give us their project parameters, we're going to deliver efficiently. And effectively every single time.

Where do you both derive inspiration from?

I think we both have a variety of inspiration sources. Being tied so close to a wonderful creative agency, we see designs all the time, literally, you know, steps away that inspire us. But I know personally there are other designers that I see their work that inspires me. Some in our industry and some more just in traditional design.

Yeah.

Do you have some specific ones?

Lindsay?

The Young Jerks is a great design agency that's doing some great work. Stitch Design Co., which is not too far off from us in Charleston, is great. Timothy Goodman up in New York has some great stuff. So I think it's just important to stay inspired no matter the style or the way that it gets interpreted or applied to what we do directly. Something that I guess has a little more impact on what we're doing with products and merchandise would be some of the brands that we like, you know, whether it's fashion or home goods or, you know, things like that. Kate Spade, Anthropologie, Ralph Lauren, even something like IKEA and their color stories and their textures that they come out with. There's so many things to pick up on that get, you know, applied to what goes on in our industry.

How about you, Sean?

Yeah, for me, you know, my inspiration, I've got a retail background and a design background. And so for me, it's all about a shopping experience. And so I always try to find inspiration that makes people feel comfortable about that experience. So if it's something for, you know, like art, I love following artists. Like we have a local artist here, April Henry King. She's a fantastic muralist. We've worked with Leonard Zimmerman who works in our agency, phenomenal people like Patrick Lewis and Steve Penley. I mean, I love following their art. I think that's inspirational. But as it relates specifically to like trying to find, you know, good sources and good merchandise for our clients, I think we're I get most inspiration are following brands like Nike, right? Everybody will say Nike, I love Nike, it's great, cool, everybody does. But what I like about Nike is, you know, I'll look at their new shoes and say, all right, what colors are they pairing together? Because that's often an indicator of, you know, the market trend, where are the colors gonna go. Yeti, right, that's a premium lifestyle brand. How they continue to redefine themselves year over year is impressive. Why I would ever buy a $400 folding chair from them, I don't know, but I have one. I got a lot of Yeti. Uh, PXG for golf, Parsons Extreme Golf. Um, I'm a big golfer. Uh, they have a luxury brand that's just really impressive. And even like Barber, all luxury brands, it sounds kind of hoity-toity, but it's very easy to look at a luxury brand and whittle it down and find the common luxury that can be applied to something.

That's from both of you. Those are such insightful brands you shared. I love it when folks share resources and brands. And Hans Oreck is a famous curator, art curator, and he said that the cure, the C-U-R, in curating can be freely associated to curiosity. And you both have that. That's a critical part of the curator or the merchandisers, and merchandiser seems to me a weak word, but the curator's responsibility is to take in from all of these various areas. And then Sean, you said, said it well, looking for that common denominator.

Yeah. Well, I think our common denominator is, as you mentioned, you know, the curiosity. I think it's just because we're curious people. We're pretty weird, but we love it.

You know, people would be bored if people weren't weird.

That's right.

What I love about your brand, though, is it gives you permission. The rest of us get permission to be truer to our weird selves.

I think, you know, we kind of have an internal mentality. The only thing we take serious is our work. Don't take yourself too serious. Just have fun with it. Enjoy it. Take your work serious. But, you know, other than that, have a good time. And that's what we try to do.

All right. Last question for both of you, unless you have something else you want to talk about. I'm happy to talk with you guys for a long time, but last question for both of you. I like to ask this question to everyone I interview. So how did 2020 reshape you personally and your business? You know, for all its calamity and heartache, 2020 brought us some really strange gifts too. What did it bring you guys?

So personally, I think 2020 was a year of a lot of reflection. All of our normal, um, routines and processes were kind of thrown off and had to be re— reevaluated. So for me personally, during, um, the quarantine, like I said, I'm from Louisville, Kentucky originally. My mom, who is retired. I came down to homeschool my son when everything shut down, and single mom working from home. So it gave me a new appreciation for family. It gave me a new appreciation for those routines that I think we kind of took for granted and had to kind of reestablish what our new normal daily schedule looked like. But I definitely think it gave us the ability to realize how flexible and resilient we are. Especially in our industry, we're grateful that we can work pretty much anywhere with a laptop and some internet. So being able to work remotely, being able to adapt to the situation just really gave us a new perspective. And then for me, the best gift that 2020 brought me was during all of that time working from home, being able to spend more time in different ways with people in meaningful ways. So at the end of 2020, on New Year's Eve, I got engaged.

So that would be my best—

Congratulations. —from 2020. It was a great way to end a very weird year. That's awesome.

And he did a really good job because the ring is really nice.

How about you, Sean?

You know, I think you ask how it reshapes you and your business. You know, I think what I learned a lot through this experience, through not only We Give a Shirt but just maintaining our normal business, is the key being flexibility. Lindsay touched on it, you know, being able to adapt to new environments like working from home, or, you know, we've obviously invested a significant amount in a showroom experience, and when people can't come into the showroom, how do you translate that online? You know, all that adapting that we did, I have to give You know, Lindsay, major props because she not only survived, she thrived in this situation. And for me, that shaped me a lot because I think that's building a relationship stronger and showcasing that as a team, we can really accomplish a lot of different things. But I do think it's really interesting you pose that question as well. You know, what gifts did it bring you? And really, as we mentioned kind of at the beginning, We Give a Shirt was truly a gift. You know, to be able to provide the community an avenue to, to support local small businesses was pivotal. And to be able to build the relationships and help the businesses in their time of need is something that I personally am immensely proud of. And I think that is without a doubt the greatest gift that we got through this pandemic. I have to agree.

It was an absolute joy talking to both of you. Thank you for being willing to share so much from your experience and your lessons learned.

It's been very inspirational for us. Anytime, Bobby. This was a lot of fun.

Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of SkuCast. Be sure to keep up with our latest content by subscribing to SkuCast on iTunes or to our blog at community.skucast.com. Www.comonskew.com. Until next time, friends, thanks so much for listening.