Alex: That’s Elyse Kaye, CEO of Bloom Bras and Head of Product Innovation and Development at Aha Product Solutions.
The innovation behind Bloom Bras came from NASA, shipping and packaging experts, and a celebrity course it designer. The company was named BuzzFeed's Top Female-Led Companies to Watch in 2018 with features in Huffington Post, Thrive Global, NY Post, Women's Health, Elite Daily and dozens more. With Aha Product Solutions, Elyse helps get her clients’ products out on the shelf by assisting with messaging, design, functionality and pricing.
On today’s episode, Elyse and I discuss the challenges posed by so many factories refusing to work with startups, ways to reduce unnecessary packaging, and how e-commerce is allowing smaller companies to take bigger risks than ever before.
So sit back and learn about creating partnerships with your manufacturer. Hope you enjoy this episode.
I’m your host Alex Kent, Director of Sales at Stord, and THIS…is Supply Chain Therapy.
Alex: All right. I'm here today with Elyse Kaye, CEO, bloom bras, and head of product innovation and development at aha product solution. Elyse, thanks so much for, uh, joining and, and coming on the podcast. First off. How's everything going today?
Elyse: Everything is fantastic. It's a beautiful day here in the bay area and, uh, no complaints whatsoever.
Alex: That's awesome. Well, good stuff. Let's let's go ahead and dive right in, um, you know, 60 seconds or less. tell our listeners. What, what B bras is.
Elyse: Absolutely. So I found a blue bras out of frustration after years of not being able to find a sports bra that worked for me. Um, when I actually did a deep dive, I learned the statistics at 70% of women in the us are now a decou or above one in, uh, three women complain about not exercising. Of, um, being uncomfortable and none of the major brands were actually going after this market.
So I said, it's not really a design flaw. It's an engineering challenge. I brought in people from NASA and shipping and packaging experts and a woman who did all the Corry work for Oprah and Katie Perry and, um, all of the ballerinas and opera singers. And I said, this is what I want. Can you help me bring my vision to life?
So we're now the most body inclusive line on the market. We ranged in size from a 28 seed of a 56 L and we are entering our sixth year of business.
Alex: How hard is it finding a manufacturing partner just to build the prototype or, you know, produce all of the product that, that your customers are wanting?
Elyse: I wouldn't say impossible, but it was very difficult. So I got about 50 plus nos. Uh, so originally wanted to manufacture in the us and, Got a lot of no's. Uh, and I was pretty hell bent on a sustainable approach. So we can talk about that afterwards. But sustainability and manufacturing and especially in apparel is a really big passion point for me.
And so after all of these no's and a crazy story where I got a yes, and then we got all the way to end of the line and pulled the trigger on production and the factory disappeared with my money and my, my patterns and everything. I ended up building, um, or helped to build, uh, a sustainable factory in Sri Lanka.
Um, so a joint venture with a group that was doing building a factory that used solar wind water and local, um, labor. And I needed somebody who could create a technical product and somebody who is willing to work with me on the evolution of design, but also. That I felt really good with, um, as far as that our values aligned.
And so, um, with my network and with, um, you know, with BS kind of leading the charge, we were able to, to escalate the building of that factory.
Alex: So besides the one factory that took your money and, and went off. Right. What, what other mistakes or lessons did you learn along the way that, you know, you weren't expecting.
Elyse: Well, I think the biggest, and I wouldn't call it a mistake, but I think one of the biggest, um, learnings was that there were not a lot of factories that would, um, even though again, I have in my world, I have an excellent, uh, reputation and a, a pretty extensive network in manufac. Um, a lot of them don't wanna work with startups and I, and having gone through it now, I, I actually, I get it, um, you know, from minimum orders to, uh, fluctuation in pricing.
And then obviously what's happened in the last couple of years with the, uh, shifting landscape in retail, but also escalating shipping costs. Escalating. costs for materials, escalating cost of labor, but decreasing costs of what consumers actually wanna pay. there's a lot of challenges that companies like mine have been facing.
And so I think more and more factories are looking for, these unicorns and more and more, uh, startup brands are looking for vendors that will work.
On that piece are the manufacturing partners not willing to work with startups because there's a risk there that, you know, Hey, we're gonna invest in this capital and, and start producing this product and it may never take off it. It's kind of like, they're looking for a lottery ticket.
Alex: That's like, oh, we're gonna get in. And then we're gonna be set. Right.
Elyse: exactly. And I think, you know,there's some of that element and then there's also the element of. inconsistencies. So I'll, I'll give a different example. Right? So, if you're working with, let's just say Nike, right? So Nike will book out their, their manufacturing for years in advance. So they'll say we're gonna order a hundred thousand pairs of sneakers that fit this, this mold. We might just change the colors. Um, here's, here's our forecast on sizing. Here's what we're willing to pay for it. And, and here's the terms that we're going to, to work with with a startup brand. most startup brands, even the best DTC brands are not great at forecasting. Um, and they're not great at necessarily saying here's our vision for the next 10 years. Um, here's how we're gonna achieve that. And so I think there's a lot of risks with working with startups. That being said, you're seeing now, and this is, this is, what's been so exciting for me.
I advise, uh, dozens and dozens of startups, uh, in this space. And in other consumer product, About supply chain diversification. And now you are seeing a lot of that come back to the us, and you're seeing much more, much, much, much more, um, emphasis put on smaller runs, local runs. And even if that means it's at a higher price, higher cost, um, the consumers are willing to pay that, which is, uh, a shift in behavior that, that I'm really excited.
Alex: Yeah, I think, you know, touching on that a little bit, just the supplier. Diversification. How do you coach other brands on that? And you, I mean, how do you, you look at their, their manufacturing network, their supply network now, and you're like, Hey, this may be a problem. I mean, we've all seen it the past three years.
Right. You know, Hey, this facility is shutting down because of a COVID outbreak or I, I remember the ice storm in Texas, right. There were warehouses that shut down because Hey. there's no power, right? I mean, there it's so important and you just can't as a, as a business and as someone that's producing products, you can't just stop.
Right.
Elyse: Right. Well, and I think that's where this, opportunity right now and a disconnect on, on the way that business used to be versus the way that business is today. So you're seeing more and more folks I think, look and say, well, if I've got. 32 components that go into my product.
And, uh, the majority of them are coming from overseas. I can't rely that this supply chain is going to be, consistent. And so if that means paying higher prices for some of those C. And buying them locally or, um, bringing product over that that's being stored here or different methods of, I would say manufacturing that, um, that are automated in the us that they can utilize instead of using overseas labor.
It's again, even if there is a cost associated with it, the reliability and the time and the speed. And then again, the sustainability piece of it, I think, are becoming bigger factors in decision making than, um, than they had been previously.
100 hundred percent agree with you there it's um, you know, I, how many times have we seen or, or seen on the news? A a, you know, oh, we're out of. This certain component of this other product that goes into it. I'll just give you a quick example. So with one of my clients who, um, you know, they they've been doing. Amazing business, especially during the pandemic. It's a glass baby bottle company. And, uh, two years ago we were paying somewhere around 3,500 to $3,800 for a container.
There was a time last year where the quote was coming in at 44,000. And instead of it being two weeks,going to. Uh, 24 weeks. So those type of things have made it so that it's, unfortunately we don't have the opportunity anymore to, uh, to not make these changes.
Alex: Right.you talk about inventory planning, but just product availability, right? And then you, you are coming downstream. We're kind of starting upstream in the supply chain right now, talking about manufacturing, all the different components. And then you talk about downstream. How much space do we need in our warehouse?
How many employees do we need to fulfill orders? You know, you start going all the way down. And, um, I think talking about the, the upstream supply chain and, and just, you know, where it starts, there's, there's way more issues there that, that aren't talked about today, for sure.
Elyse: Yes. I agree. Completely.
Alex: All right. Well, let's get into our next segment, uh, all about challenges. So you've mentioned on other podcasts, that the idea of supply chain fulfillment logistic. There's a ton of fires put out. Right? So what are the, the main issues that you and, and the customers that you advise on? What are they dealing with each day?
What are some of those fires that pop up?
Elyse: Obviously with supply chain, that's a huge topic that we're talking about, which is what are alternative methods. Is there a way. In automation, is there a way to, um, reduce the number of factories that you're working with so that you become more important to one particular factory versus, um, you know, multiple factories?
Are there things that you can reduce, like for instance, with packaging, if you have six components to your package, can you bring that down? Um, same thing with, with, um, a lot of the direct to consumer brands. Can you,Instead of having 400 products on your site, can you bring it down so that you don't run, run that risk?
Um, there's been huge challenges in changing algorithms. So whereas it might have been a certain, um, customer acquisition cost a year ago, those numbers have skyrocketed. And so, um, so I know a lot of the companies that I'm working with right now, That's a big discussion point that we're always having, which is how do we, uh, how do we deal with that?
What are more creative ways that we can start to market to a, a more specific target versus being broad? there's a lot of companies I know right now that are trying to produce the reliance on Amazon because Amazon keeps. Upping the anti on costs. And I think right now, something like 72% of products sold on Amazon are coming directly from China.
And I think everybody knows that that's a big risk right now.
Alex: Right. And Amazon just, I think it was last week, we're recording this in August, but they just announced their own peak surcharges. Right. Which is kind of one of the first times I think we're seeing that, from Amazon, but, um, definitely. We probably could have predicted that
Elyse: Business owner, there's the peak surcharges, but also some of the other big challenges that they're throwing out there with escalating costs with escalating competition and with them actually knocking off and doing their own private label as, as a big strategy.
Alex: Yeah, that's right. We, we hear that a lot from, from founders. So what are three individual challenges that, that you are facing that brands that you're advising are facing in regards to supply chain? And, and how are you addressing those individually?
Elyse: Well, so, so supply chain is one of the big challenges. So one, one of the areas that I'm advising quite a bit on is ways to look at alternatives, whether that be reducing. Um, the number of factories so that you become more relevant, um, to a, a particular factory, reducing the number of skews, if there's a way to, uh, bring some of the manufacturing back locally.
So for instance, if you're buying packaging from China and there's multiple components, but you could buy those same components or reduce the number of components and you could buy them locally. It's not that much of a difference, uh, in pricing when you add in shipping and.
Frankly on reliance of getting the actual product, um, to you, uh, in a timely manner, second thing, and this is a little above and beyond supply chain, but when you look at your customers and you look at companies like for instance, Amazon, or, or, um, advertising on Facebook, those, those costs is skyrocketed skyrocketed, and we're seeing higher customer acquisition costs and, and lower.
Um, return on investments or are there ways to look at, um, your marketing plans to be more relevant today and to reduce those costs? And then the third area is, is really with, diversification of SKUs and, and products. Is there a way to reduce that so that you, um, can be much more. I would say thoughtful with your product lines as well as, targeting of customers.
So those are probably three areas that I, I get askedto advise on most. And then I will just say like on a personal level right now, um, you know, we're coming out of a, a pretty wacky time. And so consumer behaviors that we talked about earlier have shifted. And so there's a lot more pressure and opportunity on sustainability.
And so I think that that gives us as brand owners and as supply chain folks and as consumers, uh, a way to rethink ways that we've done things traditionally in the past.
Alex: I kind of wanna key in, on one thing there, when, when you're talking about a product catalog and and, you know, looking at the sustainability. factors. Say you're advising a, a founder or, you know, a, a newer DTC brand. and they're like, we want to expand our product catalog. We wanna expand the number of skews that we're offering.
And, you know, you spoke about it earlier. And, and how do you reduce that skew count kind of reverse of that when someone's like, I want to add more products. How do you advise them to, to go about that?
Elyse: So I don't ever say don't add new products. I think new products is the only way that a brand in a company can actually grow, but I think it's being more thoughtful. So I'll give you an example of a company that I recently, uh, was advising. So when I came in there were, they had about 850 SKUs. And, um, you know, the, the rule of thumb is you're 80, 20, right?
So 80% it's coming from 20%. In this case, it was like 80% was coming from. 5%. And so we actually did the deep dive and said, do you need these products? The answer was resounding. No, but then when we looked at the products that we're doing really well, um, in this case it was a pet company. So we said, okay, so these are the products that are doing well.
How do we build on that? How do we make maybe a product. A hero product. How do we build a story around that? Or how do we take that product and then remarket it to different, pet parents. And, uh, and how do we take something like this and maybe, make it so that there's products that could be bundled together.
And by doing that, our profitability rose 450% in a. And obviously with skew reduction, that meant that we had less reliance on certain factories. And it also meant for us cuz they did there's a retail component. for this particular client of mine, we actually were able to not just protect the space we had, but to grow the space, which in this day and age is really important.
Alex: Yeah, absolutely. And, and I, I. talking about the consumer shift to, to go back to the previous question, you know, the, the shift in consumer expectation And and retail coming back, I'll, I'll call it coming back. Retail is never gone. We, we thought it was dying a little bit, but eventually we all knew it would come back.
And I mean, when you're talking about a, a brand portfolio in their portfolio of product, Are you recommending that they have a, a split or is it different based off of brand, you know, saying, Hey, let's aim to do this much of sales in retail this much direct consumer, or is it just, Hey, let's build great products and, and see what hits first.
Elyse: So I think you have to be strategic in that. There's a lot more risk in, in working with retail and, and put a lot more reward. Right? So obviously you get volume. So if you're working with a big retailer and they let's just say, you know, that, that you've got X amount of shelf space that they're allowing, um, you have to make sure that that shelf space is constantly turning.
So in a lot of cases, it's less about the actual product. It's gonna be more about the turns per product. when we're pulling together, it's called the, it's called the planogram. When you're pulling together a planogram, um, you know, you might have something where you're like, this would be really cool to try.
Like this sounds like it'd be amazing to try. I usually advise, don't try it at retail, try it, try it on, you know, a different platform, because if it fails, you run the risk of losing that space and losing that slot. If you've got, you know, if you've, if you're a brand like Proctor and gamble, who's had that, you know, or Coca-Cola that they have, they have a little bit more leeway to try something and to advertise it.
But if you're not going to put the marketing behind a product, It's a lot easier to take the risk on a, I would say a smaller platform that being said, as we see from the rise of direct to consumer and we see more and more, uh, purchasing power online, I think it's taking those type of products and letting those drive consumers.
uh, you know, from a level of excitement. And again, an example that I might give there is you may have something that is gonna get a lot of press, you know, and, and going to be able to draw in maybe some celebrity or some influencers talking about that. You don't care if they buy that product necessarily as long as they're buying other products.
And so you wanna make sure that you've got enough products that they're going to sell and that you're not going to be a one and done. Uh, if you look at what's been happening in the world of direct to consumer companies that have raised a lot of money. And I, wanna say that this is different, but you know, you look.
At some of the big ones. I, I won't name names right now, uh, that had these insane valuations or had IPOs or opened up tons and tons of retail locations that are right now tanking and, you know, and at risk of not being around in three years from now, a lot of those brands. Um, you know, they, they grew too fast and they didn't, they didn't remain relevant.
I think one of the things that we're learning right, is that consumers are fickle. so if you don't have the next thing for them, you most likely are not going to be relevant in the next few years.
Alex: I mean, I feel like we're already venting Elyse, but let's dive into to my favorite segment listeners know, this, moving on to the venting couch. We have all had traumatic experiences when it comes to logistics. Elyse has been, uh, teasing me. I I would say with some of the stories that she's prepared to tell, but it doesn't have to be that way.
So Elyse, the moment of truth. What's the craziest story from your career that you want to share and vent about with the listeners today?
Elyse: Oh, well, I got so many, um, you know, I I'll give, can I give.
Alex: Yes
Elyse: one, that's
Alex: mean, we can be here all
Elyse: and a alright, I'm that? Doesn't, I'm good with that. Um, I'm gonna give one that, um, that I like to tell, because it was for a very big brand. That's still a client of mine today, and they, wanted to go into a new license category and that's an area that I specialize in.
And so they approached me and they said, you know, we wanna be in this category. And, um, all the research shows that it's gonna be really great for us. And so we said, absolutely. So did this whole, um, big ethnographic research went into people's homes to see how they were interacting with a specific product, turned out there was all these like fears and, uh, opportunities.
So we designed this beautiful product. That won every award under the sun. Um, we had, uh, exclusives being fought over from target Amazon, uh, apple and best buy. So, you know, we, we put this product out there and it tanked tanked I mean, as in, we did not recover our tooling costs yet alone. Um, and the reason was we didn't tell people what it was.
We thought that the. And we thought that the, uh, that, because we hit all these great consumer things and we won all these awards that we were gonna put it out there and that everybody was gonna buy it. And it turned out to be one of the biggest failures, but also learning experiences of my career. The second one, which is the blue bras story was, I worked with, this factory that, I was very excited about.
We did all of the development together. so I paid them for the first portion for 50% of the product, um, gave them the POS and three days before the product was supposed to leave their factory and, and come to me here in the us. Um, I get a call from the CEO of this very large factory.
And I mean, I had been, you know, we had been having. S weekly or biweekly calls. And she said, I think there's a disconnect here. you seem to be thinking that you're getting product and we're not making this product. And I said, excuse, excuse me. What do you mean? I mean, like you're not making it today or you're not gonna make the shipment in three days.
And she said, no, no, no. She said the PM on this should have told you months ago, we don't want. Um, you know, your quantities are too low and it's too difficult of a product to make. And I said, well, you've got my money, you've got my patterns, you've got everything. And she said, yep, sorry about that.
And so my three options were to scream and shout and to threaten, to sue this factory that's offshore. Right? So that's not gonna work. My second option. Would've been to say, you know, I'm throwing in the towel. Um, I gave it my all at this point, whatever. Less than 10 grand that I've got, um, invested in it.
And, and it's been a lot of fun or the third option, which is the option that I ended up taking, was getting on a plane, starting to meet with other factory, owners, um, going out and, and pounding the pavement. And eventually, like I said, um, connecting with these two folks that were building a factory, which put us back over a.
Um, and was a much bigger investment. but it was something that I believed in and I believed in the brand. And so my venting couch was that either of those two first options, would've been a lot easier, but this was the thing that I wanted to do more than anything in the world. And if, if, uh, you know, if somebody's going into the entrepreneurial world and doesn't have that fire in their belly, I would suggest that they don't go this.
Alex: That's right. And even then it, it probably puts more fire because they're like, you think you're going and they're producing your product. And then they're like, oh, well, no, this isn't gonna work out for us. So, I mean, that's just firing you up even more Right. Were you, were you taking like pre-orders at that time, expecting that shipment to arrive? How.
Elyse: I was,
Alex: does that work with the customers? How do you like, Hey, by the way, this is gonna
Elyse: it was uh,
Alex: 12 months.
Elyse: it was actually with my, you know, with my community. Um, I was very honest with them the entire time and every, you know, I, I was constantly updating, um, I was constantly saying, listen, if you don't want this, that's okay or I can refund your money and I can, I can, I'm happy to, um, recontact you when we do have it.And I will tell you, 98% of people just said, get me the product when you, when it comes in. You know, we love, we love the story. We like watching the journey unfold and you know, it's, it's a high ticket item at, at 79 99, but it's not a super high ticket. And so I think a lot of folks in that space were just happy that somebody was listening to them and communicating
Alex: Well, that's an awesome story and, and definitely, you know, fired up, fires up the entrepreneurial spirit, for sure. So thanks for, uh, sharing that on the vending couch. Moving on, let's talk into the future. We've touched on sustainability.
You know, I think it's more important in the eyes of the consumer. It's more important in the eyes of the brands now. Um, and you know, how can we be more sustainable, right. And, and how can we have our products? Not. you know, continue to stand out and continue to sell, but making it better. Right. And, and more sustainable.
So on that note, what, what predictions do you have for the next two years in, in supply chain and, you know, direct to consumer retail and around the sustainability aspect.
Elyse: So I think, you know, one of the things that leads us off is that I don't think we're going to see these, um, these disruptions in supply chain. I don't think we're seeing them go away. I think that they're gonna actually get worse. Um, especially just looking at some of the political climate and, um, and tensions as well as increasing labor costs and, and shipping costs, even though a lot of that has come down from where we were a year ago.
We're not going to see it come back to where it once lived. Uh, and so I think that that's going to drive a lot of,Institutional brands are now investing. Uh, building huge manufacturing facilities here and, and in north America, you're seeing a lot more, folks look at things like local manufacturing, um, reduction of, uh, redundancies reduction of waste.
Um, automation in manufacturing is a really big thing. And, you know, I, I struggle with the whole sustainability in. consumer products, because if you think about like, I'll, I'll give you an example. hemp as a material was a really big thing at one point, but if you look at it, it takes more chemicals to make that hemp usable than it does, um, saving, you know, the, the, uh, whatever sustainability or whatever material, Reduction you might have had, um, so hemp to me is greenwashing hemp.
Anytime people talk about that as a sustainable material, my, I wanna raise my hand and say, you haven't looked into that material, but you see it. Right. You see it left and right. And so it's really getting down to the root, you know, it's the same thing with our consumer behaviors as a direct to consumer.
Company owner. I, I struggle with the word sustainability. Um, because if you think about like, for instance, right. If you're buying a product on Amazon, for instance, um, and you're buying, let's just say, and I'm not gonna say that I'm not, I'm not, there's no judgment here, but let's just say that you buy, oh, I don't know three shirts because you're like, one of these will look good, not return.
The other ones, what people aren't understanding is that that product had to. From a, a, a factory to a DC, to a second DC with Amazon to your house, then you try 'em on and then you ship it back, goes DC, DC, and then it goes back to the company. Well, most companies right now don't wanna take it back. So it goes to a landfill.
So now that, you know, 1999, sure. Um, actually cost the environment a lot more. And so I'm really passionate about changing consumer behavior. So that we start buying higher quality products and that we, um, be much more you know, cognizant about even how we're manufacturing. So that's why I was saying earlier, if we can do smaller batches in local and start to reduce some of our reliance on large shipping from overseas, it's just gonna be better for every.
Alex: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, let's be honest. I return products all the time. Like, and do I think about it? No, but now I'm gonna start. and
Elyse: One mind changed.
Alex: yeah. It's Hey, I'm I'm gonna order two shirt sizes and one's gonna fit and one's not, and I'm gonna return the other one. Right. Um, but if you, like you said, and especially in apparel, I. let's, let's be honest. Apparel returns are, are hard enough as it is. Cuz you have to, I mean, we didn't talk about what happens in the FC. If that product doesn't go to landfill, but you've gotta steam it, you've gotta inspect it. You've gotta repackage it. You've gotta reprice it and put a new tag on it. If the tag's taken off, there's a lot of work that goes into that.
And apparel returns. I I'd love to learn more from, from your perspective.
Elyse: Yeah, well, so the fashion industry right now is the number two contributor to, um, to the environmental, uh, essentially dismay. Um, so, you know, fashion is, is the killer right behind essentially shipping. And so, uh, so much of that comes down to us, our behaviors, um, our demanding of, you know, free returns and free shipping and all of that.
I think changing consumer behavior is going to take a lot longer, but if we can do it one person at a time, that's fantastic. I also think we need to be demanding that of our manufacturers and of our brands. Right? There's some, there's some very, very, very telling documentaries out right now.
The pick on like H&M and Zara fast fashion. And so I think it's raised the awareness of just what a deadly business this is, cause it truly is. Um, and you know, for people and for the environment, I mean, we don't have to go into, uh, some what happens at some of the manufacturing facilities.
So, you know, I think the more that we can start to raise awareness to. Those who have building power.
So the brands and the manufacturers and the buying power, which is you and I, the more we're gonna find change. And we see it a lot with frankly, with the, you know, the up and coming the younger generations, where they are a little bit more demanding on a sustainable footprint and understanding where the product is coming from.
Alex: But there was a, um, this is funny because I was listening to this podcast last week. , it was just a short, you know, 15 minute podcast, but it was around a group of young women that had, um, been purchasing on a very prominent, uh, apparel brand site. We won't name the name, but had realized and, and had started talking to their friends about all of the different packaging that they got, you know, they order one thing and it's coming.
You know, one poly bag and sure. They're loading all these poly bags into a box and shipping it and they call it, I don't know, some dump or something like you order a bunch of products, try it on and then ship it. But they started making clothes out of the packaging because it was just so much and they just kept ordering and it's just not sustainable and and you know, they are on this mission. I forget the name of the group, but they're on this mission to help reduce the packaging that a lot of these apparel brands are using. And, um, if I find it, I'll send it to you after this,
Elyse: Please do please do I, I, you know, it's, it's interesting. We, when we ship to Europe, we, we can't use polybag. So we actually, only use poly bags for products that are going to the us because in the us we've been trained that if it doesn't come in a poly bag, it's a used product. so again, it comes down to consumer.
Alex: You know, consumer behavior and knowledge and, and more and more people like the folks that you're talking about, um, raising their hand and saying this isn't right,Interesting topic. We can go on and on, but we do have to wrap up, uh, here with the least. So let's wrap up with some quick hitters, favorite hobby outside of, of building brands, scaling brands
Travel travel, favorite place.
Elyse: Ooh. It's between, uh, South Africa and New Zealand.
Alex: I have neither not been to either one. um, but maybe
Elyse: on your list.
Alex: last thing you bought online.
Elyse: Hmm. I have to think about that. Oh, my running. My running shoes.
Alex: All right. How are they? How are those working out?
Elyse: They're great. I love them.
Alex: I find when I buy shoes online, well, now I've got it down, but because I only buy really one brand of shoes,
Elyse: Yep. Me too.
Alex: I also buy two. So that's, that's the sizing thing after this conversation. I'm not gonna do that. anymore, but
Elyse: Thank you.
Alex: alright. Um, let's see here. Best concert of all time.
Elyse: Oh, gosh, prince.
Alex: Oh. That's no more words to be said, there. and lastly, If folks wanna reach out to you, what's the best way to, to get in touch and learn more about everything you're doing, not only bloom bras, but aha. Product solutions and, and everything else you're working on.
Elyse: Yeah. I mean, B bras or aha product solutions. Um, are any, any email that is sent to either of those location? Will, um, get to me same thing with social media.
And I encourage everybody to follow us blue bras on social media, because that's the way that we grow the brand. Um, and I answer pretty much anybody who ever reaches out cuz I think that's the way that, you know, that's the way that I've been able to build, um, to where I am right now in my career.
Alex: That's awesome. Well, Elyse, thank you so much for coming on supply chain therapy. Really appreciate your time We could go on and on. Maybe we'll do this again. And, uh, you know, set, set up some more time to dive in deeper, but I really appreciate it. And, and thanks for coming on.
Elyse: Thanks for having me.