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Do Things That Don't Scale - A Wolf vs Goat Perspective
Y Combinator founder and former head, Paul Graham, is famous for many things, including the following advice: do things that don't scale. From an implementation standpoint, those wise words mean different things for different companies, depending on a host of factors including their sectors. For instance, for AirBnb, now a $10 billion company, that meant going door to door in NYC, asking its users what they liked, disliked, etc. For Wolf vs. Goat, that's meant never taking shortcuts. We pick the best fabrics, the best mills, the best manufacturers, and charge the lowest prices that we can for these goods....
(Not) Made in America
After yesterday's blog post, we were pretty shocked about the state of sneaker manufacturing in the U.S. I mean, seriously, 90+% of sneakers sold in America are made overseas and up until 2 years ago, not a single mainstream sneaker manufacturer even had the technology necessary to make a sneaker, in its entirety, domestically. That's pretty crazy given the size of the industry: sales of athletic shoes in the U.S. totaled ~$10 billion last year. It's even crazier given the size of these mainstream sneaker manufacturers: if Nike were a country and its market cap was its GDP, Nike would...
Coming Home
One would think, expect, and hope that a product with a “Made in America” label on it would be just that, made in America. And when Wolf vs. Goat proudly says that its products are Made in America, we mean just that. They are made in America. No further explanation needed. No caveats, clarifications, ifs, ands, or buts. However, in the eyes of executives at New Balance, the definition of “Made in America” isn't so simple. It's complicated, nuanced, and flexible. In fact, according to New Balance's company policy, shoes labeled “Made in America” are those “where domestic...
Enough About Us Already...
Since the start of Wolf vs Goat, we've made it our mission to put our community of customers first. We've designed our clothing with you in mind and we've designed membership programs and policies, both formally and informally, with you in mind. Over time, you've rewarded us by sharing your stories, preferences, and appreciation. We're proud to say that we've gotten to know some of our community pretty darn well. But we want to know you better, and we want you all to know each other better. Believe me, you're all pretty cool, interesting people worth meeting. With this in...