 Welcome to start up the storefront presented by or a Bora All right, welcome to the podcast on today's show with Steven for you all my sport that you almost sport perfect Oh for the English folk free. We don't know what does the brand do? Yeah, so the brand. Yeah. WOMO means men Italian So I was trying to actually kind of hark on the days when you know clothing was Italian was made in Italy A lot of it bella Italy, so I wanted a you know I was trying to figure out what could the name be I wanted something clean with the letters I just I was actually in a restaurant in New York and WOMO means man So you'll see WOMO or Donna on a bathroom door So it actually was in a restaurant and saw the name and said that if we put like sport together like Prada sport WOMO sport could be interesting, so I kind of just kind of like the way it sounded I like the way the letters look together So that's how I kind of came up with it for it was almost going to be a French brand So it was actually at rolling I like the E chose Italy for my wife and her family They're very Italian the one thing I've always I mean I've gotten a tennis recently six seven years ago Awesome, and I'm addicted. I became addicted very quickly coaching the whole thing every day a little and at some point I really realized there's a real fashion gap here with tennis in particular And it's then I think it starts with the sneakers the sneakers are the most obvious example of we're missing the mark And then it just continues to everything else and it's really interesting right where it's almost like You're almost better off wearing something you'd wear to the gym t-shirt style with some wick fabric But it's not classy. It's not elegant It's not like golf attire and there was a like a huge hole and it's been bothering me for a while You're so you guys came along and I was like finally somebody's doing something about back classic timeless brand I think you know getting back to God I was in Capri, and it was a hotel that had this book the most interesting awesome Italian seeing all the players the way they carried themselves the Panetta the way they all dressed It was unreal I mean it was so stylish and so fashionable and so chic and so cool Why you know when the great brands have so much admiration for Fila to Keeney a less They made such high quality stuff that I wasn't thinking tennis at all growing up And I had a beautiful a less polo. I had a tecchini track suit and the quality if I had it today It's still completely hold up You know so I think that when some of those brands put it on players some of the players Succeeded McEnroe succeeded tremendously, you know wearing tecchini Borg wearing Fila Pat cash wearing a less and then they just I guess ran into some problems because the players became popular And obviously you know way back in the day when Stan Smith's agent made the deal for him with the Adidas Stan Smith, we got a piece of it I think that brands weren't able to financially Live up to the deals with the players when they started winning grand slams and getting prize money So I think that's what it actually kind of became Nike great running gear company Got into tennis so a lot of brands have actually kind of rushed in to tennis didn't really think about tennis That much or really kind of understand or study You know I I was at the US Open when I was 12 years old And I was actually at a tennis academy in Cheshire, Connecticut called the wing on tennis Academy And it was all dressing all white, but the cool thing about is they get my brother and I I don't know how we got clubhouse passes to the US Open and we were in the clubhouse with Stan Smith, Nostazi, Ash And for me, you know, I was really kind of really at the basketball growing up and loved, you know The basketball players and their uniforms and how they looked and you know The game like Puma Clyde's came along or like the Pro Keds just really Very stylish, you know the way some of these players You know Adidas superstars and Adidas pro models Just the shoes and and just the style the colors and I was just really wildly wildly wildly into it So then I saw these athletes in the you know in the clubhouse at Forest Hills the US Open And they were they were the coolest athletes. They they all Nostazi was wearing this brown with tan stripes Stan Smith looked very fresh very all-american Arthur Ash had this polo with the placket that was part of the polo and these guys just had such style And it just it stayed with me forever. It's just I never forgot it I said these are the I said to myself I said these are the coolest athletes of any sport The way these guys these guys I don't even know if they even knew how cool they were but these guys were Personality the charisma that they walked into a room There's an iconic status. Yeah, all of them It wasn't like today you think about two three four guys Maybe you think about a little bit obviously and those guys are starting to fade away a little bit obviously, you know what what Rafa has done is unbelievable and what Federer has done is unbelievable and You know Andy Murray what he's done is unbelievable But you know now it's kind of a younger generation. So where's this younger generation? Where are they gonna go with style and fashion? I mean, it's cool that we're seeing now You know with a yonic center. I think it's the most amazing style. I think he's the next Federer I think so too. I think this guy is the coolest guy Gucci bag coming to center court. I mean, it's crazy When you first started the company, how did you decide obviously you got Brooksby? But how did you decide to get did you realize how important it was that you needed to get an athlete pretty quickly? And just from a business perspective to give listeners like a window into maybe not so much how much money you It was it were really required to take this thing off, right? And so one thing you're doing is you have to commit to a line of clothing You're obviously moving into women's apparel now and so to a small entrepreneur This might seem like a large upfront cost to an experienced entrepreneur It might be what's required and then ultimately also you have to have the ability to get athletes You have to to win right just after I mean really what it comes down to is getting people to believe in you To believe in the confidence to believe in the style to see the passion that I have and I'm you know, I'm looking from their passion my passion and I'm looking for that marriage together and I got very lucky with Jensen. First of all, he was overlooked You know, this kid was number one in the United States in the 12s 14 16 18s, you know He pretty much won everything, you know, he won Orange Bowl. He was number one college recruit in the country and He's you know, he grew and he you know, he beat five of the top ten players as first year on the tour You know, there were some mistakes along the way They're fixing some things right now, but great great agent behind him Who's really believes in him? So we're very much on the same page his agent and I his agent believes in the brand His agent realizes that you know, he could get lost at being at you know Another one of these brands he's gonna get a lot of attention. He's gonna get a lot of care He's gonna have to be involved. That's interesting. Okay, and you know, just really behind him I mean literally and you sold that story or did they just understand it? They understood it He really they understood it He got you know for very you know We insured him for bonuses and he reached a number of the bonuses. We you know, we paid him some money I actually brought an investor onto the brand because he really put us on the map when he played Novak Jokovic he won the first set six one. I'll never forget that he played perfect tennis perfect strategy He was very tired up to that because he had some pretty big wins. Yeah, and yeah He was just unbelievable in this first set. So in the first hour one hour We got actually 162 online orders in one hour. So you saw it in real time. We saw it in real time I think you know, I don't know if it's really legal to say this night Actually Brad Gilbert gave us a shout out and said like you know that brand or something with California or Malibu that kid from NorCal because Brad's from NorCal So I think he kind of yeah I think Brad wants to see what Jensen's gonna do now with the injuries and overcoming the injury injuries He said, you know, he's got a very very very high IQ He's working really hard right now, you know getting over the surgeries. When did you sign him? I signed him when he was basically before he had turned pro. He was about to turn pro And college actually he never got to play for Baylor. He was because he was in a boot He had an injury So, you know, he was really excited to play for that team So he's you know decides he's going to go pro and we're going to go play some challenger tournaments And he just gets unbelievable results. He wins like, you know, he's in five challengers I think I think he won four I think he was in a final on the other one and then he went into playing on some other Surfaces he's never even played on before and reached, you know reached the finals and some pretty major tournaments Yeah, so he just so you got him early. Okay, he knows how to he knows how to fight He knows how to win and he's going to get in your head. He's a very hard kid to beat Yeah, you're gonna have to go out there and really, you know, really play incredibly well That's pretty good timing though in terms of I remember we were talking to a doctor jason Orslander from therabotty And we when he had him on the podcast He had just signed his first athlete and it was Colin Morakawa the golfer And I think he had just graduated college and then he goes on the win the us open Almost immediately thereafter and I think from that success now he's got f1 You know theragun's got or therabotty has all these athletes all of a sudden But the first one they spent a lot of due diligence on was Colin And it was crazy how quickly that worked out. Yeah, you know translating a tennis player into a you know building the success of a bram You know, I think it's almost like people talk about You know awareness and influencers and all that kind of stuff You know a lot of it you want to be as true to the brand as possible because if you know, I have an influencer next day They're being paid to Handle another brand. It's a little tricky So I'd rather you know find Athletes and there's a bunch of other things. We're actually going to getting into business with a hockey player So who wore one of our polos playing golf and he's a 25 year old hockey player I guess I can announce who he we're actually working on it right now. His name is Clayton Keller And he's signed a very very very lucrative contract with the arizona coyotes And he's really into fashion. He's 25. He's an all-star. He's massive contract his agents reached out to me one day And I'm I don't follow hockey that much, but I'm going to start to follow it more Makes sense. He's an he's an awesome guy So what does he say? He's like, hey, I don't hockey player but he plays golf and he likes your stuff Yeah, and it's yeah, and I guess well, you know, how do we translate that? So So yeah, so the agents said the agents were amazing like let's get this in the arena So we're going to get it into the arena Let's get it into his club called silver leaf And then we're going to start marketing him with it. I actually want to put him With some of the tennis players. I'm hoping he'll come to indian wells for a shoot Now put him like get him out there playing golf with thomas burditch Or you know pat cash or a couple of these other you know guys who You know we're four in the world or pat one wimbledon You know thomas burditch is a you know legend and a great looking guy and one of the coolest guys out there Turning into a great coach. So I'm glad that some of these guys, you know are it's giving back, you know, so Yeah, you know financially, it's a tough business You know, it's a tough business, you know when you you can get on people's minds Obviously, there's some amazing things that I can't even believe it that are even happening What I'm really hoping for at the end of the day here and I had a conversation yesterday with ryan mccally I'm hoping there's a tournament los angeles a real tournament los angeles. It's a shame. You can't believe The people that live here and people like i'm talking about even if they don't live here Bill ackman bill gates Some passionate guys who get up every day and play tennis like let's Have a tournament here. Let's keep tennis healthy alive. Let's bring american tennis You know, it's turn it on its on its head and make it what it should be what it was And it's like you walk into the labor cup. I was just there You know got to meet roger and talk to him for a little bit amazing what he's done But why can't we have something here in the us when you walk into Curated event with rod labor and all the history and the labor cup and what they've done but the history of You know jimmy conners and john mackin row Like you walk into a curated room with with you know, you go into john's academy in new york and you see all this But jimmy conners. He has a podcast as well as you know is his with his son But you know, there's just arthur ash. There's billy gene king There's such legendary icons behind this sport, but why don't we have a tournament here? Why you know, obviously indian wells Amazing what what larry ellison's done there? But there's so many powerful. There's an opportunity you're saying bill and these people look at it like an opportunity of How do we get this thing to connect here? How do we get these guys together to believe in all right, you know new york los angeles Obviously indian wells. There's a few other tournaments in some other states, but this is los angeles I mean, this is you know, this is the capital of hollywood appetite when you talk to them or i want to get a group of guys together And in my lifetime i want to see this happen, you know, i want to hopefully, you know, there's a legacy You know, it's like pete samples. I mean, he's here if he could just show up Yeah, and if you just you know it in at at the us open last year when you had bradley cooper there and you had brad pit there And you had leonard de caprio there and you know brad was at wimbledon They're getting into it. They're into it. They love watching the sports one of the greatest sports to watch And I think I believe that getting back back on the clothing You know, I what I see today unfortunately is like you see tennis players. They look like they're going to play On center court in a grand slammer look like they're going out to a practice court in a park It's kind of strange the calico colors this year of a certain big brand were very strange to me I mean, it's and the sleeveless they're trying to make they're just trying to get noticed these brands and tennis is a small Blip on the map of so many of the respective to their other other Other sports. It's you know, it's a huge sport internationally. It's huge And I think that you know the racket technology what's going on right now With tennis More people are playing tennis now. Obviously pickleball is another that's a whole another conversation But I think that tennis is growing in a in a major way and people love watching it and see these celebrities coming out People supporting the sport seeing other athletes, you know, seeing formula one guys seeing hockey players seeing Obviously, you know laver cup, you know the dirk and um, steve gnash steve gnash is really into tennis Really into probably he's really good too. I mean, he's yeah, he's gotten pretty good pretty quick Yeah, I mean obviously the sadness of kobe who was just kind of getting into tennis and You know, I think the athleticism of tennis. I mean today You know the power of the I mean the rackets the technology the strings the spins the I mean, it's it's it's unbelievable I mean, if you you know, you're seeing a you know the racket, you know Forehand or backhand to speed the 120 30 40 miles an hour serve. You can barely see the ball It's a tough sport when you think about pickleball or even padel Does it give you an opportunity or do you see an opportunity in that from a branding perspective? I do I'd be you know to overlook pickleball would be really dumb So I'm trying to get involved now in I actually went to the pickleball draw in las vegas. I was trying to kind of you know, learn about it What I'm hoping with pickleball is that obviously it's played in all these incredible clubs all over the country That players actually want to show up and look good in pickleball clothing. It's such a social sport And there's a lot of I was just at a pickleball cancer charity benefit For me on a tennis court, you know and obviously tennis you've got to be very quiet when you're hearing for the players the respect of the players You know, if it's a let you want to you know, you just want to really hear the ball hear it off their racket There's an etiquette that exists an etiquette. Yeah, I think with pickleball. I'm not sure it's such a social thing Right. There's no I I could never I actually tried playing it one or two times But playing it around a lot of people and it's very loud. It's I you got to I mean, it's any sport It's like, you know, the professional ping pong players It's pretty quiet in there I don't know what the what the etiquette really is of of pickleball yet how that's actually gonna I don't think it translates that great on television. Yes. I think it's fun to watch I think it's fun to play a lot of people I know in the television world that they'll basically say like I don't need to watch myself or a version of Myself play pickleball. Right. It's not that cool. The guy doesn't look that inspiring. There's a cool guy Matt Manasseh I don't know if you've interviewed him. I mean, he's pickleball to the stars He really kind of Put Hollywood and pickleball on the map here and he really got a lot of people very very very interested I think he's going to be Commentating on tennis channel pickleball And obviously a lot of great athletes are getting involved with pickleball with the teams You know, it is exciting. You know, I guess there's there's two leagues that are joining each other now It is exciting. I'm actually kind of interested and I actually when I started the brand I had a meeting with Henri Laconte former french tennis player And he was talking about padelle padelle padelle padelle And I kind of overlooked padelle. Yeah, but padelle is a very cool sport It's apparently overtook tennis as the most popular racket sport in spain. It's a very very very very very athletic interesting cool sport That I think it's going to take off In the united states obviously pickleball I think so too. Yeah, we just had this conversation But when you think about this in a in a real way, so we have obviously the the birth and a massive growth of pickleball Old sport, but it's taken off since the pandemic and then I think about what's happened globally And so padelle is winning that battle Easily when it comes to racket sports like padelle and then tennis and pickleball is kind of a distant cousin I wouldn't even say it's a race But in america pickleball has won and so when you think about this long term, do you think Let's say you're a board member at latc and you have to decide the future Do you do pickleball and padelle? Okay? I think I think I'm actually talking to a neighbor of mine Who has a very very very cool space? Turning it into a padelle. I really believe that playing tennis next to a pickleball court Is really annoying the sound of it when you're playing tennis is really tough I really believe that there should be separate pickleball facilities I don't think a tennis club like LA tennis club Should be bringing in pickleball. It's a pure incredible iconic tennis club. That's a tennis club So I think Obviously real estate they all want to play. It's it's an easier on the body sport I'm just not a fan of taking some of these clubs reducing the tennis courts and turning them into Pickleball. I'd like to see some incredible Facilities, there's a company called reserve. It's building some stuff in You know in new york with padelle and pickle and it's a very very cutting edge Group of guys good branding good branding. Yeah, so I think that I think it should live in its own space In my opinion when I think about your brand it feels more padelle to me oddly enough I mean it feels higher quality higher and it's really nice pushing in that direction. I'm really interested I'm really kind of learning about I'm hoping to do this all-star padelle Event that's coming up Like like a all-stars or just like celebrity plus all-star. I think it's like the best padelle players compete against each other I don't think it's a celebrity thing It's actually going to happen in san diego run by ryan redondo and jim courier's company called inside out sports They do a lot of the events. I've been aligned with them on a number of events I've been very fortunate This brand exists only because of because of one thing it exists because of Truly my friends who have gotten behind the brand started wearing the brand You know built out of a very grass roots Group of people that have been super loyal to me There's a guy here toby krabel Who's so passionate? I think he's he's the number one tennis player in the united states 65 and under and over I think he's a little under that. I think he could actually compete at you know with the 50-year-old players He's amazing and he has basically an academy and he brings in like I had Nicholas on agro wearing some stuff. He brought on agro in trained with him He has a guy brian debaul who works with him and his son and a bunch of kids and and he really is very serious because Tennis is great for life. It's great for you know your mind and thinking and staying fit There's just so many things that it it helps you, you know, you meet some of the best I tell all the kids that are growing up get your kids into tennis because at first of all they're going to be very Smart kids they're going to be kids that they're going to be friends with the rest of their life. So Tennis is the culture of guys. I mean I play I have a hundred guys part of our team womo group of guys That we play live ball, you know, um, obviously I've done it actually at latc. We've taken two courts We had 16 20 guys two coaches And then we all go to dinner after but yeah every saturday we play, you know When I'm usually around or there's a just amazing amazing group of coaches that are all incredible That's smart when it comes to the brand what's been the most challenging part? So you got brooks when you mentioned you got some sales come and you probably got some sales after Let me be like for that week maybe for a couple months after but yeah, it's been it's been I think you know getting it out there. We dressed the pepperdine team You know seeing the kids wear it all around malibu is it's it's very cool and great great coaches great group of kids Is it just a lot of marketing or is it like word of mouth? It's a lot of marketing. It's constantly creating content It's staying on people's minds You know not ever relying on one thing always having the next thing the next thing the next thing the next thing Eventually for it to catch on I think doing some of the um digital marketing stuff is is hard You know, I think that it doesn't always necessarily translate into Dollars and do you have a team? We have a team. We want to we want to create a great brand at the end of the day We don't have the means of you know any of these massive brands But I think the brand is growing and it's growing tremendously and it's becoming it's becoming very successful in a lot of ways for a lot of reasons Like we're very lucky with tennis warehouse Now we're actually going into i'm actually doing a press conference in mexico. I'm going to get involved with uh tennis depot who is going to take the brand under their wing and really get behind the brand and start building the brand in mexico They have great stores. They have they're building the online model like tennis warehouse tennis warehouse is a They've helped the brand it actually did some very interesting marketing behind the brand It's isn't that funny to think about where it's like you go to places like london or mexico And you'll see a tennis store every every street. Yeah But you think you even think about that america. It's a bygone bad thing You don't see I mean you go into westwood sporting goods, you know, they string racket. You gotta go see brad and malibu to get some gear Yeah, it's it's it's strange. I mean that that that classic tennis shop. I think it could exist I actually like you know, there was a there was an amazing store in Beverly Hills That had all these casini all these incredible brands. It was ski and tennis. It was super chic. I mean had the best Ski clothes the best tennis clothes. There's more of a 70s thing I actually think that could come back, but I wouldn't take a risk What I would do is I think that you know like skiing is somewhat seasonal tennis is somewhat seasonable We want to create some style lounges. We want to create some very cool things around tournaments Um, and I think to do some pop-ups do a pop-up in the hamptons Do a pop-up on madison avenue during the week of the u.s. Open invite some amazing people there talk about strength and conditioning Talk about nutrition You know have people that don't want to be you know In fleshing meadows the whole day They're there in new york for the week or two weeks to see some tennis You know could be an amazing environment to create something where they can come in and you know Have a very healthy juice bar and just you know have tennis on all the time back to that brand building piece. Yeah So these are these are things that there's just there's a lot. There's so much opportunity There's so many ways to create Something that people just aren't I think the standard way of building a brand doesn't really work You know you have to kind of keep it in a very organic way Where you just have to kind of go with the flow of things, you know I mean I was very lucky in indian wells jack mcfarlane god bless him He got behind the brand gave me one rack, you know, who is this guy? Why does he want to be here? I was very maybe a little bit aggressive about it because I wanted to kind of get this brand out there Now he walks around, you know He comes around this company now legends has done an amazing job with all the apparel at indian wells It's just first rate I think they're going to build some permanent buildings at indian wells instead of having the You know the tents the tennis warehouse tent and the legends tent You know the rackets and the strings the shoes and in three different tents I think it could be an amazing shopping experience. I would agree with that. Yeah, that makes sense Have the Rolex store there. I mean really make it elegant. I think we fit into that all of that very well Yeah And it matches the food. I mean the food obviously there is great too. So yeah, I mean obviously I hope wolfgang puck goes back. Please wolfgang go back and you know be on center court Wolfgang puck spago You know the nobu amazing to have nobu there and have its great chefs there It's a pretty first rate tournament. It's pretty amazing and the players love it Actually, they're going to have the college teams there a couple days before they compete against each other. So I'll be there with You know pepperdine guys, but I'll be there the whole two weeks in the retail store So yeah, they gave us one rack and then they gave us our own, you know Some major areas and now we have the women's brand. So we really want to we do very well in indian wells And I think we're going to do even better this year. We we make special things For indian wells. I I hope that um jensen is back and I hope that donna veckage I actually met donna veckage at indian wells. I said we can't call the brand Well, well because you're a woman that means man. So you have to come up with donna people think it's donna's own brand That's okay. She's buried behind the brand. She's done great things for the brand as well And when did the women's brand launch? Yeah, this woman's brand is actually kind of I really feel it's like kind of Evolving right now starting to kind of get out there a little bit You know we have to make the first pieces and kind of test it Like even like the men's pieces takes a while to get the pieces exactly You know the the short and all the details the fit You know perfect. I think we've really kind of gotten there with the men's polos the handleys the crews the shorts Yeah, this is the one I wear a lot. I have two of those I actually got one for my father-in-law. We were in a tournament together. And so we thank you We showed up matching I love how that happens. This is great. And he loved it. He's a Italian last name Cappellini And so that espresso fits into his brand perfectly. Yeah, yeah Yeah, so the women's brand is you know, we There were a lot of kind of thinking about the men's brand how to create the women's brand So when I was kind of when I was growing up Just remember all these fashionable women wore the word this brand alaya beautiful beautiful brand and I kind of thought about How do we make something like an alaya dress sporty? Like, you know the fit of it very kind of the way it fits women's bodies Um, so how do we turn that into a sports dress because I'm kind of you see so many women wearing leggings leggings leggings leggings leggings And they look great in a sporty dress You know the way it's tailored to their body to their back to their arms to their legs And I'm really hoping that this dress that we made four or five colors of it That it'll become something that becomes a piece that women who can look and feel sporty are wearing all the time I'm really hoping so i'm working on all those pieces. You know, you've got the The crop, you know, you've got the sleeveless top And I got to figure out what the what the um the demo is You know, you're selling it to clubs. Are you selling it to Young athletes or you're selling selling it to women in their 20s women in their 30s So i'm trying to navigate that and trying to right now to kind of test the waters and see where it really belongs I really would like the women's brand to be a very youthful brand I actually want the women's brand to be more 20s younger And so I want women to feel great and look great And feel confident and feel stylish So I think it's starting to there were a few women Even at this thing at mahal and tennis club this event. There were a few women Including my wife wearing it Like wow, that's really really chic. That's really beautiful So I think you know, I just want to kind of carefully it's interesting it too Where it's like the your materials are definitely better, but it's just one thing that you don't really It's it's weird to think about that where it's like people don't expect it Yeah, you know, and so if you if you throw some care into your materials all of a sudden people go Oh, that's a lot better than I thought it would have been right. It's like the floor is so low Floor is very the floor is honestly The stuff is so poorly made out there that they throw it out there and they mark it the heck out of it The most important thing is the product the product's got to be great I know even you know the the people behind our brand they really believe in the product They know the product is there. So I think it really kind of comes down to how we get ourselves out there Being smart marketing ourselves in an interesting way You know, it's just very important to people that are wearing it The key people wearing it that they look great. We have a young player from uh, Denmark We did a shoot with yesterday's names August Holmgren I think he was number one or two college player in the country and he's a strapping Six three great looking guy if you can make it He can really be you know, he's like, wow That could be one of the coolest guys out there if he was on the tour and he was top 20 in the world I think there's a lot of potential there with him I just want someone to walk on a tennis court and just to be have presence and have that charisma and have that cool thing that You know, even Andy Murray has that Novak looks great carries himself looks very smart isn't trying to be a 18 year old or 17 year old look that part Roger always knew how to look that part. So I think the players don't really know how to look that part I want to help them work with them to make them Feel and look that part because you're competing against another player. He's wearing the same outfit He's also six four You can't really determine who's who I don't think it helps the sport. I don't really think it's a great thing for A brand to have so many guys wearing the same clothing exactly like if I'm nick kereos who I adore He's an unbelievable athlete super super cool guy and really passionate about the sport I would work with nick so closely to create His style some of these players That walk out on a tennis court. I just don't think they know You know, I would agree with that they just they don't They're not thinking about it. No, they they could look so much better The stuff should fit them right if you come back a year from now, where do you think the brand is? How many athletes do you think you have? What does that look like to you? Listen? There's a lot of competition in this space But you know when the velver can bathing suit brand all of our brand came along you did a great job So I think there's so much. I think our brand can be the prominent premium Elite brand in the sport. I think it should be that I think it should be the highest quality brand I think it should be the lower piano Brunella Cuccinelli Of tennis I'd like to see the brand collaborate with a couple of these other brands because a couple of these other brands like thomas burditch Who was paid a lot of money to our h&m and they rushed into it or under armor. They rushed into it You know like designing the the short Took five years To get this short. I made the clothing with Our production our design people On the details our fabrics our trims at every component every piece the tape rubbing against your neck on your body That if you're wearing inferior fabric that irritates your skin that you get rashes and you perspire and you get You spend more time in the dermatologist by wearing You should not be wearing fabrics that someone will say hey, it's dry fit. It's climate cool. It's really not It's like they're really buying inexpensive Fabrics are not spending the money on the fabrics. We spent a fortune On the fabrics because it's going on to an athlete They're the ones out there. They're the ones that are suffering out there when it's hot and humid And you know, they're tired And the clothing should not fail them The clothing should be as good as the technology of the rackets and the strings and it's not So that's there's a reason for us. We exist We exist for that, you know, we want to put the best fabrics the best fit Um the highest quality Italian microfiber that we bring in from italy to go into the pocket of the short So when you put your hand in the short it helps dry, you know, some of the sweat off your off your hands It's a recycled drawstring cord a lot of places in broider So we we do what moncler does we do an embroidered patch and that each patch has to be different to go with each piece There's so much detail. There's so much time that's spent Into the quality when we are selling a short for 120 dollars We should be selling the short for 200 dollars We should be but we won't do that to the market. We want people to appreciate it We want people to wear it. We want it to make it Quality luxury, but we want to make it affordable And now your margins still healthy despite that or healthy enough It's tough the business right now. I was actually on the phone with a friend of mine who's been involved with a number of successful brands It's changing a lot. I think that the the margins are are tough You know with with wholesale. It's very very tough. I think that I don't look at wholesale Being in in clubs. I I think we can be we're gonna we're in some of the best clubs in in the united states And hopefully we'll be in some of the best ones in the world I think that it's a marketing thing being in a great club for us being at the vintage club or being at You know fisher island. It's more of a marketing thing for us than it is obviously to exist You got to exist. You got to build bring people to your online store That's the way a business will exist today Think having stores and rent paying high rents in stores I tell people in clubs when they're purchasing things that if something doesn't work or something's not selling Let's change it out for something else We want to work with the athletes. We want to work with the retailers. We want to work with Tennis depot. We want to work with tennis warehouse. We want to see what's working We want to help them find the best pieces in our line that are working for them that excite them And the players as well, you know, we want to fit them properly. We really want them to be involved in the style like jensen wants up He wants us to do kind of a very retro purple color track suit There's a way, you know, there's a way to do something that fits his look and still it has that retro Vintage feel so He loves this stuff. He just loves it like he's so blown away by it And yeah, I think donna has been an amazing ambassador. She's got great style. She's elegant. She's beautiful She's everywhere. She's at formula one. She's super entrepreneurial So yeah, I want to work with people that are really driven are really passionate And that's what I kind of look for even when I even when I go into a you know into a tennis club a golf club I want to work with the people that are the buyers that they love what they're doing. They want Great product in their places. Well, look, I want to thank you for one creating a great brand I think it's amazing. I am a believer of it It's good to see someone trying to tackle the problem in the sport world Despite how tough it might be and so kudos to you for going on this adventure Obviously wish you nothing but the best obviously we were big supporters will continue to be supporters Anything we can do let everyone know where they can buy the product where they can go you almost sport.com almost sport.com On the website. There's also a lot of you know clubs and stores and resorts That carry it as well But we'll take you know, we'll take great care of you if something doesn't work right, you know We will exchange it. We'll make sure you're happy or refund you We just want you to experience the product you'll find a lot of times. Well, you know, try our sock So we'll throw in a sock. It's a great wristbands. Try our hats all these things, you know, we just we think about You know the wristband we think about the sock. It's got to be right, you know, you don't want to wear the wrong sock You don't want to wear the wrong short. You don't want to wear the wrong polo All these things matter and they should matter because it's it's going on you It's going on your body. Yeah, you decide. Yeah, what you're gonna wear this morning We're gonna wear this afternoon. We're gonna wear this evening. You decide And I think we've made some some high quality Pieces if you know, you want to find quality, you know come come see us. Love it. Thank you. Thank you. It was awesome Thank you for tuning in If you enjoyed this episode share with your friends your family or anyone you might think might benefit from the conversation We've had today And if you haven't already, please take a moment to leave a review on your favorite podcast platform We'd greatly appreciate it. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more people who can benefit from our discussions The best way to stay connected with us and get the latest updates on future episodes is through our social media channels You can find us at start of the storefront We'll be back next tuesday with another great episode. See you then