April 6, 2025 • 29 mins
Jason Daniel founded activewear brand LSKD in 2007 after selling t-shirts to help fund his motocross racing. Fast forward to 2025 and the brand has surpassed $100 million in sales, and recently opened stores in Auckland and Christchurch, with another in Mount Manganui set to open soon.
In the nearly 20 years since the brand began, Jason has learnt a lot about running a business. In the episode, Toni and Jason chat about the journey of the brand, the lessons he's learnt about himself, and the inevitable issues he and the company have faced.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We need to talk conversations on wellness with Coast FM's
Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hello, welcome to we need to talk. It is great
to have you with us. Now, you might have noticed
a new active wear brand has recently launched into New Zealand.
We already knew about it, but physical stores Aliekd's opening day,
I saw the lines for myself down the main street
of Takapuna on Auckland's north shore. ALICEKD was founded in
two thousand and seven by Australian Jason Daniel, and he's
(00:28):
got an awesome backstory. He's an ex BMEX freestyle and
motocross writer turned trady. His company's annual revenue is now
in the vicinity of seventy six million, and celebs like
your Hillary Dufts, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, among others,
are now wearing his gear. Jason, this must be so
weird for you to be sitting here when you had
(00:48):
this dream as a bmxer, to be sitting here with
this massive company now absolutely caning it.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, Oh thanks, Tony. Wow, what an intro. Yeah, I
mean it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
I think when I look back on the last twenty years,
I suppose twenty plus years, you know it did.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
It started as a high school nickname. In two thousand
and two. I was thirteen, so I was writing.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
BMX with some pro BMX riders they were eighteen, and
I got termed the loose kid because I was a
little bit crazy on a BMX by. I didn't think
I was that crazy, but yeah I was. I was
trying to jump this jump and I couldn't jump it,
and they're like, you're a loose kid.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
From two thousand and two to.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Two thousand and seven, in that period of time, you know,
I finished school.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I finish high school.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
In two thousand and three, I was racing motocross. I
wanted to become a promo across athlete, which really helped
me on my journey, learning about sponsors and you know,
showing up at the track with the local community and
we would set up at the local track with a
pop up tent and sell T shirts. And then two
thousand and seven, I was actually an apprentice carpenter and
did complete my apprenticeship as a trade in twenty ten
(01:51):
and decided that I wanted it to be my career.
I hadn't really decided. It took me five years to realize, Okay,
I think I want to do this now. In two
thousand and seven, kicked it off properly and went kind
of went hard and transitioned it to LKI and took
me three years, still working a full time job, racing
motocross on weekends and you know, whatever I could do
in the morning, at lunchtime, in my lunch break at work,
(02:12):
and when I get home from work in the gym.
And then twenty ten that's when I went full time,
and then twenty eighteen we transitioned it to LSKD. And
those eleven years of LKI, I made so many mistakes.
We still make mistakes today.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
We're not perfect.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
But I got to learn so much about making lots
of different products, selling to lots of different retailers. We
actually had quite a few stockers in New Zealand and
the early days with LKI and in Action Sports, and yeah,
it is it's crazy to look back on the journey
and go, oh, we wouldn't be here if we didn't
have that long journey and finding our why of inspiring
our community one percent better and you know, within functional
(02:48):
fitness and sportswear and creating our own fabrics and what
we do within our raw materials and the fits we do.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And yeah, I'm very grateful to have that journey.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
It was scary times because the brand wasn't guaranteed to
do well, and it was quite scary changing the company.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
It was not in a good way when we transitioned
into LSKD.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
But I think those are the times that really make you,
you know, find yourself and your wife.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
It is weird thinking wow, how far we've come and
we've still got a long way to go there.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I want to go back to when you seed your
head the pop ups and you started selling T shirts.
How old were you when that was going on holding fifteen?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I think like fifteen sixteen, And and you know, my
mum was a huge help then as well. So we
would we would drive, you know, we had a van
that we would you know, put the bikes in the back.
We would have a couple of boxes of product. We'd
have a tent that i'd sit under for where my
bikes would sit and I would race, and then we'd
have a tent where we would you know, sell T
shirts out of and we would we just got to
(03:46):
know the promoters. I mean now I look back on
it and I haven't shared that too much. We would
we build relationships with the promoters of the event. We
started making the local T shirts for the event. So
every event, you know, it's like if you go to
a marathon, there's in a marathon T shirt. It was
similar back then. We were making the shirts for them,
which helped us to make a little bit of extra money.
But our logo would get put on that shirt and
(04:06):
they would let us have a booth there, and then
you know, then we would have like my mum would
help run the booth, you know, my brothers, we'd have
friends at the track. A really cool story our creative
director Dylan, who started with us in twenty eleven, and
he actually left for eighteen months in between that period
because I was a bit of an idiot and made
a lot of mistakes. I lost some team for you know,
(04:29):
not listening. But he came back and I'm very grateful.
And his mum, you know, used to help on the
booth there when he was racing motocross, so everyone would
kind of just help out and it was just it
was just fun and to be honest, when I was
racing motocross, in that time, that kind of two thousand
and two to two thousand and seven period when when
I was racing, I really didn't do too much. If
I'm honest, I didn't. I was so focused on being
(04:51):
an athlete. I was like, no, this is my career
is motocross, Like this is just a side thing that's
going to help us to race, and we get to
wear clothes when we're not racing and we're training in
the gym or you know. It was like, it wasn't
It wasn't like there's a gap in the market, you know,
entrepreneurs a thing.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, it was. It was. It was really just grassroots
and fun and we did everything locally.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, I'm interested in that because I feel like that's
when it started for you, right as this fifteen year
old that started doing these T shirts and as you say,
it wasn't your focus, but there was something in you
that wanted to make those. So the motivation was to
get a bit extra cash to help your motocross career,
was it?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I think?
Speaker 4 (05:28):
So? Like we would we would all yeah, like we
would always talk about if you know, it would help
for pay for racing, you know, because it was expensive
and we didn't grow up with a lot. I think
that taught me to have sponsors as well, and the
work that I had to do to have relationships with
brands to get And when I say sponsors, it was
you know, motocross gear, it was tires, it was pipes,
it was you know, even down to.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
The my van I had. I actually had a wheel sponsor,
Keith for Wheels, who would give me wheels on my van.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
You know, Mag wheels were cool back then, and he
would give me Mag wheels and I would sell them
and then he'd give me another sets of My van
looked fresh when I shot to the track and our
logos were on the van. So I've got to learn
that because I didn't have a lot I supposed growing up,
and it was about that, but it was also we.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Were just getting asked to make product.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Like we kept getting asked for the product and they said, oh,
you know, when are you going to make another T shirt?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I'm like, why do you keep getting asked for this? Maybe
there's something in this.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
And in two thousand and seven, you know, I was
still a teenager and I thought, you know what, like
I don't want to be a chippy anymore. And when
I look at my journey, I was, you know, racing motocross.
I thought I was going to be an electrician. Did
three months and I absolutely sucked at it and was like,
I don't want to be a sparky. And then I
worked in a bricklaying yard for over twelve months and
I actually got a day off a week to go
(06:42):
writing when I was there, so every Tuesday I got off,
and then I started to realize I was surrounded by
so many professional athletes, and I was like, I don't
think I'm going to make it. And I thought, you
know what, instead of going writing, I'm going to go
work for a carpenter a.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Day a week for free. He wouldn't give me a
job this person, so I said, look, I'll come a day.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
I get tuesdays off, I worked for you for free,
and he let me work for him a day a
week free for three months, and then he gave me
an apprenticeship on seven dollars.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
An hour, and I was pumped, but I was like,
I need to get a ticket, I.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Need to get a trade. So I just I tried
a bunch of things in the early days of my career,
and I think by then I realized that maybe I
do give this a crack, and maybe I can do it.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And then it was.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
The start of you know, how do you even make
a T shirt? You know, like as in, how do
I find a supply direct to then print? Because we
had third parties doing a lot of it. I just
got in my van and drove down the Gold Coast
and found a screen printer and they were like the
actual screen printer and I actually shared this the screenprinter
I found. I didn't know who I was looking for,
but I'm like, I know this print is down the
Gold Coast. So I started driving around Crumbin and I went, oh,
(07:43):
there's a screenprinter there. I'll stop in there. And then
I walk in and said can you make this shirt?
They went, oh, we actually print that shirt? And I
was like, great, can you make it direct for me?
Because the person's quite unreliable as a third party And
then I yeah, we used them for it was like
ten years print where they were awesome, but you know
they used to do it Billabong stuff and yeah, and
it was just like Okay, I just got to find
(08:03):
ways to make products and build relationships and build connections
and just slowly you know, just slowly over time, just
and got to learn that. And then my first trip
to China was in twenty eleven, So it was quite
a few years later when I finally got to travel
and learn manufacturing of things that we could manufacture that
you couldn't do locally, and realized I built all these
(08:26):
skill sets that I didn't know I built, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Kind of thing over time. It's that ten thousand hour rule,
and it was.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Kind of organic.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
You're listening to we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
At that point to your head, your brothers and your mum,
and I know things went a bit sour there. How
difficult was that for you because you had to make
a business decision that was kind of at the expense
a wee bit initially at some of those relationships. How
did you make that call?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I mean it was tough.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
It was my youngest brother Nick, he's an accountant here
so he's doing amazing.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, it was tough.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Like I mean, you know, when that journey happened in
twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, we really we'd really started to
find ourselves and I'd grown up.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I did that.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
I suppose I turned thirty and went Wow, I'm in
the real world now, as you do when.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
You hit thirty, I suppose, and I started reading books.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
I went to a course with Landmark Forum in twenty
fifteen to three days self development course, and I'd really
just started to I started to question why I was
doing things.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And when I say that the brand.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Wasn't doing that well Oki, you know, we were stuck
on about three million a year, which is still a
good business, but it had done that for five years,
and I was.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Like, it's going to get better next year. It's going
to get better next year.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
No growth right at that point.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
No, No, it hadn't grown.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
And I never really thought of it like that until
I started reading books and started learning. And this has
nothing to do with I suppose, you know, the family side,
but you know, with my mum and my brother leaving
the business. But it was it was really an like
I'd made mistakes in the culture. We were a team
of twelve back then, and I really needed to rebuild
the culture, you know, and I added part to blame
(10:08):
with it. And I suppose it's like good to great,
you know from Jim Collins. If anyone's ever read that book,
you've got to get the right people on the bus.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
And I will say that that was if.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
You ever read that book, that was the analogy that
I'd gone through with that situation. And yeah, it's not
something I talk about a lot because it's it's not
It wasn't fun, you know, it was a tough part
of the journey. It's not something you like to do.
And I don't think we thought the brand would get
to where it is today. And like you said before,
you know, now it's over one hundred you know, it's
surpassed one hundred million, And it's not really got to
(10:38):
do with the numbers. I think it was actually about
finding ourselves and you know, finding what we stand for
and how do we go to work for a mission
of inspiring our community, and how do we develop a
product and not try to make too many different products.
Where I say before, it was like life jackets, it
was gloves for motocross, it was this, and that was
all great. Like I absolutely wouldn't be in this position
if I didn't do those things. And I was so
(10:59):
passionate about all those sports. But you can't do everything.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You've got to kind of be one, you know, you.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Kind of got to focus on something and you know,
it kind of led to go, I need to refine
the brand. And we'd already had LKI and LSKD together
by then, so LSKD naturally was born from Actually Dylan,
our credit director, designed the logo and around twenty fifteen,
twenty sixteen, and I was first a bit like, I
don't know, maybe yeah, it's okay, you know. I wasn't
(11:24):
like sold on it, but which was a bit crazy
to say. But by the time we kind of got
to you know, twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, that product.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Was selling better than LKI.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
So I started asking the community, our team, you know,
which logo do you like?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I said, I We've got to come up with one.
We can't be both.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
And through that period of time everyone said, you know LSKD,
and a.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Lot of people didn't believe in it.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
A lot of people kind of doubted it, you know,
a lot of family.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
So it was a bit crazy and yeah they you know,
and even down it.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I was turned down by some really big retailers and Astra,
you know, one that had over sixty retail stores. They
turned pretty much said no more buying. And that was
in two thousand and late twenty eighteen nineteen. So I
was quite stressful and I was quite worried. I was like, okay,
I could be out of a job here and I
might have to go back to being a chippy. So
when we changed the company to LSKD, it was really
born of a place of getting feedback from the team,
(12:19):
you know, the community, our athletes, and said, okay, when
we change it, let's do it with a purpose.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
And then at the same time, we were obsessed.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
With fitness and I joined a fitness community, fit Stop,
and I was like, wow, I love being a part
of this. I felt the athlete was going here, and
so many different athletes, even in action sports, were going
to these gyms, and.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I felt like, you know, being a part of it.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
From training in a gym on my own for seven
years after I finished racing, to going there, I was like,
this is amazing, Like we need to build this in
within our community, but create the best fabric and my
experiences and learnings from that, let's create the best women's
loggings fabric and really focus on creating that one product
because I felt that no one had really done it
in that space of functional fitness, and it was like, Okay,
(13:00):
let's just slow down to rebuild. And I lot thought
I was a little bit crazy, I suppose, and was like,
what are you doing? But I just knew deep down
from all the learnings, and the team believed in it,
well ninety five percent of the team believed in it,
and I was like, Okay, let's do it, and let's
not rush it, and let's not try to.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Sell to everyone.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Let's just like And then we built an e commerce business,
I suppose, from that, and that started to grow before
covid and when we launched the ret legging and it
just started to build, and you know, I just got
to meet some amazing people. You know, my CFO Matt,
you know, he joined in late twenty eighteen, and he
was started reading books with myself and he taught me
the science side of it, and you know that art
(13:41):
and science together is really special. So I just I
didn't know what I did know, and I didn't know
enough about the numbers. I was really interested in it,
but there was things I.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Just didn't know. And at that time it was quite
stressful because.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
We you know, we owed supplies. Some of the supplies
we were ninety days overdue, and we just had our
first child, and I'm like, okay, I keep doing this anymore,
Like this isn't fun. We're waiting to be paid by
retailers and I'm.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Like, fuck, this isn't fun.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Yeah, you know, this is stressful and like, not that
I scared a pressure, but I was like, owing.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
People's not fun. So yeah, it was just all these
things that built up in learnings.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
And obviously when the pressure comes like that, you actually
it's actually a great learning experience that you don't think
of at the time.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
You're like this, this sucks, but then after it you're like, wow,
look what I've learned here. I've learned here and I've
built I've built resilience.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
But I've also been able to build learnings from it
that I can share with the team and we can
all get better together.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
So what would be now in hindsight, the listen is
it to trust your gut no matter what, no matter
who's not on board with you, or what would you
say to other people that are in that sort of
same dilemma.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yeah, I think the learnings is I started reading books
and learning. You know, I started learning. I started realizing
that I don't know everything, and I started reading and
learning and getting a perspectives from so many a broad
range of different books. And we have our LSKD library
on our website and we share a lot of books,
you know, some of the books for the community as well.
And then I started to realize that, yeah, I trusted
(15:02):
my gut from all the learning. So I went, hang on,
I've got all this feedback. I need to make the call.
And it feels right like there's something in this, there's
a shift happening, and if we get to be a
part of that, maybe we get to have a career,
you know, like, because that's what it was about.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
It wasn't about it wasn't about the money.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
It was about building something that we could go to
work and have an awesome job and you know, have fun.
And I was like, and I think growing up being
an athlete, I'd always put so much pressure on myself
and even in LKI, and I was like, actually, I
want to enjoy the journey. One of my values have
fun and be yourself. I was like, I actually want
to have fun doing this as much as the pressures on.
So I think the learning is, yeah, you've got to
trust your gut, but learn, and there's so much to
(15:40):
learn out there, then you make the decision based off
the learnings and your gut and the team around.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
You that you've got feedback from to try and make
the best.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Possible decision forward and you're not always going to be right,
but fall forward and make mistakes and keep moving, I suppose.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
And I also noted that you had Lulu Liman founder
Chip Wilson as sort of like an idol for you,
and then you got to meet him. Is it important
to have those kind of role models as well? Do
you think?
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:07):
I think it's really important.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
And you know, in twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, I started
to realize I don't have any mentors that are founders,
Like I didn't know anyone. It was a lot of
it came from the building industry. And I actually got
to meet the founder of Penny Skateboards Ben and he
grew up in Logan as well, and I was like, oh, sure,
there's no other real founders in Logan that I've built
a big brand globally. And I took, you know, I
(16:29):
month to get a coffee with him, and you know,
finally reluctantly caught up with me and we got to
know each other really well and he was awesome and
we spent a lot of time together and it's got
to learn from that. And then I realized at the
same time, learning from other people that have done it
and achieved it but also made mistakes and share those
they're willing to share. If you're willing to listen and
learn and take it on, I believe. And yeah, and
(16:52):
I just started finding learning.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
From other front reading books.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
You know, Shoot, Dog's a great one, and yet Ship
I was, you know, a big fan. And I was
a big fan because when I read Chip's book, I
really related to his story more so, and I related
to the fact that he'd had a brand for eighteen
years before Lululemon, which was West Beach, and I was like,
hang on, I've had this brand for eleven years longer,
(17:15):
you know, if you count in loose Kid. And I
was a teenager when it started, so I was like
really like wow, okay, like I'm still really young, like
you know, because you think, like, okay, this has failed.
But I was like, hey, and I've got this armor
of well, this you know, chest of learnings, and it
kind of inspired me. And I was like, Okay, that's
kind of cool and you know, maybe you know, maybe
you know, maybe it's not ended. I can keep going
(17:37):
and give it and really find who we are and
believe in myself.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
And yeah, so that book really inspired me.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And I was lucky enough to hang out with him
and get to know him a little bit and it's yeah,
it's really it's really special and I just love learning
from him.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Now that we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
So what was the turning point? Do you think? What
was it that you're sitting on three million, which is
pretty good as you see it, and what was the
tuning point that suddenly made your product so desirable to
people like me?
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Thanks? I mean, it's like there's a million things. There's
a million things.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
That I think bring something together as a brand or
a company, and it's you know, it's what's your why
you know, what is your product? And what is you know,
what do you want to be best in the world that?
And how do you obsess over that? And then who's
your community and how do you engage with your community
and talk to your community?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
You know, we you know you mentioned before about celebrities.
It's crazy hearing that because we.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Very rarely talk about celebrities, which is crazy, But we're
very passionate about athletes. And I think we really made
that decision as a brand to really support athletes because
our journey was, you know, I was lucky enough to
be an athlete, but never at that level and was like,
hang on, how do we inspire through storytelling through athletes
and one percent better? And we work with some amazing
influential people all over the world, but you know, how
(18:58):
do we really work with the local athlete and you know,
the professional athlete that aligns to our values? And you know,
we're lucky enough to have athletes that work at Elos Cada.
You know Breemasters that went to the Olympics. She works
in our team signing running athletes and in pr and
it you know, you know went to the Olympics last
year one hundred meters. So it's really cool to have that.
And I think, you know, those things I think go
(19:21):
a long way.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I know you've obviously got your eye on some local
Kiwi athletes. You can't share with us any that you
think would sort of represent the brand well that you'd
like to tap into. I know you use a lot
of all black philosophy, don't you in your business We love.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
The book Legacy. It's such a great book. That book
is so cool and you know swip the Shed's value.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
You know it came from Legacy. It's such an inspiring read.
We get our team to read that book, you know,
when we're on board as well. I think when we
look for local athletes, you know, we really try and
find ones that really align to the values and how
can we support their journey? You know, I think that's
something we really inspired by is you know, we have
so many amazing local athletes and you know, how do.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
We be more than just a product for them in
their journey?
Speaker 4 (20:06):
And something we're really working on, you know, whether it's
through books or different things like goal setting or different
things to help them on their journey, I think is
you know, you've got to be more than just product.
And I think standing for something to help inspire them
because I mean, you know, I like to be inspired
as well, you know, want to some better or something.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I look for my fitness journey every day.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I talked a little bit about what differentiates your products,
and I know, like where I live, which is not
far from Takapuna, you know, you've got alis KD and
across the road. You've got Lululiman and I know that
you are in slightly different markets, but what is it?
What type of person goes and purchases Alice KD.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
I could talk about that for a long time, but
I think I mean our target community, you know, is
someone that where where you know, we say, you know,
we're a functional fitness brand which broadly runs across train
and running, and it's community fitness, but it's also how
do we inspire our community through one percent better? And
how do we inspire you know when they come into
store or online. You know, we have over ninety five
(21:11):
zerousand on our Facebook community group, Like we're always trying
to find ways to inspire them.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
So our community is broad.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
You know, you could give a target audience, but if
we can inspire them and then our product, how do
we be distinctive in our product?
Speaker 3 (21:22):
You know, we've always had that little bit of an.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Edgy street aesthetic to the brand where we've had a
uni sex oversized fit t that you know, in twenty eighteen,
we actually had one of our models in the studio
who actually went off to be in that She went
off to be in the Air movie She was film
Nights assistant in the air movie Jess Actually, and she
was on the Gold Coast.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
We were shooting her in the studio and she said, oh,
I love this product.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I would wear this, and it was it was the
men's product, and I was like, oh, that's cool, Maybe.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
We should call it unisex. She's like, I prefer to
wear this right now. You know, it's my boyfriend's product,
my boyfriend's putty. I was like, maybe we call that unisex.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
And then we started to term product unisex from just
some learning and then realize that we have this kind
of style about us that the you know, the fitness
community within Functional Fitness love where you can wear an
oversized Uni sex fit tea with the Perimid short. It's
a full length leggings and you could style it in
different ways. And it was like, wow, this kind of
gives us our own unique look within the space. We
(22:18):
still have a lot of other products, but that was
kind of who we were and went, okay, let's really
own that as a brand. You know, we've evolved and
we're constantly evolving, but let's really distinctly be ourselves within
Functional Fitness with that kind of edgy street aesthetic as well.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
That gives us our own unique look.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
And then when we put prints on you know, Uni sexts,
we were like, let's really stick to the values, you
know when we're putting prints on or our manifesto, to
make sure that it stays consistent within the brand. So
we're not just kind of doing things for the sake
of it and trying to just chase trends.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
It's like, how do we do it through inspiring the
community with product?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
How do you know that your life has changed? You
know from the training that was earning seven dollars an
hour and your daily life now, how different is you
know because obviously when you're earning the sort of amount
you are now, life becomes a bit easier, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
It's a great question.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
I mean I've always lived a very I've always been
a very simple life because we haven't had a lot.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
So I don't know, nothing really changes.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
I mean, you know, when I was a chippy, I
was getting up early, and I was working before work
and I'd start at six thirty.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
And but I still do the same.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Now, like I suppose, you know, I get up earlier,
normally get up at four am, and I jump in
the ice bar, have a book on and stretch, make
a coffee and I'm either training at five or six,
you know, spend time trying and spend.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Time with the kids, you know, before school.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Yesterday it was the first day back in school, so
we all went to drop the kids at school, which
is awesome. Yeah, I mean it hasn't changed my routine actually,
but now I look back on it, it's quite similar.
Like it's like plan and what am I doing? And
you know, just keep keep moving forward and it's about
you know, learning and growing and failing. I don't really
look at it in that way like as the brand's grown. Yeah,
(23:56):
I mean very grateful terms of from the growth side,
but I don't think that changes anything in you know,
day to day life and having purpose, because I think
if you just think you've made it, then you're going
to go backwards, like you know that. You know, it's
like you know, they always say it's grow or die,
you know, like you've got to just keep moving forward
(24:17):
and it doesn't matter how fast that is, it's just
keep moving forward.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
So yeah, I probably I.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Actually have a very similar routine to what I did
back then, and I'm obsessed with fitness, like I just like,
I didn't train this morning because we got to jump
on the podcast early, and I've got a Purf Games
competition this weekend, so today's my rest day.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
But you know, I was ice farther sawn it this morning.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
I was saunering like, I was like, all right, I've
got to make sure my body is prepared for this weekend.
And you know, like that also helps me stay focused
on my career. And you know, I've got three kids,
so you know, and my almost seven year old and
four year old at fast so I'm going to keep
up with them too.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yeah, I get there, and it's it kind of works
that you're fit right when you're when you're the heat
of a brand like I just lastly want to ask
if you could inspire a fifteen year old or perhaps
someone that sort of left school touring with what they
want to do, knowing like you, being an electrician isn't
really me actually being a builder is not really met either.
(25:15):
What sort of knowledge or advice would you give to
that person that has a gut feeling that they're meant
to be doing something else, But it's perhaps a little
bit unsure whether to take the plunge like you did.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Something I wish i'd learned was reading books back then
and creating a learning environment. Then I didn't start reading
books till I was thirty. But you know, it's okay
to fail and learn and take on jobs. I grew
up working at a very young age. My parents owned
and my mum ran a planned nursery. So I was
working in the nursery.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
At a very young age.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
And then one of my first jobs, I wasn't even
old enough, but was working in a pet motel and
all well pet motel, you know, shoving Pooh out of
the fans. I think I was thirteen, you know, I
showed up with not even thirteen nine. And then I
worked at the VP, you know, like I had jobs,
Like I worked in different jobs because I needed to
make money if I wanted to buy my first motocross
bike and I didn't, you know, like it was just
(26:10):
I had to work. So I was brought up working
if I wanted things. So I think working and learning
and going through that journey is a good thing, and.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
It's okay to shift. I never went.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Oh, I've gone from being a sparky to a chivvy
to building a brand. I didn't go, wow, that's bad.
Like in the early days, I was like, well, I'm
going to stick this out. And you know, I probably
would have tried to quit being a chippy earlier, but
I knew I just wanted my ticket. I was like,
I've got to achieve this, you know. And I think
it took me a year longer because I went part time.
Why okay, I was growing. I ended up finishing my
(26:41):
apprenticeship part time and it gave me enough money to
live while building the company. So I think as a
you know, fifteen year old, it's like, you know, some
of the jobs that you can take on, you know
where it's working, whether it's a McDonald's places like, you
get the best learnings from that, Like you learn so
much about process and relationships and talking to community. And
(27:02):
you know, I didn't realize I didn't know back down
I was I was learning all these skill sets of
how to sell product in the shell. You know, when
I was showing up when I was this must have
been ten, showing up at someone's house and knocking on
their door because my dad was like, you know, we're
getting cuttings and cutting down their trees and then we
take them home and replant them. And then we trimmed
the back yard up to make it all nice. And
you'd get me to ask them, hey, can we cut
(27:24):
those you know, certain tree down.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
It's took and overgrown.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
We'll trim it up and we'll just take it off
your hands. I didn't realize I was learning how to
sell almost back then. You know, you just do it
like so yeah, I think for any any person, it's
like it's build skill sets and learn and you'll find
a passion.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
That you're passionate about to be a part of something that.
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
The thing I didn't get to do was work in
another brand everyone's university. And I will say I wasn't
the brightest kid, Like I finished school and I loved school,
and I was a good kid.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Had a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
But I never you know, I wasn't the person that
was like I didn't see eat in math or I
didn't I was. I was in sports. Like so you know,
I think it's common sense is a really important one.
You know, common sense approaches and you know, just having
drive and will to learn and far forward and it's
okay when you make mistakes and learn from it. I
do look back and which chat about it a bit
(28:16):
when I look back at my career and go, what
did I learn that set me up for now and
where did that come from? And I think it was
just being a part of work and learning and making money.
You know. For me, I wanted motorbikes, so I made
money to buy a motorbike. You know.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
That was it, Like that was all I cared about,
was being an athlete.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
I love it. I love that. That's such good advice. Jason,
Thank you so much. And I think any parent listening
to this, we be like, right, we are putting you
to work. I got three kids too, and those those
three aren't doing anything, so it's time. I love it.
Thanks for the motivation and all the very best, and
we look forward to the new Kiwi stores opening soon.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
We need to talk with Coast of Things, Tony Street.
If you enjoyed the podcast, click to share with family
or friends. To get in touch, email, we need to
talk at cost online, dot co dot inzed
We need to talk conversations on wellness with Coast FM's
Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hello, welcome to we need to talk. It is great
to have you with us. Now, you might have noticed
a new active wear brand has recently launched into New Zealand.
We already knew about it, but physical stores Aliekd's opening day,
I saw the lines for myself down the main street
of Takapuna on Auckland's north shore. ALICEKD was founded in
two thousand and seven by Australian Jason Daniel, and he's
(00:28):
got an awesome backstory. He's an ex BMEX freestyle and
motocross writer turned trady. His company's annual revenue is now
in the vicinity of seventy six million, and celebs like
your Hillary Dufts, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, among others,
are now wearing his gear. Jason, this must be so
weird for you to be sitting here when you had
(00:48):
this dream as a bmxer, to be sitting here with
this massive company now absolutely caning it.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, Oh thanks, Tony. Wow, what an intro. Yeah, I
mean it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
I think when I look back on the last twenty years,
I suppose twenty plus years, you know it did.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
It started as a high school nickname. In two thousand
and two. I was thirteen, so I was writing.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
BMX with some pro BMX riders they were eighteen, and
I got termed the loose kid because I was a
little bit crazy on a BMX by. I didn't think
I was that crazy, but yeah I was. I was
trying to jump this jump and I couldn't jump it,
and they're like, you're a loose kid.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
From two thousand and two to.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Two thousand and seven, in that period of time, you know,
I finished school.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I finish high school.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
In two thousand and three, I was racing motocross. I
wanted to become a promo across athlete, which really helped
me on my journey, learning about sponsors and you know,
showing up at the track with the local community and
we would set up at the local track with a
pop up tent and sell T shirts. And then two
thousand and seven, I was actually an apprentice carpenter and
did complete my apprenticeship as a trade in twenty ten
(01:51):
and decided that I wanted it to be my career.
I hadn't really decided. It took me five years to realize, Okay,
I think I want to do this now. In two
thousand and seven, kicked it off properly and went kind
of went hard and transitioned it to LKI and took
me three years, still working a full time job, racing
motocross on weekends and you know, whatever I could do
in the morning, at lunchtime, in my lunch break at work,
(02:12):
and when I get home from work in the gym.
And then twenty ten that's when I went full time,
and then twenty eighteen we transitioned it to LSKD. And
those eleven years of LKI, I made so many mistakes.
We still make mistakes today.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
We're not perfect.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
But I got to learn so much about making lots
of different products, selling to lots of different retailers. We
actually had quite a few stockers in New Zealand and
the early days with LKI and in Action Sports, and yeah,
it is it's crazy to look back on the journey
and go, oh, we wouldn't be here if we didn't
have that long journey and finding our why of inspiring
our community one percent better and you know, within functional
(02:48):
fitness and sportswear and creating our own fabrics and what
we do within our raw materials and the fits we do.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And yeah, I'm very grateful to have that journey.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
It was scary times because the brand wasn't guaranteed to
do well, and it was quite scary changing the company.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
It was not in a good way when we transitioned
into LSKD.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
But I think those are the times that really make you,
you know, find yourself and your wife.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
It is weird thinking wow, how far we've come and
we've still got a long way to go there.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I want to go back to when you seed your
head the pop ups and you started selling T shirts.
How old were you when that was going on holding fifteen?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I think like fifteen sixteen, And and you know, my
mum was a huge help then as well. So we
would we would drive, you know, we had a van
that we would you know, put the bikes in the back.
We would have a couple of boxes of product. We'd
have a tent that i'd sit under for where my
bikes would sit and I would race, and then we'd
have a tent where we would you know, sell T
shirts out of and we would we just got to
(03:46):
know the promoters. I mean now I look back on
it and I haven't shared that too much. We would
we build relationships with the promoters of the event. We
started making the local T shirts for the event. So
every event, you know, it's like if you go to
a marathon, there's in a marathon T shirt. It was
similar back then. We were making the shirts for them,
which helped us to make a little bit of extra money.
But our logo would get put on that shirt and
(04:06):
they would let us have a booth there, and then
you know, then we would have like my mum would
help run the booth, you know, my brothers, we'd have
friends at the track. A really cool story our creative
director Dylan, who started with us in twenty eleven, and
he actually left for eighteen months in between that period
because I was a bit of an idiot and made
a lot of mistakes. I lost some team for you know,
(04:29):
not listening. But he came back and I'm very grateful.
And his mum, you know, used to help on the
booth there when he was racing motocross, so everyone would
kind of just help out and it was just it
was just fun and to be honest, when I was
racing motocross, in that time, that kind of two thousand
and two to two thousand and seven period when when
I was racing, I really didn't do too much. If
I'm honest, I didn't. I was so focused on being
(04:51):
an athlete. I was like, no, this is my career
is motocross, Like this is just a side thing that's
going to help us to race, and we get to
wear clothes when we're not racing and we're training in
the gym or you know. It was like, it wasn't
It wasn't like there's a gap in the market, you know,
entrepreneurs a thing.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, it was. It was. It was really just grassroots
and fun and we did everything locally.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, I'm interested in that because I feel like that's
when it started for you, right as this fifteen year
old that started doing these T shirts and as you say,
it wasn't your focus, but there was something in you
that wanted to make those. So the motivation was to
get a bit extra cash to help your motocross career,
was it?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I think?
Speaker 4 (05:28):
So? Like we would we would all yeah, like we
would always talk about if you know, it would help
for pay for racing, you know, because it was expensive
and we didn't grow up with a lot. I think
that taught me to have sponsors as well, and the
work that I had to do to have relationships with
brands to get And when I say sponsors, it was
you know, motocross gear, it was tires, it was pipes,
it was you know, even down to.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
The my van I had. I actually had a wheel sponsor,
Keith for Wheels, who would give me wheels on my van.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
You know, Mag wheels were cool back then, and he
would give me Mag wheels and I would sell them
and then he'd give me another sets of My van
looked fresh when I shot to the track and our
logos were on the van. So I've got to learn
that because I didn't have a lot I supposed growing up,
and it was about that, but it was also we.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Were just getting asked to make product.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Like we kept getting asked for the product and they said, oh,
you know, when are you going to make another T shirt?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I'm like, why do you keep getting asked for this? Maybe
there's something in this.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
And in two thousand and seven, you know, I was
still a teenager and I thought, you know what, like
I don't want to be a chippy anymore. And when
I look at my journey, I was, you know, racing motocross.
I thought I was going to be an electrician. Did
three months and I absolutely sucked at it and was like,
I don't want to be a sparky. And then I
worked in a bricklaying yard for over twelve months and
I actually got a day off a week to go
(06:42):
writing when I was there, so every Tuesday I got off,
and then I started to realize I was surrounded by
so many professional athletes, and I was like, I don't
think I'm going to make it. And I thought, you
know what, instead of going writing, I'm going to go
work for a carpenter a.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Day a week for free. He wouldn't give me a
job this person, so I said, look, I'll come a day.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
I get tuesdays off, I worked for you for free,
and he let me work for him a day a
week free for three months, and then he gave me
an apprenticeship on seven dollars.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
An hour, and I was pumped, but I was like,
I need to get a ticket, I.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Need to get a trade. So I just I tried
a bunch of things in the early days of my career,
and I think by then I realized that maybe I
do give this a crack, and maybe I can do it.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And then it was.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
The start of you know, how do you even make
a T shirt? You know, like as in, how do
I find a supply direct to then print? Because we
had third parties doing a lot of it. I just
got in my van and drove down the Gold Coast
and found a screen printer and they were like the
actual screen printer and I actually shared this the screenprinter
I found. I didn't know who I was looking for,
but I'm like, I know this print is down the
Gold Coast. So I started driving around Crumbin and I went, oh,
(07:43):
there's a screenprinter there. I'll stop in there. And then
I walk in and said can you make this shirt?
They went, oh, we actually print that shirt? And I
was like, great, can you make it direct for me?
Because the person's quite unreliable as a third party And
then I yeah, we used them for it was like
ten years print where they were awesome, but you know
they used to do it Billabong stuff and yeah, and
it was just like Okay, I just got to find
(08:03):
ways to make products and build relationships and build connections
and just slowly you know, just slowly over time, just
and got to learn that. And then my first trip
to China was in twenty eleven, So it was quite
a few years later when I finally got to travel
and learn manufacturing of things that we could manufacture that
you couldn't do locally, and realized I built all these
(08:26):
skill sets that I didn't know I built, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Kind of thing over time. It's that ten thousand hour rule,
and it was.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Kind of organic.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
You're listening to we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
At that point to your head, your brothers and your mum,
and I know things went a bit sour there. How
difficult was that for you because you had to make
a business decision that was kind of at the expense
a wee bit initially at some of those relationships. How
did you make that call?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I mean it was tough.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
It was my youngest brother Nick, he's an accountant here
so he's doing amazing.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, it was tough.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Like I mean, you know, when that journey happened in
twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, we really we'd really started to
find ourselves and I'd grown up.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I did that.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
I suppose I turned thirty and went Wow, I'm in
the real world now, as you do when.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
You hit thirty, I suppose, and I started reading books.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
I went to a course with Landmark Forum in twenty
fifteen to three days self development course, and I'd really
just started to I started to question why I was
doing things.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And when I say that the brand.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Wasn't doing that well Oki, you know, we were stuck
on about three million a year, which is still a
good business, but it had done that for five years,
and I was.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Like, it's going to get better next year. It's going
to get better next year.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
No growth right at that point.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
No, No, it hadn't grown.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
And I never really thought of it like that until
I started reading books and started learning. And this has
nothing to do with I suppose, you know, the family side,
but you know, with my mum and my brother leaving
the business. But it was it was really an like
I'd made mistakes in the culture. We were a team
of twelve back then, and I really needed to rebuild
the culture, you know, and I added part to blame
(10:08):
with it. And I suppose it's like good to great,
you know from Jim Collins. If anyone's ever read that book,
you've got to get the right people on the bus.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
And I will say that that was if.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
You ever read that book, that was the analogy that
I'd gone through with that situation. And yeah, it's not
something I talk about a lot because it's it's not
It wasn't fun, you know, it was a tough part
of the journey. It's not something you like to do.
And I don't think we thought the brand would get
to where it is today. And like you said before,
you know, now it's over one hundred you know, it's
surpassed one hundred million, And it's not really got to
(10:38):
do with the numbers. I think it was actually about
finding ourselves and you know, finding what we stand for
and how do we go to work for a mission
of inspiring our community, and how do we develop a
product and not try to make too many different products.
Where I say before, it was like life jackets, it
was gloves for motocross, it was this, and that was
all great. Like I absolutely wouldn't be in this position
if I didn't do those things. And I was so
(10:59):
passionate about all those sports. But you can't do everything.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You've got to kind of be one, you know, you.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Kind of got to focus on something and you know,
it kind of led to go, I need to refine
the brand. And we'd already had LKI and LSKD together
by then, so LSKD naturally was born from Actually Dylan,
our credit director, designed the logo and around twenty fifteen,
twenty sixteen, and I was first a bit like, I
don't know, maybe yeah, it's okay, you know. I wasn't
(11:24):
like sold on it, but which was a bit crazy
to say. But by the time we kind of got
to you know, twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, that product.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Was selling better than LKI.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
So I started asking the community, our team, you know,
which logo do you like?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I said, I We've got to come up with one.
We can't be both.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
And through that period of time everyone said, you know LSKD,
and a.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Lot of people didn't believe in it.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
A lot of people kind of doubted it, you know,
a lot of family.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
So it was a bit crazy and yeah they you know,
and even down it.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I was turned down by some really big retailers and Astra,
you know, one that had over sixty retail stores. They
turned pretty much said no more buying. And that was
in two thousand and late twenty eighteen nineteen. So I
was quite stressful and I was quite worried. I was like, okay,
I could be out of a job here and I
might have to go back to being a chippy. So
when we changed the company to LSKD, it was really
born of a place of getting feedback from the team,
(12:19):
you know, the community, our athletes, and said, okay, when
we change it, let's do it with a purpose.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
And then at the same time, we were obsessed.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
With fitness and I joined a fitness community, fit Stop,
and I was like, wow, I love being a part
of this. I felt the athlete was going here, and
so many different athletes, even in action sports, were going
to these gyms, and.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I felt like, you know, being a part of it.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
From training in a gym on my own for seven
years after I finished racing, to going there, I was like,
this is amazing, Like we need to build this in
within our community, but create the best fabric and my
experiences and learnings from that, let's create the best women's
loggings fabric and really focus on creating that one product
because I felt that no one had really done it
in that space of functional fitness, and it was like, Okay,
(13:00):
let's just slow down to rebuild. And I lot thought
I was a little bit crazy, I suppose, and was like,
what are you doing? But I just knew deep down
from all the learnings, and the team believed in it,
well ninety five percent of the team believed in it,
and I was like, Okay, let's do it, and let's
not rush it, and let's not try to.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Sell to everyone.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Let's just like And then we built an e commerce business,
I suppose, from that, and that started to grow before
covid and when we launched the ret legging and it
just started to build, and you know, I just got
to meet some amazing people. You know, my CFO Matt,
you know, he joined in late twenty eighteen, and he
was started reading books with myself and he taught me
the science side of it, and you know that art
(13:41):
and science together is really special. So I just I
didn't know what I did know, and I didn't know
enough about the numbers. I was really interested in it,
but there was things I.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Just didn't know. And at that time it was quite
stressful because.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
We you know, we owed supplies. Some of the supplies
we were ninety days overdue, and we just had our
first child, and I'm like, okay, I keep doing this anymore,
Like this isn't fun. We're waiting to be paid by
retailers and I'm.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Like, fuck, this isn't fun.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Yeah, you know, this is stressful and like, not that
I scared a pressure, but I was like, owing.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
People's not fun. So yeah, it was just all these
things that built up in learnings.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
And obviously when the pressure comes like that, you actually
it's actually a great learning experience that you don't think
of at the time.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
You're like this, this sucks, but then after it you're like, wow,
look what I've learned here. I've learned here and I've
built I've built resilience.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
But I've also been able to build learnings from it
that I can share with the team and we can
all get better together.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
So what would be now in hindsight, the listen is
it to trust your gut no matter what, no matter
who's not on board with you, or what would you
say to other people that are in that sort of
same dilemma.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yeah, I think the learnings is I started reading books
and learning. You know, I started learning. I started realizing
that I don't know everything, and I started reading and
learning and getting a perspectives from so many a broad
range of different books. And we have our LSKD library
on our website and we share a lot of books,
you know, some of the books for the community as well.
And then I started to realize that, yeah, I trusted
(15:02):
my gut from all the learning. So I went, hang on,
I've got all this feedback. I need to make the call.
And it feels right like there's something in this, there's
a shift happening, and if we get to be a
part of that, maybe we get to have a career,
you know, like, because that's what it was about.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
It wasn't about it wasn't about the money.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
It was about building something that we could go to
work and have an awesome job and you know, have fun.
And I was like, and I think growing up being
an athlete, I'd always put so much pressure on myself
and even in LKI, and I was like, actually, I
want to enjoy the journey. One of my values have
fun and be yourself. I was like, I actually want
to have fun doing this as much as the pressures on.
So I think the learning is, yeah, you've got to
trust your gut, but learn, and there's so much to
(15:40):
learn out there, then you make the decision based off
the learnings and your gut and the team around.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
You that you've got feedback from to try and make
the best.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Possible decision forward and you're not always going to be right,
but fall forward and make mistakes and keep moving, I suppose.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
And I also noted that you had Lulu Liman founder
Chip Wilson as sort of like an idol for you,
and then you got to meet him. Is it important
to have those kind of role models as well? Do
you think?
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:07):
I think it's really important.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
And you know, in twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, I started
to realize I don't have any mentors that are founders,
Like I didn't know anyone. It was a lot of
it came from the building industry. And I actually got
to meet the founder of Penny Skateboards Ben and he
grew up in Logan as well, and I was like, oh, sure,
there's no other real founders in Logan that I've built
a big brand globally. And I took, you know, I
(16:29):
month to get a coffee with him, and you know,
finally reluctantly caught up with me and we got to
know each other really well and he was awesome and
we spent a lot of time together and it's got
to learn from that. And then I realized at the
same time, learning from other people that have done it
and achieved it but also made mistakes and share those
they're willing to share. If you're willing to listen and
learn and take it on, I believe. And yeah, and
(16:52):
I just started finding learning.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
From other front reading books.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
You know, Shoot, Dog's a great one, and yet Ship
I was, you know, a big fan. And I was
a big fan because when I read Chip's book, I
really related to his story more so, and I related
to the fact that he'd had a brand for eighteen
years before Lululemon, which was West Beach, and I was like,
hang on, I've had this brand for eleven years longer,
(17:15):
you know, if you count in loose Kid. And I
was a teenager when it started, so I was like
really like wow, okay, like I'm still really young, like
you know, because you think, like, okay, this has failed.
But I was like, hey, and I've got this armor
of well, this you know, chest of learnings, and it
kind of inspired me. And I was like, Okay, that's
kind of cool and you know, maybe you know, maybe
you know, maybe it's not ended. I can keep going
(17:37):
and give it and really find who we are and
believe in myself.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
And yeah, so that book really inspired me.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And I was lucky enough to hang out with him
and get to know him a little bit and it's yeah,
it's really it's really special and I just love learning
from him.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Now that we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
So what was the turning point? Do you think? What
was it that you're sitting on three million, which is
pretty good as you see it, and what was the
tuning point that suddenly made your product so desirable to
people like me?
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Thanks? I mean, it's like there's a million things. There's
a million things.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
That I think bring something together as a brand or
a company, and it's you know, it's what's your why
you know, what is your product? And what is you know,
what do you want to be best in the world that?
And how do you obsess over that? And then who's
your community and how do you engage with your community
and talk to your community?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
You know, we you know you mentioned before about celebrities.
It's crazy hearing that because we.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Very rarely talk about celebrities, which is crazy, But we're
very passionate about athletes. And I think we really made
that decision as a brand to really support athletes because
our journey was, you know, I was lucky enough to
be an athlete, but never at that level and was like,
hang on, how do we inspire through storytelling through athletes
and one percent better? And we work with some amazing
influential people all over the world, but you know, how
(18:58):
do we really work with the local athlete and you know,
the professional athlete that aligns to our values? And you know,
we're lucky enough to have athletes that work at Elos Cada.
You know Breemasters that went to the Olympics. She works
in our team signing running athletes and in pr and
it you know, you know went to the Olympics last
year one hundred meters. So it's really cool to have that.
And I think, you know, those things I think go
(19:21):
a long way.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I know you've obviously got your eye on some local
Kiwi athletes. You can't share with us any that you
think would sort of represent the brand well that you'd
like to tap into. I know you use a lot
of all black philosophy, don't you in your business We love.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
The book Legacy. It's such a great book. That book
is so cool and you know swip the Shed's value.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
You know it came from Legacy. It's such an inspiring read.
We get our team to read that book, you know,
when we're on board as well. I think when we
look for local athletes, you know, we really try and
find ones that really align to the values and how
can we support their journey? You know, I think that's
something we really inspired by is you know, we have
so many amazing local athletes and you know, how do.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
We be more than just a product for them in
their journey?
Speaker 4 (20:06):
And something we're really working on, you know, whether it's
through books or different things like goal setting or different
things to help them on their journey, I think is
you know, you've got to be more than just product.
And I think standing for something to help inspire them
because I mean, you know, I like to be inspired
as well, you know, want to some better or something.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I look for my fitness journey every day.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I talked a little bit about what differentiates your products,
and I know, like where I live, which is not
far from Takapuna, you know, you've got alis KD and
across the road. You've got Lululiman and I know that
you are in slightly different markets, but what is it?
What type of person goes and purchases Alice KD.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
I could talk about that for a long time, but
I think I mean our target community, you know, is
someone that where where you know, we say, you know,
we're a functional fitness brand which broadly runs across train
and running, and it's community fitness, but it's also how
do we inspire our community through one percent better? And
how do we inspire you know when they come into
store or online. You know, we have over ninety five
(21:11):
zerousand on our Facebook community group, Like we're always trying
to find ways to inspire them.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
So our community is broad.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
You know, you could give a target audience, but if
we can inspire them and then our product, how do
we be distinctive in our product?
Speaker 3 (21:22):
You know, we've always had that little bit of an.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Edgy street aesthetic to the brand where we've had a
uni sex oversized fit t that you know, in twenty eighteen,
we actually had one of our models in the studio
who actually went off to be in that She went
off to be in the Air movie She was film
Nights assistant in the air movie Jess Actually, and she
was on the Gold Coast.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
We were shooting her in the studio and she said, oh,
I love this product.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I would wear this, and it was it was the
men's product, and I was like, oh, that's cool, Maybe.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
We should call it unisex. She's like, I prefer to
wear this right now. You know, it's my boyfriend's product,
my boyfriend's putty. I was like, maybe we call that unisex.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
And then we started to term product unisex from just
some learning and then realize that we have this kind
of style about us that the you know, the fitness
community within Functional Fitness love where you can wear an
oversized Uni sex fit tea with the Perimid short. It's
a full length leggings and you could style it in
different ways. And it was like, wow, this kind of
gives us our own unique look within the space. We
(22:18):
still have a lot of other products, but that was
kind of who we were and went, okay, let's really
own that as a brand. You know, we've evolved and
we're constantly evolving, but let's really distinctly be ourselves within
Functional Fitness with that kind of edgy street aesthetic as well.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
That gives us our own unique look.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
And then when we put prints on you know, Uni sexts,
we were like, let's really stick to the values, you
know when we're putting prints on or our manifesto, to
make sure that it stays consistent within the brand. So
we're not just kind of doing things for the sake
of it and trying to just chase trends.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
It's like, how do we do it through inspiring the
community with product?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
How do you know that your life has changed? You
know from the training that was earning seven dollars an
hour and your daily life now, how different is you
know because obviously when you're earning the sort of amount
you are now, life becomes a bit easier, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
It's a great question.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
I mean I've always lived a very I've always been
a very simple life because we haven't had a lot.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
So I don't know, nothing really changes.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
I mean, you know, when I was a chippy, I
was getting up early, and I was working before work
and I'd start at six thirty.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
And but I still do the same.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Now, like I suppose, you know, I get up earlier,
normally get up at four am, and I jump in
the ice bar, have a book on and stretch, make
a coffee and I'm either training at five or six,
you know, spend time trying and spend.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Time with the kids, you know, before school.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Yesterday it was the first day back in school, so
we all went to drop the kids at school, which
is awesome. Yeah, I mean it hasn't changed my routine actually,
but now I look back on it, it's quite similar.
Like it's like plan and what am I doing? And
you know, just keep keep moving forward and it's about
you know, learning and growing and failing. I don't really
look at it in that way like as the brand's grown. Yeah,
(23:56):
I mean very grateful terms of from the growth side,
but I don't think that changes anything in you know,
day to day life and having purpose, because I think
if you just think you've made it, then you're going
to go backwards, like you know that. You know, it's
like you know, they always say it's grow or die,
you know, like you've got to just keep moving forward
(24:17):
and it doesn't matter how fast that is, it's just
keep moving forward.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
So yeah, I probably I.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Actually have a very similar routine to what I did
back then, and I'm obsessed with fitness, like I just like,
I didn't train this morning because we got to jump
on the podcast early, and I've got a Purf Games
competition this weekend, so today's my rest day.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
But you know, I was ice farther sawn it this morning.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
I was saunering like, I was like, all right, I've
got to make sure my body is prepared for this weekend.
And you know, like that also helps me stay focused
on my career. And you know, I've got three kids,
so you know, and my almost seven year old and
four year old at fast so I'm going to keep
up with them too.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yeah, I get there, and it's it kind of works
that you're fit right when you're when you're the heat
of a brand like I just lastly want to ask
if you could inspire a fifteen year old or perhaps
someone that sort of left school touring with what they
want to do, knowing like you, being an electrician isn't
really me actually being a builder is not really met either.
(25:15):
What sort of knowledge or advice would you give to
that person that has a gut feeling that they're meant
to be doing something else, But it's perhaps a little
bit unsure whether to take the plunge like you did.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Something I wish i'd learned was reading books back then
and creating a learning environment. Then I didn't start reading
books till I was thirty. But you know, it's okay
to fail and learn and take on jobs. I grew
up working at a very young age. My parents owned
and my mum ran a planned nursery. So I was
working in the nursery.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
At a very young age.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
And then one of my first jobs, I wasn't even
old enough, but was working in a pet motel and
all well pet motel, you know, shoving Pooh out of
the fans. I think I was thirteen, you know, I
showed up with not even thirteen nine. And then I
worked at the VP, you know, like I had jobs,
Like I worked in different jobs because I needed to
make money if I wanted to buy my first motocross
bike and I didn't, you know, like it was just
(26:10):
I had to work. So I was brought up working
if I wanted things. So I think working and learning
and going through that journey is a good thing, and.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
It's okay to shift. I never went.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Oh, I've gone from being a sparky to a chivvy
to building a brand. I didn't go, wow, that's bad.
Like in the early days, I was like, well, I'm
going to stick this out. And you know, I probably
would have tried to quit being a chippy earlier, but
I knew I just wanted my ticket. I was like,
I've got to achieve this, you know. And I think
it took me a year longer because I went part time.
Why okay, I was growing. I ended up finishing my
(26:41):
apprenticeship part time and it gave me enough money to
live while building the company. So I think as a
you know, fifteen year old, it's like, you know, some
of the jobs that you can take on, you know
where it's working, whether it's a McDonald's places like, you
get the best learnings from that, Like you learn so
much about process and relationships and talking to community. And
(27:02):
you know, I didn't realize I didn't know back down
I was I was learning all these skill sets of
how to sell product in the shell. You know, when
I was showing up when I was this must have
been ten, showing up at someone's house and knocking on
their door because my dad was like, you know, we're
getting cuttings and cutting down their trees and then we
take them home and replant them. And then we trimmed
the back yard up to make it all nice. And
you'd get me to ask them, hey, can we cut
(27:24):
those you know, certain tree down.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
It's took and overgrown.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
We'll trim it up and we'll just take it off
your hands. I didn't realize I was learning how to
sell almost back then. You know, you just do it
like so yeah, I think for any any person, it's
like it's build skill sets and learn and you'll find
a passion.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
That you're passionate about to be a part of something that.
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
The thing I didn't get to do was work in
another brand everyone's university. And I will say I wasn't
the brightest kid, Like I finished school and I loved school,
and I was a good kid.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Had a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
But I never you know, I wasn't the person that
was like I didn't see eat in math or I
didn't I was. I was in sports. Like so you know,
I think it's common sense is a really important one.
You know, common sense approaches and you know, just having
drive and will to learn and far forward and it's
okay when you make mistakes and learn from it. I
do look back and which chat about it a bit
(28:16):
when I look back at my career and go, what
did I learn that set me up for now and
where did that come from? And I think it was
just being a part of work and learning and making money.
You know. For me, I wanted motorbikes, so I made
money to buy a motorbike. You know.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
That was it, Like that was all I cared about,
was being an athlete.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
I love it. I love that. That's such good advice. Jason,
Thank you so much. And I think any parent listening
to this, we be like, right, we are putting you
to work. I got three kids too, and those those
three aren't doing anything, so it's time. I love it.
Thanks for the motivation and all the very best, and
we look forward to the new Kiwi stores opening soon.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
We need to talk with Coast of Things, Tony Street.
If you enjoyed the podcast, click to share with family
or friends. To get in touch, email, we need to
talk at cost online, dot co dot inzed
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.