#2019 amanda is Thriving once again

[corbincarroll]

nieto immediately getting the locker next to nate again is so important to me personally

[cksmart-world]

The completely unnecessary

new analysis

by Christopher Smart

April 21, 2020

TIME ONCE AGAIN FOR TAXPAYERS TO SAVE FAT CATS

Waiting for financial relief? Don't hold you're breath. Although Congress did pass the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act” (CARES), the legislation that was trumpeted as helping working families and small business, millions of people are still waiting for their checks. And don't look now but buried in that same bill is a huge benefit for wealthy business owners — tax relief of about $1.6 million to each of some 43,000 millionaires, who are too rich to get coronavirus stimulus checks. That's more than $70 billion. “It’s a scandal for Republicans to loot American taxpayers in the midst of an economic and human tragedy,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhoade Island. It gets better. Just hours after the Department of Labor announced another five million Americans lost their jobs last week, the fund to keep small businesses afloat had already run out of money because — you guessed it — the big boys got there first. The systems for giving money to individuals and small businesses have huge gaps, said Amanda Fischer of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, in one of the biggest understatements of our time. “Yet it’s those same individual workers and small businesses that actually make our economy work,” she said. God bless America and keep voting Republican.

OPEN THE DAMN COUNTRY UP, YOU WHIMPS

Coronavirus is not that dangerous and damn it, let's open this economy up. We're tired of this lock-down stuff. And the economy is tanking. Listen to this: the regular old flu kills up to 60,000 a year. Car accidents kill about 40,000 people a year. And gun deaths are about 40,000, too. Shit happens. People die. But we got to get back to work, back to the beach, back to the bar, and back to the ballpark. And most important, Trump has to get reelected. Between March 19 and April 18 only 37,087 died of coronavirus in this country (perhaps more who didn't make it to the hospital). At that rate, it would only be 440,000 deaths this year. And just because over 600 employees at a South Dakota meat packing plant all got coronavirus in a matter of  a couple of weeks is no big deal. Sure, the virus spreads like wildfire but why should that stop Trump supporters and real Americans from going to church or the shooting range. Don't listen to Dr. Fauci, the expert epidemiologist who studies the spread of disease. Let's go with Dr. Phil, instead. He is a psychologist and can read cue cards quite well on TV. And Dr. Phil says, fuck it, get out there and live until you croak. Sure, you could bring the bug home to love ones and spread it to your friends, so their families can get it, too. But freedom means we can do whatever we want, no matter who it hurts.

COX AND HUNTSMAN PARROT TRUMP'S ECONOMIC BS

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's got the most beautiful economic genius of them all. Sorry Donald, it ain't you. Every one of the six Republicans running for governor of Utah support Trump. The leaders of the pack, Spencer Cox and Jon Huntsman, recently explained that although Trump's moral compass is off, he's marshaled the best economy since who knows when. Hold your water, boys, you've fallen prey to Trump's rhetoric (That's the polite word for bullshit). They should know the numbers don't back him up. Trump's pre-coronavirus economy is pretty much the same as the one he inherited. When Obama took office the economy was in the depths of the Great Recession. But from 2014-2016 real GDP grew by 2.5 percent. From 2017-2019, under Trump, it grew by 2.6 percent. But as Brad Barth points out in The Salt Lake Tribune, under Trump the economy grew while the deficit rose by 68 percent, thanks in part to the $1.5 trillion tax cuts. At the same time, Trump rolled back some 58 environmental regulations on clean air, clean water and toxic substances. But even with all that, business investment turned negative for the last three quarters of 2019. Are Cox and Huntsman really that gullible, or are they playing politics at a time when we are dying for integrity. Either way, we lose.

CABIN FEVER TAKES A TOLL

After four or five weeks stuck at home, we've all gotten pretty casual and a little crazy. We're wearing jammies all day and eating Pop Tarts with Bud Light. Some haven't combed their hair or used deodorant since March 18. Wilson and the band call it Corona Crazy. That's apparently why the police department in Taneytown, Md. put out a warning to residents: “Please remember to put pants on before leaving the house to check your mailbox. You know who you are.” Of course, Taneytown doesn't have the corner on Corona Crazy. A woman in Murray reported that her neighbors leave the drapes wide open and the stereo blasting as they reenact “Jesus Christ Super Star” in nothing but Speedos and pasties. And a guy from South Ogden sent an email with an attachment showing how he, his roommates and their girlfriends celebrated Burning Man in their backyard with the aid of some mood enhancers. It turned out to be a bummer when the fire department arrived with a pumper truck. Apparently, there is a city ordinance against that. Who knew? Here at Smart Bomb, our psych department isn't much help, either. They recommend long baths with lots of children's floatable toys. For more information on wasting time, call the Utah Legislature at 801-538-1035.

Post script — Well that does it for another week In The Time of Covid, where you may have realized that working until 65 isn't all that bad. What the future holds is anything but certain. This country survived and thrived after the double-whammy of the Great Depression and World War II. Not so after the the First World War that ended about the time the Spanish Flu was ravaging the country. The U.S. death toll from that pandemic was about 675,000, more than five times the number of Americans who died in the war. Returning soldiers and sailors didn't have much to look forward to as the economy slipped into the depression of 1920-'21. We learned some hard lessons and when World War II ended our returning military men and women got help with college and mortgages. The huge federal government investments we made between 1935 and 1945 yielded the largest middle class in this nation's history. The country had gone deep into the red during that period but it yielded a workforce and economy that paid back the debt and went on to put us on a road to prosperity like we'd never seen. This, of course, flies in the face of Republican conservatism that disdains government programs and investment. They loathed FDR. But since Ronald Reagan workers have steadily lost ground and the middle class is shrinking. There are now at least 26 million Americans out of work. Once the coronavirus is contained we will face a long economic recovery that will take years. Will we remember the painful lessons of the last century or carry on as we did after the 2008 financial meltdown, where middle- and low-income workers never fully recovered. How much pain will it take for Congress to rise to the occasion is anyone's guess. We know Trump can't.

OK, Wilson, what do you and the guys have in your bag of tricks to help get us through this nightmare:

If you hear the song I sing / You will understand You hold the key to love and fear / All in your trembling hand Just one key unlocks them both / It's there at your command Come on, people now / Smile on your brother Everybody get together / Try to love one another right now...

(Jesse Colin Young and The Young Bloods, Get Together)

Addendum: During this difficult time for newspapers please make a donation to our very important local alternative news source Salt Lake City Weekly at PressBackers.com, a nonprofit dedicated to help fund local journalism. Thank you.

[ladystylestores]

Chanel Plans Return to Prior Runway, Collections Pace – WWD

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PARIS – While other major brands question the fashion system in light of the upheaval triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, Chanel hopes it will soon be business as usual.

The French luxury house plans to resume its normal pace of collections and runway shows as soon as health conditions allow, Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS, told WWD in an interview as the house unveiled its cruise 2021 collection online.

“This is really the first time at Chanel that we’re showing a collection without a runway show. We’re trying to compensate for this, in a different format of course, with this presentation,” he said of the look book and video unveiled on Chanel’s web site and social media platforms on Monday.

Chanel, which is due to publish its 2019 annual results later this month, has been hit hard by the closure of its stores worldwide due to the spread of COVID-19.

“We expect to see a two-digit drop in sales, and we don’t have good visibility yet on the exact impact,” Pavlovsky said of the outlook for 2020. He noted the brand was performing well in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, where its stores remained open throughout the pandemic, and in parts of Asia where retail has resumed.

In light of the store closures, which remain in effect in the U.K. and U.S., the brand has decided to keep its spring collection on the racks for longer than usual, with delivery of the so-called Métiers d’Art line, normally due in May, now scheduled for early July.

Meanwhile, the pre-fall collection presented to Chanel store buyers in early February will be delivered from mid-July until September. But starting with the cruise line, which is set to arrive in stores on Nov. 15, Chanel will revert to its usual schedule, Pavlovsky said.

“At the same time, we also want to reintroduce the spring collections that we didn’t have time to sell in season. The cruise collection will allow us to re-energize those pieces,” he said.

Behind the scenes at the Chanel Cruise 2021 shoot.  Franck Mura/WWD

“This cruise collection has been a way to get everyone back into the life of the company, and we will continue with couture. I was with Virginie [last week] when she brought the first 25 sketches to the heads of the couture workshops, and I can tell you, everyone was smiling from ear to ear. Life goes on,” he said.

Chanel plans to present the high-fashion designs online on July 7 as part of a digital version of Paris Couture Week.

Even as designers such as Giorgio Armani and Dries Van Noten are pleading for fewer collections and more in-season deliveries, Pavlovsky said Chanel thrives on its system of six rtw collections a year – eight, if you count the Coco Neige and Coco Beach capsule ski and swimwear lines.

“We prefer to have six more focused collections rather than two endless collections. We chose this rhythm and we like it, and we believe it’s what our customers want to see in our stores. So we are sticking to this schedule, and in parallel, the fashion show remains the best way to express the brand’s creativity and know-how,” he explained.

Chanel hopes to be back on the runway in October, especially as it will be the brand’s last show at the Grand Palais before the venue undergoes extensive renovations ahead of the Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024.

“We are the main sponsor of the renovation of the Grand Palais, so I hope that in one way or another, we will be able to return to the venue after the Olympic Games,” Pavlovsky said.

However, he suggested the mega-shows which characterized the tenure of Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel – with sets including a space rocket, a waterfall and an iceberg – would probably give way to smaller shows under current artistic director Virginie Viard.

“We are entering into a slightly different period, probably more intimate, yet just as rich in terms of client relationships,” he said. “The Grand Palais offers a lot of possibilities. It’s a spectacular venue in and of itself. We don’t necessarily have to build a set within a set.”

Viard said she was keen to return to the runway, on her own terms.

“It will necessarily be on a smaller scale. It was great with Karl – it was an extraordinary period, but now it no longer makes sense,” she said. “But I do want to go back to fashion shows. It’s such fun. At the end of the day, fashion is about fun: the models, the fittings, all of that will be back as soon as they can travel again.”

Chanel also plans to hit the road again for its cruise and Métiers d’Art shows, which have taken it to locations including Havana, Shanghai, Los Angeles and Dubai. “We are always going to travel if we can,” Viard said.

In the meantime, the house is focused on getting its operations up and running again. Most suppliers re-opened from mid-April and about half of the company’s staff is back at work at its Paris headquarters after the lifting of France’s strict confinement measures on May 11.

“The teams are back in full swing,” said Pavlovsky, adding that its fashion advisers – as the company refers to its sales associates – remained in touch with customers throughout the lockdown.

In addition to hosting a live performance by Belgian singer Angèle on its Instagram Stories on April 3, the brand rolled out Weekly Style Talks, a private program featuring brand ambassadors like Caroline de Maigret, Soo Joo Park and Amanda Sanchez presenting their favorite pieces.

“It worked well, because people reserved looks afterwards,” Pavlovsky said, noting that once Chanel had worked out the necessary sanitary precautions, it delivered purchases to some of its best customers.

But don’t expect the company, which has partnered with Farfetch on a digitally connected store model, to change its stance to e-commerce, which is limited to beauty products and eyewear.

“No, we are not going to launch e-commerce. It works very well this way,” said Pavlovsky. “Maybe we could sell a third more bags by doing it online, but we are taking a long-term view of the brand. We are not aiming for an immediate return on investment on this kind of thing.”

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Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Phil Kalas of Ashland Leather, a brand that sells heritage leather wallets.Some stats:Product: Heritage Leather WalletsRevenue/mo: $50,000Started: June 2011Location: ChicagoFounders: 2Employees: 5Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Thank you so much for the opportunity to share Ashland Leather with Starter Story. As an entrepreneur, I am personally a big fan of reading everyone’s journey! My name is Phil Kalas and I am the co-owner of Ashland Leather Company.At Ashland, we handcraft and sell premium men’s leather wallets that are guaranteed for a lifetime. All of the wallets and leathers are made using old-world techniques and are designed to improve with age. Leather is a passion for us. We love the sensory characteristics of leather. The look, feel, texture, luster, and even smell of leather is why we developed a wallet to carry with us all day and every day.During the day, we make leather for the famous Horween Leather tannery in Chicago. On nights and weekends, we take the best leather in the world and make them into fine leather goods. We emphasize our favorite leathers like Genuine Horween Shell Cordovan™ and Chromexcel™ leathers.Over the last century, the Shell Cordovan and Chromexcel leathers have developed something of a cult-like following. We have been fortunate to be aligned with this “cordovan cult” and our business has thrived because of people’s passion and appreciation for these high-quality leathers. There are not many things in the world that you can use every day that actually get better each time you use it.Our flagship wallet is our Fat Herbie double bifold wallet. Fat Herbie also happens to be our first wallet model so I guess we got a bit lucky from the start. Eight years later, we now have several wallet styles but also make Apple Watch bands, watch straps, belts, key cases, and other accessories. In our first year of business, we had $30,000 in revenue. Today, we have grown our passion to $600k in annual sales and provide jobs for five families... And we are still growing!What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?Dan Cordova and I are the co-founders for Ashland Leather Co.Both Dan and I are full-time employees at Chicago’s Horween Leather tannery. Simply put, we make sheets of leather at our day jobs.During a lunch break in late 2010, Dan excitedly called me over to show me a beautifully hand-laced leather bag that he had made for his wife on their anniversary.The bag looked incredible.At the time, Dan did not know that I had also been pursuing leather crafting as a hobby. I ran out of the lunchroom and quickly returned with a leather wallet (what would later become the Fat Herbie) that I had crafted in my living room at home.This confluence of two individuals who were passionate about leather and making stuff was the catalyst for Ashland Leather Co.At our day jobs, we make sheets of leather for huge brands like Wilson, Nike, Allen Edmonds, Alden, New Balance, Viberg, and many others. We ship these sheets of leather to be turned into NFL footballs, NBA basketballs, and many types of footwear like dress shoes, boots, and moccasins.The Horween leather tannery is essentially a boutique shop that makes small batches of specialty leathers. Many people tell us we have their dream jobs...I tend to agree with them.Making the finest leather in the world all day spoils me. However, in the past, I did not get to complete the lifecycle of the leather and get to appreciate it as a final product. I describe this dilemma as like being the world’s best wheat farmer but not being allowed to bake anything.As a crutch, I would often take trimmings or scraps of leather from the tannery and carry them in my pocket to see how each leather would age. Crafting a leather wallet or bag to use as an everyday carry good was a natural progression for both Dan and myself.When we started the company I had a large amount of student loan debt. And, coming off the Great Recession, I recall going out on the weekends hoping $20 would last me the whole night. Ashland was started with $1000, a sacrifice of sleep, and a lot of blind faith. We simply made wallets that we wanted to wear. Luckily for us, people seem to have similar tastes.Our first saleWe were extremely lucky to get our first sale.It happened because we were in the right place at the right time. We, at the Horween leather tannery, frequently receive international buyers on visits to prospect new goods for their retail stores.Ashland’s first big sale was a result of one of these visits. The tannery had a group from SHIPS Japan (Japanese/Asian retail stores) that was interested to see the “latest and greatest” that Horween had to offer.The tannery owner, Skip Horween, was the first to promote Ashland to the buyers and offered them Fat Herbie wallets in both black and color #8 shell cordovan colors. That month, SHIPS presented Ashland with its first “real” order for $30,000.Quickly, Dan and I got to work. We had never produced more than five wallets at a time. Now, not only did we have to produce hundreds of wallets at once we also had to think about new problems like packaging.Our philosophy was to surprise and thrill the customer so we made a handmade wax-stamped box, custom letterpressed business cards, individual leather bags, and handcrafted hundreds of wallets. Through the month-long lead time that we had I don’t think Dan or myself had more than 4 hours of sleep every night.This first order quickly led to more orders from our friends at SHIPS Japan but we also started our own website: www.ashlandleather.com -- Today our website is where 90% of our business comes from. Our business doubled the next year and now we took over five different rooms in Dan’s home including his garage.We started employing more team members (hi Laura, Amanda, Matt, and Lupe!) and eventually leased a workshop next to the tannery. In 2018 we purchased our own workshop up the street from the tannery and finally have a long-term home.Our website has grown not only in product offerings but also aesthetically. We often receive over 1000 unique visitors each day to our website. Our instagram following just reached over 10k followers.In 2019, I started a new effort to make videos on our YouTube page and, despite being a self-taught videographer, the initial response has been very positive!Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?A strong brand philosophyThe biggest advice I can give to every small business or startup is to have a strong philosophy.At Ashland, our philosophy is to make men’s leather goods out of the best material (specifically Horween leather). You will notice that the above sentence has three very narrowly defined variables 1) Masculine market 2) Leather Goods only 3) Horween Leather Only.Having this strong, well-definied philosophy allows you to really focus your attention on what your customers appreciate. It helps to differentiate you and make your product special.SEOSEO is our largest traffic source.On Shopify, I use an app called SEO Manager. It is simple but seems very effective. I recommend it to everyone.I am not a SEO expert by any means. However, what seems to have worked is focusing on a very specific set of terms. Instead of us focusing on “Leather Wallets” or even “Men’s Wallets” we focus on the name of the tannery and the leather type: Horween Leather Tannery, Shell Cordovan Leather, and Chromexcel leather. These are very specific niche topics that seem to have a reasonable amount of searches without much competition. I write blog post articles about these topics. For example, my blog article “Horween Geniune Shell Cordovan Vs. Chromexcel: What’s the Difference?” ranks either #1 or #2 when people search for “Chromexel” (a famous leather variety). My artcile, “What is Cordovan” ranks #2-3 when searching the word “cordovan”.By narrowing our focus we rank #1 in google for search terms relating to Horween, Chromexcel, shell cordovan, and several others.EmailEmail marketing is our second largest driver for traffic. We use MailChimp and have about 5000 subscribers. I try to give info or special offerings in my email list as to not try to spam our customers.Here is a link to one of our best performing emails. This one has a 35% open rate, 12% clicks, and $8k+ in revenue. People bought other stuff from the site apart from the mystery box offered. The mystery boxes sold out quickly.We offer limited release colors, models, and offers in our newsletter only. As for MailChimp: I think they are worth every penny and I love the service. However, I have not tried any other email marketing platform.AdvertisingFor the 2018 holiday season, we hired an advertising agency to help us with some social media ads. We ran ads on google, facebook, and Instagram.For me, the only thing I really like from these was re-targeting on facebook. Our retargeting conversions were about 10%. All of the other ads we just broke even.I may try ads again in the future but our organic growth and strong SEO seem to be more valuable.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?One of the best new tools I’ve recently started using is called Bonjoro. Bonjoro is an iPhone app that allows me to send a personalized video message to each of my customers.It does take quite a bit of time and effort to do but the results are completely shocking. My customers are thrilled to see a REAL PERSON on the Internet. I think every small brand should implement a personalized strategy like Bonjoro video messages to set themselves apart from big-box retailers where there is obviously nobody behind the curtain.Secondly, I think there are stories to be told. A new emphasis for me in 2019 is YouTube videos. The tannery I work for has a 114-year history with a number of incredible stories. For example, one of these leathers was once used in tanks in WWI. It is completely fascinating and incredible to know the leather is made with the same formulations and machines from back in 1905. I think video will be a main driver of traffic for us within the next year or two.Third and most importantly, you need a great team. Each member of our Ashland family I trust completely. I have to because I am not working with them during the day. I think this constraint actually is quite helpful because it forces me to give the team the broad goal and let them figure it out along the way. A new emphasis for us this year is to set larger goals and have monthly follow up meetings. For example, right now I am working on product development. We assign team members with specific tasks to develop theses products autonomously.The numbersAshland is currently profitable and has been profitable since inception.We have never taken a loan and, until recently, all of our growth was completely organic. We have experienced a 50% year over year growth since our start in 2011.Our cost of goods sold is quite high because the materials we use are extremely expensive. The shell cordovan (ultra premium) is roughly 10x the price of other premium leather. About 30% of our costs are on COGS/leather.Our cost of customer acquisition is effectively $0 because we do not advertise. We get about 22k sessions to our website each month with an average session duration of 3:00 and 81,000 page views.90% of our traffic is from the USA. 3% is from Germany, and most of the rest is from Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.Our conversion rate is about half of where I’d like it to be at 1%. I think this rate is low because we get a large amount of SEO traffic from the niche tails I’ve targeted and because our goods are expensive.We have 5,000+ newsletter subscribers and 10,000+ Instagram followers.We also get about 50 emails or more each day through the Contact Us section on our webpage. Either my brother, Matt, or myself answer every inquiry within 24 hours.Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?One of the largest mistakes that Dan and I made when starting our business was starting with women’s bags.We noticed that 99.99% of the non-sporting goods leather that came out of the tannery was being used in men’s footwear.In our minds, we thought that 50% of the market was missing out on what we believed was an amazing product. We made several women’s bags and actually sold them but we very quickly found out that we do not understand women.Trends for women’s bags change seasonally and we simply could not develop and market product fast enough.The other big thing was that we were forcing ourselves to fill what we perceived as a need in the marketplace. We started to see real success when we made products that we wanted to own ourselves: Wallets, belts, watch straps, key cases, etc.This strategy may not be what they teach in an MBA course but for us, it made the business much more interesting to grow.What platform/tools do you use for your business?We run our entire website on Shopify. I really cannot recommend Shopify highly enough. It is simple, easy to use and it is very flexible. The best part is the apps. You can have custom programmed features on your website for incredibly cheap. My most used apps on Shopify are SEO Manager, Quickbooks Online, and Yotpo.Yotpo is worth mentioning because it does an excellent job at automatically collecting user reviews and presenting them neatly on our website and product pages. They have a lot of behind the scene tools too that help to get your brand awareness up. For example, I love that you can automatically push user reviews to social media.Not only do we create, craft, and market our own products but we also fulfill all of the orders ourselves. We do this using Shopify and stamps.com. These two programs integrate with each other.We like stamps.com as opposed to FedEx or UPS because our products are small and can ship in the less expensive First Class or Priority Mail USPS options.What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?I am completely inspired by podcasts and audiobooks. The biggest influence on me has been Pat Flynn and the Smart Passive Income podcast.Pat has a large amount of content and, if you are willing to listen through it, you will find a lot of valuable knowledge and resources in the podcast. Bonjoro, for example, is an app that I found from listening to his podcast.Next, I have been very motivated and influenced by Gary Vaynerchuk in his books “Crush It” and “Crushing It”. There is so much good stuff in these books but the largest influence that it has had on me is the value of video and YouTube.During the holidays this year, I was motivated on a re-listen of “Crushing It” to start up the Ashland Leather YouTube channel. I’ve been releasing a video each week and I have already seen sales coming from it (it’s only been 3 weeks!). Video is a large amount of work but I think it is very valuable to our audience.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?It all comes down to philosophy. Why are you starting your business? What can you offer? Do people want it? Are you willing to sacrifice sleep to pursue this? You must have passion for your project and maintain it (without results, even!) for a year or more and probably lose money. If you aren’t completely driven with a clear path ahead of you, the business will fail. Read books, get inspired, put your head down, and get to work.A very easy, simple piece of advice I can give to anyone just starting up would be to buy and use Business Plan Pro. Their easy to follow program will force you to think about your business in a new way. You will begin to imagine the potential pitfalls ahead of time and avoid them entirely. Anyone looking to start up a new business is welcome to email me to ping ideas off of. You can get me at phil@ashlandleather.comWhere can we go to learn more?Ashland Leather Co. websiteIf you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos, tools, books, and other data.Interested in sharing your own story? Send me a PM