You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. All right, so we've had some nice sort of collisions of our interests. I feel like a couple of times today Carol, for this Friday edition of Bloomberg Business Week, and this is another. We care about the earth, we care about the time it and so does Julia Jackson, and like us, maybe even more than us. Uh. She knows a lot about wine, certainly more than me, maybe more than you as well.
And that's a bulk exactly. She's the proprietor of the Jackson Family Winery. She's also the founder of Grounded. She's based out in Cindoma, California. She's here with us in New York City to tell us about Grounded. Julia, and welcome. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here. So I come from Jackson Family Wines, which was founded by my father, the Just Jackson, and
my mother, Barbara Banky. I'm a second generation proprietor, and the last decade I've really become a student of the climate crisis and what's happening, and I've become increasingly concerned about our trajectory as a species, and a lot of people talking about the problem but not actually doing something about it. So back in the wildfires decimated Santa Rosa and cause nine billion dollars worth of damage to my community,
It's like, how could you? You can't ignore it right when you're in California right now, and in terms of the fires and the devastation that we've seen. Absolutely, I actually just lost my home three weeks ago. Oh my god. Yeah, But I have to say that after losing my home this time around, I am more committed to the cause, even more so than I was two years ago, which
is ironic because it was too years ago. The wildfires, which really was the tipping point for me, even though I'd been studying climate change, um experiencing it firsthand and evacuating our ranch really led me to realize, this is happening right now, and this is happening in our community, and I need to do something about this. And you're giving a speech or your right to the UN or you did give a speech. I just gave a speech this morning to tell us about what you wanted to emphasize,
because I do love that. I feel like the conversation has been elevated, and there's more and more conversations about it, and I hope that equally there are more things being done to be condens about action, it feels like, and that seemed to be at the core of what you're saying to tell us, Yeah, exactly, absolutely So two years ago I had the idea to launch my own startup, Grounded, which really the vision for it was to create a global movement around climate solution. So get solutions, give them
a platform, and have a summit um. We had our first one in March of last year, convening solutionists speaking to all sorts of solutions to the climate crisis and get them in a room with policymakers, investors, influencers and give them a makeup phone so that we're not just talking about the problem. We can actually have these solutions pitch their solutions to the world. What's interesting is, and we Jason and I have certainly had these conversations at
some of the many of the Bloomberg Live events. But you know, when you've seen the business roundtable come out and say, Okay, it's not just a responsibility to our shareholder. There are employees, there is the environment as a whole.
And I do wonder if you think in terms of the conversations you're having and the people that you're speaking to, is it our policymakers or is it really going to be the private sector that continues to make the big changes in California released front and center with all of this, Yes,
all hands on deck. Yeah, and Governor Jerry Browniere really honored to have him open our summit last year and um draw down the book drawed on by Paul Howkin, which is a hundred Solutions to Climate Change was really for me the inspiration behind Grounded and giving solutions a chance. It's going to take policymakers, it's going to take the private sector, it's going to take individual action, it's going to take influencers. It's literally going to take every single
human being on this planet. So being able to create a movement and get a lot more people to realize there are solutions like regenerative agriculture that takes the quester a trillion tons of carbon if scale globally, that would put us at eight seventy levels pre industrial It's funny because we talk about things like cars and stuff, but you do think about agriculture I was out in the Midwest and meat production and so on and so forth. But you do think about the impact something like that
is having on our global economy and certainly our global environment. Right. Well, we really appreciate the time Julia Jackson propriety of the Jackson Family Wine. She's also the founder of Grounded based in Sonoma, California. This work is at the core of so many of the things that we're talking about. There's a business imperative, clearly, in economic imperative, cultural imperative talking
about absolutely, and there's a human imperative to this. To your point, it feels like we're at this moment where more and more entrepreneurs ceo s, you know, folks are starting to engage on this on a much more holistic level. Well, and it goes to it's the right thing to do, but you're also seeing more companies talk about it making the business case for it as well. That it makes sense. I do want to point out their next summit, it's
in March. The theme is Accelerat and connect Um. So folks want to find out a little bit more about that. They can certainly check out Grounded online. All right, So I've very much been looking forward to this conversation with Herbie Calvins, the president of Mixed Fitness, in part because I've known Herbie for a long time. Full disclosure, I didn't know we were going there. You have stories later later, maybe better than twenty years i've known you. But in
part because I've been tracking your career very closely. You worked at timeax on the iron Man brand, you work for kiss my Face, a great organic skin products company, and you've worked in consumer products and now you've turned your attention to fitness Mixed Fitness. You guys had a big week this week, launching a whole new platform. Tell us about it. So we're launching a product Indian Home Fitness Space. We feel like this category is emerging, it's
just burgeoning now. It's it's a new category. And what we decided to do about a year ago a step back and look at the consumers in this category. Nobody's really talking about the different segments of consumers that exist. And what we realized was there's a group about seven percent of consumers are out there to work out to win, workout to compete, and there's a much larger group of consumers that are looking to work out to just be fit and live a better life. So which one do
you want? The second group, the second group, and that and that group. I mean, if you step back even and just look at the category, um, fitness is about a thirty two billion dollar category right now, and that includes what Jim's you're talking about everything, right, Yeah, that's according to URSA. Yeah, and it's a gym. It's fitness and wellness. But yet obesity rates are two thirds of adults are struggling with overweight obesity, one third of children
are struggling with over ob city. So something's not working. So there's no solution out there that's really helping these people. All right, So we think about Peloton, you know, I p O didn't go as great as maybe they thought, although it's creeping back towards that I p O price. You look at something like Orange Theory fitness, which I know you've tried. I mean, that's a really interesting concept that seems to be catching on and and gets to a slightly wider market. Put this in context for us
with those competitors. So Peloton really if you look if you think about John Fooley's founder story, it's about soul cycle streaming into the home. He and his wife were frustrated they couldn't get into their favorite class. Um it's sold cycles say, He's like, there's got to be an answer here, and he's right, there is an answer. I mean streaming has hit music, it's hit television and movies, and now it's hitting fitness. And there's not just gonna
be one brand in that category. There's different consumers with different needs. Like we just articulated for us, the context is we didn't start this way, but it's an easy way for people to understand what we're doing. We are
UM a bit of a blend of NEWM. You're familiar with NEWM the wet loss app UM, where there's positive psychology behavior change to make lasting change, combined with orange theory in a way, which is the fastest growing Jim franchise in the country right now because it's it's an approachable, realistic UM fitness concept with heart rate training which is safe,
combined with cross training which is also safe. There's a lot of overuse injuries of too much rowing, too much running, too much cycling, so we're bringing that together all of that and in it too. The home however, I think sometimes some of the criticism of some of these in home devices or fitness UM pieces of equipment is the cost. And I'm just curious because that can certainly prevent you
from reaching a larger market. So tell me, yes, sir, we we've priced it very accessibly, but it's not about price. It really is about the psychographic and we consider ourselves a content and um technology company. So for the product itself,
we have two different price options. We have one that is a bike with the bike is the component of the product that is Cardio, but we also UM the bike only is about eleven ninety nine or thirty four dollars a month if you finance it um or, and then we have a mixed plus that we call UM that includes UM weights and accessories from guy I'm in
spry and that's well. And I'm interested in that second part because it does feel like people are and we see this with Peloton quite honestly, sort of expanding this platform understanding that people want to do different things at different at times. What are you seeing in terms of how people are evolving their activities? So I mean the consumer that we're going after, we spoke to them, We
dove deeper to understand and they want variety. Um, they want something they can look forward to that's different every day. They're not looking to be the master or personal record on a bike ride or run a little bit right, but not get bored essentially, So we're offering that and it's not an afterthought. It's from the beginning, similar Orange Grey, where it's that cross training and the mix of different concepts in there and for the mind as well. You
know that positive psychology that NUM is doing. We're doing that in a big way in this product. That just like kind of the support part of it, Like you know, thinking about someone working out and maybe some of the issues that they're having because I think about weight watchers right you know w W. I mean they were really trying to be kind of a part of your life. That there the platform you go to for various things, a very holistic approach. So I'm just curious it comes
down to the coaches. Are coaches are amazing and there and there? Who are they? They're all industry veterans. We've got people that are on the board of different industry associations. They've done a lot of the worked for various leaders out their Lifetime Equinox Soul Cycle, and they see what we see and they believe in the mission that the fitness industry is kind of failing America in many ways, So how can they do something different? And they've bought
on and the how helping us? I do wonder. We've only got about a minute left, but I do wonder sort of what you take from your previous experience, especially you think about your work on the iron Man brand at time as you understand if you say, sort of the psychographic, how has that evolved from the performance level, But also you know that was a best selling watch for a wide variety of people, right, and well it's aspirational.
There was an aspirational aspect there as well that you know, the iron Man watches a badge for consumers, right, and you can wear that on Wall Street and be like, oh, he does iron Man, he's an athlete here she at least works out. It works out, it does something that
made it creating a community. Yeah, it was a bit of a community as well, definitely, But from my own personal experience and seeing that, it was like, okay, what sustainable see you see the trends kind of peak and then go down and you see a lot of injuries that come from that as well. So even personally, I've done an iron Man down many marathons, Like, that's not something I know I'm gonna keep up and enjoy doing on a regular basis. So I like the variety. I
like mixing it up as I get older especially. I also think at some point you're gonna hopefully have medical plans, healthcare plans where you are encouraged, helped to be able to divide, to buy more of these devices to keep everybody healthy. All right. Herbie Calviz, President of Mixed Fitness. I like that he got in that little flex that he's on an iron Man. To love this guy. They call themselves better and Fashion Technologists. I kind of love
that terminology. And they are founders of a three D fashion design and development solutions company used by the likes of Norch, DM, PVH, Rolf, Lauren and so many more. Sharon and Lena Limb are the co founders of Brows. Where Lena is in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio right here in New York. Sharon is on the phone from Singapore where it's Saturday morning, so it's kind of early out there. Um, we welcome you both to blue Burg Radio and Bloomberg Business Week. UM, Lena, let me start
with you. Tell us a little about your company and what you guys are doing. So we're in the three D simulation software. So three D has always been in place, but not for soft cloth and how it drapes on the body. So we are the leading tree D technology solutions for the fashion industry. Well, and a key part of this, Sharon, come on in here is the sustainability aspect of it. It's something that we're talking about more and more here on our show. Personally we're talking about it.
I know, Carol, you and I have talked about talking about it with with our kids even so talk to us about the sustainability element here, Sharon. Thanks for the fashion industry. It's a long drawn and it's it's about it's um it's something that change. It's about changing the way fashion basically is designed, developed, and soul. And this essentially is why I think Bros. This is as a company, you know, to kind of drive some of the sustainability.
I think the idea at the end of the day is don't produce until you know that it's going to go somewhere with a consumer wants it, and not to keep producing. UM. You know as well that the fashion industry, it's UM, has a lot of sustained, unsustainable production methods and producing a physical comment. UM, often it's not it's not the best way to go until so the the idea is to reduce it until you know it's really going to go somewhere that someone wants to buy it.
It's like just in time inventory. I love this. So it's taken me back to accounting in college. UM. But what's interesting in you know what I find Jason and I have had some conversations UM an author of a book called Fashionopolis and talking about fashion fast fast fashion. She was here earlier. I know, I know she was UM, and it's just fascinating. We've been kind of really UM involved with what she's been writing about and talking about.
But this whole idea have kind of waste by the fast fashion industry to some extent, and the waste on the industry. So Lena, tell me what you guys do at Browswear. I understand just doing it just in time, how that is making a difference. And certainly some of the companies that you work with in some of the brands how that has improved kind of their impact on our climate. So one area that people are not aware of is firstly, the fashion industry is like the most
pollutant second to all guests. We are probably throwing clothes at a rate of about eleven thousand pieces per hour into landfill. And a part of that is not just coming from what's not sold. A part of it is coming from how clothes are being designed, sampled right before it is even being made, so they're going through three four rounds of iteration just to get an idea of what the designer really wants, and that is making a huge because this clothes are thrown away. They can't be sold.
Can't they be recycled? Though? Like H and M as a retailer, and of course there's been criticism about them in in terms of fast fashion, but they are increasingly taking in clothes and recycling them and making them into news. So why isn't you know that we can't do that? You can, but the whole idea around it as well, you can recycle. The most sustainable manner of it is to think about how about not producing it until you
really want to stop it. Yeah, just stop it. Then we don't have to deal with the whole issue of reusing it or recycling. And I think that's where Browsbay comes in. Let's nip it until we really need it, until it can really be wanted. And So, Sharon, as you think about this from where you sit literally in Singapore, you know this is ultimately a global Issua. I'm fascinated by the fact that that you guys are able to manage this company. Uh so globally, you know, as as
co founders of this company, as twin sisters. As we pointed out, what do you see from your perspective there? How is it being received? Uh? There? In Asia? Actually the technology has been around since the late nineties to the early two thousand and the supply chain guys actually, which is predominantly here in Asia, has been early adopted
as well. They do understand there's a lot more than well, they want to say that they are the last last guys on the food chain, so they kind of understand the impact that it makes a lot earlier, so some of our earliest clients were all really factories who are trying to make this change a lot faster. So what does it take and then I'm sorry forgive me go ahead, no, no, and then introducing it actually bring it back to there are clients and saying here, this is a better way
of working. You know, can we work this way? So this is what this is why we we have a strong base here in Asia, but at the same time in in other continents that they're inside a lot of stakeholders and everybody's can of disperse in different continents. So what will it take, um, Leada, let me put this to you. What will it take for the fashion industry?
I mean, it's a huge industry, it's a global industry. Um, you're working often in emerging economies in terms of, you know, trying to keep costs down, in terms of what will it take for the industry to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint. I think it's consumer. I think it's the awarners of consumer about what the industry is doing. The consumer having the choice to say I will work and I will buy from a brand that I know is protecting the earth and creation and all of that. And I think
it's the consumer choice. And in recent trends we've seen because of this consumer that there's a huge awareness even on you know, fair practices, UM, you know, uh, labor costs. A lot of this has been driven awareness um to the consumer, and they're putting the pressure on the brands and the retailers. UM. I think that's a big part. The second part of it is the the availability of technology that's enabling this to happen at a lot faster without going through uh, you know, huge effort. They can
now do it very easily. So I think that's exciting. Does this your company? I'm just very quickly tyconds. Does it make it possible for you know, manufacturers to kind of set up shop in their backyards more easily, because I just think with the trade wars, whether we're finding people having to do that, just very quickly Yes, it definitely opens up the opportunity for me to measure, which means on shoring rather than off shoring. Definitely very cool.
Star all right, really really interesting. Thank you both so much. Lena and Sharon lem leaning here with us in our Bloomberg interact or Broker Studio, A co founder chief commercial officer of Browsware and Sharon limb up early in Singapore Saturday morning. Cheese, the CEO of Browseware,