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You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio. Well, we've gotten some various reads on the consumer thanks to recent reports from Nike, Carnival, and the US airlines. We're also going to get a read when the banks report in the coming week. So what about a view from a small business. Candace Softy is the founder and CEO of Snoga Athletics. She joins us in New York in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers Studio. Candace, Welcome.
We do want to get your read on the consumer on the market. But first, Snoga makes what you describe as modest activewear. Define it, what exactly is it?
So? I created about twenty years ago out of high school, a skirt with an attached lugging. So the skirt comes to that the knee sometimes a couple inches above for any woman who's looking to a little bit more, be a little bit more covered in the gym.
Why did you think we needed to do that? Although I kind of loved the idea, but go ahead.
So it all started literally twenty years ago, right when I graduated high school, I decided for religious reasons, I was going to start wearing skirts. Nothing was out there. There was no Instagram, no Facebook, and I created the first sample. I actually worked for my father at the time, who was in the clothing manufacturing business, and I created a sample for myself, sold a door to door. There was some interest and I figured if I needed it,
someone else must need it. But the world wasn't as small back then because of you know, the lack of social media.
So I wonder about the you know, what was happening at that time, because I feel like that was like pre at leisure at that time.
Definitely was there washing out there.
Yeah. So since then, I mean, at leisure has just taken off. So you were early to something, you saw something early. What has happened to this market since you entered it. I mean it seems like it's become so much more competitive.
Yes, it actually we actually created a category. Honestly when we started back when I was nineteen, so a little lesson twenty years ago. When I started the business, we were selling door to door. I had a couple of kids. I stopped for a few years, and then I ended up partnering with my mother and my husband. We're now family business and we grew the line from one style now to about thirty different styles. And yes, we just molded in with the rest of the world, melted in
with the rest of the world of ath leisure. So we didn't look at it like ath leisure. At the time. We looked at like exercise clothing. But now the word is ath leisure and that's what we're doing.
You know, it's so funny. I was thinking about it in prep for this segment, and I think there was something there ran in the Times and it was like or something on social about people are there's like a little bit of a debate between like tight you know, it's leisure more where at the gym, versus stuff that's a little bit more baggy. And I do feel like it is evolving. You think about though, as you said, you wanted to wear like a skirt or something like
you were thinking about wearing shirts. Yes, but there are different cultures and people who work out but still want this kind of you know, wardrobe and clothes to wear. And it sounds like that's really part of what you were thinking in the mission.
Yes, so that's pretty much the whole story. I was just saying as a kid, I was watching an OPRAH episode and there was a Muslim lady who was a trainer, and she was explaining in the interview that she used to wear a baggy long T shirt because she couldn't find anything that that would suit her working out. I was a kid at the time, so obviously the stay
in the back of my head. Now fast forward years later, when I was in the same position, I couldn't believe how many women fall under the same umbrella with wanting this and now ten years officially into this business, it's more than just religious reasons, as women that just either their age or they just don't feel comfortable in the legging alone, right exactly?
Is all direct to consumer? What's your distribution?
Yes, so the majority of our company is Yes, our website and we're on Amazon. We're in boutiques around the country.
Where do you see the biggest driver of traffic is our at.
Our website is our main driver of traffic.
Yes, more so than Amazon, much more. And do you prefer people buy directly from you rather than through Amazon? It's more expensive to Okay.
That's interesting, Yes, because we are our customer service is our main part of how we started and wanted to separate ourselves and every other Well, there wasn't really any other company. Now there is, but that's a main part of our business is you know, making our customers happy, bringing them back.
And I love it that. You know, it's for women, but it's also for girls, so you're thinking about, you know, a younger generation who probably have the same needs, demands or.
Wants exactly, and we sell little girls now also.
Yeah, so okay, we are Bloomberg. You've been doing this now, you said for ten years ten years.
I did start it and then I stopped it, so I guess officially ten years.
Officially ten years. So give us an idea of like the growth of this business because I do think certainly coming off the pandemic. Well well oh let's go there. Like what was it like working through the pandemic?
So it was very interesting, we got we were very lucky. We had our the pandemic hit, the world is shutting down, and our last shipment just slid right in perfect timing before the world was basically flashing down, and we did very well. We did very well during the pandemic. Did demand ramp up, Yes, it really did, because people were at home, they were working at at home. People were on their on their computers more, on their phones more.
We were also on social media on Instagram at the perfect time when that first started a few years in, so we got the best of Instagram as at first before.
I I know Tim wants to jump back in again, but what about supply chains? Like, what was that like during the you do you guys manufacture overseas?
We manufacture both overseas and domestically. You do, yes, we do. So we did a little bit of both and we it just thankfully it worked out.
What's the cost difference in doing it? Because I think this is something it's interesting post pandemic, we are talking to more and more companies that have multiple supply chains or growing their supply chains to make sure and often having a supply chain in the market that they sell. Is there big differences in terms of cost and doing business an overseas supply chain versus the US supply chain.
There is there is a cost difference. It's also a little bit easier overseas, for it is for certain things like it's like a with trims and and things you know, come out a little bit faster. But we do make it a point to manufacture here. Also, are do.
You plan to move manufacturing completely over here?
We're we're thinking about doing more of a percentage here.
Yes, Like so Carol was asking about cost, but I mean, is it feasible to actually not import? You know, we talk a lot about what the President wants to see, and that's you know, manufacturing return here to the US. But there are some things that just make it incredibly difficult right to cost.
Here in New York City, it's not as simple to manufacture active where as it is maybe somewhere in La. Yeah, but once you set yourself up for that kind of system, which you just you I guess, it just ends up working out with the numbers and you could tweak here and tweak there. Anything's possible.
How do you think about you know, we, as you would guess, talk a lot about news coming out of Washington and love talking to small business owners, medium sized business owners. It's so much the backbone of the US economy. We feel like we also talk to you know, the CEOs of publicly held companies, big companies and the idea of uncertainty that's out there, not sharing what's going to come down in terms of regulations and policies, it's making it tough for I think some companies to move forward.
Tell us how any of this is impacting your environment.
I think it would be nice to have more support for small businesses. I don't think there is nearly enough support at all, But I think, yes, you do need the small businesses because now you're finding the small businesses are the ones that are having these ideas and that larger companies are buying them. So we have to support the small businesses a lot better than we are now.
Candice, what would you like to see in terms of a specific small business policies, Like what kind of policy sees do you think are lacking that would actually help you and others in the small business community.
Well, I just think like opportunities either if it's not, I mean it just I guess it depends on the state you're actually working out of. Also with tax benefits and certain opportunities like that. But that's a lot, that's a large part of it. Yeah, small businesses can carry certain certain expenses like that. Yeah, and and and and keep going strong.
And it varies certainly right from state to state.
Especially since you're trying to employ local people. You know, you're you're you need that support.
Where do you see demand coming from? I know certainly I would imagine New York City is a big market, But where are your big markets?
So are our main customer is in is in the South. That's our Yes, that's our main customer. We have more conservative customer. So, uh, we do a ton of business in Texas. We do. I mean it's really everywhere, but a lot of business in Texas. Uh, we do a lot of busines in Indiana. I'm trying to think of the main places.
Do you know other do you know other demographic info about your customers?
Well, our main demographic of our customer would be more of a conservative customer in the way they dress, in the way they live. But now, recently, we designed a skirt that's called a Perfect Pencil skirt that I would compare to the Lululemon Men's Tech pant for men. So it's a wrinkle resistant, ribbed, high performance fabric skirt that's for the everyday working person. Nothing to do with modest,
not modest most women wear I should say most. There's a lot of women that wear skirts to work and it's just great roll it in a bowl, stick it in your stick it in your bag. You can actually wear it to the gym if you want it, wear it to skirt, back to work.
I'd wear this to work.
It's a great skirt.
Oh my god, Wait, which one is it? Wait? I'm looking at it.
A couple of different called our perfect pencil skirt. It has two flat pockets in the front, so it's very very flattering. It looks great on everybody from an extra small all the way to three X. We're very size inclusive. Yeah, and it's just it's an amazing skirt.
I listen. I have often found yoga pants and different things that are really they actually look so good that you can wear them. So where do you want to go with this? Give us an idea, and give us an idea. How much the business has grown?
So our business grew a nice amount of the past few years.
That's a nice amount.
That's a.
Number.
We're going like fifty percent for a few years, and then now it's taking smaller percentages, but it's growing, but.
That's off a larger base, I would assume exactly.
It's also we introduce a lot of new things to the line, trying to see what sticks. Our little girl's line is doing very well.
I could see that.
Yeah. Yeah, and we're trying to bring in our not trying to bring in We brought in this year our weekend wear, our dresses, our skirts, and next doing metal.
So yeah, it's like you're branching out. Are the dudes going to get anything or nah?
So actually it's funny. We do get some requests for our bike shorts with actual like a shorter legging attached, but we're focusing now one our little girls, in our and our ladies. There's still there's still a little bit of a hole in the market.
So yeah, that totally totally makes sense. So fun to talk with you, and I truly mean it, like we talked to a lot of the large cap company is always important, but it's really fun to get an idea of what's going on, especially for small businesses. Because she continued, do your thing right. Yes, really good stuff, Kenna, Thank you so much. Have a great weekend. Kendace Afti. She's founder and CEO of Snoga Athletics. Joining us right here in our Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio