‘DTC is still our main focus’: Bearaby’s Kathrin Hamm on navigating online with retail partnerships

During the pandemic, most people sought comfort -- and many of them turned to weighted blankets. Bearby, which makes knitted weighted blankets, saw sales grow more around 5x in 2020. This year, things aren’t slowing down. According to founder and CEO Kathrin Hamm, revenue is on track to double in 2021. “It has been quite a ride,” she said on the Modern Retail Podcast. Though Bearaby considers itself primarily a direct-to-consumer brand -- most of its sales come from its owned online channel -- it has had an interesting distribution trajectory. Only a few months after first launching in 2018, the company inked a deal with West Elm. Since then, the partnership has grown to more Williams-Sonoma brands, and Bearaby has continued to increase its retail footprint with other retailers like Nordstrom. Even with these partnerships, the majority of Bearaby’s sales come from online. And Hamm said she wants to keep it this way, because of product education. “When I had my first weighted blanket, there was no education around it -- it was like, here’s the thing, figure it out,” Hamm said. But, on Bearaby’s website, the company is able to properly explain what a weighted blanket is, what the benefits are, and how to use it. Retail, in this regard, also boosts online sales. In new geographies where Bearaby doesn’t see many online sales, being featured in a store can help teach people about the product. “In most cases, they didn’t know about weighted blankets,” Hamm said. She pointed to the recent Nordstrom partnership, where Bearaby’s products were placed in markets the company has traditionally not targeted. “We’re, for the first time, in markets where we as a brand don’t have a strong presence,” Hamm said. “And already, in the early weeks, we see a lift on our DTC side.” For now, Hamm’s primary focus is to get more people to know about both weighted blankets and Bearaby.