Whitney Bansin - Elevating Fan Apparel: A Chic New Era - Her Table

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This episode is brought to you by Tina's vodka.

(00:02):
My name is Whitney Bansen.
I'm the CEO of The Wild Collective.
And this is her table.
Now you see her.
You are magnificent!
Welcome to her table, the podcast that shines a spotlight
on the badass women who are redefining the game.
Join hosts, Kate Foley, and Megan Martinez

(00:24):
has paid a lock the secrets of success
in the brightest female pioneers in the industry.
Welcome back to another episode of her table.
We are here in Las Vegas in this beautiful studio
at level nine with our beautiful director, Scotty,
back there, him and Casey.
We're so excited for our next guest we have on the show today.
Whitney Bansen, the CEO of Wild Collective,

(00:47):
one of the hottest brands we're seeing in sports right now,
from the NBA to the NFL, to NHL, to WMBA.
And I think she might drop some news on us today
with some new places you're gonna see her designs.
We cannot wait to welcome on the show.
She really does it all.
She's been Las Vegas for 25 years
and was formerly at Zappos.

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So let's get to it.
Whitney pull up a seat at her table.
(toy music)
Well, I'm so excited you're on the show.
Thank you so much for coming in today.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Of course, we're so excited to dive into this.
We love all things fashion and now we're fashion in sports.
So this is gonna be one of my favorite episodes
because I love fashion, I love color,

(01:29):
I love sparkly, Megan's wearing sparkly today.
She is. - Yeah, she is.
- Just for me. - I love it.
I love it. - Just for me.
But I didn't wear my lime gray
and thought of it amazing. - I know.
- Next time we'll prepare.
Usually we're in like blue and pink,
so it's a gender reveal and everything.
(laughing)
So every time I'm like pink, she's like blue.
I'm like, okay. - Yeah.
Or what about you stayed consistent though.
She's always wearing pink, but.

(01:49):
I can't imagine. - Or blacked up.
Yesterday I went to the grim reaper
and I just went all black.
And everyone's like, are you okay?
- The black is classic. - Listen.
- I love black. - I'm not a little classic black.
- What are you wearing right now?
- This is a cardigan that we did for the Milwaukee butt.
- Oh my gosh. - I love that.
- So yeah. - It's one of my favorite pieces.
So it comes out this fall.
- So it is so trendy and I didn't even realize

(02:11):
that it was a bucks cardigan.
That is what's the secret in making fashion
for women in sports.
- Yeah. - Key.
- 'Cause you don't even know that it's like a sports team
unless you like really look into it.
- Right. - You can kind of play it down,
play it up like anywhere you want.
- I love that. - Yeah.
- So tell our listeners, how did you get into this?
You worked at Zappos.
- Yeah, so my background's a little interesting
in terms of like how this all came about.

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I wanted to get into fashion when I was younger,
when I was in high school.
But in Vegas, they didn't really have fashion schools.
It wasn't something that we had here.
So it wasn't really an option.
I did graduate early.
I was 16 when I graduated.
- High school. - High school.
- Went straight into Unilvy.

(02:54):
- What? - Studied business.
And then after I got my business degree,
I was like, okay, I want to do something in beauty, fashion,
something of the sort.
So I created a hair make up agency
and styling agency in Vegas called One Love Agency,
which I still have to this day.
We still do celebrities and we have random people

(03:15):
who roll through that hit us up every time they're in town.
So that is still ongoing.
And through the hair make up agency,
I ended up getting contracted
to do all the hair and makeup
and styling portion for Zappos.
So Zappos is based in Vegas, downtown.
And I had a whole team there literally seven days a week.

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So you name it, you saw something on Zappos.
It was us doing it behind the scenes.
And while I was at Zappos,
I started to kind of ignite that fashion arm a bit more.
I was like, okay, this is cool.
I kind of want to like do something.
I knew eventually we wouldn't be doing Zappos forever.
Like there would be a time when I needed to transition
into what was next for me personally.

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And I started to get into designing and manufacturing,
doing private label collections for the hotels and the strip.
- Wow.
- And then it was one of the hotels kind of came to me and said,
hey, you ever thought about doing, you know,
Golden Knights product?
'Cause at the time, the Golden Knights had just touched

(04:19):
down in Vegas, it was a huge deal.
But they weren't prepared for what was to come
and the excitement from the city.
- Yeah.
- So all you could find was like T-shirts and jerseys.
- Wow.
- So at that time, a lot of my friends were going to the games
and it's like, okay, like what are you wearing?

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What are we wearing to this Golden Knights game?
- Yeah.
- And there was like nothing available.
Like you would walk in the stores
and it was so basic and generic
and a jersey which, as you know, a lot of women
don't love wearing a jersey.
- Yeah.
- So boxy, it's weird, it's long armpits,
it's like not a five.
- Design for most times.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Yeah.

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- So it just wasn't really speaking to me and I was like,
you know, I could do something with this.
Like I could create something here
and I literally fell down a rabbit hole
and here I am five years later.
- It's so crazy because five years ago,
it seems like this has been like 20 years in the making.
How does someone get into this space

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that has the same vision, passion you do?
But like how do you get in that door?
Because there's so many brands, there's so many designers,
there's so many people that want to get into fashion.
But fashion's a very small industry in itself.
It's large but it's small as far as the people
that are actually executing the vision for it.
How would somebody who wants to get into it?

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How would you recommend they do that?
- Well, the way that the Sports Apparel World works
is it's all about obviously you have the big boys.
You have all, you know, the Nike's and Adidas
and underarmors of the world.
And then you have a few smaller brands
that have kind of come up since.
But really it's a matter of coming to the table

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with something different, unique,
something that no one else is doing.
So the way that licensing is is it's very exclusive contract.
So what you're doing, someone else can't come in
and do what you do.
But you can carve out different pieces of the pie
that maybe someone's not going after
or that there's a hole in the market.

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So that was really where we came in
is we went after a hole in the market
that no one was really servicing.
We were, you know, going after that fashion forward consumer
who for the longest time didn't really have a ton
of options in the space.
- Amazing.
It's so wild.
And when you say options, like what are those?
'Cause I want our guests to understand like,

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this isn't just two shirts.
Like you guys make a whole bunch of shit.
Like what is on your roster that you're making right now?
- Yeah, I mean, that's probably our secret sauce
into what we do is we do a lot of curated collections.
We do a lot of curated product.
It could be like a one-off piece
that we're only making for that team and that team only.

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We do leather jackets, we do denim, we do bomber jackets.
We do really everything you could think of.
Like we literally have a t-shirt
that almost looks identical to the one you're wearing,
but a black.
So, you know, we take these concepts
and really make them on trend and fashion forward

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and really go after that consumer.
They're looking for something unique.
They're looking for something that if they go to a game,
they want to be seen.
And we provide that.
- I can't even tell you how many NFL games I go to.
And I'd be like on the silent before
and this is when I wasn't working like I would,
you know, go to games for fun.
And I would go through different websites

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looking for women's fits to wear to the game.
And I could never find anything.
And so that's why when I saw your company
and these other little companies starting to expand and grow,
it is so incredible for women just like me
who want to just have a nice fit that actually fits my body
just to see that out there.
Now, when you were going from Zappos

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to then taking this leap and starting your own company,
what was that like and what was the licensing?
Like how did you even get into that?
Because with NFL, I know it's a lot.
- Yeah.
It's interesting because the company was basically created
right before COVID.
So it was a really weird time.
So I started to kind of get into it.

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We had just got the MLB license.
So that was actually one of the first leagues
that we did a deal with.
And literally three months after me getting the license
the entire world shut down.
Like literally I just flown back on a plane from Miami.
And I remember being at the Miami airport
and like you could hear rumblings of like,

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you know, these people had just touched in Miami
and they were like, are we gonna be able to get on our cruise?
- Is our cruise gonna go anywhere?
- Is our cruise gonna go anywhere?
- It was just a very weird time.
Literally two days after we touched down in Vegas,
the whole world shut down.
So I had this license.
- Yeah, and all the time in the world.
- All the time in the world.
- All the time in the world.
- No, no, no, no.

(09:12):
And we literally had nothing to do.
I mean, everything was shut down, right?
So I used that opportunity to kind of do a few things.
One of the things we did is we actually ended up
making PPE bags during COVID.
So that was a little bit of a pivot for us to say,
okay, well, you know, I've done bags before.

(09:34):
I can make bags now.
And so we did the PPE bags across all of MGM resorts,
properties across the country.
- And what are PPE bags for someone who doesn't know what that is?
- Yeah, they were the bags that they would have
in your hotel room and had like masks in it,
hand sanitizer, all that stuff.
'Cause personal protection equipment.
- Yeah, PPE.
- PPE.

(09:54):
So in Vegas, obviously being local,
I mean, we witnessed the entire strip shut down, right?
Which was absolutely sanity.
- I can't even think about it.
- Well, I'm like, if you think about it,
everyone like, that really happened.
- Yeah.
- Like you question yourself, like,
did that mean Vegas last night?
Did that really happen?
You've like blocked it from your mind?

(10:14):
- Yeah.
- Yeah, like it may be.
- So the best way for Vegas to kind of come back
from COVID was really to make people feel safe.
So that was one of the ways that they did it is they,
you know, they were offering all incentives
and anything they could to really like get people
to feel comfortable coming back.
Hey, we have extra masks.
We have extra hand sanitizer.

(10:35):
We have been, you know, sanitizing all the rooms
and anything they could to like get people
to feel comfortable, right?
- Yeah.
- So we obviously played a big role in that in Vegas
and, you know, consumers coming back
and experiencing Vegas for what it is.
And then through that, we ended up taking money

(10:56):
we made off of the PPE bags
and we rebranded the entire company.
So I knew that like, okay, if we're gonna do this
and we're gonna do a write, I'm gonna put all my eggs
in this basket, let me reinvest in the business.
We actually hired Sasha Group and VaynerMedia.
So GaryVee and they came in and overhauled the whole brand

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and we got new logos and new messaging
and just really everything from A to Z, our website,
all of that.
- Yeah.
- It's so fantastic because it was such a pivotal time
so many businesses collapsed during that time.
And here you are, new business.
Walk us through what the process is to get a license
'cause I know what it is, but I want everybody to understand.
It's not easy to get a licensing partnership

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and it comes with a lot of handcuffs.
So what is that process like and then how do you navigate that?
Like when it happened, you got the licensing deal for MLB.
Well, they're not playing.
So were you able to go back and be like,
"Hey, we want a plus one year
because we're just dead in the water."
Walk us through what that is like
because I want people to understand how intense that is
to be able to get that partnership.

(12:01):
- Yeah, when you do a licensing deal,
there's always a minimum royalty guarantee
that you have to put up or that you have to guarantee
you're gonna do in sales.
So for us, the MLB deal specifically,
obviously the MLB was gracious enough to understand
everybody was going through this.
Now, let's also understand that I was in a much different

(12:23):
situation than everyone else.
I had orders from MLB teams,
so I had about 500,000 in orders across MLB,
but nothing had gone into production yet.
So I wasn't out any money.
I was just literally a sitting duck waiting
for everything to kick back up.
Whereas all these other companies
were now sitting on inventory that they couldn't move.

(12:46):
And honestly, they wouldn't be able to move for over a year.
Some of these MLB teams were sitting on inventory pre-COVID
for over three years before they could get rid of it.
- Wow.
- So then that also means that those teams
are not buying new product.
- Yeah, so you're right.
- Because they need to sell the old product.
So a lot of them were in a much different situation than us.

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So obviously we were very fortunate in our situation.
But so MLB ended up working with us, which is great.
We did through COVID sign more deals,
which was the interesting part of it.
We actually ended up signing NBA and WNBA during COVID.
And is it true that in order to get an NBA deal,

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you have to also sign the W.
- Yes, that's true fact.
You can't just cherry pick.
- You can't just.
- You have to have one.
So when you go into budgeting, you're like,
"Okay, my total budget's X, but I have to allocate X
to the W, which in hindsight is beautiful
because probably what you paid for the W then
is insane to get now because of the growth

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and expansion and disability for the W."
So it's funny, as much as some of those people
probably like, well, that's not the avenue we wanna go.
And I was like, well, we love being here
because your price today, it was not our price
four years ago.
But yeah, I think that's a fun fact.
People don't realize that that you have to do both.
- Yeah, yep.
And that's obviously been a, for us, it's been great

(14:13):
because we do a lot of WNBA product.
We have really great relationships with quite a few teams.
So it's been a great growth process for us as well.
But yeah, these licensing deals are very,
they're very strict, they're very exclusive.
You can never step on toes of a Nike

(14:33):
or any of these other big brands.
They really do do a very good job.
I will say this on protecting the licensee.
You know, there'll be other licensees in the space
who wanna try and copy what we're doing.
And the leagues will come down and be like,
absolutely not.
Like, I don't know who you think you are doing this jacket,
but like, that is well-clicked and slated.

(14:54):
- You have a bunch of things.
- Yeah, they're like, this is well-clicked as lane
and you're not allowed to play in their lane.
- How did you define them though in your contract?
'Cause like, this is all big time contracts.
So you have to specifically choose the verbiage.
Very, very carefully.
It cannot be broad.
It needs to be specific.
How did you-- - How did you--
- How did you--
- All the way down to materials.

(15:14):
- Really?
- Okay, so what is it?
Tell us what that is.
- Oh my god, this is so long though.
I mean, it's so, what's so cool about the well-collective?
Is we kind of have created our own space.
In the sense of we do women's product, we do men's,
we do unisex.
And depending on the license,

(15:35):
depends our distribution channels where we can sell it
and also determines what silhouettes maybe we can and can't do.
- What does a silhouette mean?
- Whether it's like a sweater or a knit or a denim or a leather.
- Okay.
- So all of those key special T pieces are always in our contract.
So anything leather, denim, all of that is just very unique

(15:59):
to the brand and that's really what we do.
But then sweaters, cardigans, all that kind of stuff,
we have like carve outs for those specific silhouettes
in different contracts so that we make sure
that we're able to kind of do what we do.
But I will say this,
well, collective does things no one else does.

(16:19):
So we've been able to get approval on things that,
like what?
- Just give us the best.
- The best, the best approval was Steph Curry.
- Okay.
- So the warriors, we have an amazing relationship
with the warriors and they had us up for a ton of stuff
and they were doing a gift with purchase situation

(16:39):
with Rakuten and they wanted to do their city edition
I just launched and they had all this new artwork
and they have this really cool art piece of Steph
and it was done hand drawn by an artist
and it just was absolutely amazing.
And they wanted to use it on the back of a hoodie.

(16:59):
And I remember when they reached out to me,
I was like, I don't have player rights.
Like I can't, I can't touch this.
Like this is not in my lane and they ended up going
to the league and they got approval on it.
So like I don't even have player rights
but I was able to do this 'cause Steph approved it.
- Right.
- Steph was part of it and was like I'm down,
like they can do it.
- That's so cool.
- So that was like one of those moments
where like typically you would probably be going

(17:22):
to one of the bigger brands to do that.
- Yeah.
- And we got to do it so that was really cool.
- What's been the best part about this
as you built this company and grown?
Like what's been a really high moment
and a really low moment?
- Highest moment hands down is probably just because
I shopped the brand for so long as a young girl

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and even into my college days and even now.
When I got the email from free people
that they wanted to do a collection with us,
that was ice-creamed.
- Were you like, is this real?
Like wait, let me read it again.
I wanna understand that.
- Yeah, I literally, the email comes in.
My husband who's the CEO of the company,
he's sitting across from me and I just like scream.

(18:07):
Like I didn't, there was no other reaction
other than to scream.
- That's the fight with scream.
- I think it comes over and he goes,
what?
- Are you okay?
- What happened?
- I was like, read the email.
And he was like, oh my god.
And even like to my best friend Katie knows,
hub says, I'm a free people.
She was like, you can literally die now.
Like you can die.

(18:28):
- But don't do it.
- But if you do, you've been surpassed
all your dreams in that one moment, you're good.
- Oh my god.
- That's so cool.
That was probably like, highlight just because
I shopped the brand.
So how many retailers are you in right now?
- Well, a lot.
- Okay, let us know because we need to tell everybody
where to go.
- Yeah, so we have, we sell at Dick's sporting goods.

(18:52):
And we're also launching a few more leagues
within their house of sports concepts.
So I think those are gonna be really monumental
in the growth of just accessibility to great product.
They're doing something really unique over there.
So that's been really fun and cool to be a part of.

(19:13):
We obviously sell in fanatics.
So that's fanatics.com and that they pretty much run
every leagues, you know, main hub of the website.
We're in every stadium across the country.
And then we launched a collection with free people.
We are working on product with anthropology.
We're working on product right now with PACS Sun.

(19:35):
- Jim SuperSide is.
- Yeah, I love that.
- So fun.
- Yeah.
Also forever, 21.
- Nice.
- What?
- Yeah, that's amazing.
- So there's a lot happening.
There's conversations with urban outfiters
and just like really expanding the brand.
And obviously everyone's right now is really excited
to embrace sports, which is amazing.
Like I could not have picked to be in this at a better time.

(19:59):
And the fact that they're wanting more fashion for it stuff.
So like I just just a win-win all around
for the wild collective.
And you know, what we're doing this really cool
is each retailer we work with.
It's a very unique collection to that consumer
and to that retailer.
So what we're doing for PACS Sun,
you won't find at Forever 21.
You won't find at Dick Sporting Goods.

(20:20):
So we're very methodical in the way that we do things
and doing our product our way,
but having it feel exclusive.
- How are you able to kind of differentiate yourself
from other companies that are trying to do what you do?
And like come up with like new fashion forward ideas
that also blend with like the sports
and like the companies.

(20:40):
- Yeah, I think the biggest thing is really coming
coming from it with a fashion lens
and also coming from it from the lens
of we didn't have sports teams here.
I didn't grow up with it.
So what seems very archaic to me in the industry
is not something I was ever really aware of.
So I think like the whole like

(21:01):
t-shirt with the logo on it call it a day,
like that industry,
there's a lot of people still believe in that.
- Yeah.
- But I came in from the outside
because I just, I didn't,
I didn't know what they were doing.
I was like, this is so archaic.
Why are you guys doing product this way?
Like you could be doing so much better.
Especially with like now like where we are

(21:21):
with fashion and trends and pop culture and everything.
Life's out all the things.
Like it just didn't make sense to me
to develop product that everyone else is doing.
- Right.
- So you know, even my husband was at an L.A.F.C game
yesterday he's in L.A. right now.
And he's in L.A.

(21:42):
some of the L.A. shops and he's taken photos of stuff.
And like we're always coming up with new stuff
and a silhouette that's really cool
that we could flip to sports
or that has like a really cool element to it
that we're like, oh, no one else is doing that.
- Yeah.
- We can do something here.
And again, for us it's not that it,

(22:02):
we're doing it for every single team.
There is product that makes a lot of sense in L.A.
but doesn't mean that product makes sense in Milwaukee
or makes sense in New York.
And so that's the thing that I think is different
about the wild collective is we differentiate the product.
It's not everybody gets this.
- Yeah.
- And I think that's been the biggest mis-in-the-industry.

(22:24):
- I think she's really actually what I'm hearing
is she's made every guy's life that much easier
to be able to buy gifts for their girlfriends,
wives, partner, sisters, whatever.
Because it's like, what do you get,
you're sister for Christmas,
what do you get for a birthday?
And if you have that love of sport, right?
You're actually not able to get something fun
and you need, that's not just like, oh cool.

(22:45):
Thank you for my book.
Thank you for my t-shirt.
Like there's so much more depth to it.
You have young kids.
How do you manage all of this?
'Cause right now I'm hearing just like a whole bunch of shit
and I'm like, how do you sleep?
Do you sleep?
And like, how do you balance that?
Because there has to be a balance,
not that it's healthy or achievable,
but I'm sure there's a desire for balance like I serve.

(23:08):
How do you balance that with all of these things going on?
Yeah, it's interesting for sure.
(laughing)
So my husband left his corporate job
to jump on board with us
and really helped me grow this company.
But I mean, there's no way I could have done it without him.
I mean, it was to the point where I was running
the whole company, picking the kids up from school,

(23:29):
bringing them home, making dinner,
doing their homework and like he would walk in.
And you're like, hey.
When he's like,
(laughing)
After like six months of that,
like pretty intensely as the company was just growing
and scaling and getting more intense and bigger and bigger,
especially when we signed the NFL,
that was probably like the catalyst too,

(23:49):
where I was like, okay, this is taken on a new level here.
I'm gonna need you home.
I'm gonna need you home before 530.
Yes.
To help with a whole bunch of other shit.
Yeah, the NFL deals, you know, and beauty.
And, you know, I had piles of emails I'd still hadn't gotten to
'cause my day would end at like two.
Yeah.
Like it was so critical that I would miss all these like hours

(24:10):
in the day being with the kids, which was great,
but then I had to make up for it on the back end, right?
So him coming on board was huge.
He's like my number one fan.
If he was not an LA today,
he would be here probably with a sign.
He's that guy.
Oh my God.
Yeah, he's such a fan of what I'm doing
and he's just here to support.
So he takes on a big role with the kids,

(24:31):
especially with, you know, pickups and drop-offs
and gain them to gymnastics and all the things.
I'm still a big home cooked meal kind of girl.
So I do all the cooking and he kind of cleans
and that balances our balance.
But I cook you clean.
I like that.
Yeah.
And we just, you know, try our best to navigate

(24:53):
this crazy business.
I mean, every day before he came on board,
he would come home and I'd be like,
oh my God, this happened, and this happened,
and this happened, this happened.
Yeah.
And then I'd forget like 10 other things that happened.
And then once he finally like came on board
and saw how crazy this industry is
and how like in the drop of a hat,
something really big can happen.

(25:14):
Yeah.
He was like, oh my God.
But speaking of how do you keep up with that?
Because there are moments like I was actually just
with Anta yesterday and they made an entire collection
for Kyrie.
That was a championship collection
that they had to have ready to go to turn just in case
that never went anywhere, but you have to have it just in case.

(25:37):
But you don't know you need it to, you need it.
Yeah.
And so how do you manage that from a production
and a scale because of all your licensing,
all your partnerships?
You don't know who's going to win.
I mean, I'm sure there's conspiracy people
that think that they've all plotted and planned five years
this that the other.
But like, how do you scale the business to be able
to be the right moment in the right time with the right product?

(26:02):
I think that's obviously one of the hardest parts
of this whole industry is trying to be reactive.
Right.
The one difference though about while collective,
different than a lot of the other licensees is,
you need something handled or you need you need something approved.
You usually have to go through five, 10, 15 people

(26:22):
to get an approval on something.
Wow.
With us, I'm the approval.
So, you know, what we, the reason why the brand has grown so fast
and why so many teams and retailers love working with us
is because we're nimble.
Yeah.
I can make decisions in two seconds.
I can get stuff in production in a second.

(26:44):
Like I can, I can do things that most companies just can't do.
Yeah.
Because they take so long because the lead time is long.
Why do you feel like do you feel a responsibility to contribute?
Right now there's all the craze of like fast fashion
and just over production and mass use.
Do you guys do anything?
Are you implementing anything to help reduce waste or reuse,

(27:08):
you know, things that don't sell?
Do you repurpose them to underserved communities?
Do you guys do any of those programs?
So, the interesting part of sports is
they're still not quite ready for sustainability.
Yeah.
I've talked about it a lot.
I would love nothing more than to have a fully sustainable company
and be using recycled products and all the things.

(27:31):
But the industry is not quite there yet.
Do I think they will get there?
Absolutely.
I think we will get there.
But I think we're still good.
To be honest with you, I think we're good three to five years
from that actually coming to fruition.
So we do use recycled products in some of our fabrics.

(27:51):
We did a first, we actually did the first fully recycled
collection with the Raiders.
When we launched our collab with them,
that whole collection was recycled.
They didn't know when we ever really talked about it.
Why?
Is that someone or served?
Oh my god.
It was huge and no one really picked it up.
But it was the first fully recycled collection in all the sports.

(28:12):
That's amazing.
That's so great.
That's so incredible and constant.
What about for somebody?
Because yes, you got licensed with NFL.
And I'm looking and I'm like, I want to buy shirts with this team.
But you don't have the licenses for that team yet.
How do you go about reaching out to those teams,
or those companies to get those license?
So actually when you get a license, you get every team.

(28:35):
So you do get every team to get every team.
The only team you don't get is the Dallas Cowboys.
So the Dallas Cowboys have to opt in basically--
Good old Jerry.
The Luddles Jerry.
And typically with the Cowboys, they like to see you doing
things in other spaces.
They like to see you already with an NFL license.
And they kind of want to see what they can do with you.

(28:57):
We do so much product with the Cowboys.
It is one of my favorite accounts because it stars.
I mean, I could do stuff with stars.
And the colors are just iconic and easy to blend with silver.
Yeah.
Anyone can wear it.
You can really do anything.
It's a brand new team.
And we have just a lot of fun.

(29:19):
I were actually launching Cowboy hats.
Oh, so fun.
So fun.
And they're going to wear them.
I mean, come on.
It's the Dallas Cowboys.
You have to send this so we can wear it in a show.
I mean, it's-- come on.
It's iconic.
Come on, you not.
And that's kind of my point too about why we're so different.
Why isn't anyone else in a Cowboy hat?

(29:41):
I think sometimes people are scared to try things to fail.
And I think that's the hardest part about businesses.
Oftentimes you're going to fail more than you succeed.
So you just have to try.
And you have to try.
And if you're like, OK, I didn't get it, pick yourself up,
and keep going.
But I also think that's the consumer.
It's interesting to watch things that when I was younger,

(30:02):
come back now.
Like me, I'm not wearing that again.
I already suffered through that a long time ago.
But there are some things that come back.
They're like, I love this.
I'm going to try this.
But I also think it's about education of trying new things.
Because from my experience, the consumer and the fan
is sticking that they are not going to try new things
unless they're given the opportunity to try it

(30:24):
and they've seen it on someone else or there's an influencer.
That's supporting it, right?
Because no regular person is going to the store
being like, I want to wear a cowboy crystal hat.
But when they see influencers wear it or celebrities wear it,
it's like, OK, well, then it must be cool.
If they are, which is so weird about society
of being authentic to yourself,
but you need someone to tell you you can be authentic to yourself.

(30:45):
It's such a microcosm of all that goes on, which is so wild.
What-- speaking of wild.
What?
No pun intended.
What's next for you guys at Wild Collective?
A lot.
I mean, obviously, a big focus of ours
is actually going international.
So we are working with some Premier League teams.

(31:06):
OK.
So that's something we feel is definitely underserved.
And it's a great market for us.
So we did a denim jacket for Manchester City, which--
Wow.
I mean, wow.
That's cool.
Yeah.
You can start with Manchester City.
I mean, Sky's the limit at that point.
Yeah.
So I think there's a lot of opportunity there

(31:28):
with Premier League and kind of doing more stuff
on the soccer side.
Obviously, FIFA, World Cup is coming.
It's going to be a big deal.
Everyone's already kind of talking about it.
We've been speaking with FIFA as well on developing product
and doing some really cool stuff there.
And then I think really the retailer relationships
are what's really going to continue
to drive the Wild Collective in such a cool unique way.

(31:49):
Because as big as we are, there's still a lot of consumers out
there who don't know who the Wild Collective is
and don't know what we do.
So I think really it's a big focus of ours
to have that reach and be able to be a household name.
Like we are in every stadium across the country.
If you go in, you're seeing Wild Collective.
You're seeing walls of Wild Collective.

(32:12):
But really honing in on when a consumer sees that W
are little W logo, they know the brand awareness.
I think that's it.
It's interesting because I see so many opportunities
for you guys to grow, but so many market spaces
that you're just owning and dominating.
And you're changing the culture.
What you're doing is changing the accessibility

(32:35):
to being different.
And I think that's as you guys get in those different retailers
and different spaces.
Like you're reaching consumers that don't watch sports.
That might buy something just because it's cool looking.
And now fast forward it back to someone ask them,
oh, I love your green Bay Packer shirt.
And the girls like I just like to say it was green and bedazzled.
And she like, did you know it's Packers?

(32:56):
No, well, you don't I mean, you're making the connection
to sports while being in sports, which is not usually
the norm and not usually the trend.
So it's really cool to see a brand drive sports business
through fashion instead of drive sports drive fashion.
If that makes sense.
Yeah.
And what's interesting about part of our,
so we have multiple demographics, obviously,

(33:16):
that are our consumer base.
Obviously you have the fan, right?
The hardcore fan that just I love that.
And it's hard loves it.
But a second part of our fan base is the plus one fan.
You're going to the games to be seen.
You all look cute.
You're not willing to sacrifice your fashion.

(33:39):
Check.
Check.
You're going to socialize, right?
You're going to hang out with people.
You're going to have some drinks.
You're there to be a part of the experience.
Yes.
Win or lose.
Do you totally care what if your team loses?
Right.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
But they're there for the experience of supporting

(33:59):
and just being there with a group of friends or group people.
And that's a large part of our demographic
is the plus one fan.
So I want to ask which product is your favorite
that you ever released?
Oh my god.
That's so hard.
I feel like we need to go to the warehouse and just see.
It's like, you remember when Kim Kay went to her warehouse?
Oh, yeah.

(34:20):
And it was just a whole bunch of shit.
And she knew where everything she wore it, where it went,
what it was, what year.
I feel like we need to go to Whits warehouse.
Because I feel like there's some hidden gems in there
that we would be like, yo, this is amazing.
But we just don't know exist, because it was a different season
or things like that.
My favorite of all time, really?
Oh gosh.

(34:40):
I don't know.
I mean, I would probably be something, Cowboys.
Just because I've been able to really level up that retail
in such a high level, like we have this crystal fringe denim
jacket.
I mean, so cute.
But does it affect--

(35:01):
Is we close this out?
Because I know production will come back in.
Does it affect what you make the price point
and accessibility to it?
Because not every marketplace price point
can match the desire for a crystal denim jacket, right?
Well, so does that factor in or does it not factor in for you?
Well, yes and no.
So obviously, the only thing about licensing that's

(35:22):
interesting is you don't know how much they're
going to market up.
Right.
They buy it from you at a cost.
And then they get--
But then you take the heat when it costs--
Yes.
So sometimes there's multiple people who
have to have a piece of the pie.
And so in those instances, even though I sold it to them

(35:44):
for X amount, they're selling it 72% markup.
So it just depends on--
Do you have any saying--
Where you're selling it?
So you just--
The price for them is the price.
And then what they sell it for it is-- which is so--
I get it.
But it's also-- let's just say what it is.
It's annoying because then people think you--

(36:06):
Wild collective are charging $75 for a t-shirt.
When really you're like, no, the t-shirt's $24.
They're-- you know what I'm saying.
And it's like, there was one instance recently
where a hoodie that we were doing was over right under $200.
Shot the front door.
And I said something about it.
And I was just told that--

(36:27):
Did it come with a $100 bill in the hood?
Like, what are we talking here?
And I was told that it sells.
So what are the people that--
But then people are also--
And too happy.
I have to have it because it's expensive, not because it
serves to be expensive.
But it's that just status thing of like, you're
wearing a $200 t-shirt.
You know what I mean?
A $200 hoodie.

(36:47):
When we're in reality, we're all like,
is that where we really need to spend our paycheck?
But it's the status quo of fashion, right?
It's the typical one person wears it and it goes.
So I dropped it at that point.
I was like, OK.
But as a consumer, there are certain price points that
make sense to me.

(37:07):
And other ones there.
We wear that seem a little--
But that's also good.
Because that's healthy.
Because you care.
You could easily not give two shits and be like,
not my problem.
Well, the worst part is them coming back and be like,
oh, that one collection didn't sell very well.
And you're like, whoa.
It was $200 for a hoodie, a weirdo.
Like, what'd you expect?
So there's definitely instances like that.
But for the most part, I mean,

(37:28):
I think we do-- for what we're offering
and the exclusivity of it, I feel like our price points
across the board are very reasonable
in terms of what they're getting, right?
Like, when we do a satin jacket,
it is not the same as when another licensee
does a satin jacket.
So for us, we take pride in the quality of the garment.

(37:50):
I love that.
Well, I've had so much fun having you on the show.
Yeah.
Two things we need to do.
What is your--
she's a cheat, though, on the ask for what
is her fit for success.
Because she's in the industry.
So this is a cheat.
What is a fit for success?
My fit for success is good American denim.
Because I want to look like Chloe.
She's got some new jeans out, by the way.
I swear to God that they took what--

(38:11):
I don't even understand it, because I don't look like that.
But you put them on, and you're like, I feel like Chloe.
It looks amazing.
It's wild.
It's crazy.
But I love good American denim.
I love anything that sparkles.
But I also just love to feel polished.
What's your fit for success?
I do shop a lot on Revolve.
I'm not going to lie.
This rompers Revolve.

(38:32):
Yes.
If I'm going summer or something's coming up,
or Naree's coming up, my go-to is always
to go to Revolve.
Yep.
We are talking with Revolve as well.
I can't.
What?
I feel like in a couple months, we're going
to have a whole other show.
I know what's coming in.
It's very early stage.
But yeah, so that's probably my go-to in terms of fit.

(38:53):
I just know I'm always going to find something awesome.
And something different than--
Everyone else is going to have.
Yeah.
No.
I think it's exciting.
Well, we're going to send you to go to American
to get some denim.
Amazing.
So I can't wait for you to try that on and see what you love
with it.
But then she's going to pair it with something
cute.
I know.
That we don't know about in the warehouse.
That's just iconic.
Can you please wear the denim with the Crystal Catboy hat?
Yes.

(39:14):
I need that.
Makes sense.
When you're in Dallas.
Definitely.
Well, I am going to come with you.
I'm going to do it.
Actually.
So there's that.
Oh, yeah.
Just in.
Tell us the date time.
We'll be the weirdos that are the plus ones.
Yeah.
We have a couple questions from you from Tina's vodka.
We're going to send you home with some Tina's vodka.
So when you have those late days, you're just like, I know,
dangerous.

(39:35):
Although it is, she no hangover.
It is gluten-free, non-GMO, super good for you, vodka.
If vodka can be good for you.
I love it.
I think it is.
God would have made it if it wasn't meant to be good for you.
You cringy in descent.
OK.
So I feel like--
I think it's there.
There's a lot of vodka in my past.

(39:55):
And your future too.
And your future too.
OK.
We're going to let you pick.
We don't know what's in here.
This is just for our guests to get to share a little bit more
with our fans.
Something fun about you.
Oh, that's OK.
All right.
You ready?
Yes.
If you could only eat one cuisine for the rest of your life,

(40:17):
what would it be?
Can I just pause?
No.
You can't pause.
Actually, Kate.
Maggie, not this question on time, but she said potatoes.
It's a cuisine.
I know.
I just love potatoes.
And then it turned into potato tacos.
But yeah.
OK.
OK, potato tacos.
OK.
We had been drinking at that point.

(40:39):
So all of the cuisine, though, is like a type of food.
Correct.
So there's a lot of room to go.
You just have to pick the--
I'm, honestly, I'm married a Latin man.
Oh, good.
I think I got to go with Mexican food.
And Latin, Spanish, all of it, Spain, all of it, all of it.
All of it.
Anywhere.
Yeah, all of it.
All of it, all things.

(41:00):
I just-- I always joke too that I do feel like I was possibly
Latin in my previous life.
Yeah.
I don't know.
There's a little part of me that feels like I might have been Latin.
So yeah, I'm going to go with-- she's going to go do like the--
what's the tree thing?
23 me or something.
Yeah.
I swear to God, this is true.
So it's in here.
We need to find it.

(41:21):
It's just-- it's somewhere there.
It has to be.
It has to be.
I love it.
Well, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
We love timing you.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
I'm so excited for what's next.
We're coming to the warehouse.
It's not negotiable.
We're coming over.
All my favorite brands too.
Free people and anthropology, and hopefully revolve soon.
I can't wait to hear that.
Forever 21 too is going to be super fun.
Yeah.
I think that's going to be super fun for both.

(41:42):
That's going to be big.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Paxon.
I mean, I just--
There's so much.
Yeah.
You ever need any models?
Yeah.
I love it.
I love it.
Just send me your size.
Love it.
Thank you so much for coming on today.
Thank you.
Okay.
That was amazing.
Uh-huh.
And I can't wait to go to the warehouse.
Just to see what it is.
We're inviting ourselves everywhere we want to go.

(42:04):
It's like, "I will meet you there.
We'll meet you there."
It's so inspirational to hear somebody who-- first of all, stop.
She graduated high school at 16.
I know.
That was crazy.
That just shows how smart she is, and that's why her business is doing so well.
Yeah.
It's going to be a great deal.

(42:25):

(42:46):

(43:07):

(43:28):

(43:49):

(44:10):

(44:31):

(44:52):

(45:13):
It's not her.
Yeah.
I think that's like, but I also think she heavy as the head that wears a crown.
She's like, that's just not me.
She's not carrying that energy.
Right.
I love that.
I love that.
She also though like has that mindset where she's thinking about the consumer every day person.
She conscious of them.
She is.

(45:34):
She is aware.
That's great.
When I think part of it, it's just she's a woman.
So we do things just a little bit better.
But you know.
But that's it for us here at her table.
Thank you guys so much for joining in.
We are so excited.
You guys are here.
We love you guys.
We thank you guys.
We do keep tuning in.
Subscribe.
Thank you so much to our partners.
Dry bars on set making everybody feel beautiful.

(45:54):
Whitney got to go experience that this morning.
Good Americans making everybody be fit for success.
Tina's vodka is always a staple on our set and everyone gets to enjoy it.
And then we also have wild collective now.
Thanks to Whitney.
So we'll hope you guys love it.
Check out our partners.
We'll see you guys next time.
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Whitney Bansin - Elevating Fan Apparel: A Chic New Era

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Whitney Bansin - Elevating Fan Apparel: A Chic New Era