Well Made

In many ways, the cannabis industry still feels like a grey area. That's why Recess founder Benjamin Witte didn't set out to build a brand on top of an ingredient — he wanted to build a brand on top of a feeling.The creative community has adopted the fruit-infused CBD drink with open arms, which is very much by design. The pastel gradients, neon signs, and ephemeral imagery are all meant to evoke that easy sense of creative calm.Lately, Benjamin has spent most of his time pushing for the FDA to issue final regulations for CBD. With clear regulations, his team has plans to expand way beyond fizzy drinks. In this episode, Benjamin shares how he hired writers to build a story driven marketing team, how he's generating the most impressions for the least amount of money, and what new products Recess has in the works.

Barkbox hasn't followed the conventional direct-to-consumer-brand growth plan. Since launching Barkbox in 2012, Henrik Werdelin and his co-founders have launched several companion brands including Super Chewer and Bark Bright — dog dental hygiene products.These products may seem obvious, but the strategy behind them is not. Rather than expanding from dogs to other pets, Bark chose to dig deeper into the nuance of the dog space. Instead of launching these new products under the Barkbox product line, they launched them as new brands.It's all part of the framework to innovate independently of brand clout and see if a concept can stand on its own.In this episode, Henrik takes us through his Acorn Method and shares how the method has guided major decisions around choosing Bark's companion brands, incubating new talent, and keeping their entire team dedicated to the mission of making dogs happy.Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog.

While it feels like a new trend, every couple decades, there is a new take on minimalism. Writer Kyle Chayka has studied minimalism's many iterations over time and he argues that our modern interpretation — one that's rooted so deeply in aesthetics — is as far as we've ever been from true minimalism.In his first book, The Longing for Less, Kyle is on a quest to illuminate the origins of minimalism. He critiques various modern interpretations including the Marie Kondo methodology, the Wirecutter-top-pick purchases, and the sharing economy. These new philosophies and practices can all be part of a minimalist life, but Kyle believes that to be true and lasting, minimalism should be rooted in supply chain — in simplifying the steps between an item being made and an item being purchased.On this episode, Kyle and Stephan weave their way through minimalism through the lens of stoicism, Marxism, and Bauhaus. They discuss how these movements reinterpreted minimalism within constraints of the time, and how our time of

Peter Dering knows that there's some controversy around purchasing carbon offsets, but as the founder of Climate Neutral, he thinks it's an immediate path forward. Before Climate Neutral, he founded Peak Design. He and his team design photographic accessories and outsource the manufacturing. After visiting one of his factories, he was looking around at all of the materials and energy that went into production and he started strategizing options to cut down on resources where they could, and offset carbon where they couldn't.He and his team always made sustainability a priority, but they wanted to do more to quantify their footprint and measure improvements. Peak Design took a huge step in January by getting B Corp certified. The other huge step they took was starting the nonprofit, Climate Neutral.Peter found out that paying to offset carbon is not an unwieldily cost — it's actually affordable. Carbon Neutral provides a consistent system to measure carbon usage and pay to offset it. Hear exactly how Carbon Ne

The grocery store model hasn’t adapted with how people shop. Traditional big box stores stock up on everything under the sun and rely on small margins based for big cart sizes. With traditional grocery stores struggling and US consumers being slow to adopt online grocery, Emily Schildt saw an opportunity to prioritize discovery over convenience as a way to help people find brands they actually love.Pop-up Grocer is a highly curated 30-day activation featuring grocery brands that get an A+ for innovation, nutrition, and design. Emily has thoughtfully positioned Pop-Up Grocer to be an exciting space that leaves people wanting more. Just ahead of their Venice launch on February 7, she is sharing the careful balance between curation and discovery, the importance of location, and the paths envisions for Pop-Up Grocer in the future.Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog.

There are dozens of tools out there to build and launch products, but Very Great has set out to launch brands — companies creating products that improve lives and keep people coming back. They're doing it with a platform that centralizes the functions of any consumer brand. From research and development, through launch and logistics, Very Great is an infrastructure to build a brand that lasts.So far, co-founders Eric Prum and Josh Williams have helped to launch three brands in the Very Great family — W&P Design in the housewares space, Wild One in the pet space, and Courant in the tech space. Hear how Very Great ideates to create products that inspire loyal customers, their approach to building genuine brands, and their strategy to make a bullet proof supply chain.Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog.

Fast Company Senior Staff writer, Elizabeth Segran is an expert in the cross section where fashion, technology, and ecommerce overlap. For every company that recycles innovative materials for fabric, opens an immersive retails space, or builds a sustainability initiative into their model, she's there to cover it. That's why we invited her on the show to reflect on the past couple decades of consumer trends and — more importantly — make some insightful predictions about what's to come. On this episode, Elizabeth and Stephan weave in and out of micro and meta. Listen to hear how gradual consumer shifts have created substantial changes in what people expect of brands and which brands they're choosing to buy into.Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog.

Phone cases don’t need to last a lifetime, but in a landfill, they might. Pela cases are made from a blend of biopolymers and flax scraps meant last a few years — basically, the lifetime of your phone. When you get a new device, you can compost the case or ship it back to Pela. As more and more consumers are choosing sustainable products, phone cases may not be obvious, but the impact is significant.Jermey Lang founded Pela part-time, doing the initial research and development with government funding. Eight years later, they’re expanding to eyewear and other new products that are the right fit for their Flaxstic material. Hear how Pela developed Flaxstic and how they’re making a place for themselves in the responsibility economy.Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog.

To take on their huge ambitions of making Grove Collaborative and 100-year company, CEO and Co-founder, Stuart Landesberg only looks far enough ahead to see the next milestone. He doesn't let perfection get in the way of progress.As more and more people adopt sustainable purchasing habits, the going philosophy seems to be, do what you can and make incremental improvements right now. On this episode, Stuart talks to Stephan about how they made incremental progress to get where they are and how they plan to get where they're going.

Trade Coffee ships customers new coffee based on their tastes. It's a subscription, but CEO Mike Lackman says that part s a necessary evil. Some subscriptions help you discover new products while others help you replenish the products you already love. Trade does a bit of both.Mike comes from an operational background and this episode is a deep dive into how Trade approaches each component of their supply chain. From the roaster dashboard to their new compostable bags, every step has been optimized to create a journey that keeps customers coming back.Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog.

Universal Standard is creating a world where size is obsolete. To hear co-founder and Creative Director Alexandra Waldman talk about it, what they're doing at Universal Standard is overdue and obvious. She said, "All of us actually believe in the body positivity movement, [but] the brand is not about that because we do not believe that you should have to make an emotional payment to buy a frock."It's as simple as that. But building that experience is not simple. Photographing each item on every size model is not simple. Offering free exchanges with the Fit Liberty program is not simple. All of it requires research, agility, and thoughtfulness. Listen to hear how Alexandra and her team are working to build the largest size range in the world.Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog.

For founder Susan Tynan, the MVP version of Framebridge had to be maximum, not minimum. If they wanted people to feel confident sending invaluable art and artifacts for custom framing, there was no way around it. They had to launch knowing that they could get it all right the first time. Getting it right the first time meant building out a full factory, several rounds of fundraising, and most recently, launching two retail stores in their home city, Washington D.C.Listen in to hear how Susan sweated the details to build confidence through experience and how she's reverting back from her tech instincts to get to the root of efficient manufacturing.Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog.

“Ninety percent of the innovation that we're going to see over the next 10 years is going to come from backing into how we send products to someone in the mail in the most efficient way possible.”Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog.

At first, Magic Spoon may sound like a tough sell, but there are a few reasons why people are buying it. Nutritionally, it's more in line with a protein bar than a cereal. It's made for adults, but aesthetically it channels a childlike nostalgia. And even at $10 a box, per gram of protein, it's a pretty good deal. This isn't the first time Gregory Sewitz and his co-founder Gabi Lewis have taken a gamble on a tough-sell protein. With their first company, Exo, they sold cricket flour protein bars. They learned a lot about regulatory challenges and supply chain complexities, then sold that company and tried their hand at cereal. High protein, low sugar, delicious, brightly colored cereal.As Gregory plans ahead for a future on grocery store shelves, he's sharing everything they've learned in the first six months since launching.Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog.

In most states, you can't buy liquor on the internet, but you can buy Haus. Haus exists inside a loophole of the traditional alcohol model. It bypasses all the rules of what Helena Price Hambrecht calls the alcohol mafia.Before launching the California aperitifs brand (just a few months ago!), Helena lived many lives in tech. You may know her from Techies — her photo project spotlighting people who are underrepresented in tech. Her husband and Haus co-founder, Woody Hambrecht is a grape farmer. When you combine their shared passions and skillsets, you get Haus. Helena is using her experience in tech to guide how she markets the brand, raises money, and creates real life, lasting experiences with customers. Find more links and images from this episode on the Lumi blog. 

It's hard to believe that Blueland only launched this year. In fact, it's hard to believe that stores are still stocked with single-use bottles of cleaner. It's definitely not easy to change consumer behavior around CPG items, but Blueland has already made a real splash with their just-add-water cleaning tablets and this is just the beginning.We've heard how Leaf Shave, Seed, and Ollie have embraced the refill model, now, Blueland founder Sarah Paiji Yoo is sharing how she took that model and dehydrated it. Listen in to go behind the scenes of Blueland's rapid growth, the struggles to find a manufacturer for their cleaning tablets, and pitching on Shark Tank.Find links, images, and show notes on the Lumi blog.

Most runners don't end up on a Wheaties box or an Olympic podium. Most runners squeeze in their workout before coffee or after work. Those are the runners that Tracksmith is made for.Tracksmith has garnered a lot of attention for being the “anti-Nike,” but that certainly doesn’t mean that their customers aren’t serious about the sport. Founder Matt Taylor is on the podcast to share how Tracksmith not only captures the Amateur Spirit — they glorify it. In fact, that subdued, inviting, honest brand image is one that they hope will survive 100 years. From the photography to the product offering, every decision is forward thinking. They are strategizing for the marathon, not the sprint.Listen in to hear how Tracksmith’s passion for honest photography has paid off, how they’ve used their Boston retail space to become a leader in the running community, and how they stay focused on the long term.Find links, images, and show notes on the Lumi blog.

Even with sustainability being top-of-mind for many brands, ThredUp's Erin Wallace says, "We're still creating too much." This year, Burberry had so much extra inventory that they burned millions of dollars worth. ThredUp's open letter to Burberry got a ton of traction. In addition to nudging Burberry to end the practice, the letter made it clear that secondhand is a simple way to offset fashion industry waste. If ThredUp's massive distribution center is any indication, the impact of secondhand has gone way beyond the appeal of the treasure hunt. While part of Erin's job as Brand Director is to make the treasure hunt as seamless and as fun as possible, she's also tackling the stale stigma of secondhand, and giving consumers the information they need to make more mindful purchasing decisions. It's no easy feat, but the world of secondhand is more exciting than it's ever been. Find links, images, and show notes on the Lumi blog.

There was a time when the idea of shopping online was revolutionary. When you may have called yourself an ecommerce convert and swore to never step foot in a brick-and-mortar store ever again. But the truth is, while Prime Day gets bigger ever year, so does the line outside of Everlane's X retail stores. Dan Frommer knows that change is the only constant in how we shop and what we buy. He launched The New Consumer to track that change. Dan used to be the editor-in-chief at Recode and a reporter at Quartz and Forbes. Now, every other week, he sends out a members-only newsletter with a real point of view to help you digest the ecommerce and retail trade headlines. He's on the Well Made podcast to give us a state-of-the-ecommerce-union report, diving deep into everything from the Harry's acquisition and CBD to globalization and tariffs. Find links and show notes on the Lumi blog.

In the U.S., federal regulations are lagging decades behind the science of the beauty industry. That's why Beautycounter hired its own lobbyist. The last time the beauty industry had a significant regulatory update was in 1938, so Beautyconuter founder Gregg Renfrew hired Lindsay Dahl to lead the charge and bring U.S. beauty regulations into this century. As a self-proclaimed "professional agitator" and veteran public health lobbyist, Lindsay is in the trenches. She travels back and forth to D.C., holding strategic meetings with elected officials, and presenting Beautycounter's science-backed issues and proposed solutions. In just five years since she started as the Beautycounter SVP of Social Mission, Lindsay has already helped pass laws that have changed how beauty products are regulated — and this is only the beginning. Find links and show notes on the Lumi blog.