"My Life Has Changed Since Working With Kamal" — 70x Growth Story

hey guys I've got Ripley here we've been working together for about a year but um and it's been going great and I just wanted a ask Ripley to tell everyone about the story of Ripley radar basically well um hi by the way uh Ripley Raider has been in business for now uh this is our 10th year in business we started with one jumpsuit we're based out of Los Angeles and we manufacture in Los Angeles um but

we started with one jumpsuit and pretty exclusively made that for one or two years maybe um we didn't have big seed money and so we were like we've always sort of been The Little Engine That Could um in my opinion and and so we finally got to a point where we could invest a little bit in marketing and it was sort of a a Kismet moment when mhi reached out to us and that was about a

year and a half ago I think something like that maybe even just a year ago um a year a year and a couple months here and a couple of months and um now we're a really big company I don't know it's such an example of working with a team that understands you understands the vision rather than putting you I think what makes you all great and the reason we work together so well is that you don't

just put your thoughts on our brand you understand what we're about what drives us and then the marketing that y'all create goes in that direction um and so it feels really authentic to our to our clients and so the clients that we've had for the last 10 years are super excited to see us everywhere on every ad and then also the new the new clients I think really understand that we're not just some Instagram brand um

we're we're an actual brand that has Integrity behind the way that we make our clothes and things like that and that's all done through marketing you know it's I always used to say like I used to be in musical theater before I launched strictly Raider and um and I always wanted to be like on Broadway because I wanted the masses to see my work or whatever and not be like in Lower East Side garage performing somewhere

and I felt that way with Ripley Raider we had a really good product we um we had the bones behind us and we were a house built on Rock but no one knew who we were and until you guys came along and really put us in everyone's Pockets which has been rad yeah it's been a crazy year oh my God yeah crazy crazy and it's only going up it keeps getting better like as you said house

built house built on rocks um absolutely so all the foundations with that I mean how long have you been around before we came along for how long I think about eight years eight and a half I mean I think as a as a I think we've really we started late yeah to late 2013 um and and I think our our team started getting built in about two thousand end of 2015. so you know seven or eight

years of of like you know building the brand uh to to make sure that what we sold was good um and then what happened was when we when the stars sort of aligned we started working together um everything came together I mean it was just like the perfect storm and so we were ready to explode you guys were willing to sort of work with us I like that you know I always joke that we started so

small with y'all and other people other companies we worked with would like laugh on our face because we don't take big jumps uh as you know and um but we're willing if something works we're willing to lean into that so if we you know but I I think I was so grateful for y'all that you are willing to work um with our with our availability of finances and everything and then once we realized things were working

we just went all in which has been such a cool thing to see with the company yeah yeah yeah and yeah it's been great working with you is my favorite I don't want to say my favorite client relationship uh I'll take I'll take favorite time um but yeah like you we came on and it's you know it's no mean feat to say yes when it's worked it's it's working it's very hard to do um when it

started working you were very receptive to me saying it can work more you know right I think there's a level two of trust in in our partnership that I feel like I've worked with other marketing companies we've worked with many marketing companies before mhi and we always felt like they had their own sort of ulterior motives or that we weren't um a real partnership it was like they are a company that has their own interests at

heart that don't often align with with uh with us or with the company um as the owners of the company who see the bottom line of everything and um and with mhi everything from the creative to the numbers to the risks we take everything it all seems very measured strategic and um it never feels like a forced thing it's like you give us your opinion on how something how you think something will go and and then

you give us an opportunity to say okay we're ready to do this or we're not and sometimes it takes a few months for us to be like okay we can do this but I think that's different than most companies now you could say jump and we'd say how high because the trust is there now right so we understand you know I just got off the the phone with a creative arm of your team and um and

everything she said is just I mean she's she's gotten the eye of our brand so beautifully that you know I could really just lean on her uh to to do it at this point which is such a gift to a business owner because your head is in so many places that if you can really lean on a company that you know is growing your company but also will not do you dirty um both number wise and

creatively to reach out like I don't have to proof everything because I have such trust in what you guys are creating for us it's awesome yeah exactly and I think like a lot of our clients say kind of similar things and it makes sense because talk from for us because the results are way better when our goals are aligned it's our battle we go we're going in together right right right right right and I think the

it also feels very long game to I think um we were in the wholesale market for so many years before really diving into direct to Consumer and it's such a volatile Market or it feels that way a little bit more than wholesale and I feel like there's there's a level of trust that in long game that we've been able to create and that I think you guys have a really great handle on because no one is

really will note things but no one's terribly reactive with like okay we recognize that this maybe is this way for right now but it won't be that in six months or this is where we see it going in six months we want to lean into that let's be on the front end of that um which is really cool uh for us so we're not always like playing catch-up it feels very um intentional about how we are

growing the company in the marketing arm of the company it's really cool it's wild it's like the wildest thing like it it's it's even at even at wholesale markets like there's a huge fashion uh Market called codery in New York and every brand you know is there with their like Booth it's so ridiculous but you stand there and I have all these wholesalers coming up to me going Ripley Ripley like they know me like they hug

me and they um and my sales reps are like have you met these women and and that they haven't they've never met me like I've never I don't know who they are but because of the marketing I think that you guys have been really smart about like making it a real thing the brand is a because it is it's my life and my dream and um you guys have have really shown that in that speaking to

not only direct to Consumer buyers but like wholesale buyers as well so it's helped us on on multiple fronts which has been really rad yeah for sure and we wait for try and play for the long term with ads and Brands and the thing is it all comes together when the story's there the teamwork's there but why you're doing something you know the products there obviously yeah yeah you'd say that but as the work we've done

d2c has helped you in other areas of a business yeah definitely it's it's absolutely helped I think oftentimes wholesalers are very scared of directing like a a branch who has a really healthy direct to Consumer e-commerce uh site and that has not been the case for us at all our wholesalers are thrilled with our brand um recognition online because they come into the store and they've seen our name you know like 20 times and so they

they already won us before they even go into the store these boutiques and so it's been really everyone is pleased across the board and I think that speaks to um I talk a lot in this industry about how it's like glitter and um but I think and I think marketing can be glitter and uh but it's not I think that for us I think the reality is is that it's really heartfelt it's heart-centered it's Integrity driven

and I think that that really has shown in our marketing um we don't make promises we can't fill and um and and you guys are to think for that that's cool I mean it's been it's been it's been a great relationship and it will carry I'm sure it'll carry on to be that oh yeah yeah and we always try and like bolster and cravey's relationship with mhr and yeah right um yeah so maybe we will talk

a little bit about sort of results we've seen okay when we started you said you went to other agencies before I know you've worked with other agencies before um and like online to now and I think we started off pretty fast right in the first couple months I think we are four times the size we were now I feel like we're like 30 times the size we were I mean we're definitely I know that sounds crazy

we're definitely 10 times the size we were I think we're more like 50 60 sort of numbers are we really crazy I we were like what's happened it's like marketing happened um but yes I think it was it was I think within the first four months yes it was it was like four or five times and then I it just kept I think it's been a beautiful just growth and of course we have huge hits you

know Black Friday and all of that stuff is going to be remarkable um but Eve but from when we started with you our our highest day then we haven't ever we've not even gotten low enough now like you know what I'm saying it's not even in the same world um yeah it's a really cool thing I think on one day we probably did half of what you did the year before actually I think it was um

in one day we did two-thirds of the sales that we did in all of 2019 I think which was the our biggest year pre-covered so yeah pretty cool crazy so like that's crazy it is crazy right so like um just sort of day to day in the business how's it different like what were you doing before in the business and now how's your outlook and what you're doing now okay so before we started with you we

were working out of our um our Loft in Hollywood it's a live work space but it's still a home um and uh we had my I I was running the company along with my husband it's a family business and one 18 year old intern and now we have um we have our Design Studio our Loft which is now my design studio uh and showroom in Hollywood and a big office and Warehouse downtown LA we have uh

four full-time employees and um and then I have I now have an assistant like I just we've grown we've grown I mean you know and it's it's really a cool I mean of course it's terrifying in some ways growing I think there's no comfort in growth um but I do think that even though it hit big it was like an actor that you see that's like seven years and overnight success and that was what this was

we we we got together with mhi at a point where we were really ready to go actually I don't know if we were quite ready because I think you guys are really patient with us as we were like dying um but but since we moved we moved into our office space downtown Warehouse office um on September 1st and um in many ways we've already outgrown that space and are looking to expand again um and obviously we

don't make any huge moves ever um we're sort of a little bit slower um on that but we're giving it a time but definitely by the time our lease is up we'll be upgrading again um because I don't think things are gonna slow down uh I think there's I think the thing that I like about working with y'all is that there's always new concepting happening it's like oh this has hit like a plateau of sorts or

whatever what's the next thing we can do um what's the next creative thing what's the next um like strategic thing we can do and so I don't really see um us going plateauing or I just see us going up from here I don't think there's after seeing the success we've had in the past year I don't see why we're not an absolute um recognized brand in everyone's closet and I think we can get there right I

agree yeah and and you know we're all working together on not just what we're like we've helped got to this stage now we're thinking about all the other things we need to be doing to get to that level trying to help you along the way with all that yeah yeah it's cool it's going to be crazy yeah it's crazy it's like I can't believe it it's the craziest thing I can't um also I think there's a

level of of of growth that feels it the whole thing with mhi in this marketing which does feel differently than other marketing companies is that it just doesn't feel pressure filled it feels like totally organic within the company it's like are you guys ready and set to do this can you do this we're I don't ever feel like I'm outside my comfort zone or outside my like Integrity with anything we do and um you guys really

walk the walk in a way that um other marketing companies don't that's not a cell that I actually means um but I and maybe that's why I'm so like like your team is rather indispensable to us at this point and um and I think it's because you guys really do walk the walk and you're young and you're cool and you have a vibe that like you know I mean I think I'm cool but I'm also 42

and I think there is a level of freshness that I don't have that you guys have and um and that's made a huge huge difference with our marketing it's very cool um yeah okay I think I mean it's been great China and I love chatting I mean I agree with everything you say we are very good you are that's the problem it's like you wanted me to do this and I in some ways I don't want

to tell anyone about you because I don't want you to because the thing is I don't want you to get more clients because I always want to be your favorite client but I um but I think you're really I think the team is really really strong I think there's I think it's a rare thing to be able to work with a company that is as strong with strategy numbers and and that side as well as the

creative and I think that's where you guys have an edge and um I feel like I it's like I want the world to know and then I don't it's like a good like vacation spot it's like don't don't ever learn about this I don't want it ruined for me you know um but yeah it's been great come on love working with y'all mhi the best vacations that's like what it is it's like oh no am I

ruining it by telling everybody how good you are her Ripley would not recommend do not work with mhi they're terrible no so I can't even say it because you're great like you guys are great I I can't imagine working with anyone else I like I said like at this point the team is completely indispensable to the T to our team and um I've we don't work a lot with outside people and so this has been quite

a learning process for us but the best thing we've ever done for our company and I mean that it's awesome yeah and same here working with you is being unbelievable um awesome thanks so much for this okay Taxi