Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Ecommerce Series: How Nufabrx built an 8-figure Shopify plus store with revolutionary products and an authentic brand

Episode Date: September 22, 2020

Ryan is keeping our Future of Digital Commerce series radical with founder and CEO of Nufabrx, Jordan Schindler.In this episode, Ryan and Jordan discuss the revolutionary line of clothing, health wear -- essentially supplementing the need of medical creams, gels, and pills by embedding them in to the fibers of clothing. Jordan discusses what's worked for the company as they scale their e-commerce.Jordan tells THE RADCAST the personal reason why Nufabrx started, how he developed the brand, and the extreme growth it's e-commerce site has seen over the last 12 months. Nufabrx and Jordan's story has been featured in People, Fox News, Women's Health, GQ, Esquire, and others.Follow Nufabrx and visit their website | Follow Ryan on Instagram and check THE RADCAST out on Instagram  | Visit our website for more  If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

You're listening to The Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? This is Ryan Alford. Welcome to another edition of The Radcast. We're knee-deep now in our e-commerce slash digital commerce series. And we've got a great guest today. I'm excited to be joined by Jordan Schindler, the founder and CEO of New Fabrics. Jordan,

it's great to have you on, man. Thanks for having me on. I look forward to it. Yeah, man. So, you know, as we've been kind of delving down the path of e-commerce and, you know, we've been pretty transparent that we're going to try to keep things radical on the Radcast, right? We were talking with Jordan, you with Jordan a little bit pre-episode, the fact of the product. And I'm going to let him describe it. I don't want to give away any thunder here. But what they're doing with new fabrics is really revolutionary, very radical. And so we're kind of pivoting both down the e-commerce side, but we're keeping our topics

radical. So I appreciate you covering every base that we need here on the Radcast, Jordan. We do what we can. We do what we can. Sweet. Well, Jordan, let's start. Let's just go right at it. Let's start with your background. Let's get, you know, get everybody that's, you know, again, I know you guys are, I don't, don't let me use my words, somewhat in your infancy, you know, as a business, as a brand and stuff like that. Um, the last few years, I'm sure as you're growing, but you're in the earlier stages as a business. Um, but let's talk about, you know, just your

background, what led you to new fabrics and again, not, not giving anything away that what, what really makes your product and what you guys are doing revolutionary. Yeah, absolutely. So I grew up in Arizona on the West coast, always had that entrepreneurial passion. I remember from an early age, trying to sell all my parents' possessions at garage sales. And we took, we took an early trip to China and I bought some MP3 players and was able to

sell those on eBay for somehow more money than I bought them for. And I think that really sparked the entrepreneurial passion. And so I went to college out in Seattle at the University of Washington. And unfortunately, I suffered from bad skin. So I had bad skin, bad acne, and went to the dermatologist and ultimately learned about the link between your pillowcase and bad skin. So as you sleep, the dirt and oil from your pillowcase clogs your pores. And so my dermatologist recommended to me that I wash my pillowcase two to three times per week, which at the time as a college-age male was never going to happen.

Never. Still not going to happen. But that's what got me thinking about how do you get a benefit from a garment or fabric, something that contacts your skin all day, every day. And so that's really the foundation for how we started. So teamed up with some PhD MIT drug delivery scientists to figure out a way to actually deliver ingredients through a garment. So our core value is around simplifying health and wellness. And so it's this idea that instead

of having to take a pill or use a cream or a patch, what if you could just get dressed in the morning? And so our RIP enables controlled delivery of medications, vitamins, supplements through your clothing, and they're able to last for 25 plus washes. So we're creating an entirely new category of clothing that we call healthwear. So whether it's a line of pain relief products, we have a line of pain relief, topical, analgesic, infused knee sleeves, arm sleeves, foot ankle sleeves nationwide at Walmart. It might also be melatonin in a pillowcase to help you fall asleep faster, or we'll be launching an athleisure line with an anti-cellulite cream built into it. So a very wide variety of ultimate

end garments and applications. And for us, it's simplifying consumer behavior. And that's really what we're all about. I love it. So literally, medication, I got to like, just my mind is my curiosity in my mind without giving away any patents here, though. So, you know, you can take this as far as you need to, but we've got medicine, literal medicine of some type or some type of molecule or whatever we want to call it, is blended into the fibers. And these fibers, whether you wear them, sleep on them, however they are, they're being absorbed into the body. Exactly right. So imagine a transdermal patch, right? A salon pause or a Nicoderm patch where that skin contact is trigger and release to the body. And so what we've done is we've taken that concept a step further and we've put it into a washable,

reusable garment. So again, you don't have to remember to apply something. One of the biggest challenges in health and wellness is patient compliance, right? I mean, we're all busy. We forget to take a pill or a cream, taking the kids to soccer practice or whatever it is, right? And so the good thing is we all get dressed every morning, right? You don't have to change any behavior. And that's ultimately why you're going to see better health and wellness outcomes through this new technology. So you literally can wash this and it still lasts 10, 15, you know, You really can wash this and it still lasts 10, 15, you know, as you develop multiple times of that medication staying in the fabric? Exactly. Yeah. Typically it's 15 to 25 wash cycles depending on the ingredient and the dose. And so we can actually tell you exactly how many milligrams are delivered every hour as you're wearing the garment.

So in the same way you could with any topical analgesic like Bengay, Icy Hot Biofreeze, right? We can deliver that same topical dose, but through a garment. Is there limitations to the types of medicines that could be delivered this way? Or is, I mean, obviously you're going to focus on some key areas, pain management, like you mentioned, or maybe arthritis or other things like that. But is there, is this, is the potential like endless for the what could be carried through it pretty much i mean i think we one of the one of the good things and bad things about our technology is it's a platform technology so there's so many different

possible applications and use cases i mean i think on one on one level it has to be treated topically um so it has to be able to be applied through the skin. But there's a wide variety of different ingredients and applications that fall into that category. And then the second one would be what is the right dose that you need to get, right? So does it need to be 50 milligrams or 500 milligrams? And does it need to last 10 washes or 100 washes? And those are some of the parameters that we play with. But typically, any use case so far, we've been able to find an ingredient that solves for it.

Are we sticking to mainly like over-the-counter medicines at this point? Because my mind gets into the prescription area, which is just, it's both the complexity and the dollar signs go through my head. So is it OTC for now and with the potential for prescription-based stuff?

Exactly right. So we've started with lower regulatory OTC for now and with the potential for prescription-based stuff? Exactly right. So we've started with lower regulatory OTC, your topical products. But that's not to say we haven't looked at and we'll get into more of the regulated compounds as we go forward. So, I mean, you can imagine a testosterone or you could imagine caffeine, right? There's a wide variety of ultimate end applications that really make sense here. And all of our products are made in a GMP clean room, right? So they're all registered with the FDA. They actually have the drug facts label on the back of the product because what we're

making is a drug product. And so it is very similar to delivering a cream. And our products, for example, at Walmart are positioned in the pharmacy part of the store because that's where the value proposition is, right? You're getting that pain relief benefit coupled with a brace. Yep. I love it. I love it, man. Talk to me a little bit about the, if you don't mind, the timeline of this. Like, you know, we talked in broad strokes with the background and what got you here.

What's been kind of the timing from, you know, when this became a viable product maybe to now? Yeah, so I started this nine years ago in college, University of Washington, and it's been a five or six year development. We actually launched a pillowcase product for your skin as one of our early commercial products and then moved out to North Carolina four years ago to be in the heart of textile manufacturing. So we're based in Conover, North Carolina, where there's sort of almost all U.S. made garments are in this North Carolina,

South Carolina corridor. And so that's really where our focus has shifted to heavy commercialization, regulatory. And so I would say starting last year and this year is really our first heavy commercial efforts were rolled out to Walmart and rolled out to a lot of direct e-commerce sites through our product lines. I love it. What's been, you know, I noticed, you know, doing some research on the front end that you have gotten some grants and different things like that. Can you talk a little bit about the government involvement or the interest level from outside entities and things like that? Yeah, we've been very fortunate to be able to partner with some great government institutions. So we received a million dollar grant from Department of Defense. So you think about

soldiers that are hiking 40 or 50 miles a day with heavy backpacks on, right? They don't want to carry extra medicine and extra weight. And they're sure as hell not going to stop in the middle of a battlefield and rub cream on their foot, right? And so you think about military where you're building pain relief into a uniform or it's antifungal for different battlefield conditions, or it's a stimulant to keep soldiers awake. There's so many different application areas there that make sense. And so the grant was really to help build and develop this technology in the U.S. versus somewhere else where a lot of other textile products are made. What's that translating to by way of, so they've given you the grant to develop it here to keep it in America, which is great to hear. Are you in active testing or

anything like that directly with military products or what's that path or timeline, or if you can talk about it, what's that look like? Yeah. So at a high level, their focus is on commercialization and development of new materials. So it's allowing us to scale and grow our production. So that's really where a large focus has been. And then we'll work with the military on specific products that interest them.

Navy might have a totally different use case than Army does or than a different branch. And so there's active engagement there to figure out what are the right use cases. And then as we've seen near term, there's been a lot of engagement on the PPE mask side where we've been supplying a wide variety of different government entities. Nice. Talk about the brand. So new fabrics, like maybe, you know, and being a marketer back to the marketing side, where did new fabrics come from the branding and all those kinds of things? And was it the

toil that every other company has in these things? Or can you talk about a little bit of that side of it, the marketing and branding side? It's funny. It's definitely been an evolution. I was actually just putting together some slides from the last couple of years, and some of our early names were just terrible. One of the first names we had was Skin Ally, but people read it as Skin Alley, so they thought it was like a strip club or something, which was just a total miss on the marketing side. That's radical.

It actually started with Fab RX, right? Fabrics. So we're like prescription fabrics. And then that was taken. So we're like, well, I don't knew in front of it. Right. So that's how, that's how new fabrics was born. But I think it works in the sense of it. It's new prescription fabrics, right? It's this new category that's never really existed before. But like everything else, it's certainly been an evolution. How long has the e-commerce been?

I know you've transitioned a bit into the nuts and bolts on the e-commerce side. I see you're doing some direct-to-consumer things. Can you walk through a little bit of what that timeline, when the site went up, and any learnings to date, or just any of the nuts and bolts there on the e-com side? Yeah, it has been blowing up. It's been a crazy evolution. So just for some context on us, we actually started primarily in the B2B space. So we were focused on what are the right business partnerships, right? For example, so it's a Lululemon sock powered by new fabrics, pain relief.

And so that's actually how we started. And we've seen a lot of traction due to the PPE mask space. We launched a reusable antimicrobial mask. We just launched one with shea butter as a moisturizer, Felicia. And so in response to the shortage of masks that we've seen where doctor has an N95 that's disposable, you throw out after each use. Why can't you have a mask that's washable, right?

So we got into that business in early March, and that was really our first foray into e-commerce. So it's literally been since March, but it's been crazy. I mean, so we had some great, fortunately, we had some great press. Like literally the day or two after we launched e-commerce we're on fox news and gq and esquire and so and we're able in a couple months able to build a eight-figure business e-commerce that sort of didn't exist before so it's been a rapid evolution and bazillion mistakes made but fix them along the way and go as fast as you can. You guys on Shopify?

We are. Yeah. Yeah. We're a Shopify partner. We push a lot of people there. I saw that the first thing I checked when someone comes on, like if, what platform, so you're, you're on the right one, I think for, at least for most people starting out. So maybe you've been pleased with the Shopify side of things. Shopify plus for the win. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's great for getting something up really fast. I mean,

I think that's been one of the lessons for us is like, especially in a pandemic, right? Like you've got to react quickly. Like a day really does make all the difference for some of these large orders and for people that are struggling without a mask. Right. So how fast can you get it out there? And I think it integrates really well with our fulfillment partner so we're able to get that up and running very quickly which has been nice have you um what's been your primary like marketing tactics you know going d2c with maybe the mask and some of the moisturizer stuff

like what's is it has it been social media like what's what's been some of your primary kind of marketing channels uh for the d2c stuff yeah for for the masks i think a lot of it came from good pr so we got a lot of like tv media i think i mentioned fox news and some other publications and then yeah it's a lot of digital ads so facebook ads and. And the mask has been especially difficult because there's so many restrictions, especially for products coming from wherever they're coming from. But there's been a lot of restrictions because the market has just been flooded in recent weeks and months. And so they're trying to do some regulation there.

So I think it's been a combination of all of that. And then on the Silesia, the moisturizer infused mask, we did a lot of influencers. So we did an influencer combo with medical practices. So we launched through dermatology clinics and plastic surgery offices and really coupled those two things. And we did a nationwide launch where we sent out influencer boxes where they all did a big reveal at the same time in different time zones across the country. Was that successful? It was absolutely. I mean, I think we got 40 or 50 million impressions in the first day. Um, so it was, it's a great way, especially as everyone's sitting in their house,

right? Like there's not a lot of stuff going on. Yeah, exactly. Right. So yeah, yeah, sure. Send me a free product, right? I'll open it on my social media, but I think it was a good way to capitalize. I think some marketing has changed, right? Before you might've had a big event and had a bunch of people and tried to promote it that way, but it's certainly more difficult now in the era of COVID. Of course. Can you talk about the relationship with Walmart and how that kind of

originated and maybe where that's headed long-term? Yeah, we joke about this one, but so we launched a product, a new product, new brand in March 2020, probably the worst time in history to launch a new retail product as like no one is going into retail stores. But it's actually been a very good relationship. So I went down to Benville last year and met with the buyer. And I mean, in two minutes he goes, I get it, right? There's this huge correlation between people buying, buying pain creams and braces. Why not put the two together? It's more convenient and it's cheaper and you don't need two different

packagings. Right. And so they were all about it. And they actually, they didn't even do a test. They just said, we're going to roll this out nationwide. So 4,400 stores. And we're fortunate to have such a great partner in Walmart where they want to be upfront and they want to be involved in any new technology and development. So yes, this year has been, I think, crazy for everybody, but in general, we've seen a very good response for our products and we'll hopefully be rolling out additional SKUs next year through Walmart. You talking to anyone that you can name, any other distribution points or channels? I mean, is it Amazon or are you exploring or already in any other channels? Yeah. So we're just getting into Amazon a little bit on the PPE side. A lot we're trying to push back to our website so we can just getting into Amazon a little bit on the PPE side.

A lot we're trying to push back to our website so we can own the user data and the traffic. There you go. Ding, ding, ding, ding. I'm going to do that for a marker for where to do a highlight spill. Because so many people we work with are so reliant on Amazon on the front end, they don't start D2C and they own no customer data. They have no customer relationship. You win the prize of the day. What did I win? We'll send you a Radcast Tumblr. All right, done. We'll trade you for a mask.

Perfect. But yeah, expound on that, please. Yeah. So for us, it's been important, especially as we're launching a new e-commerce site to own all the customer data, because we see ourselves as a platform technology. So the same person that wants to buy a moisturizing mask also is going to want to buy a pain relief sock potentially, or a moisturizing anti-stretch mark belly band, right? Like we can capture every different garment type with different use cases, right? So there's so many different medications or treatments that people can take. And we need to own that customer data

because all of those people could be target customers for us down the road. And so you really don't get any of that with Amazon and other e-commerce channels, right? It's a one-time sale pretty much, right? You hardly even get their email address. And so for us, our focus has been first on building out our website

where we can go back and retarget consumers. We can use them for survey data. It's just a much better option for us. Yep. I love it. Any other brands? We've got Walmart, but any other discussions with anyone you can discuss? Yeah, we're working with one of the other large pharmacy retailers as a potential new distribution point.

We're also working with a couple of large medical distribution groups. So we're talking about selling products directly through doctor's offices and clinics where you might have the Walmart version and then you have a higher end or we call it extra strength, right? Product in some of these doctor's offices. And so we have the ability to tailor the overall dose that goes into a garment. So like, like a bottle of aspirin, right? You might have the 20 pills, and then you might have the 50 pills extra strength. And so we're able to do that in the same way through garment types. And that'll allow us to differentiate through different retail channels. What, um, what is the, we've talked about it kind of broadly, you know, like where things are headed and we talked about prescription and all that, but is there, I get the health and wellness tie and all that,

but is there any kind of, other than your own experience, are you guys grounded in any kind of other kind of ethos or thing kind of as a company or things that you're getting behind maybe with everything going on or those kind of things? Is there any kind of other brand ethos or beliefs or partnerships or things like that that would be of note? Yeah. So I think everything ties back to our desire to simplify health and wellness. So in a similar vein from a personal experience, my grandpa unfortunately suffered from Alzheimer's. And so couldn't remember to take his medications every day.

But interestingly, he still puts on a sock in the morning. And so it's applications like that that we truly find really compelling that can help people. And in the same way on the PPE mask side, we actually got into this business because we got a request from our local elderly care facilities, police, fire, EMS workers that are like, we don't have a mask. Can you make a mask? Like, probably never made before. And so, we ended up just starting off and making them and donating a bunch of masks. And we've donated 25 or 30,000 masks so far. And recently, we've partnered with Head Start and Community Action and a couple of these programs that are getting kids back to school to provide them with really discounted masks. So for us, absolutely, we want to help our local community. We want to help support whoever we can. And that's through every product that we make.

Yes, we're a business. We're here to make money and grow. But we're also here to make products that actually have value and help people, right? Whether it's a product for pain relief that makes someone's life less painful, or whether it's a belly band for stretch marks that's going to help someone feel more comfortable or confident in their body, right? That flows through every product that we make. Love it. Talk about like a day in the life for you. You know, you're running a company, you're a younger guy, but you're an entrepreneur. You're living the entrepreneur life, I'm sure. Maybe walk through people that listen to the podcast or either are already entrepreneurs and can relate

or are fledging, hoping to be entrepreneurs. What's a normal week look like for Jordan? I don't know if there is a normal week. I think that's one of the fun things that I really enjoy about being an entrepreneur is just the ups and the downs and all the learnings, right? Every day is totally different. One day I'm working on HR because apparently we need that now. How many people do you have to that age?

We're at 30 now, but we were at 7, 60 days ago, right? So we've just been growing like crazy. We were at seven 60 days ago, right? So we've just been growing like crazy. So whether it's working on HR or it's talking to our tax people or it's different month end accounting, right? I mean, to me, the exciting thing about entrepreneurship is you get an education, all of these different things. And it's not just a very routine. Every day I go to work from nine to five and I'm doing this, this, and this.

So my, some days I'm at the office at 6 till 10 p.m., right? Some days I'm working from home and hanging out and traveling and talking to our people. So trying to stay very grounded and focus more on strategic vision and high-level strategy as we continue to grow and scale. And I think it's a cross between execution, making sure our team has the direction it needs to, and then continuing to grow and build my skill set as a leader. Do you see yourself, loaded question. Here's a trick question. Here it comes. You obviously have so much potential here with new fabrics. My mind, even talking to you and knowing more now about the brand, I go down a thousand rabbit holes of where you could take this. I'm sure you owning a company would do that as well.

Do you see yourself being a serial entrepreneur? Is new fabrics, we're going to take it to the mountaintop and see whatever, like, are we going to not necessarily get bored, but it's always going to be your baby, but you see yourself getting involved in different things. I'm having so much fun with this one. And I feel like this in a nutshell is being a serial entrepreneur, right? Cause like a pain relief sock is so different from like anti-cellulite yoga pants or a pet bed that kills fleas and ticks, right?

I mean, I think we have a fantastic opportunity as a platform technology to build so many different products for different markets. So I think in a nutshell, it's the best of both worlds because you get to focus on different audiences, different products and continue to build and grow that same health or vision that we're trying to create. So no, I love it. And so to see this continuing for,

for as long as I get the opportunity to keep doing this. What, um, one last kind of marketing question, and then we'll kind of close out. Is there, is there a specific content strategy for you guys? I mean, again, back to the wide swap that you just described. I mean, how do you guys think about content development? And is that kind of a pillar that's a focus right now? I think content is so important, especially as we're continuing to try to grow our e-commerce site and attract consumers. So we think a lot about who is our consumer and how did they flow into our next product lines. It does the same person that want a moisturizing mask, want pain relief socks, or do they want yoga pants with a moisturizer.

And so I think we spend a lot of time figuring out what our content should be for specific target customers. And I think on one level, it's probably a little more difficult even for us because our customer in the same vein might be a six-year-old male. It might also be a 20-year-old female. And so because we have so many different product types, we have to be very thoughtful about how we're approaching our content for everything that we do. We have to be very thoughtful about how we're approaching our content for everything that we do. Any advice? You know, now you're nine years into it.

And even if the last, I call it three, have been, you know, the trajectory going a whole other level in even the last 60 days. But any advice out there for people that are, you know, again, climbing the mountain themselves or just, you know, learnings that you've had and you're, you know, and I know you're still in the middle of it, you know, we're learning every day. I've been an entrepreneur as well. I know that, that drill, but any, any pitfalls to avoid or words of wisdom at this stage? I think one of the biggest things for me is perseverance and make sure you love what you do. I think one of the biggest things for me is perseverance and make sure you love what you do. I mean, I think obviously hard work and right time, right place is important. But I think it's having that drive and love of what you do that really pushes things forward. So, I mean, for me, I think about it, it doesn't feel like work.

And that's what allows me to work and execute till 10 or 11 at night every night. And I'm just having fun. Right. And I feel, I feel so blessed that I sort of have that and found that. And I think that that's critical for, for success for any entrepreneur. Cause otherwise I don't think, I don't think you'll make it. I mean, there's so many highs and lows. Um, and I think that's true for any entrepreneur, right? One day you're selling 10 million units the next day you're getting sued. Right. Like it's just totally, totally upside down.

That's right. So I think you just have to have that love of what you're doing that allows you to keep waking up every morning excited. Like Monday morning is my favorite time of the week. Right. I want to see what's going on, check some emails. And like that to me is what, what keeps me going. And then, and then I think the second one is always keep learning. So I't tell you how many i have a two-hour commute which i've actually really appreciate because it's a great time for audiobooks so like just throw on an audiobook listen to

books and educate yourself because that's how i've even if it's even the book didn't like directly tell me something like it sparked something else in my mind which has allowed me to continue to grow and improve as a leader so i think it's always just just continue to learn and keep growing it's critical love it two two big ones on my list uh what the saying says if you love what you do you never work today in your life i love it couldn't agree couldn't agree more with that one it's so true all right i'm gonna leave you with the tagline that I wrote when we were sitting here. So take it or leave it, but feel better. Simple.

I like it. There you go. Feel, period, better, period. There's your freebie tagline. You can call me and you can pay for something different, but simple but good. I like it. Jordan, man, real pleasure having you on real fascinating. I feel like I could talk to you for a couple hours. Uh,

my mind swims a bit, um, around all the avenues you guys are doing, but I know both just the, the insights of growing the e-commerce business, the B2B side, and just the overall interest and fascination in medicine and fabric dude you're crushing it i really appreciate you coming on yeah thanks for having me it's been it's been great and i'll continue to follow you guys because you can never have enough learnings on marketing and e-commerce right it's ever evolving so appreciate a real good series going a very good a wide guest there'll definitely be some learnings um if you uh you need to go check out our, our previous episode with Sean Whalen,

real intense guy. Um, it was our last episode, but, uh, super transparent talks about personal branding and how it's grown his brand and things like that, which, you know, uh, there's some story there for you as well, but, uh, um, I would definitely check it out. Look forward to staying in touch with you and man, keep on being you and let's let's make the world better. We'll keep chopping and we'll keep being radical. Thanks, Ryan.

Jordan. Appreciate it so much. And that's another edition of the Radcast. Really appreciate Jordan Schindler coming on founder and CEO of new fabrics. You can learn more about new Fabrics at newfabrics.com. That's N-U-F-A-B-R-X. And as always, you can follow along with all the news and all the latest at theradcast.com or follow us on Instagram at the.rad.cast. We look forward to seeing you next time. Stay tuned for all the latest and more in the e-commerce series. Lots more to come. We'll see you next time. To listen to full episodes or to contact us, visit us on the web at theradcast.com or follow our host at Ryan Alford on Instagram.

Thanks for tuning in.