small business strategy and life as a creative entrepreneur with Vardagen CEO Jared Ingold
meet jared,
founder of Vardagen.
i met Jared a few summers ago when a friend and i were shopping on Abbot Kinney and happened to stop in. as we got lost in the creative experience that jared and his team had uniquely curated, we were told the shop was only going to be in Venice for six months or so. years later, it’s still there - proof that vision, hard work, creativity, and kindness can bring dreams to fruition.
and while many businesses have been affected by coronavirus and the related shutdowns, many are also stepping up to help others during this situation, and Vardagen is one of those businesses.
although they are a small business themselves, Jared and the Vardagen team have been donating 20% of their PNDMC Collection to out of work independent creatives.
i spoke with Jared to talk about his beginnings as an entrepreneur, how he balances the creative with the balance sheet, and what’s next for the brand.
i learned so much about what it takes to really run a small business, and i hope you find this as insightful as i did.
You started Vardagen out of Indianapolis in 2006. What inspired you to start the brand, and what were those early days like? Did you always want to own your own business, or was this path more organic?
I’ve been entrepreneurial since whenever you start being entrepreneurial. I kind of always just started things, and did my own business endeavors. I didn’t have a dream of starting a brand per say, but in that time period, I was finishing up school and I was trying to make some extra money so I taught myself web design and was just making websites for people. I love the design process and the coding part, but it seemed like those projects never ended. I would have a creative idea for the project, work really hard on it, and then the client would change it at the last second, or it would just drag on forever.
It wasn’t a good fit for me because I’d rather be creating new things all the time.
My brother-in-law was really interested in screen printing, and he was living with me at the time. He kept talking about it, and I was like, “Maybe we should get some equipment and just try and figure it out.” I didn’t know anything about the screen-printing process. One of our friends was interested in it too and his dad loaned us $5000 and let us use their garage for the summer. We bought some entry-level stuff and started messing around with it. We had a ton of fun, but we weren’t taking it too seriously at the time. The other two guys moved out of the area so I was at a bit of a crossroads. I decided to stop doing web design altogether, and just put everything into design and screen printing. Since we hadn’t made any real profit yet, we valued the company at the price we could sell off the equipment and I bought out my partners. The following month I was able to pay back that $5000 loan.
That’s when I started trying to figure out how to build something out of nothing.
Something I admire about you is how much emphasis you’ve placed on sustainability from the very beginning. You’ve always had what seems to be a very unique and admirable balance between running a business with the creative side, as well. Sometimes are more one versus the other, but you have found the balance that works for you and for your brand. How do you see it, or find the balance yourself?
I think it was because of the position I was in in the beginning. I’m obviously really creatively driven, but I also have to make money. When I started, my wife and I had just found out that we were pregnant. We weren’t really planning to get pregnant that early on, so I was kind of like, “Whoa, I’m going to be a dad and I’ve got to make money.” I knew I didn’t really want to work for anyone else, and so I think that threw me more into, “I want to do this, but it has to be sustainable.’ At the same time, it’s great to make money but my goal isn’t to make as much money as I can. I want to be able to create and do fun things and explore ideas. That’s how it fits together. The business side always balances itself out, because I know that if we’re not making money, then we aren’t going to be doing this. I’m always really thankful that people do support the brand and are into what we’re doing, because I realize that without that, we wouldn’t get to be designing and printing crazy things.
Right. You touched on the idea of having the entrepreneurial spirit in you from early on. What is one quality that you think someone needs in order to be an entrepreneur?
I think you have to think about work differently than most people. I think some people around me can be like, “Man, that dude works all the time.” Even though I’m aware that I am always working, it’s not usually something that feels like work to me; it’s truly what I want to be doing. I think there are so many people who segregate things like, “I’m going to work, and then I’m going to watch Netflix,” or whatever it may be. I don’t really have that same interest.
I want to make sure that from the beginning of the day to the end, my time is spent doing stuff that I really want to be doing.
Obviously, I have to do things that I don’t want to do, but overall I think it’s a better trade off. I think there’s two types of people: clock-in, clock-out, or someone who makes things happen. I’m more on the side of, when no one else is going to take care of something, I’m at the end of the line and I’m just going to make it happen to matter what it takes, you know? That’s the way I think.
Definitely. It’s kind of one of those things where, my mom calls it clockwatching – where the people who work normal jobs count down those eight hours every day, but when you run your own thing, you don’t know how much time has passed because you have a to-do list and an idea, and you run with it. And, your brand is all about experiences. It’s not just a product; it’s interactive and fresh. Things are curated from start to finish. How has social media lent itself to those experiences, or looking at the bigger picture, how has it played a part in your company as a whole?
I think it’s been able to bridge the gap. We’ve pretty much always had a physical presence. We haven’t been built the way a lot of brands have been built recently, with just social media. I always feel weird when people say, “You guys do a really good job with your social media,” because I think we’re terrible at it. I always think it’s an area we really need to focus on, but I’m a lot more geared towards interacting with people in-person. It’s one of those things where I’ll be like, “Oh! We need to post something.” It’s not the first way I think about things. But the cool thing is that social media allows us to broaden our reach and keep people engaged with the brand that may have connected with us at a pop-up in a mall in Indiana, or on Abbot Kinney in LA. They can stay a part of what we’re doing, and that’s really cool.
I actually first found you guys on Abbot Kinney. I remember shopping with a friend, and we randomly stopped in, and you had said, “Oh, we’re only here for six months,” and I think that was almost three years ago. A lot of people will say that flagship stores are dying, and things are transitioning to online-only, whereas you have maybe found the opposite to be true, and you’ve had a physical presence from the start. What has that process been like?
Like I said, I’m more geared towards in-person things. The brand comes to life, for me, when it’s all in one space that we can control. It just makes it feel like it’s something tangible, you know? I think it’s impressive that people can just build e-commerce brands and get them out there because I don’t really know how to separate those two things. For me, it’s a little bit about how the brand is anyway, because if you take each piece, it’s kind of random, but if you put everything together, you see a world of thought happening at Vardagen, and there’s all these colors and ideas, design elements and things. It starts to come together more than it maybe would on a website. I think it’s easier to communicate the brand in a physical space than online, although I'm working really hard to do better at online. The two work really well together because during the in-store experience, a lot of little questions are answered that aren’t necessarily questions that people would ask, but you get a sense of it when you come through our store. You understand that it’s a small brand, you start to get the idea of what stuff looks likes and feels like - even with the way the ink sits on the shirt and all that kind of stuff; it comes together in the space that doesn’t have the exact same effect online. Those things are pretty important to me. Also, it’s fun to see our customers – who they are, what they look like, what they’re into – and it really helps me to understand who we’re creating for. Because we know we’re creating this stuff, but if it’s just names and order numbers, we feel really disconnected. The store brings it together. In a similar way, that could also be how we balance the business and the creative side. With some e-com, it’s just all numbers and you get really into it, like, “If we get this many people onto the site and we make this many sale, this will be our return on this,” and it kind of diminishes the fact that we’re creating stuff for people to wear and use and enjoy. In the store, there’s so much more back and forth because we see everyone try it on; we see how it fits them. We figure out what questions they have, and we really change what we’re doing based on what we see and hear from our customers. It’s a lot more engaging in that way.
Right, because like you said, e-commerce can become ends to a means, but you’re building a community, not just a brand. You did a Valentine’s Day party, for example.
Yeah, and that’s really important to us, too. Venice is a pretty special place, although as bigger and bigger brands come, it kind of diminishes some of the cool things about Venice. I feel like we’re such a graphic brand that we fit so well here, and I really want to have that community aspect as well. That just takes time, but it was just getting really fun before all of the coronavirus stuff happened, and it’s been sad to not be able to get people around the store and do events.
They’ll come back, in one way or another. And as you grow, your collections and drops evolve. One of my favorites was your collection with Hannah, because it was eco-friendly and non-toxic. I know we talked about business sustainability, but how important are environmental principles for you as well?
It’s been something that has been really important to me since the beginning. Even before it was “cool” or a pressured thing to do, a year or two into things, I started looking at different types of inks that we could use. Almost all of the inks that we use are water-based inks and they’re a lot more environmentally friendly. There’s a lot of harsh chemicals that can be used in screen-printing shops, and we’ve opted for soy-based cleaners. We try to keep our shop sustainable and clean. That’s a hard thing to do, and I think a lot of brands do it just because it is a big selling point.
I have not really been super vocal about it because I think it’s just what people should do, and what people should go for. But then I also know that it’s important to let your customers know what they’re buying. People will say we should talk more about it, and I don’t know why, but for me, it’s just who we are and what we do. We don’t just do it as a selling point.
With Hannah, it was really cool because I’m really interested in driving the brand further in that way. We would love to have more creative control in our dye process, so we’re exploring that a little more. The fact that she can harvest waste, like avocado pits from restaurants, and make really cool colors for a sweatshirt, I think that’s incredible. There are definitely some challenges there, like trying to figure out how to do that in a nice batch size that works with the rest of our process, but that was a great test and people were pretty into that, so we will keep exploring on that front as well.
I mean, that fact that you had cats on the sweatshirt didn’t hurt. You brought up a really interesting point about how it’s just what you should do rather than a publicized selling point. Something that I have found to be true, especially over the last few years, is that consumers are becoming more aware of where their things come from, and they are wanting to invest in high-quality, sustainably made clothing rather than cheap, fast fashion. Do you see that becoming more of a standard moving forward? Do you see people being more purposeful when it comes to what brands they support, in regards to brand values and integrity?
I do. I think that people really do care about that. I think a lot of our customers are, and I think people know that every purchase you make is a vote in some way or direction. It really plays out, even in a company as small as ours, because there are times when we want to push things forward in a way, but it costs us a lot more to do that, so our prices go up. We’re willing to do that, but it’s only if our customers are willing to ride along with us, that we can keep that going. Because if not, it comes down to the fact that we have a business to run with expenses and all of that, too. It’s kind of like this system where we’re exploring and figuring out and trying to keep making the brand better and better, and I think we have the responsibility of doing a better job of communicating that with our customers that we really want to elevate things. Because brands can go one direction or another. They can keep making their products cheaper and cheaper, and try to get it as widespread as possible, and sell it to as many channels as they can, or we can say, “You know what? We think it would be great if we could keep elevating what we are doing, and raising the quality level to make it more valuable to our customers, and that comes at a cost.” That’s the way we are; we want to just keep making things as good as we possibly can, and I think there’s a lot of people that have that mindset, too.
I agree. It’s one of those things where every bit counts and adds up. I want to touch on something you’re doing that is incredible. As the global pandemic leads to shutdowns and affects work life for so many, Vardagen is donating 20% to out of work independent creatives. At a time when so many businesses - large and small - are tightening their belts, you guys are giving. What led you to do that, and now that it’s been a few weeks, what have things been like?
We were growing for three years and then suddenly dropped to zero in sales because we couldn’t open our store- that’s a really scary thing for a small business owner. It was that, and the fact that we’ve really been wanting to push our online, where T-shirt Tuesday drops started. That’s been growing and becoming a more significant part of our revenue. We weren’t quite sure we could just rely on online sales. At first my thinking was, “Protect the brand. Keep things going, and make sure everyone is getting paid.” And then after that initial thought, I was thinking about a lot of my friends that were not in the same position as me that do freelance work. I was like, “How are they going to be making any money?” It was the combination of that and my experience of going to the grocery store and seeing how people were inconsiderate of others. The overbuying of staples like toilet paper and paper towels made me say, “You know, I think what we should do is try to keep our company afloat, but also use it to try to help other people at the same time”. So we decided to give 20% back. I didn’t know how much it would even help because I was unsure what our online sales would be like at that point. There are a few of my close friends that I knew right away I definitely wanted to help, and after that, I was like, “Let’s let people send us a message on Instagram and we’ll check out their stuff and pay out money that way.” I think we were up to maybe thirty-something people that we’ve sent money to already, and that’s a lot more than I was expecting at the beginning. I think it means more to people than I was even anticipating. People are like, “This is how much I needed to be able to pay my rent,” and they’re sending us messages that are really practical. Because I’m like, “We’re not even sending them that much money at a time,” but it’s still really encouraging and it’s actually making a difference for them financially in a really crazy time period, so I feel like it has been really successful.
I’m really glad to be a part of it, because obviously, as a brand, we’re just the middleman. We’re willing to do this, but our customers are being really generous. They’re holding us up and helping other people, too. It’s been really cool to be a part of that.
Have you heard any feedback from your customers since making the announcement?
We’ve heard more through our social channels, but what we’ve heard the most is just the orders coming through, that people are into what we’re creating and what we’re doing with the money. It’s been really cool.
Something that has come to my mind is that we see so many people on the news right now saying, “Support small businesses.” In my mind, those sentiments remind me of those expressed during Small Business Saturday, which is around Thanksgiving, and it’s just one day out of the year. It seems like no matter what, this situation is going to change everyone in one way or another. You also ran a local coffee shop, so you see multiple sides. Do you think it’s pulling people more towards smaller businesses, and thinking of who they want to pay?
This is something I’m really passionate about, and from experience, I think the coffee shop isthe best example I can give, because I learned a lot of lessons doing that. We created a really cool coffee shop in Fishers, Indiana, and I think it was ahead of its time, really, and It never really got the traffic it should have, or the support it needed. I almost feel bad saying that because the people that did support it were amazing; it just wasn’t enough people, you know what I mean? We had amazing customers there, but the thing that I didn’t fully understand is something we all kind of do.
Big businesses are able to give out experiences that a small business can’t quite do, but we still kind of judge them on the same plane.
So, Amazon has created this thing where you order something, there’s no shipping costs, and it shows up the next day. That kind of becomes everyone’s new expectation for every business. We’re pumping things out and getting things out as fast as we can, and running to the post office at the last second to make sure people get their stuff a day earlier, and it’s still quite not good enough sometimes, you know? There are obviously people that are understanding of that, but there’s also a big group of people that are like, “I want to support small business, but I can’t quite because my expectation level is really high.” And I think what they’re missing is that there is a trade off. There are a lot of other rewards that big companies can’t offer – and that’s more on the community side, the personal touch side, the fact that you know these people.
And when you’re investing your money into the community or small company, they’re usually investing it right back at you.
I know there’s a lot of generosity that we put in from the brand back to our customers as often as we can, because when we have the money to do certain things, we’re usually really willing to do that – whatever it is – to make the experience even better. That’s where, even with the coffee side, I was like, “I’ll just get this up and running. We’ll hit this mark, and as it grows, we will keep making it better and better.” But with food and restaurants, I think you have to come out of the gate all the way there, because I remember when we opened up, my idea was to have a very coffee-centric espresso bar experience. Rather than every single type of syrup, we wanted a pared-down menu for coffee lovers. And one of the first reviews we got was like a one-star review from a lady saying, “They didn’t have sugar-free hazelnut syrup. I like to support local businesses,” and said a few nasty things about our shop. I was like, “Man, that’s so crazy, she thinks we’re trying to be as close to a Starbucks as we can.”
I think Starbucks is really great at being Starbucks, and we’re trying to create a completely different experience, so to try to compare what they’re doing with what we’re doing is always going to be a disappointment.
But if you view us as a completely different business with different things to offer, then that changes things quite a bit. The expectations part, and the fact that if you’re investing in a local or small business, I think you get the joy of seeing them utilize those funds to utilize and mature and make things more interesting and better, and that comes back to you and your neighborhood.
100%. And maybe this will be a positive that comes out of this pandemic is that people will learn give-and-take a little more. Maybe something isn’t in stock, but you’re getting an experience and people are doing their best. It’s not just an exchange of money. That being said, do you have a piece of advice you would give to independent creatives that are facing hardship?
Try to stay motivated to keep creating. Look for different opportunities. The world is suddenly different. I like trying to take it as a creative challenge, using the restrictions that are in place right now to sort of reimagine what you have been doing. I think we’re inspired when someone is creating something. I’ve had someone say, “I made this after seeing what you guys were doing,” so realize that you are still working and creating drives other people along, too.
Keep creating and keep making things, and look for unique opportunities that are going to come up through this, because there will be some.
And as a business owner, you’re also seeing other businesses struggle in one way or another. Do you have any advice for them?
That’s hard, because I’m kind of in a cycle of thinking of things differently for our brand on a daily basis. It changes so much, but I think what our strategy has been is to keep doing as much work as we possibly can because we want to keep paying our employees. We want to keep working and we want to move the brand forward. At the same time, we’re trying to brace ourselves, so we cut every single cost we possibly can, and I think you do that as fast as you can, just because no one knows how long this goes and how much impact this will have over the next six, twelve, eighteen months. That’s the unknown of it. You have to act quickly on anything you can cut out, and then try to shore things up as fast as you can to ride it out.
Definitely. And creative, business owner, human… what is one thing everyone should know how to do?
They should know how to figure things out for themselves. I’ve been surprised at how some people can take something and just be like, “I don’t know how to do that.” And I’m like, “Well, just figure that out.” Everyone should know how to find a resource for what they need to accomplish. Everything is on your phone; there’s just not really an excuse anymore to say, “Well, I can’t do that because I didn’t have this.”
There’s not really a reason to want to do something, but to not know how, or to not move forward with it.
I agree. And it’s clearly different now, but what does a day in your life look like?
I start off with a lot, probably an unrealistic expectation of everything I’m going to get done. Every day seems really different. I’m not very structured in my days, so I will be touching base with my team throughout the day on different things, and passing things off and catching up and making sure everyone is doing well. I keep existing things going, and then I look forward to what’s next. I start working ahead in thinking about what we’re going to create next, what that should look like, how and how we’re going to communicate it.
Also, what inspires you?
I think I’m a problem-solver at heart, so I do things best when things are difficult. In a weird way, I do feel more inspired when my back is against the wall, or when things aren’t really the way they should be. I like to try to fix things, or have a creative solution for something. Some people are like, “You’re in your element with the coronavirus thing,” and I don’t really feel that way, but I just went right into, “Okay, we’re going to create this line and then we’re going to do this,” you know what I mean? I went after it in that way, because I do feel more inspired when there is a problem to be solved.
What is next for Vardagen, or for you?
We’ve already started imagining post-pandemic stuff, and we actually have some designs already designed for that, which is pretty ahead for us. We want to create something that is a little bit celebratory or fun because this is a moment in history, and it’s such a big thing that affects everyone. It’s an interesting thing to play off of, so there’s that. Retail is something that I think a lot about because that’s probably the heaviest decision for us. We’ve put a lot of effort into having the store on Abbot Kinney and we’re obviously probably the smallest brand on the street now. I’m wondering how long we can continue to pay rent and not make any money, and even after the fact, I know travel is going to be down for so long, so even if we’re open, I don’t know if we can really hit the numbers that we need to. We’re just trying to figure out some ideas for maintaining the store and investing in the community even more.
seven questions with jared ingold:
I can’t go a day without… doing something productive or creative.
Everyone should see… The Men Who Built America. It’s a good series that helped connect some dots for me as far as who was alive at the same time, and it was very interesting to get that perspective of the entrepreneurship of America and how we’ve led the world in so many things.
Life is better with a little… comedy. Life is better when you’re not being serious.
Everyone in their 20s should… take risks.
One insider thing to do in Venice… grab burgers at Win-Dow.
What the world needs right now is… honesty.
One way to spread love is… think about others. If your mind is on other people, you’re going to spread love to them.
You can follow Jared on Instagram, as well as the Vardagen team on Instagram and Facebook.
Be sure to check out their website to shop T-shirt Tuesday drops and other collections; 20% of sales from the PNDMC collection will be donated to support out-of-work creatives during this pandemic.
All photos courtesy of Jared Ingold.