Beyond the pipe and drape
*Diary of a tiny brand at a big show
Dear Kula Diaries,
This week, I thought it would be fun to keep a diary of what it’s like being a tiny brand at a big outdoor show.
Last week, my husband Aaron and I were in Reno, Nevada, attending an outdoor industry trade show called Connect (hosted by the Grassroots Outdoor Alliance). It’s a four-day event where outdoor gear companies like Kula Cloth have the opportunity to meet with specialty retail buyers. It’s a big deal because it gives us the chance to build new wholesale relationships and potentially bring Kula Cloth into even more stores. It’s also a big deal because attendance is by invitation only.
The first challenge wasn’t the show itself. It was figuring out how to get all of our stuff to Reno. Yes, the ‘big’ brands have freight containers. No, we do not. For some reason, I had the idea that we should bring our Make-A-Kula station with us. The problem was that we’ve never traveled by air with a sublimation printer before.
We were able to ship the heat press and a bunch of supplies ahead of time, but we decided we needed to carry the printer with us. The printer just barely met the carry-on requirements. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a bag that fit it, so I ended up putting it in a cardboard box and strapping the box to a small dolly. Yes, it looked ridiculous, and no, I did not care.
I wasn’t entirely convinced this ridiculous plan was actually going to work.
My backup plan all the way up until boarding was, “Well, technically we still have enough time to drive to Reno.” Thankfully, it never came to that. But to be fair, I didn’t fully relax until I watched Aaron lift the printer into the overhead compartment and saw it slide perfectly into place. At that point I knew we had made it… my plan was going to work!
We arrived on Saturday, and Sunday was setup day. We had about eight hours to get our booth ready, which was more than enough time because our booth was only ten feet by ten feet and consisted of two tablecloths, a banner, and our Make-A-Kula station.
When I first started packing and shipping things for this event, I remember thinking, “Wow. This is a ridiculous amount of stuff to bring to Reno.”
Then I arrived at the show and saw what the other brands had brought with them…
I watched forklifts moving giant crates belonging to some of the major outdoor brands. Not boxes. Crates. The kind that looked like they could fit in the back of a semi-truck. At that point, I realized we had probably packed on the light side. As we set up our little corner of the show floor, we watched enormous brands assemble booths that were probably larger than my house. Meanwhile, Aaron and I were carefully arranging our two tablecloths.
It’s worth mentioning that when you arrive at an event like this as a small brand, it can be easy to feel intimidated by all the glitz and glamour surrounding you. But I want to make an important note for all the little brands out there:
Those brands are not you.
On the first day of setup, I told Aaron that our booth was going to be the most talked-about booth at the entire show. Not because it was the biggest. Not because it was the most expensive. But because it was going to give people an experience. I truly believed that our little Make-A-Kula station and a healthy dose of creativity would attract more people and create more meaningful connections than any giant display ever could. It has never been about having the biggest booth — instead, it’s about the love and intention that you bring to what you are doing.
On Sunday night, we walked through the Discovery Marketplace, a one-night showcase that happens before the main event. We got to see our friend Jen from Alpine Fit and catch up with Lloyd from Garage Grown Gear. At one point, Lloyd and I realized we hadn’t taken a photo together in nearly seven years, so we fixed that immediately:
Meanwhile, the entire experience had this strange backdrop because we were staying in a casino hotel. Now, I am definitely not a casino person. Nothing against casinos. If that’s your thing, more power to you. But every morning, as most of you know, I wake up early and go for a walk before the day begins. It’s how I clear my mind. I found a lovely little pond nearby where I could walk endless laps while watching the sunrise. It’s a surreal experience leaving the hotel at 4:50 in the morning. I’m walking toward the sunrise while other people are still sitting at slot machines, gambling, drinking, and fully immersed in a night that hasn’t ended yet. But, to be totally fair, I realized this… while walking through the casino pre-5am on my way to go dance. Everybody is here in this world to do what they enjoy the most… and that’s something that I can appreciate. The world would be boring, and the flat spot on the beach at the lake would be too crowded if everybody needed to dance at 5am.
Ok, but meanwhile… away from the overstimulation of slot machines… I also found the coolest little spot to dance…
The first day of the show finally arrived.
Connect is a different type of show than most of the trade shows I’ve attended.
At most events, you set up your booth and wait to see who wanders by. People may or may not stop. They may or may not notice you (and sometimes when your booth says PEE CLOTH on it… they definitely pretend not to notice you). Connect works a bit differently.
Before the show even started, I sent out roughly one hundred emails to brands and retailers that I knew would be attending. I wanted them to know that Kula Cloth would be there and, perhaps more importantly, that we were bringing our Make-A-Kula station. At Connect, people schedule appointments with you ahead of time, which meant our calendar slowly started filling with meetings. Or at least what everyone thought were meetings…
Little did they know that many of their official business appointments were actually appointments to make a custom Kula Cloth.
I’m a bit of an introvert (surprising to many folks, I know) … so most trade shows feel a little bit like getting hit by a brick wall over and over again. By the end of the day, I’ve usually talked so much and interacted with so many people that I’m completely wrecked and can barely function. I’m happy to report that this show was nothing like that. Was it exhausting? Yes. But, because appointments were scheduled throughout the day, everything felt calm, and well paced. There was never a moment when we were completely mobbed with people. Instead, we had time to actually talk with each person who came by.
Some meetings were with existing retailers who already carry Kula Cloth, and others were with shops that were interested in learning more about us. I got to tell people about our new fabric, our updated snap configuration, our custom Kula program, and all the other little changes we’ve been making behind the scenes. It felt like I got to nerd out on my own product over and over again, which was very exciting and fun.
And then, of course, I made them custom Kulas… my absolute favorite part of the meeting. Maybe it sounds corny, but every time I make a custom Kula Cloth for someone, it feels like getting a tiny little glimpse into another person’s life.
Yes, it’s technically a pee cloth.
But because people carry it with them on adventures, they often choose to put something deeply meaningful on it: A beloved pet. A child. A spouse. A special place. A favorite memory. A goofy inside joke. By the end of the first official day, I could already tell that this was my favorite trade show I’ve ever attended. Hands down. It was the most relaxed and least stressful one I’ve ever been to. And for the first time in my life, my voice didn’t hurt after day one. That alone felt like a miracle. Yes, I even brought cough drops with me… and shockingly, I didn’t have to use them!
Day Two Started out… WEIRDLY.
Every morning I went on a walk at a nearby park so that I could fit in my dancing practice. There’s was a beautiful beach area there that’s nice and flat, which made it the perfect place to dance. When I arrived, I noticed an older man picking up litter along the shoreline. I had seen him the day before and noticed that he seemed curiously interested in my dancing from a distance.
I didn’t think much of it… because, honestly, it probably is strange to see some person flailing around on a beach at 5am.
I politely said hello and walked to another section of the beach to look at some baby ducklings. And that’s when things took a turn. This random man took it upon himself to inform me that I was creepy, a freak, and not right in the head. Ummmmmmm… hmmm. If you ever find yourself walking up to a random human to tell them that they are creepy… newsflash: the problem might be you.
So, the day was already off to an interesting start.
It got even more interesting when Aaron and I headed down to leave for the venue. We’re staying on the twelfth floor of the hotel, and when we went to take the elevator down, it stopped working. Fortunately, we weren’t actually trapped inside it, so I’m not complaining… but we did have to walk down twelve flights of stairs. The stairs eventually ended in what appeared to be a locked hallway, which was mildly worrisome. I found a button and buzzed a door that I wasn’t entirely convinced was supposed to open. Thankfully, it did, and when it opened, it deposited us directly into the administrative offices of the Peppermill Hotel.
We emerged from the stairwell to find ourselves staring at a group of employees who looked every bit as surprised to see us as we were to see them. Between the creepy lake guy and accidentally infiltrating the hotel’s administrative offices, it was definitely a memorable morning.
Once we made it to the show, however, things improved considerably.
What started out as custom mountain landscape Kulas in the morning had, by the afternoon, devolved into meme Kulas featuring Gandalf with large breasts. So, it’s probably safe to say the show was going very well.
Days three and four: a blur
After four days of working twelve-hour days, everything starts to become a little fuzzy. The theme of the entire week, at least for me (well, and the show itself), was connection. When you get to print something onto a product for people, you also get to hear the story behind why they are putting that thing on the product. Even if it isn’t something particularly profound, it still gives you a glimpse into that person’s sense of humor. And humor and fun and laughter bring people together.
Over the past eight years that Kula has been around, I’ve probably designed and printed thousands upon thousands of custom Kulas. It’s such a cool experience to hear about people’s pets, their families, their favorite adventures, something funny that happened to them, or the brother-in-law who is getting a custom Kula as a wedding gift. I imagine all of these custom Kulas going out into the world and creating little waves of laughter and connection that ripple far beyond our tiny footprint.
I firmly believe that what we’re doing with our custom Kula program goes beyond the booth itself: In fact, it makes the 10 x 10 confines of our pipe and drape booth disappear. Sure, we might not be solving world peace by putting a pig showing its butt crack on a Kula Cloth, but we sure as heck can make people laugh and feel a little bit better. And I know that makes a difference.
After our full day on Wednesday, we were lucky enough to get invited over to my friend Jen’s house. Jen and her partner Kelly offered to cook us a completely garlic- and onion-free dinner, which was such an unbelievably kind and thoughtful thing to do.
To understand how meaningful this was, I have to qualify this experience by sharing that Aaron and I had been surviving on hotel-room cuisine all week. Because my garlic/allium allergy makes it nearly impossible to eat out now, every evening I would come back to the hotel room and microwave rice noodles with miso and toss in chunks of tofu and edamame. It was edible caloric intake for my body and it was not disgusting. However, I would not have placed it among the world’s most impressive culinary delights. So, to sit down at somebody’s home and have a real meal was such a treat. The dinner included a lemon, arugula, fennel and bean salad (with preserved lemons) and what may have been the most incredible bread I have ever tasted. It came from a bakery in Reno called Beloved — seriously sooooooo good.
More than the food, though, it was just wonderful to spend time with Jen and Kelly. We talked about entrepreneurship and life and pretty much everything in between. If you aren’t familiar with Jen, Jen Gurecki is kind of an icon in the outdoor industry. She is the founder of Coalition Snow, the only women-owned ski and snowboard company, which is currently in the process of closing. After being diagnosed with breast cancer and going through chemotherapy and treatment, Jen has recently begun building something entirely new.
Her new company is called Far Out, and it’s a business built around slowing down:
After cancer, Jen realized that she no longer wanted to participate in hustle culture, and honestly, I don’t blame her. Far Out focuses on thoughtfully curated travel experiences and retreats, including things like skiing in Japan and cycling in Africa, along with a collection of goods that Jen personally selects because they were created by real humans and not robots.
I’m very proud to say that when Jen texted me to let me know that Far Out had officially launched, I immediately entered what can only be described as a panic-shopping session:
I was absolutely determined to become her first retail customer.
I frantically scrolled through the website, found what were honestly the coolest earrings I had ever seen (see below), immediately purchased them without looking at anything else, and hit BUY NOW. I was absolutely delighted to discover that I was order number two. Jen was kind enough to explain that order number one had actually happened before the official launch and wasn’t a retail order. Therefore, I am fully claiming victory as the first Far Out retail customer in human history.
I know how much it means when somebody places an order on a brand-new website. I know what it feels like to launch something into the world and hope that people care.
So it felt really special to be able to support Jen in that small way.
After dinner, Jen delivered the earrings I had panic-purchased from her new business, after becoming what I proudly claim was the first retail customer in company history. Having secured the title that nobody else was competing for, I spent a little more time browsing the website and purchased one more item — a beautiful pottery teacup made by my friend Lauren Echo, who recently started a pottery business called Echora.
The next day was a “short day”… the last day at the show:
We made many more Kulas, laughed more, and then packed up the booth, headed back to the hotel, and met up with Regina, a friend I had only ever known through The Dance Experiment and Zoom. She drove over from the Tahoe area to have lunch with us, and it was lovely to finally meet her in person.
After lunch, Aaron and I returned to the hotel and promptly turned into gelatinous blobs. After nearly six straight days on the road, the downdraft of output was finally starting to hit us. The next morning, we packed up our booth, put our sublimation printer back in a box on a dolly, flew home, stopped by the Kula HQ office, somehow ended up working for a few more hours, chased down a FedEx driver near our house to sign for a package we almost missed, and then, after 7 days on the road… we finally made it home.
Home to our beloved foursome of cats.
Home to our own bed.
Home to our own refrigerator and food.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going into this week. And to be honest, after working six days in a row, I feel pretty exhausted and a little over socialized right now. But the only word that keeps coming to mind is: grateful.
Grateful that a pee cloth can have a booth at a major outdoor trade show and that everybody knows what it is. Grateful that my husband and I get to work together doing something we’re both passionate about. Grateful for the employees who make it possible for me to leave town and promote our company without having to shut down the entire operation. And grateful for a home that we love coming back to.
When Aaron left his job in 2022, there was a lot of fear that we both had to walk through. There was a lot of trust that we had to place in the universe and in ourselves that this whole thing was somehow going to work out. And after a week like this, I really feel like it has.
Trust your gut.
Lead with your heart.
Lead with connection and love.
And the universe will be there laughing right along with you and cheering you on.
All of my weekly Kula Diaries posts are free for all humans to read. I put a tremendous amount of energy into writing this diary, so your paid subscription is a tiny little message of encouragement that says, “I still want to see this type of (actual) writing!” I really appreciate your support so much. Love, Anastasia.
Thanks for naming new places for us to shop! Always love to support small businesses. I was chatting up your product at a street fair in NJ this weekend 😊Thrilled the show went so well for y’all.
It was so good to see you! You’re #1 in my book, and you’re welcome over for dinner anytime 😘