goodMRKT Live
goodMRKT Live
Behind the Seams: The Lisa Bradley Story & the Birth of R. Riveter
In this episode, we delve into the remarkable journey of Lisa Bradley, co-founder of R.Riveter. A trailblazing entrepreneur who drew inspiration from the iconic Rosie the Riveter to co-create R.Riveter Bags—an innovative brand that seamlessly combines style and functionality. Join us as Lisa shares her story of dedication and resilience, showcasing how R.Riveter Bags not only elevate fashion but also create positive impact through supporting U.S. military families and manufacturing in America.
Welcome to Season Two of the good market podcast. I'm your host Harry Cunningham. Each month we hear from good people with great products, supporting exceptional causes and making incredible impacts on communities around the world. Join us now as we hear another good story about impact it's happening right near you. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another special episode of good market Live. Today I am happy to be joined my by by my new friend Lisa Bradley, one of the cofounders of our riveter bags. Lisa, welcome to Good market life.
Lisa Bradley:Hi, how are you so excited to be here,
Harry:it's exciting for us to get to talk a little bit more, we are coming off of an event of you being an up in good market and meeting our customers, which was a lot of fun. But I'm excited to share your story on to an even broader audience today and tell them a little bit about who you are, where you've been, where you came from, and how you ended up where you are today. So let's just jump right in. So handbags, not something that every young girl growing up thinks that's what I'm gonna do. And I don't think it was how you started either. Right?
Lisa Bradley:Right, exactly. You know, I grew up in Montana. I think everyone back then if I had told him I'd start a handbag company that would have probably laughed me home. But um, you know, and exactly starting a handbag company. It's such a saturated market. So I think a lot of people always ask us why handbags. And to tell you the truth that we started with idea of the business model way before handbags. And so we'll probably get into that a little bit. But handbags, or we're ended up glad that we went that route because it's your it's essentially your chosen skin. It's like clothing you you pick a brand based on how it makes you feel how you want to portray yourself to the world. And so we really wanted to go with handbags because you don't switch it out every day. You pick a handbag brand and or handbag look and you it's really your partner throughout throughout your daily mission. And so we really wanted handbags to stand up to what we really believe in.
Harry:Very cool. So you touched on a little bit you were born in Montana. So let's go back to like early, early least today. So you were born in Montana. Now you're living out here. Yeah, we're gonna roll it. Roll it back roll. Yeah. So tell me like how you ended up from from Montana, like leaving Montana and venturing out?
Lisa Bradley:Yeah. Well, my parents were both entrepreneurs. My dad wrote a lot of the software behind timeshare. So I really knew the entrepreneurial life, the ups and downs of it, the travel, and really just seeing a mom and a dad juggle entrepreneurial life, and always saw myself starting my own business one day. But I married into the military, when I met my husband, and then quickly moved, I finished college as quick as I could, so I could move to be with him. And I started to realize that maybe entrepreneurship was not going to be in, in the cards as a military spouse.
Harry:Because of the moving Yeah, because the moving and
Lisa Bradley:the really just the lifestyle of of his of him supporting our country, and how in depth his career is, sometimes the spouse has to take a backseat to that. And starting your own business and being able to do that can be really difficult with those moves, and also just a primary position in the company or in the in the family. I am taking kind of more of the breadwinner, it's really difficult to to do that as the as the support.
Harry:Interesting. So funny enough, though, you weren't alone. In your early thinking about that you met somebody who was kind of living the same life as you, I guess. Right?
Lisa Bradley:Right. Yeah. And so many other military spouses, same thing. You know, we, I moved four times, by the time I was 24, getting married and moved four times. And I had no idea what it was going to be like to be able to be a military spouse, um, said I do and then I quickly figured it out. And didn't know a lot of military spouses growing up in Montana wasn't a base near us. So I really just dove in and started to see, okay, this is what it's going to be like. And I think one of the like, first real experiences was everyone kept referring to, to myself to other military spouses to children in the military as dependents. And I thought that was just a very strange word to refer to family members. But after those multiple moves, and really starting to feel dependent, I Cameron and I, who's my co founder, and we'll talk about our meeting really wanted to create something that really gave that that sense of independence and self identity back to military spouses. Yeah.
Harry:Which is not something that I would have known about or thought about having not spent any time you know, in a military family but really interesting approach and probably something that you know, women like yourself or spouses like yourself have sort of managed and had to had to deal with and I think that idea of, of going from spouse to dependent back to spouse might have been a challenging journey, but it's So you met Cameron, where were you all living when you met?
Lisa Bradley:Yeah, so our families had independently moved to Atlanta, Georgia, it's right at the foothills of the Appalachian Trail. outside of Atlanta, it's a very small campus, where actually they train Ranger School. So our husbands were both Ranger instructors there. So not only are we out in the middle of nowhere, but there's not a lot of businesses around there. I had my MBA and my co founder camera and had her master's in architecture. And we both set out to start looking for jobs. And we were young military spouses excited to see what was next we both just finished our, our graduate degrees. And interview after interview, we could just see that that employers were putting resumes really at the bottom of the pile. And we quickly realized that this was, we weren't going to find a long term career. And this was something that we're going to struggle with for
Harry:is that the biggest thing leads to because they were putting you at the bottom of the pile, not because you weren't talented or able to do the job, but more because they knew they couldn't count on you long term like you might exactly right.
Lisa Bradley:I mean, in our resumes show it. There's so fragmented, we have this job here, this job there. And, and of course, they're saying, Well, how come you're moving positions? So frequently? And of course, you want to answer well, I'm not just leaving because I want to, but you do have to bring up that your military spouse, and they're used to that in in these heavy prevalent military areas. And, you know, being on the other side of it, I can't I can't say that I don't understand what they what they're going through as employers, you want to train somebody you want the longevity of your investment. And so, Cameron, I said, you know, enough is enough. We had talked to so many other military spouses. You know, when we first moved there, everybody was so excited about what jobs they were going to have. And then quickly the next, the next meeting, the next column, FRG meetings, you know, I could just hear the conversation took a huge downturn, and everyone was starting to give up. And that wasn't just this post, that was all the ones we've moved to over the years. And so Cameron, and I said, you know, if we're going to ever have anything for ourselves, then let's create a business model that supports military spouses
Harry:genius. And you both come from obviously, like you talked about in an MBA and in architecture degree, very different backgrounds. But both struggling with something together. And arguably, maybe that's what brought you together is that you did come from different different strengths and different backgrounds and said, like, what can we do together? Right?
Lisa Bradley:Right? Absolutely. We actually, we only met each other for two weeks when we said, let's start this business. So I think our husbands thought we were crazy, that we were essentially diving into being business married to each other after only two to four weeks of dating. But we really did have the right skill sets that were opposite of each other, to really start and create a long term business model.
Harry:So when you had the idea, let's start a business. But did you know what business or was it more just like, let's start a business together, let's do something.
Lisa Bradley:Well, she had been creating. They were actually like little baby booties. And she had been selling them and she was thinking about selling them. And I had gone through my business degree. And one of my, the books I read that's actually on the shelf behind me. It was, it was the book about FedEx and how Frederick Smith started FedEx and how he actually wrote a paper. And during college, where he came up with this really disruptive idea, that packages would have to be sent in the opposite direction in order to create a more efficient system. And so I had just finished reading that book. And Cameron, I said, Let's start a business model that we know that we can employ other military spouses. So it was at the forefront that whatever it was going to be, it was going to be figuring out a way that we could hire military spouses, but they had to be able to move. And they had to be able to have a flexible working environment. Because they're, they're really pulling three shifts. They're not just military spouses. They're also sometimes a parent. And then we also want them to be able to be part of our business model. So that means that it needs to be flexible. And at the time, there is just not work from home opportunities. The, you know, this was 2011. And really the only work from home were direct selling models where you really had to leverage your friends and family in order to make an income for yourself. And we just we didn't want our business model to have to include that we wanted to be something you could start up not put a lot of investment in. And so we said, let's create a distributed manufacturing model where military spouses can make the parts and pieces from home whenever it best fits their needs, and then they can ship it to us where we make the product.
Harry:That's very cool. And interesting that you you sort of use tools that you had tools. I mean, I guess materials that you had that were kind of at your fingertips, right. But you were telling me a little bit of a story of early on when you and Cameron were making some prototypes that might have caused a little bit of consternation, maybe? Yeah,
Lisa Bradley:right. Exactly. We and we were just monos military families. So we didn't have a lot of a lot of disposable cash to put into this business model. And I think our husbands were like, can we have a little bit of a proof of concept Before we invest a ton into this, so the only place we could set up shop was actually my was Cameron's attic was actually above a garage. She had a little boy at the time. She was only one of us that had kids at the time
Harry:did conditioning because you're in Georgia did not have a garage isn't like in the summer a sauna, right?
Lisa Bradley:Yeah, no, no temperature control whatsoever. And we actually saw it in the corner, her husband had a stack of, of Army issued equipment. And one of the things in there was a pup tent. And I don't know if you know much about that, but it's actually they're called pup tents are shelter half. The reason it has that name is because you have to find a buddy to have the other half and it makes a full tent. Oh, cool. Yeah, so we were like, Oh, this would make a great outside of a handbag. It's, it's water resistant, it's durable, it's lightweight. Let's cut it up. It's a great idea. So we did, and we actually made our first seven handbags that we took to, to the farmers market the next weekend. But um, that was really the beginning of our, our business model. And we actually hand stitched the first bag, it took us seven days each to stitch, one half of it, it's a dopp kit that my husband still uses today. And we said, we're going to need to invest in a industrial sewing machine, because we just cannot do this. It's going to take forever to make any products. So that was actually our first big purchase as as founders of the company.
Harry:Very cool. And so those seven that you took to the farmers market, did you sell all seven,
Lisa Bradley:we did sell all seven. One of them was it was actually a couple months later, this lady came back and she's like, I just love this handbag. I love the story. It's so functional, I can tell you guys made it as moms, and really just developed a knowing what we need as really modern day woman who are busy. And we were so excited. We're like, this is our customer that came back. And she looked at me and she's like, there's only one problem. The pocket on the inside is upside down. Yep, so my co founder looked at me, she knew it was right away, it was me, because she just has this phenomenal ability to sew and have construct. And so I was definitely forcing it for me to make it in those early days. But it was a good thing that happened. It got me over to the to the things that I needed to be focusing on, which was the business side, the more of the marketing. Yeah, and and the really the the books and keeping HR and all those all that's happened chance.
Harry:So I just I kind of like having a little moment about the seven bags like did you have you ever been able to get one back?
Lisa Bradley:You know, my cousin has one. Look at them. And we want to make sure that no one ever sees them again.
Harry:I was watching an auction show over the weekend about people collecting things. And there's so many times I guess when when people create something like what you did, and then they don't have it anymore, the original they don't have it anymore. And then they try and like go try and find it back. So that's what I was curious about. Yeah.
Lisa Bradley:We do have one week, my husband's dopp kit he still has it's actually sitting on in his office now. I'm like, you can't use that anymore. It's the first bag we ever made. And so we still have that. And it's just funny because you can see where I like ran off the edge with the sewing stitch. It's just so bad.
Harry:So did Cameron know how to sew and you didn't know how to sew? Is that right?
Lisa Bradley:Right. Well, we both knew how to sew. She was just way better at it. Okay.
Harry:That's great. That's funny enough. So you got these seven bags, you go to the farmers market. Hey, maybe we're onto something. Right. So So where do you go from there? What's next?
Lisa Bradley:Yeah, so next we have the seven we we took our whole entire investment and put it into this industrial sewing machine. I'm sure Rosie the Riveter used it it was so old. But they made things so much better back then. You know and so we still have we still have that machine we call her Rosie we actually pulling system it up into the attic and because it was this like 150 pound sewing machine, so the two of us got it up into the attic that day. And then we also invested the rest of it and funny enough that you talked about temperature control was into insulation for that because it was so cold now you think it would be it was the winter in North Georgia.
Harry:So also so so so cold
Lisa Bradley:and I'm from Montana and I was cold so we you know I was wearing actually full out snow gear to so in Wow. And we got a propane heater and I started my my winter pants on fire one.
Harry:I was gonna say that's awfully safe to have in an attic.
Lisa Bradley:Yes, it's not a good idea. I'm not saying anybody should do these things. Yeah. So then we went and invested in insulation. So we put this pink insulation up all over the attic and then we put plastic to keep it up and it looked like a dumpster room. It was just so a lot of people think like that the beginning of Business is this glamorous, like, Pinterest perfect environment. And Cameron won't even let me show the pictures of this really days. So,
Harry:save it for the book. There'll be a book, save it for the boat. So when you made the seven bags, did you have the name already? Or what? Tell me like the the how the name came about? Yeah. So that's a great connection. But how did you pick Cameron. And
Lisa Bradley:actually, she took me to an airport one day. And that's actually when we started talking about it. And we were so frustrated about not being able to find jobs. And so on the drive to the airport, we said, Okay, we're going to start a business and it's going to be in in some form or other a, a distributed manufacturing system, the time we didn't even know it was handbags, at that kind of came probably a month later, or a couple of weeks later. And then so I flew home, it was Veterans Day, and actually my co founders birthday, and we sat down and we started looking at that names for the company. And I brought a list of her. And it's funny enough that I started out with the branding. And that same day, she did a spreadsheet. And I think people kind of looked at each other like, oh my god, we're
Harry:not doing the wrong,
Lisa Bradley:we're not we're doing the wrong thing. So she looked at I had like 15 names or riveter was one of them. The other 14 were so bad, I'm glad that nobody knows. But I also took a stab at at the at the logo. And that's probably where she was like, oh my god, think think I'm gonna take this over, you can go ahead and take the spreadsheet. And from that point forward, we kind of knew each other skill set and best places in the company. But our riveter was one of them and she looked at and she's like, I think this is it. And we just we loved how it, it didn't scream Rosie the Riveter, you know, if you know the history of our of our country, and you know, who Rosie the Riveter was, it's definitely a nod to her, and, and really, not even based really on being a military spouse, because Rosie the Riveter wasn't necessarily a military spouse, she was a woman of that era, who didn't just stand on the sidelines, she dove into helping her country in a time of need. And we really
Harry:just arguably, what you guys did to,
Lisa Bradley:exactly, so it's a completely different era, we saw a need for really a different type of work opportunity for the modern day woman who wanted to be able to have a family, and it'd be able to have an income from themselves and be able to re identify yourself, if you are moving quite frequently. And so we thought that Rosie the Riveter was would be a great namesake for our company.
Harry:That's great. So you talked about you this phrase distributed manufacturing, right? Was anybody doing that then? Or is that something that, you know, are you guys kind of on the Pioneer stage of that?
Lisa Bradley:I think it happens more on a local level. If there's kind of more of a local based manufacturing centers that happen, it goes out in the same city and comes back at the time. And I think even to this day, I don't hear of it, because it's quite frankly, not very efficient. And probably no business that's completely concerned with profits would never do it. But that's not the reason why we do it. We do it to be able to provide opportunity. And we invest a lot of money into being able to ship those pieces back and forth all across the country.
Harry:Sure. And how many states do you have people? Now?
Lisa Bradley:We have working in 30 riveters, and they're almost each in a different state well, and then we also have close to 35 employees, and many of them are in other states. So I think we're at 35 states that we're, we're in
Harry:kind of interesting thing to me, as I was thinking about that, that for the first time that we talked, you know, post pandemic, companies have employees scattered everywhere. Now, you were doing that before, it was kind of a cool thing to do. Do you have you have you seen that impact the culture of your company? Negatively and or positively?
Lisa Bradley:Yes, it's definitely a mixed bag. You know, we, from 2011, we've been searching for tools and processes in order to bring this, this company that's across states really together in a more efficient manner. I mean, not just from running the company day to day, but also from a morale back in, I think it was probably 2017 or 2018, we made it mandatory to have your video on when in a company meeting. And that made a huge difference. I think not just in, like making sure that everybody stays on task, but also just a seeing another human. You know, I went from knowing there's actually Cheryl, she started with our company one year after she started in quality control, and has worked her way all the way into being our office manager. And I didn't meet her for seven years. So we met for the first time and I couldn't believe how tall she was. She was like I would have had no idea. But up until that point, she knew every little thing about me. I wish she'd gone through the birth of two kids and really became not just a key part of our team but also a great friend.
Harry:And I think it's interesting the the ability to adapt, maybe comes easier because military spouses are so used to having to readapt didn't re acclimate every time they move. Maybe that just has become a natural part of, you know, the sort of the thread of the company.
Lisa Bradley:Right? Absolutely. I know, we actually just launched handbag today about about military spouses and wildflowers. And it's exactly that concept of you have to be we're all each individuals. And we have to remain unique. Because a lot of times we're alone. We're raising families, we're having to just adapt to whatever environment we're in and be able to make it work.
Harry:Very cool. So there was something that happened kind of midway, I would say, midway through the life of from when you started to where you are today. That's pretty exciting change that happened with the company. But I'd love to talk a little bit about that, if you will.
Lisa Bradley:Yeah, absolutely. So at this point, we're still kind of in the attic. And we're growing. My co founders husband is getting frustrated, because there's so many cars coming and picking up pieces. And he's like, I can't even go into the house and use the restroom. Like there's just it's constantly full of people. So at that time, he said, You know, I think it's time that as their family was PCSing to a different location. He was very vocal and a very good thing because it was really that thing that pushed us to the next level about us starting like an an actual manufacturing location. And we really wanted to partner that with a retail store. So we actually did it Kickstarter. And we filmed it there in Dahlonega, and put it out into the world and saw what kind of reaction we would get. And I think one of the most unique things that came out to it was there was actually a producer from NBC that reached out to me and was curious about us if we ever wanted to try to apply for Shark Tank. And so I said, I think I might have said, if you're a producer from Shark Tank, then I'm very Bradley Bradley. And I almost hung up on him. But then I was like, what the questions he was asking. I'm like, wow, this really is a producer from Shark Tank. Yeah. So Cameron, I sat down, and we said, you know, like, when you're trying to grow a company, you know, this could go really good for us. Or it could be the end of it, depending on how this goes. And we said, you know, if we ever want to grow, we want to be able to provide as many income opportunities to this really amazing group of individuals in America, then the last thing we should be doing is saying no, so we took months to prepare for Shark Tank. And it was it was one of the best things we ever did was just taking the breath to stop and look at our whole business. We actually did a mock tank with I think it was 10 lawyers out of Raleigh, North Carolina. Oh, gee, and it was grueling. They they said, Okay, anybody that would invest in this company, please raise your hand. And nobody raised their hand. Oh, no, you know, we were about ready to go on to Shark Tank. So we were we were like, Oh, my gosh, why don't we do this? I was into Yes. And so, you know, they they said, We love the business model. We love what you're doing. We just don't like your scaling plan. We want you to redo it. So we had already memory or I was memorizing all the numbers. So we had already memorized everything to go into the tank. And I we said okay, well, we can't, you know, they have a valid point about our scaling plan. And so we sat back down, and we said, this is how we need to do it. And so really, two weeks before the tank, I was completely redoing our whole entire plan. Well, I mean, it was very nerve wracking.
Harry:But it's good. You did that rehearsal. I mean, I can't I'm a fan of Shark Tank. And I watched it. I'm always like, how did they the stuff that you have to, like rattle off and you never know, I guess you don't you don't know going in what questions they're gonna ask you, right? Yeah,
Lisa Bradley:no, I mean, the only the only way we had an idea is we watched like every episode of Shark Tank. And I think to this day, when Cameron's kids hear that music, come on, they're like, no. But we did watch a ton of episodes and wrote down all the questions that we could possibly think of, and then gave our answers to them to each other. Yeah. And, and that's really how we prepared for it. And it went really well. We.
Harry:So yeah, we
Lisa Bradley:got on the show, it went really great. It was an amazing experience to be able to go in there and be able to tell our story. And really just lay it all on the line and see how America's top business leaders reacted to our business decisions over the last, you know, six years.
Harry:Did you hear and I'm out?
Lisa Bradley:Did you get a full I'm out. We got I think you can do this better on your own. We also got out of the we got three offers. But the two that didn't was I think you can do this better on your own don't sell out. And then also I don't do this kind of thing. I do more of like, trinket type stuff that you buy overseas, which was a completely different product. Sure. And so we respected that. And we were really excited to hear throughout throughout our presentation that Mark Cuban was just really enthralled with what we were doing and was really behind it. So we actually ended up choosing mark and we we love him he's he's been an amazing investor and he's still really involved today.
Harry:That's great and it's great that you Do you know to hear that and I think as entrepreneurs that might be listening, when when you're looking for investors, that's the kind of investor you want, you want somebody that's going to be involved, but he's gonna let you run your business, right.
Lisa Bradley:And that's where it came down to that we knew that he wasn't going to have us change what we were doing or why we were doing it for for the bottom line. And to this day, he's never asked us to do that. And we, we couldn't have picked a better shark because of that.
Harry:That's great. So fast forward to where you are today. You've opened a store, you have a store?
Lisa Bradley:Yes, we have a flagship store in North Carolina. Cool.
Harry:And what like, what was the what was the thinking to open the flagship store?
Lisa Bradley:Um, you know, largely it was to get out of Cameron's attic. That was the first store. So it was really out of necessity. You know, I was really dragging my feet on it, because that was a lot of overhead. Yeah. And we, but it was really great that we did that. Because, you know, it was the beginning. That's where we had actually our first place that we are manufacturing our items to. So it was, it was a dual purpose space, we sold out of it. But then you can also hear the sewing machines rolling in the background where all those parts and pieces were coming together. So it was a really unique retail experience. We've moved two times in the same town, just two bigger spaces. And we're now on Broad Street. And it's a beautiful store, right there in southern pines, North Carolina.
Harry:Very cool. And but neither of you live in North Carolina.
Lisa Bradley:Cameron, just her husband just retired and they just moved from there to his hometown. Got it. But up until last year, we were Cameron had been stationed there.
Harry:Okay, got it. So is that weird kind of having a store that you can't be in every day?
Lisa Bradley:It is, but we have an amazing team that has managed it for years and years. So I think as military spouses, you have to know that you have to eventually let go at that location. And you set it up knowing that you're, you set it up knowing that you're going to be leaving, right and that kind of helps.
Harry:So I want to talk about some elements of the bag that are pretty intriguing to me and kind of interesting that I think people should know about if they if they didn't already know. One of them is on the on the bottom left corner of the bag, there's a little tag, right? Can you talk about what's
Lisa Bradley:our story tag, and you know, being able to tell us tell the story of the company and individuals as part of the company is, is really what it's all about. So, every remote riveter as we call them, and also every individual throughout the whole entire company receives a riveter number. So you'll see an RR and then a number a three digit code. And that is the the number that we give each individual and it's actually a throwback to Rosie the Riveter at the time, they had quality control numbers. And I had the opportunity to meet a rose an original Rosie the Riveter and she told me the story when she found out that I have these numbers on our on our products, that she had a really special story for her. She was making parts for a submarine and her nephew was on the ship or on the on the submarine and I guess they had ran into something or they had an emergency. And he looked over and he saw his aunt's river number over there. And it was a really like serendipitous moment for him to be like, okay, everything's gonna be okay. But every part that they made, they put their their number on. And we do that today as well. So the parts and pieces all across the country, the military spouses are making the liner of the product really any textile that can be sewn on a home sewing machine they make and they they put their part, they put their number on it. And that's really you know, we have a first we have a last name, but we also have a riveter number. And it's an important aspect of our company just about really taking ownership of what you're doing.
Harry:That's great. And it's interesting you call them remote riveters, which also works with the our Riveter. So, our works for Rosie the Riveter are also lots of hours in here, lots of hours, lots of hours. So then the other the other piece is the the tag that hangs on the bag there. It's kind of a two part tag, one dog tag, right? Which makes a lot of sense,
Lisa Bradley:right? Yes, we have a and then we also have a yellow support tag. Yeah. And a lot of people ask us what is it you know, it's this circle circular piece of leather that that hangs on every single one of our bags. And it has a ribbon on it. And we've been making them literally since those seven bags in the in the attic. And what they symbolize is symbolizes supporting the military. And one of my fondest moments of living on post was was all the the trees that had a yellow ribbon around them. And there's there's songs about it. But that's really where the support ribbon was yellow for military for the military support. So you can see that hanging on every single one of our products.
Harry:That's great. I know there's several different things that you do with your bags. Obviously, you can you can buy from the line. But there's also some really special kind of one of a kinds are limited editions. Right, which I've seen that I think are amazing what my favorite is the one that has the kind of the parachute straps on the back that converts it into a backpack.
Lisa Bradley:Right? Yeah, so that's our heirloom line and it's really special. Like there's not anything I think on the market that really can and even explain the emotion that goes in behind them, you know, whether you're a daughter and your, your, your parent went overseas. But we all have these attachment to materials and there's experiences attached to materials. And so what we really have been able to do is take those materials and turn it into a handbag. And I really love when I see family members be able to pass them down. Because at one point, that material had a life where it went overseas, or that person was able to accomplish something great, or really became attached to that material. And now it's being getting a whole new life and becoming something different to somebody else.
Harry:Interesting. Super cool. And then you people can actually go to your site and create, basically create their own true one of a kind. Right?
Lisa Bradley:Right. So yeah, we try and help out that like a, a jacket can make this style and that style. And you can really start to piece together how many pieces you can get out of out of a upcycle military uniform, and then really figure out what pieces you can you can put together those items. And that's all on our website.
Harry:So you've got the line of handbags, which is fantastic. One of the neat things that you do also, which I think has a an interesting connection back to the name is the scarves. Right?
Lisa Bradley:Right. Yeah, the the scarves that go on on each of our products, or some of our handbags have really kind of cool scarves that that tie on to them. And you can kind of change them out throughout the season. And we really have enjoyed having that really extension of the
Harry:line. And it sort of harkens back to Rosie the Riveter, who had the scarves and riveter around
Lisa Bradley:right around her. And everybody kind of remembers, if not the Rosie riveter at least remembers the poster. And so we actually had a ton of denim that we we made into a bag that that was inspired by actually the Navy. And we had so many rolls of denim left. And we didn't know what we were going to do with this material. And so we actually had some red material, we had the denim, and we actually made a limited edition Rosie the Riveter bag, were the overalls with the denim, and then we had a red scarf on it. And to this day, it's our best selling handbag. That's cool. And do you actually have them in store too?
Harry:Yeah, we do, we actually do. One of the things that you and I were talking about last time we talked to was the names where the names come from each of the bags, right. So it's not, they're not just like random, they actually have a reason and a story behind them.
Lisa Bradley:Right. So we name all the products after inspiring woman in America's history, and actually started as the military spouse of, of a famous military man that we all know. So actually, I think my favorite story is actually the patent. So when we used to say when we first started, this is the patent law, everyone just assumed it was the military man we were talking about. And what we were trying to portray is that there's an equally amazing spouse that supports that individual. And so actually, that handbag was named after, after Mrs. Patton. And she wrote a lot of the training manuals behind what he was doing just enough Hawaiian to write a whole book in it. So she was an amazing woman in her own right. And they were really attached to him to him throughout his whole entire military career.
Harry:And I love that what you're doing is not only just giving opportunities, but you're also celebrating the military spouse and a really big way, which is, you know, perhaps long overdue, but it's great that you're doing it and you know, maybe there's even opportunity for more people to do kind of follow your lead, if you will.
Lisa Bradley:It's storytelling. And, you know, I think that everyone hears a story and a little bit of a different way. And I think the thing that always really helped comfort me was that I was not the first military spouse to be going through this, I was not the first military spouse to receive a letter, a letter from overseas, missing, missing my spouse. And so you know, I'm not the first one to come, I'm certainly not going to be the last but we're all in this together.
Harry:Yeah. And, you know, you and I, when you were here visiting the store, we were talking to a mom, whose son is about to be deployed. And I think that the idea of you telling stories was, arguably, you know, she's in it, she's in a, sort of this very bittersweet place, like, super excited for her son, to go and support the country and, you know, equally very concerned because she's a mom, but I think, you know, the more that you can tell those stories, and maybe, you know, it impacts everybody all along the way. And she was inspired to even you know, pick up a bag that day, because it kind of gave her this this sense of
Lisa Bradley:connection lately. I think that it brings these military stories forward. And sometimes you need to be able to talk about it and she's nervous, and she's excited, being able to tell that story and have that connection with another person that's gone through the same thing, I think is what being human is all about. So that's one of the best parts about that really, that yellow support tag on the bag is it really symbolizes that this is what I this is what I'm supporting. And I think that it's subtle, but it also one of my favorite stories was hearing about two women that that cross paths and an Aldi and they both had a riveter bag, and they both took five minutes out of their day to tell each other about their military sons and That, to me really made it all worth it is being able to, to put something out into the world that really helps somebody start a conversation is really what it's all about.
Harry:I mean, you're really making connections, which is it's the connection start when you do the distributed manufacturing, right, there's the first connection, but then the connection keeps going and keeps going, which is really, I mean, it becomes each bag. I don't want to sound cheesy, but each bag really becomes an heirloom piece because it has a story behind it. before it even gets to the owner that you know, buys it off the shelf
Lisa Bradley:on and each one is different. Because each one was made, each part was made by a different individual, and it started someplace else in the country. So each piece truly is different. Being made like that you you are getting a one of a kind piece.
Harry:And you don't know where it's coming from. But you know, kind of where it's coming from at the same time, right? You don't know the physical place that has come from but you know, you know, the hands that had been on it
Lisa Bradley:or anything you can you can go and look up the Riveter number on our website, and you can see the military spouse that made it and or the the employee that assembled it. We're we're really are dedicated to bringing as many jobs back to America as we possibly can.
Harry:That's fantastic. What's what's next for the brand? You've got? You have bags, you have accessories, you have backpacks, what do you what do you get what's next, you know,
Lisa Bradley:we're always looking to create other products that can be made in the same model on we actually just launched candles about a year and a half ago. And that's been really amazing to be able to branch out to service spouses. So actually, a fire spouse makes those and it's kind of fun that she makes the candle that makes the fire and he puts it out. So it's it's been a great collaboration that we've been able to do alongside the handbags just to be able to have another product that you know where it comes from. And you know that you're helping helping someone that's dedicated to serving here in America as well.
Harry:And what's your fav This is always funny question that I get asked to about all the brands that we carry good market, but what's your favorite bag? Do you have one? I think you do.
Lisa Bradley:Yes. The auto is my favorite bag. And I actually had the honor of meeting Eleanor Otto. She is the longest working Rosie the Riveter, she was forced to retire at 94, which no one should have to be forced to stop working if they didn't want to. But I actually saw her at a gala. And it was like two o'clock in the morning. And I'm like I want to we've got to go to bed. I'm so tired. So if I just have a little bit of her energy, hopefully if I make it to that that age, but she's just a spunky, like, amazing role model. her handbag is that we named it after is my favorite.
Harry:So back to a little bit of the beginning of the story. You said you You came from entrepreneurial parents, you've been a pretty amazing entrepreneur. So far your kids only know you as an entrepreneur, right? Would you encourage them to do it? Oh, absolutely.
Lisa Bradley:Yeah. Yeah, I think that it's, it's the best way to be able to have a family and also be able to help out your American economy. You know, I think my kids, you know, my husband had the coolest job, he jumped out of airplanes and got the bad guys, you know, like, it's, so I, I hope that looking back, they see that Cameron's kids and mine see that their moms did something for America too, and, and was able to do it through creating a business in America, I think you can still do it. It's if we can do it in an attic than anybody can.
Harry:Yeah. And you know, you you and I were talked a little bit about that. Like, there, it definitely comes with struggles but not struggles that are not overcome bubble, if you will run run word venture, you know what I mean? Like they can you can overcome them and, and part of that network that you're building, arguably, you know, when when you meet military spouses that all sort of have that connection entrepreneurs, I think are similar to that. We've all been kind of up the hills and down in the valleys. And you know, we can we can kind of get it sort of like the two women you talked about that got to share that story
Lisa Bradley:you feed off of each other, you know, when I think one of the best things that came out of Shark Tank to was just the other military connected companies, we're all really close, you know, it's not competitive. Whenever we have something that works, we call each other and we're like, Hey, you guys should try this. It might really, really, really helpful. And I think that in also the, the social, good entrepreneurial community, we're the same way. You know, none of us are really direct competitors. But what we are doing is working together to make the world a better place. So if I do something that you know, really has been able to help our mission grow. I definitely want other companies that are very like minded to be able to grow in the same way.
Harry:Yeah, very cool. So as we wrap up, you know, one of the things that you've gotten to visit our store here in Fort Wayne, so you know, one of the things that we really feel strongly about and will always be a part of who we are is storytelling. And we want to tell the stories and we tell the stories of every single brand and we call our team the storytellers if somebody at some point needed to tell the Lisa Bradley story, this is how I wrap up every podcast so I always like to know who would Lisa pick to tell her story and why and it can be anybody living dead. I like to say famous are infamous or otherwise. But who would you pick to tell your story and why?
Lisa Bradley:You know, I pick my daughter, you know, like being able to pass on, you know, my parents did their best to give me a better life than they had. And I hope I'm doing the same thing for for my children. In particular, I choose my daughter just because I named my company after Rosie the Riveter said, I hope that I'm giving her the tools to succeed. So I would like her to be able to tell my story.
Harry:That's great. Such a great role model you are to Lisa, thank you for taking the time today. It's really great here in our riveter story and your story and Cameron story as well. Look forward to much continued success and many more military spouses being able to make more products.
Lisa Bradley:Well, thank you. Thanks for letting us tell our story and amongst the many stories that you've been able to share, it's great on our breasts. We're very proud to do it. Thanks so much.
Harry:Thank you for joining us for this episode of the good market podcast. A new episode will drop the second Tuesday of each month. So make sure you subscribe wherever you're listening. Give us a like a follow and a share. And please leave a review so that we can reach even more people and grow even more good. Tune in next time to hear more stories from good people with great products supporting exceptional causes. We'll see you next month.
