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Thread: KUIU raises $50 million for 23% stake

  1. #1
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    Default KUIU raises $50 million for 23% stake

    For six years, Jason Hairston adamantly refused to raise any outside capital for his hunting gear company, Kuiu. He wanted to stay in control of the business and the brand. And frankly, he didn’t need anyone’s money.

    Kuiu, which sells hunting gear and apparel direct-to-consumer, brought in $2 million in revenue when it launched in 2011, doubling its sales each consecutive year after that. But in 2015, growth began to slow, primarily because the company was unable to keep up with demand. With customers on year-long waiting lists for Kuiu’s products, Hairston quietly met with private equity firms to get the capital he needed to grow operations.

    Today, Hairston announced that San Francisco-based Main Post Partners has invested $50 million in exchange for a 23% stake in his company. The cash infusion will be used to increase inventory supply, launch a mobile showroom, and expand the business internationally.

    Hairston was careful to make sure that when the ink on the deal dried, he would still be Kuiu’s majority shareholder. Giving up control by taking outside money was a mistake he’d learned the hard way: When Hairston launched his first hunting gear business, Sitka, in 2005, he raised money every year until he lost control of the company and was reportedly pushed out.

    “You have to be very careful about who you get involved with,” the NFL-player-turned entrepreneur says.

    This time around, he’s doing things differently. By taking outside funding while maintaining ownership of the company, he plans to expand the business into a major player in the hunting gear industry -- on his terms. Kuiu, which did $43 million in sales last year, certainly has room to grow: The roughly 37 million hunters and anglers in the U.S. spent a whopping $90 billion on lodging, gear and equipment in 2011, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Established competitors in the hunting apparel market include Under Armour and Hairston’s previous company, Sitka, whose products can be found in big box stores.

    Instead of working with big retailers, Hairston wants to launch a chain of brick-and-mortar shops so customers can browse Kuiu merchandise, work with a tailor for a custom fit, and “experience” the brand. The first location is tentatively slated to open in Denver, Colo., in June of 2018.

    To gauge customers’ appetite for purchasing Kuiu products in-person, Hairston is about to embark on a 26-city, cross-country tour, in which one 18-wheel-truck will double as a mobile showroom for the company’s merchandise.

    Kuiu already has a roster of high-profile fans, including Metallica frontman James Hetfield, brothers Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and NFL quarterback Carson Palmer. The Arizona Cardinals’ player, a Kuiu loyalist since 2014, says it’s the quality and fit of the products that appealed to him. Although he doesn’t have much time to hunt during football season, he wears Kuiu jackets when he goes skiing or when he takes his kids to school on really cold mornings.

    “Being 6’5 and 240 pounds, I have a difficult frame to fit,” Palmer says, adding that he has now ordered nearly every Kuiu staple from the puff jacket to the pants. “It’s always really hard to find the right fit in the shoulders and the stomach because there aren’t a ton of 300-pound guys hiking up mountains. For me, if it fits right, I’m a customer forever.”

    Palmer's endorsement aside, Hairston knows it will be hard to convince non-hunters that Kuiu products can work for them. “Anti-hunters have this emotional idea of us being egotistical maniacs killing an animal for a picture," he says. What they don’t realize is that many hunters and anglers care deeply about wildlife. In 2011, for example, this group contributed more than $3 billion toward conservation efforts through purchases of licenses, payment of excise taxes, and donations to wildlife organizations, according to the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation.

    “We do a lot for wildlife,” Hairston says. “We’ve done a very poor job of talking about it.”

    Recently, he’s found himself in a position to speak up about the issue. A charming but polarizing figure, Hairston was an ardent Donald Trump supporter throughout the election, connecting Trump’s campaign managers to influential figures in the hunting industry. Now that Trump is in the White House, Hairston has been named Adviser to Secretary of the Interior, and will weigh in on policies relating to hunting, conservation and wildlife.In his mind, this mission and his company’s mission are one and the same. "[Hunters] are looked at as bad people,” Hairston says. “Kuiu gives me the opportunity to spread the word."

    http://fortune.com/2017/04/20/huntin...ors_picks=true

  2. #2
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    Good for him.

    Hope it works well. It seems they are making a good product
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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gut_Pile View Post
    Good for him.

    Hope it works well. It seems they are making a good product
    Likewise. I haven't used any of their stuff, yet, but some friends in the NW swear by it.

    Anyone know why he got pushed out of Sitka? Just clashing egos, etc, or something else?
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    Good for that guy!
    Windows Down!

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    Brick and mortar will be a mistake.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn View Post
    Brick and mortar will be a mistake.
    Agreed. That stood out to me in the article and my first reaction to it was mistake.
    Member of the Tenth Legion Since 2004

  7. #7
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    Its good stuff for sure.

  8. #8
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    I've got one of those button up jacket shirts. I like it even though it's not supposed to be tucked in.

  9. #9
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    I wonder if Hart knows him....
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn View Post
    Brick and mortar will be a mistake.
    Yes indeed...

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by 2thDoc View Post
    I wonder if Hart knows him....
    If he don't, Highstrung does.

  12. #12
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    Brick and mortar in Denver will not be a mistake for him. He has no dealers so "show rooming" only helps him.

    At Sitka he fell victim to what many small companies do when they get an order from a Wal Mart or a Cabelas. WL Gore did him in. That's why he went direct to consumer with KUIU.

    I've got several pieces. It's good stuff but all targeted towards mountain hunting....not tree stand sit'n.
    "hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"

    Rubberhead

  13. #13
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    Don't argue with me.

  14. #14
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    I don't offer my arguments up to just anybody. I know you get that. Maybe toofer will wake up to it someday.
    "hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"

    Rubberhead

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stripa Swipa View Post
    Brick and mortar in Denver will not be a mistake for him. He has no dealers so "show rooming" only helps him.

    At Sitka he fell victim to what many small companies do when they get an order from a Wal Mart or a Cabelas. WL Gore did him in. That's why he went direct to consumer with KUIU.

    I've got several pieces. It's good stuff but all targeted towards mountain hunting....not tree stand sit'n.
    He would be better off selecting a few good outfitters in select towns like Bozeman, Jackson Hole, Denver, etc to carry his brand. Sort of like what Mathews does with bows.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by marsh chicken View Post
    He would be better off selecting a few good outfitters in select towns like Bozeman, Jackson Hole, Denver, etc to carry his brand. Sort of like what Mathews does with bows.
    For what reason?
    "hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"

    Rubberhead

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stripa Swipa View Post
    For what reason?
    The build out and overhead of a shop is expensive.
    Men don't typically like to shop for clothes. Even hunting clothes. They are better off using small select outfitters with knowledable staff to sell their products in brick and mortar. They still retain the unique high end brand image that they favor, without all the costs of brick and mortar. Not to mention...I think they move a hell of a lot more product this way.

    Select a few outfitters in key towns, set floor pricing so no one can cheapen the brand and everyone makes good margin, maintain a very large online presence with a good exchange policy. They will do just fine.
    Last edited by marsh chicken; 04-21-2017 at 09:22 AM.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by marsh chicken View Post
    The build out and overhead of a shop is expensive.
    Men don't typically like to shop for clothes. Even hunting clothes. They are better off using small select outfitters with knowledable staff to sell their products in brick and mortar. They still retain the unique high end brand image that they favor, without all the costs of brick and mortar. Not to mention...I think they move a hell of a lot more product this way.

    Select a few outfitters in key towns, set floor pricing so no one can cheapen the brand and everyone makes good margin, maintain a very large online presence with a good exchange policy. They will do just fine.
    Do a little more research on their products, their target customers, their current business model and the markets that you have mentioned. Then....take another swing at it.
    "hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"

    Rubberhead

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stripa Swipa View Post
    Do a little more research on their products, their target customers, their current business model and the markets that you have mentioned. Then....take another swing at it.
    I'm well aware of their business model and target customer. That doesn't change the fact that I think a brick and mortar retail store is a mistake and won't work.

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