Billy Might is now deeply accustomed to the intricacies of bedsheet factories. In 2023, Might turned CEO of Brooklinen. A retail veteran, he’s spent his profession in high roles at J.Crew and Abercrombie, earlier than changing into CEO of Sur La Desk. However now, as head of a millennial-loved bedsheet model, he’s studying in regards to the warp and weft of cotton sheets, and which nations have essentially the most experience in manufacturing bedding. (“Portugal and India are main fabric-producing nations,” he tells me.)
Might has been tasked with serving to Brooklinen transition from a DTC startup right into a nationally-known model. He believes the best way to do this is to create prime quality sheets that you just can’t get anyplace else. So Brooklinen is now redesigning all of its key merchandise in order that they have distinctive fabrications. As an illustration, it has labored intently with its manufacturing facility in Portugal to replace its linen sheets to a weave that’s completely accessible at Brooklinen; it’s softer and stronger than earlier than, and comprised of traceable European flax. Brooklinen relaunches these linen sheets as we speak, however we will count on the model to unveil redesigned variations of its different classics within the months to return.
This yr, nonetheless, there’s been a brand new wrinkle in Might’s plans: Trump’s tariffs. The administration has already introduced steep levies on Canada, Mexico, and China which go into impact as we speak, however it has additionally threatened tariffs on the European Union and India, which is the place Brooklinen makes nearly all of its merchandise.
Might isn’t panicking. He’s strategizing. “I’ve been right here earlier than,” he says, referring to his tenure as CEO of Sur La Desk over the last Trump presidency. “There are issues we will do to mitigate the chance.”
What Brooklinen Discovered From the DTC Motion
To grasp Brooklinen’s deep relationship with factories in India, Portugal, and Turkey it’s necessary to know the model’s origin story.
The corporate was based in 2013 by a husband and spouse workforce, Wealthy and Vicki Fulop, who wished to make it extra accessible for on a regular basis individuals to afford the type of luxurious sheets you get at a resort. They studied the bedding provide chain, then tapped factories that made sheets for high-end manufacturers. They believed they might value these merchandise extra affordably by promoting them on to customers with out a retail markup. This was a playbook they’d seen from a brand new crop of DTC manufacturers, like Everlane, Bonobos, and Warby Parker.
Over the subsequent decade, a whole bunch of different DTC manufacturers would enter the market, from Casper to Away to Allbirds. And, as Fast Company has reported in detail, many of those manufacturers struggled of their efforts to scale and grow to be worthwhile. One drawback was merely how a lot competitors there was. At one time, there have been hundreds of brands making mattresses much like Casper’s and dozens of brands making suitcases much like Away’s. This additionally occurred within the bedsheet trade. As Fulop stated in Fast Company, “I made a tactical mistake: I simply instructed everybody about this superb area of interest that we’re in, and now we’ve got all these rivals.”
Many DTC manufacturers didn’t compete on this setting and folded. Brooklinen was among the many survivors, and Might says the model is worthwhile. To transition to the subsequent stage of progress, Might believes that product differentiation is the one approach ahead. Brooklinen’s unique pitch to prospects was that it provided prime quality. However now, Can also needs to make sure the merchandise are actually distinctive, comparable to the brand new linen sheets. If a buyer falls in love with them, they can’t get this fabrication anyplace however Brooklinen.
However to create these prime quality fabrications, Might says that Brooklinen must have shut relationships with its manufacturing facility companions. They work intently with their companions to create prototypes, supply supplies, and get certifications, just like the one which traces the origins of the flax within the linen. “These are deep, long-term partnerships,” says Might. “It’s the one option to create a top quality product.”
Brooklinen’s Tariff Technique
Trump’s tariffs threaten to undo many manufacturers’ relationships with their manufacturing facility companions. Manufacturers that produce merchandise in China and Mexico, for example, are instantly going to pay considerably extra to import their merchandise into the US.
When the tariffs have been first introduced, some manufacturers stated they’d instantly begin discovering factories outdoors of China. Steve Madden’s CEO, for example, said he would begin exploring factories in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Brazil. However this will have an effect on product high quality. It takes years to construct a relationship with a manufacturing facility and work intently to make sure merchandise are made to a manufacturers’ requirements. Furthermore, some nations have way more experience in making specific merchandise. China, for example, has 1000’s of footwear factories which were making merchandise for American manufacturers for many years—with a workforce that’s properly educated in manufacturing. Discovering factories in different nations that may make merchandise at the same high quality could be a problem.
Might says that Brooklinen has not been instantly affected by this primary wave of merchandise as a result of it manufactures primarily in Europe and India. However the Trump administration has already threatened tariffs on each of those territories, and Might is strategizing about what to do.
Slightly than abandoning factories, Might’s first step is to work much more intently with them to navigate looming tariffs. In lots of instances, factories bear the brunt of tariffs, since they’re exporting merchandise to abroad warehouses. Some American manufacturers will refuse to pay the upper prices incurred by the tariffs, so the factories must merely take in these prices. However Might is already speaking with manufacturing facility companions about find out how to share the burden. “We’re working hand in glove with them on methods to share any potential price will increase,” he says. “It’s been an ongoing dialogue.”
For Might, this isn’t only a accountable factor to do. It’s additionally an necessary approach to make sure that the corporate can preserve high quality, because it has spent years working intently with these factories to verify the product is strictly how they need it.
That stated, having run a retail enterprise in Trump’s earlier time period, which additionally concerned tariffs, Might says it’s necessary to have many instruments to mitigate price will increase. Proper now, the corporate is figuring out its bestselling merchandise which can be all the time in inventory, then preemptively sourcing supplies and manufacturing giant portions, in case Trump makes good on tariffs.
And in the long run, Might is increasing its community of factories. Over the course of the final yr, it has added 10 new manufacturing facility companions throughout many alternative nations and began coaching them to make its merchandise. That is partly as a result of Brooklinen is rising quick and wishes to have the ability to broaden its capability. However as new potential tariffs emerge, Might says there shall be some flexibility to extend orders in locations the place tariffs are decrease.
Might can also be taking this second as an opportunity to innovate. As Brooklinen explores new factories, it’s also eager about the way it can develop new sorts of merchandise that prospects are on the lookout for. It has developed a waffle blanket at certainly one of its new factories in order that it has a proprietary weave that holds its form higher and has a deeper pocket. It has additionally redesigned its plush towels with its Turkish manufacturing facility to provide them a novel fabrication that’s extra densely woven so it’s softer and absorbs water faster.
In the end, Might believes this second of financial uncertainty doesn’t must squash innovation and progress. In some methods, it would even spur it. “We take into consideration different firms we admire like Apple and BMW,” he says. “They don’t relaxation on their laurels, however are consistently innovating product, and that’s how they hold their edge.”
