ICONI with Angel Johnson feature 136 of Together Talks

"Together Talks" feature 136: ICONI presented by KLS, freight company

Some Background on ICONI

Today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the chance to speak with ICONI and Founder, Angel Johnson. ICONI is a motivational, size inclusive, and fabric innovative activewear brand that champions confidence and community to our customers. ICONI launched its first collection in January 2020.

Social Responsibility: They donate to nonprofits to help change the world, one legging at a time.

Mission: To safeguard and support the bodies of their diverse customers through their innovative activewear to empower them wherever they are in their fitness journey, in life, or in the world.

When did the company begin?

The company started in 2020.

Story of how it was created?

I started ICONI while I was still active duty in the Air Force. I was spending so much money on women's active wear just for it to be see through. One of my breaking points, I spent $90 on a pair of leggings and I went to a military gym, which is just mostly men. I was an Air Force captain at the time and my leggings were completely see through. I didn't know it until I was squatting. One of my friends came up to me and told me my leggings are completely see through. I was super embarrassed as a female officer in the gym and probably the only woman in the gym at the time.

I thought this is ridiculous, I'm always going to have to just wear my Air Force clothing everywhere I go for it not to be see-through. That was a frustration point and then I was already thinking, what are other things that I'm interested in besides just the military, and then it all came together.

What separates your company from competition?

Our activewear is motivational, we build around motivational phrases or words to help our customers push through. It's not about just looking attractive. Also, our activewear is inclusive, we carry sizes of small through 4XL for men and women. Most activewear companies only carry up to XL for women, and 2XL for men. We combined fabric innovation to care about fashion and performance.

Meaning behind the name?

I wanted it to be motivational and it actually breaks down into an acronym, it stands for I can overcome nothing that's impossible".

What have been the biggest challenges?

I think the biggest challenges are capita. A lot of institutional investors don't of course want to invest in active brand or clothing brand just because of the amount of inventory. It is this constant cycle of every time you sell through a collection, you are on to making the next collection. That has been one of the toughest things and then marketing definitely, just always getting the word out and keeping the word out. We'll get great press or have a great advertisement and then you have to keep on going, keep on pushing.

Reflect on a goal you set and how it made you feel to accomplish it?

One of my goals was to get some type of institutional investment. I was able to get one in 2023 from a philanthropic organization. After I got that, it was vindicating because someone else besides our team, sees the vision as well.

Goals for upcoming year + Next phase of the company?

We want to release new fabric innovation, innovative collections. We took a lot of customer feedback we received and improved our sizing. This will help customers find the correct sizes using different AI tools on our website.

Another goal is to launch a new men's collection. We only have one and it was a very small run, very limited in scope. Now it's time to unveil a larger men's collection and serve a larger audience. The last one is to make our manufacturing process smoother. We have a diverse group of manufacturers all over the world and we want to continue to build on those relationships.

What were your concerns about making this transition?

I didn't deploy during that time because I had just gotten off maybe two years of deployments. It was really good timing and then I had a supportive squadron leadership who actually was supportive and thrilled that I had a passion outside of the military. Two years later, I wouldn't say I got out the military due to ICONI, I was about ready at the eight-year mark, but ICONI allowed me facilitated that.

I actually had a job to go to now, but it was scary because as an entrepreneur, you provide the structure, you provide the vision for your company, I was used to always someone else providing the vision and all the structure for me. I had to learn how to control my own schedule and re-learn everything. Also learning everything is not a number one priority. In the military, especially in the employment environment, everything is a number one priority every day. However, if you run your business like that, you will go insane.

How have you grown as a leader? I believe I'm more better equipped to handle adversity. For example, when we were featured on Oprah's things. Another time was during one of the biggest seasons of my entrepreneurial career and I just crumbled. for maybe a day, I just couldn't do anything, couldn't focus. But now when something happens, I just immediately analyze what is required from me next?

I'm definitely more proactive in solving problems and not just so reactive. I also think I've learned how to have a bigger vision because in the military, I was definitely a middle manager carrying out somebody else's vision while leading people. But now I'm able to clearly communicate what my vision is and then set priorities aligned with that vision.

How have you learned with being the face of the company?

I think that's been the hardest part for me. I'm more of an introverted personality. Constantly being on social media. I don't always want to do it. I just want to just be typing on my computer or doing something behind the scenes and let someone else speak for me.

I've come to learn though just authentically sharing why I care about the company and why I started it that resonates with people. I don't really have to put on a show or do anything outside of being me. They just want to hear exactly why I'm doing this and just a daily sharing of my day-to-day life building this.

What do you need to work on as a leader?

Learning how to delegate more, I definitely learned a lot of delegation this year by delegating the manufacturing to Karen, who's on our team. In 2025, we definitely plan to expand the team a lot more and grow. I will need to learn how to clearly delegate everything to our team and not feel the need to always circle back with them. I don't want to be a micromanager. Also I need to learn about what tasks are going to stay with me because I think that's one of the hardest things.

What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most?

I appreciate being able to carry out the vision I have in my head. Also being able to work with a team of people that like what they and appreciate how we promote a good office culture. So many of us have worked at companies with bad leaders or bad culture. Slowly bringing on people and seeing that they appreciate the culture that we're building is very gratifying.

Share a mistake and what you learned from that experience?

Press doesn't always equal sales. If you ever pay for press, try to figure out the return on investment before you go through with it. Not everyone watches every single TV show for instance. I learned this the hard way, because one time I put all my eggs in one basket, I ramped up the manufacturing, we had inventory thinking we'll sell out in like a day. Then nothing.

I had invested so much money into it, and it hurt. But I think that's something that I learned, anyone can sell you a great opportunity in an email, but do your own independent research before you just jump right into it.

How do you deal with success and accomplishments? I'm the type of person that rush right past any accomplishments. I'm very matter of fact, and credit to Karen because she balances us out and makes sure we celebrate our achievements. Recently when we launched on Walmart.com, I viewed it as a new sales channel and moved on. But everyone was extremely supportive and cheering for the big news. I realized it was a big deal.

I've tried to combat my nature by using a reminder. There is a sticky note on my desk where I write down our wins for the year. Anytime I am having a bad day I circle back to that and use it as a reminder. I use those reference points and lean on them to remind me of just how well we are doing.

What was your moment of traction? I launched the business in January 2020 and in August 2020, I found out that I got into Oprah's things. Then November 2020, it took off. We sold like 2,000 leggings in an hour due to Oprah's posting and I was in shock. At that time we were still packing the leggings in my kitchen using my friends as free labor!

I thought, this may be a legitimate business. I probably need to start putting some structure in place. I was getting customers orders. everything from the outside looked really good. But then during that time, I realized we actually have no structure, even the way we printed labels was unorganized. If this is going to continue and be a big business we need more structure and more processes. I needed people in place. It can't just be me flying by the seat of my pants.

What is your why?

My why is just just being able to do something that fulfills me in my life. And I think one of the things that keeps me going, it's a personal thing, my mom worked for a company for 33 years of her life. The moment she had a stroke and was out of work, they immediately fired her. All that time, all that work, and it meant nothing.

So it's like why not, I guess that's my why is like why not why not do this for yourself?

Why not keep on going. I feel like I'm still young and I still have so much to my life. I could reinvent ICONI 20 times over. Why not just go for it? You have nothing to lose right now.

If you had a magic wand, what would you change about your industry?

How activewear is sexualized in ads. I think that does disservice to people that that may not look like that or feel like that in the gym. I also feel like we don't have to sexualize everything to sell it. I think that's a problem. If we're having to sell a woman bending over in her leggings that's maybe not the best approach. There's probably other features that the legging could use as the selling point.

Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?

When I brought Karen on to the company because Karen started off as my mentor from a nonprofit organization. It was just by happenstance that I was paired with her and I just feel like she has really propelled the company forward because she has so much activewear experience. The timing was perfect, someone that has activewear experience from Brazil just happens to come over here. I get connected with her through a nonprofit. But she becomes my mentor and then she starts working for my business. I still think wow, my first hire is the most perfect person and I'm so blessed.

Piece of Advice

I would tell other entrepreneurs to make sure you're constantly learning. Don't ever get to a point where you feel like you can't learn anymore. Even if it's not learning about your industry and it's learning about business in general, never stop learning. Because when you stop learning, that's when you get stagnant.

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In Closing

KLS wants to thank ICONI and Founder, Angel Johnson for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!

LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / TikTok / Twitter

Klimson Logistics Solutions - Together Talks with ICONI feature 136