"Together Talks" feature #119: worldie presented by KLS, freight company
Some Background on worldie
For today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the chance to interview worldie Co-Founder, Aaron Faison. Shoes designed to meet the needs of young athletes and their parents. Follow for updates as they approach launch this year.
Former Athletes
The beginning of this company started as ideas for Aaron and Co-Founder, Brandan Ward. The duo met at law school in 2021 on a flag football team. Aaron mentioned that around 2018 once his college career was over he got back into playing soccer. When he had gone to the store to buy new cleats he felt overwhelmed and uninformed about current models, technology, and value. His thought at that time was to go into making soccer cleats for former competitive athletes.
Fast forward to 2021 when the Co-Founders met and decided to partner, they realized during research that maybe there was a better opportunity that was untapped. Doing their surveying and research they came across a constant theme, many young kids just getting into sports generally wore the same shoe regardless of what sport they playing. Aaron and Brandan realized this could be their play. Rather than selling a shoe designed for one sport they could create one versatile enough to work across multiple sports and playing surfaces.
Aaron shared with us that there have been moments of doubt along the journey of their company that officially incorporated in 2022, but they have embraced it as part of their story. Initially they found trouble finding a designer as Aaron told us, " Some people within the industry weren't very willing to help. We were getting stuck because people were gatekeeping their connections which which was frustrating." Not having contacts and being completely new to the industry they did what they could by cold reaching out until they found a designer interested in their brand and mission. Aaron reflected on how creating this company is extremely tough and can be draining, but they are committed to seeing it through. To date they haven't got any feedback to deter them from carrying out their vision. Instead they take the data and feedback to constantly evaluate their business model and make more well-informed decisions.
Pivots
In 2018, standing at that store helpless with the store associate clueless to which shoe would be a good choice for him, Aaron dreamt of creating a better athletic shoe. After connecting with Brandan they narrowed down to focus on a soccer cleat. Further research and reflection and reflection helped them realize that they’d rather create a product for young athletes. They initially set out to create a kids’ soccer cleat, but parents told them that they wanted a more versatile shoe.
Being outsiders and beginners in the space, one interesting data point they kept hearing is that many consumers don't want to buy from huge corporations anymore. They prefer to buy and support brands that resonate with them. Their brand is being cultivated to apply their authenticity. Both former college athletes who played sports their entire lives, they understand the values and life lessons that sports have provided them. worldie plans to be an integral part in young athlete's and their long=term goal is to be the #1 for kids sports brand.
Getting taken seriously has been a hurdle for them given their lack of connections and experience in the footwear space - especially at the beginning of their journey. Often they were told to come back once they had made progress or generated more traction, but that isn't an option without someone giving them the option to start. Aaron said it has been eye-opening seeing how many in the space are not in favor of disruption and change. Despite being a difficult space to infiltrate the company remains steadfast on creating sustainable change. That ties directly into the name which is a British term used in Soccer meaning a really good goal.
Partner with KLS
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Ikea...graduate
In speaking with different demographics they are often asked, well how will you be different than Nike for example. Aaron broke it down for us, "They have so many different target segments. We think of our target customer like a college kid who shops at Ikea. Their budget constraints only allow them to buy a starter piece of furniture. They they graduate, get a job, maybe get married, and they start shopping at other furniture stores that are more specialized and more expensive. " worldie will be that starter shoe that spans across any and all sports. Targeting between ages 4-8, their shoe will be built for active kids who want to explore different sports as they figure out which sports they enjoy most. Aaron and Brandan realize that as kids get older and better at sports, they will start to specialize and “graduate” from the worldie brand. worldie is planning to prioritize things like comfort and durability over performance at all costs
The company is planning on launching into market in Q4 of this year. Their focus is currently on finding and evaluating partners to help them meet this target. In the coming months both Aaron and Brandan will receive a pair of their prototypes to test and provide feedback. They will also send their prototypes to a 3rd party testing company to evaluate performance compared to competitor products. From there, they will make any changes necessary to finalize the product. The company will launch with a Kickstarter campaign.
Enjoying the journey
Aaron and Brandan recently launched their podcast, worldie UNBOXED. Aaron shared with us that they initially discussed the idea of a podcast about two years ago. They recorded the first few episodes about a year ago and started recording again in the past six months after taking time off to focus on graduating from law school & business school and passing the bar exam. He continued, "Although our product isn't in the market this felt like a teaser for what we will feel once that day comes. It was super fulfilling and rewarding to release this with Brandan." often Aaron said they are asked what they are working on or when is the next news drop, but now everything can be shared via their podcast. Getting to bring people along with them for their journey only helps build the awareness and community they are actively seeking to build.
Having a vision and seeing it through despite the roadblocks is an integral part of being an entrepreneur Aaron shared. He had a vision for a shoe to start, that morphed into several ideas which ultimately turned into their current model. Despite not yet selling the product having something they can physically touch and say is theirs is incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. He elaborated, "Getting the first prototype was such an incredible feeling. I get a decent amount of packages, but when I opened that one it felt like a culmination of a couple years of hard work. This served as a good reminder for us to keep pushing and helped me understand how good it will feel once we start selling these."
Piece of Advice
The conversation with Aaron ended with him sharing his piece of advice:
"The best way to become better at entrepreneurship is by doing it. Many people spend a lot of their career thinking about doing something entrepreneurial and thinking that to be an entrepreneur you need to take a huge leap by quitting your 9 to 5. You don't need to quit your job and spend 80 hours a week on a venture to try out entrepreneurship. It doesn’t have to be black and white. You can start out doing something a couple hours a week to see if you like it and then expand from there and eventually go part-time or full time. This is true for most things in life. Try it out to see if you like it first, if you do then devote time to it. Don’t be afraid to fail or be a novice. If you're afraid of those things, you might never find what you're passionate about or the things that you find the most rewarding."
Interested in being featured with "Together Talks"?
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Contact us as we would love to learn your story and share it amongst our audience.
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In Closing
KLS wants to thank worldie and Co-Founder, Aaron Faison for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!
Business Resources!
Look at our new page HERE designed to provide excellent opportunities that may be of interest to you. These are a compilation from our chats within our "Together Talks". If you have any suggestions please let us know as we would love to provide more valuable insight to our community!
Klimson Logistics Solutions - Together Talks with worldie feature #119
*Klimson Logistics Solutions is an Industry Leading Customer Service 3PL. Our focus and commitment to our clients has us striving to be the BEST customer service 3PL for LTL, FTL, Reefer, and Drayage in the country. KLS, freight company, is a 3PL providing nationwide logistics solutions. KLS shipping services include: LTL freight, FTL freight, Reefer LTL freight, Reefer FTL freight, and Drayage. Klimson Logistics Solutions thanks you for viewing our marketing campaign, "Together Talks". If you have any interest in being featured or questions regarding your freight operations please contact us today!
Why KLS?
Our precise and reliable effort.
We handle every shipment with the exact same process. It does not matter if you move one shipment a year or ten per day, you will receive the same level of customer service from us. When we started this company, we had one goal in mind, treat every shipment like it was our own. With our vast knowledge of the industry, we understood what a customer would want from a communication standpoint. We applied that process to be the standard here at KLS. Our reliability and being able to depend on our consistency is why we have such long-standing relationships with our clients.
Our Process?
Every shipment in our industry starts with a quote. We are firm believers that time is money, thus we strive to have quotes back in a 5-10 minute reply time for LTL and FTL, any FCL quotes are at the mercy of the carriers getting back to us. For LTL we have the flexibility to quote both off of NMFC and also Density depending on the carrier. Utilizing our services, you’re allowing us to use our expertise to class your freight accordingly to ensure we are providing the best rate we possibly can.
Once a quote has been submitted and a client chooses to proceed with KLS handling the arrangement of the shipment our full process begins. We create the BOL that will be used for the shipment. If it is a new location for our system, we will obtain all the important/special details (reference numbers, contact details, shipping hours, closed for lunch, dock/doors, etc.). We meticulously build every detail into our software for all future shipments involving that location. After we have both locations built and necessary reference numbers have been applied we will tender the shipment to the carrier. We use this method because it provides us a real time pickup number from the carrier to obtain updates prior to pickup. Our staff will either email the BOL directly to you or to the shipper (at your request) the minute after the tender has been accepted by the carrier. LTL carriers require a 2 hour window prior to close time in order to schedule it for a same-day pickup attempt.
The following morning you’ll receive an email from us. It will either provide the reason the pickup was missed (driver’s trailer filled up, driver missed the close time, truck broke down, shipper said no freight, etc.) or if the pickup was successful you will receive the PRO (tracking) number from us, along with the eta for delivery. Our staff will track it throughout the duration of transit and advise if anything happens that will alter the estimated delivery date. The day the shipment delivers we will email you with confirmation and the POD (Proof of Delivery), should you require it.
Your shipment has been quoted, scheduled, picked up, and delivered. The next step is waiting for the carrier to invoice us and make sure the rate matches up. If it does, we close out the invoice from the carrier in our system and automatically your invoice is created and sent to the requested party at your company. In the event the carrier has an additional charge on their invoice “Variance”, we will never send you an invoice with an additional charge without first identifying you of the charge.
Let us repeat, NEVER WILL WE JUST BILL OUT AN EXTRA CHARGE WITHOUT YOU BEING NOTIFIED.
You are our customer, we represent you. Should the carrier provide an extra charge on an invoice, “Lift gate, additional weight, reclass, detention, etc.) We notify you of the charge via email first. Second, within that email we identify what is required should you choose to dispute the charge. Again our goal is to honor your request, if you want to dispute, we will dispute. During a dispute we will provide you updates every step along the way. Once a dispute is closed out, whether it is approved or rejected, then we will invoice you as the invoice has been resolved.
For reference, our company only had 6.2% of all shipments go to dispute in 2022 and we successfully won 91% of those disputes on behalf of our customers.
This is our process for every single shipment you move with us. We don’t cut corners, we don’t hide from difficult situations. We believe in being available, honest, and transparent. We don’t ever want to tell you that a shipment is lost, damaged, misrouted, but it is our duty to notify you the second we find out something has gone wrong. We hate to present bad news, but it is part of the job. What you can guarantee is that we will work a shipment all the way through and turn over every stone until we get a resolution for our clients.
Services offered?
Our core business is LTL and FTL. Within these options we have options for both dry and refrigerated/frozen. We also offer FCL/Drayage options. Our company as a 3PL has nationwide options and services clients across the US.
Let’s breakdown our services more in-depth
LTL:
Standard and Guaranteed
CFS (Imports & Exports)
Tradeshows
Hazmat
Anything that is on a pallet can be moved LTL. Typically LTL is up to 10 pallets, but the sweet spot for a carrier is 6-8 pallets at most for an individual shipment. LTL quotes are good between 5-30 days depending on the carrier. LTL can be quoted either via NMFC or density to determine the class (we do this for you).
Volume:
Anything over 10-12’ of space in the truck is the technical rule for a volume shipment. When we run a quote for you we will determine if it qualifies for volume and provide you a rate if available. Volume moves allow you to get a reduced rate for larger shipments. The caveat to volume shipments it the quotes are only valid for 3-7 days and they move on capacity between terminals. If a terminal is backed up they will move their LTL freight first before the volume freight, which can lead to longer transit times for volume moves.
FTL/Dedicated/Expedited: 53’ Dry and Reefer 26’ Box trucks with lift gate Sprinter Van The main difference for FTL vs LTL is space and transit time. For standard pallets you can fit either 26 or 30 pallets in a 53’ dry van. The other main difference is transit time, for FTL each day counts in the transit time, whereas LTL does not count the day of pickup, weekends, or holidays in their transit time.
Reefer/Frozen:
LTL and FTL
We specialize working in the CPG space with food manufacturers. We regularly deliver to
the following locations:
Kehe
UNFI
Core Mark
DPI
Wegmans
Cugini
H.T. Hackney
Netrition
HEB
ALDI
Chambers and Owens
EBY Brown
Nassau Candy
Harris Teeter
Wakefern
NU INC
Long Distribution
What makes KLS different?
There are thousands of freight brokers and 3PL in our industry. Barrier to entry is rather easy and agents or owners will often hire sales people without any intention of properly training them. It results in high turnover for many freight companies and a forgettable experience for the client. We choose to operate differently through our consistency. We truly care about doing right by our clients and prospects too. While we would love to help provide our services to every company we speak with, that just isn’t realistic. We won’t always be the right fit for every company that moves freight and that is ok. Our authenticity as a shipping company sets us apart from the competition and that is backed up by our testimonials. We also run a marketing campaign bi-weekly called “Together Talks”. We interview, highlight, and promote two businesses every week. Our goal is to grow our network, make new connections, and learn something new with each collaboration. Check it out on our website and if you’re interested in being featured reach out.
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