We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kris Dunlap a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kris, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My daughter Amber and I were sitting outside one summer and started talking about how much we loved going up north to our cabin on the lake. We also realized that while we saw a lot of merchandise in our state that focused on “lake life,” no one featured cabins. It sparked our idea to create “Cabin Crew Designs” — we just knew it would resonate with people in Minnesota. The word “crew” was important to us because it creates a feeling of inclusivity and being part of something.

Kris, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Brand is very important to us, so we wanted to hire a professional designer to create our logo, brand colors and merchandise designs. Jenny Johns is the most wonderful art director — we were ecstatic with her classic, modern designs. Amber and I were also super picky about the merchandise. No overseas sweat shops for us — only made in the USA, ethical companies. We had clothing samples delivered and chose only the highest quality, softest material. We truly wanted products that we would wear — the stuff you reach for first and never want to take off. For our other merchandise, we did a lot of research until we found just the right coffee cup, pint glass, hat, etc. Everything had to be stylish and on brand. We know it’s more expensive, but it’s worth it! We get a lot of compliments from customers and that means the world to us.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

We’ve been in business for 5 years, mostly selling online. Our first summer, Amber and I decided to take a roadtrip “up north” to find local stores who might want our merchandise. Our strategy was simple: We would go to 5 different cities, find the cutest shop, go in wearing our merchandise and wait for the owner to ask us about Cabin Crew. LOL. This is not the way to go! However, there was one shop that was VERY enthusiastic about us. A salesperson, upon seeing us dressed in matching t-shirts, exclaimed, “Oh, I LOVE your shirts!” We were thrilled. The buyer of the shop met with us and proceeded to tell us what we should be making and how we should be selling it. She wanted stuffed animals and sundresses and all kinds of things we had no intention of creating. She meant well, but she was very overbearing. We practically ran out of the store and went on our merry way. While the roadtrip was a lot of fun, we ended up getting our merchandise in local White Bear Lake stores.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The two stores we got into closed after a few years, so we have to keep finding ways to sell our merchandise. One is to do outdoor shows. We typically do this in the summer and love it! It’s fun to see people’s reactions when they see our booth and we love meeting new and potential customers. We keep adding more designs (branching out with Pontoon Crew and Lake Crew), which have really resonated with Minnesotans. It’s been fun to think of new designs and see them come to life. We will continue to try to get into shops around town — and maybe we need another roadtrip up north.

Contact Info:

• Website: cabincrewdesigns.com
• Instagram: @cabincrewdesigns.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/cabincrewdesigns

Image Credits
Matthew Siddons, Amber Dunlap, Kris Dunlap