We were lucky to catch up with Joni Kilmurry recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joni, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

There are several factors making it incredibly challenging to be profitable in the apparel industry. Customers have been taught to buy in sale and not full price, expectations for constant newness, free shipping and returns. This consumer behavior is mostly thanks to fast fashion and Amazon. We manufacture our activewear in Los Angeles, from recycled fabrics, hence our volumes are small, production prices higher and therefore narrower profit margins. Additionally, cost of customer acquisition has significantly increased, making it challenging to grow a direct to consumer business. While wholesale, albeit great PR for your brand, demands a huge cashflow to fund, significantly reduced margins and expensive sample collections. More recently, this has also become very high risk, with stores often not paying brands for the product they ordered. Example, one of our largest wholesale accounts, a well known multi-brand activewear retailer, filed bankruptcy this year, owing us a great deal of money which we will never receive, meanwhile they continue to sell our product that they haven’t paid for.

Joni, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I founded HÉROS, an activewear brand based in Los Angeles, with the aim of creating quality active pieces in premium fabrics, designed through a fashion lens, rather than a ‘wellness’ lens. Our aesthetic is elevated, clean, beautiful design but also functional. I studied fashion & textile design at art school in the UK, lived in both London and New York, before moving to LA where I worked as a wardrobe stylist for red carpet. Later, becoming director of celebrity relations for Levis, collaborating with talent and musicians to create custom denim pieces and manage product placement. I also certified in Pilates, having practiced for 10+ years, so a move into the activewear space felt like a natural progression.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’m a firm believer that, through crisis comes change. HÉROS was originally founded as a RTW brand and like so many brands, when Covid hit we lost 70% of our business overnight. A pivot was necessary to survive and within 6 months we launched activewear, which grew quickly to become a far more successful business than RTW. The ultimate lesson in rolling with the punches and a lesson I constantly revisit when things get tough or when we’re faced with business challenges that can feel insurmountable.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

When I started HÉROS, I had no experience of manufacturing apparel, how to find a factory, suppliers, fabric vendors. I asked a lot of questions, a lot of favors and I was honest about what I didn’t know, when speaking to suppliers, pattern makers or factories. Obsess about the details. I had a very clear vision about design, branding and creative and I’ve been lucky enough to build a team of talented people around me that share and believe in that vision, for which I’m incredibly grateful. As always, the lessons are usually learned from the mistakes you make.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.houseofheros.com
• Instagram: @herosofficial