Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Robin Hall. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Robin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

Our first “first sale” came when we were working our first event. We were at the Fruita Kids Adventure Games and were setting up our little 10×10 tent, hand writing ‘Welcome to Town Hall – It’s Our First Day’ on a chalkboard. We had just received all of our tee shirts and hats in the mail the day before and were excited to test the waters. We were unfolding a table, the sun was rising, people were wearing hoodies and drinking coffee before the event and a mom came over with her son. She asked, in broken English, ‘Do you have any tee shirts?’ Absolutely we did! Fumbling through sizing, showing her colors, checking our pricing sheet, she said she would take one. We were over the moon. The tee was $35, so she handed us the cash and walked away. My co-founder Jay and I high fived, hugged and took a photo for posterity. When we came off of our high, we realized: 1) we had no way to take cash (only credit card) and 2) she didn’t pay for tax! So, we lost money on our first sale and had to do some accounting magic, but we saw that kid smiling largely as he walked around the event all day. The day was a raging success for us and we go back every year to celebrate and cheer on the kid racers.

Our second “first sale” came 8 months later when we realized we needed to start selling at retail. No one was finding us in the big world of the internet, and we thought: what better way to build community than with awesome, local specialty retailers. Feeling outside my comfort zone in the sales realm, I did what I thought was best – load up my car with tons of jackets, leave the family for three weeks and drive around the state, knocking on retail doors to look for good partners. I made a lot of wonderful contacts and had some great conversations, but everyone was bought-in for the season. Until I stopped at Breck Kidz in Breckenridge. I walked in with my head low, trying to give it the old college try, with four jackets over my arm. ‘Hi is the Manager or Buyer here?’ ‘That’s me!’ I gave my pitch. And, within five minutes, I sold 26 jackets! I ran out to my car applied hang tags, documented what I sold and ran them back in – all while it was dumping the biggest snow flakes I have ever seen. I hugged her, we took photos and I got back to my car and cried. The biggest day of our business yet.

Robin, 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?

Robin Hall is the CEO and Co-Founder of Town Hall Outdoor Co, a sustainable kids outdoor apparel company with community and planet at its core. With over 15 years in the outdoor industry, Robin is a seasoned and enthusiastic leader, strategist and project manager. Robin has built a career out of diving deeply into all functions of an outdoor brand and she passionately brings diverse groups together to solve problems, with her values as her guide. Robin’s #1 and #2 StrengthFinders strengths are Positivity and Achiever, which means she gets it done with a genuine smile on her face and for the love of the process. Town Hall is the epicenter of her passions, bringing together community, environmental stewardship, kids and the outdoors. Robin loves outside daily with her husband, two sons and Bernese Mountain Dog, Yeti, in the amazing community of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Town Hall Outdoor Co was started in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in 2020 by parents who wanted a better choice when it came to their kids’ apparel. We wanted to use our years of experience in outdoor apparel to create a new standard in outerwear, built specifically with kids in mind. Kids aren’t mini adults. They are full-size versions of themselves, who need clothes built around their unique needs. And they are inheriting this world, so we want to make sure that everything we create is sustainably made. We use as much recycled material as possible. We believe in reducing our manufacturing footprint. And we don’t believe in taking shortcuts. Our goal is to be planet positive – to leave the planet better than we found it. We’re all about building quality gear that lets kids find joy in the outdoors, and stay warm and comfy doing it.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

My mentor in the outdoor industry used to preach the importance of mission, vision, purpose and values in not only a company but in your personal life. At my prior company, it was a part of everything that we did, from the 30k foot strategy, down to the everyday, desktop level. When we started Town Hall, establishing those four philosophies was paramount and the first thing that we did. Those principles are so deeply woven into the fabric of the brand that everyone who comes in contact with us feels them as deeply as we do. We are able to turn the most mundane business introductions into a passion-filled, joyful conversation because we are so grounded in our principles. People who interact with the brand instantly fall in love with our story, what we are doing and where we are headed. It isn’t necessarily a ‘strategy to grow our clientele’, our clientele naturally gravitate grows when we tell our story. We’re building community one conversation at a time and we firmly believe that 1+1=3.

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

I have worked for three large companies and all three of them decided, while I was working there, that my position and our office needed to move locations. The first from San Francisco to Albuquerque, the next from the Vail Valley to Denver and the third from the mountains of Northwest Colorado (Steamboat Springs) to Denver. I shook my head and was awestruck each time this happened to me. I was lost, scared, angry and didn’t know what to do. What would I do, where would I land, what was I good at? Follow the safe and secure career path, or navigate something new? I’m a problem solver. When an obstacle comes in my way, I want to solve it and move on. These three times I couldn’t. It took time – time to decide, time to soul search, time to look for new opportunities, time to lean in to my network, friends and family. But my values, hope and family and friends’ support led the way for me. Each time, I found a new opportunity that kept me in my community and landed me, very firmly, on two feet. I wouldn’t be here without those hurdles.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.townhallco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/townhallco_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Townhallco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/townhallco/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/townhallco_

Image Credits
Elisa Maines Photography Alex Johnson Photographer