THOUSAND FOR ALL: FUNCTIONAL COMMUTER-MINDED FASHION

THOUSAND: Tell us about your entrepreneurial journey – how did your experiences lead you to Olivers?

DAVID WOLFE: I'd say there’s a combination of factors that led to the launch. My father is an entrepreneur, and my mother has a wide variety of artistic inclinations (architecture, painting, cooking, gardening), so I think it’s safe to say their interests rubbed off on me growing up. I’ve looked back at elementary school assignments and my childhood dream constantly went back and forth between wanting to play professional baseball and wanting to take over my dad’s business (still holding out hope that I’ll get a call from the Dodgers). I studied finance in college at USC and worked in that capacity for my first 5 or so years after college, and then moved into the digital marketing world for a few years before starting Olivers. During that time that the realization that I had this burning desire to build something became evident. So it was partially just the right time for me to build something so to speak, I just had that strong desire. Olivers happened to be a really good fit in that it coincided with many of my personal values (quality, health in particular) and it happened to be a space where as a consumer I felt there was something missing.

T: Why do you love cycling? What’s your favorite thing about riding?             

DW: Cycling is a great workout. It’s strenuous, enjoyable, can cover beautiful landscapes, takes you outdoors, and isn’t too hard on the body, at least for me. Just much less wear and tear on the joints than something like running. Furthermore, there’s a great social aspect of ridingthat I didn’t fully grasp until I got into the sport – the cafe culture, the community, the opportunity to ride with friends and even plan trips around. 

T: Why do you feel Olivers mission is important? What role does it play in running the business every day?

DW: We think of our mission as being dedicated to equipping our customers with the highest quality athletic apparel and dependable information they can use to strengthen the body, mind, and spirit. Our belief is that producing high quality products is a sign of respect for the customer, and also it cultivates a sense of pride (the good kind of pride) in the creator. It feels good to put something into the world that you feel is high quality and can be used for a long time and to pursue what we’d call health-giving amusements. So bringing products we are proud of into the world that our customers can use to hopefully live healthy and ultimately richer lives, is a mission we feel very good about.

T: What advice do you have for entrepreneurs just starting out?     

DW: My first bit of advice would be to get one thing right. Which in our case was the All Over Short. We launched with that product and that product only, and didn’t release our 2nd product for another 18 months. If you can’t get 1 thing right, nothing else matters to a certain extent. I think that applies not just to apparel but most other ventures. Less, but better, said Dieter Rams. Next piece of advice would be to figure out how to sell and/or market. One of my early mentors in the business used to say ‘sales cures all’, and I think he was spot on. 

T: Do you have a favorite piece of Olivers apparel? Why?

DW: I love our Passage Pants, for the same reason I enjoy most of our products: high quality material and well constructed, comfortable, versatile, and liberating to wear. Great pant for riding around town in!