Thanksgiving 2025 Update

It’s been about three years since my last update. David and my boys will turn three soon. You do the math. 😉
 
I tend to get reflective this time of year. It’s my birthday, and I’m turning 35. This year has been a big lift.
 
Last year, my main focus was getting a marketing department up and running—one that could do most of the things: photos, videos, email marketing (you know… all these things we keep sending you). We did that. I’m grateful to say they don’t need me for the day-to-day much anymore. It’s still a work in progress, but we’re growing new muscles and getting better each time. We have an iterative process now, something we can keep improving.
 
We also launched our first few more complex international products, and it keeps getting easier. It’s still not easy… There have been tons of delays—most that we knew about far enough in advance to pivot around, and some that were more surprising (looking at you, Crewman shirt).
 
We’re learning the languages of different factories, literally and figuratively. We’re starting to build trust with the factories we’ve worked with 2–3 times. We now know that when they say a product is “done,” they still need about two weeks to set up a shipment, and then it takes another four weeks to reach us. There’s a lot of tracking precedent and learning which questions to ask.
 
It’s exciting to work with factories that are as specialized as we are. Sometimes they suggest things we didn’t think were possible at our size.
 
In Q4, we map out most of the next year. Lately we’ve been talking about what we want to do in 2026. It feels like a bit of an arrival point, since for the last two-ish years our focus has been:

1. Survival
2. Rebuilding the basic building blocks of a functional company through systems and teaching people
3. Getting a handle on international manufacturing

Next year, our goal is to re-introduce ourselves to the world and tell our stories so we can reach our customers in new ways. That means a lot of things for us:

     Events are coming back. We’re rebuilding our Events team and calendar. You’ve told us you want us to come to you—and we’re going to. Simple as that. In our mission to make you feel extraordinary, we’ve noticed there’s no replacement for the in-person experience. I’m very excited to have Amanda and Josh joining us to restart this department. I can’t wait to see them all over the country visiting you.

     Capsule Collections, leveled up. Capsule Collections are getting serious. We’ve got a bunch of them coming—we want to present you with a whole world of fashion, not just a single piece here and there.

     Volante Con is real. Volante Con is a reality! This will be the first time we’ve ever gotten together to have a party of our very own. I hope to see each of you there in your finery. Please save the date for Halloween weekend 2026.

     New IPs on the horizon. We’re working on new IPs with our licensing partners—secret stuff that I’m very excited about, even if it’s moving slowly at the moment. You’ve seen the gaming world. It’s a madhouse out there.

Thank you for being with us. I’m hoping to make these updates a more regular thing again—maybe even monthly. Thanks for reading and for sticking with us.
 
I’m sending my love out to you. We’re all we’ve got. Let’s make it good.
 
Stay badass,
Willow Volante