Health, Vogue And Group Converge At Efficiency Put on Retailer Carbon38

Carbon38 pioneered the multi-brand luxury sports retail concept.

Photo courtesy of Carbon38

The first episode of the new Apple TV show Physical with Rose Byrne shows how fashion and workout clothes have converged since the fitness boom in the 1980s. Fast forward to today, when the wearing of athleisure styles crept into the workwear of some companies. No one has been better able to capitalize on this emerging trend of blurring the lines between street and fitness wear than Carbon38 co-founder Katie Warner Johnson. The CEO combined her Harvard degree and fitness coaching skills to create the premier luxury sports multi-brand retailer with a mission to promote other women-run brands along the way.

After graduating with a BA in Art History and Architecture, Warner Johnson postponed a Deutsche Bank job to pursue her other passion, ballet. This dream has stalled due to multiple injuries but instead of resorting to finances; She became a sought-after fitness trainer in Los Angeles. “I was a fitness trainer and therefore lived in elastane,” says Warner Johnson about the creation of the brand.

Katie Warner Johnson, Founder and CEO of Carbon38

Photo courtesy of Carbon38

“I’ve come to know cool emerging brands, most of which were run by women. I found that these brands wanted to chase the big players in activewear, but rather than that; my thought was that micro-players and crowdsourcing were our way to success.” An invitation to the Women 2.0 Startup Conference Weekend 2012 in San Francisco helped to consolidate the idea.

The name came from the CEO’s passion for the periodic table, and in 2014 the brand launched with five brands. “Carbon is one of the most abundant elements in our bodies and it felt imperative to the business I was starting to create,” she explains. You have worked with over 260 brands to date, 75% of which are run or founded by women. “Supporting female leaders is important to me – Carbon38 exists because of them,” says Warner Johnson.

The site carries Adidas by Stella McCartney, LoveShackFancy, Balmain, Reebok X Victoria Beckham and Sweaty Betty, among others. The looks promote a style that combines the DNA of activewear with fashionable ready-to-wear silhouettes, a powerful look for modern women.

Leveraging her college grasp of finance, the fitness pro grew the company from $ 0 to over $ 50 million, ran successful rounds of funding, and hired the right industry leaders to support the vision.

The fitness universe was a community long before social media and the internet hummed with them. It turned out to be the retailer’s first marketing vehicle, with Warner Johnson serving as its first brand ambassador. “I was our first ambassador, wearing the latest styles on Carbon38 to my morning fitness classes. By the time I made it home from the studio, we had reached our daily sales target.” She credits the ambassadors with the creation and success of Carbon38.

The company has a network of thousands of fitness trainers in 23 countries who serve as “the brand’s evangelists,” as they put it. “Today’s consumers can spot a fake recommendation at a glance. When there is a real bond between brand and partner, consumers feel it, believe it and buy it. Maintaining an authentic network of ambassadors was our mission at Carbon38.”

The brand recently launched the “At Our Core” campaign highlighting the role and social contribution of female ambassadors around the world. “These women are pillars of their community and the foundation of our company,” she explains.

A look from the branded performance wear collection by Carbon38.

Photo courtesy of Carbon38

Like any start-up, Carbon38 hasn’t been without a learning curve, especially the uncanny fortune of their crowd-sourced community-based success. “If I knew what I know now, I wouldn’t have taken any chances or retired to some of our craziest and greatest wins,” she reveals. “However, in the last year alone, Carbon38 has seen some of its highest highs and lowest lows. My biggest takeaway was ‘You are never in control,’ which is terrifying and liberating, ”she continues with the critical business lessons.

As a fitness brand with a number of coaching ambassadors, at the start of the pandemic, they were ready to reach out to their community and offer classes to help maintain some aspects of normally planned life. “Early in the lockdown we implemented” Work (out) From Home “- a fitness course that is held 3 times a day on our Instagram and includes a large number of instructors from our ambassador community.”

The platform brought customers, brands, providers, investors, teams and ambassadors together in this challenging time. “We continue to offer live weekend courses on our Instagram. The opportunities to connect with our larger community go way beyond leggings.”

For those on the east and west coasts looking for an IRL Carbon38 experience, the brand currently has two physical locations, Palisades Park and Bridgehampton. Current investments are geared towards not only carrying over 70 percent of the women-run brands, but also investing in some trading investors and incubators for those who otherwise may never receive the capital and commitment to be successful on a large scale. The collaboration is also at the core of the brand as an exclusive tennis-centric collection has been forged between Venus Williams and EleVen.

In 2015 the brand added its own branded line of workout clothing that is exclusive to Carbon38. They are taking steps towards sustainability by using two fabrics in their core products, Cloud and Diamond Compression, which are made from recycled water bottles. In addition, 100% of the poly bags with branded labels are made from recycled plastic.

The road to sustainability is a journey not dissimilar to starting a brand. Small steps and actions turn into bigger ideas and results. Warner Johnson is grateful for the opportunity, however she created herself and gained wisdom along the way.

“It was a gift to be building something from scratch at my kitchen table to spend the last 20 months at that table preparing the business for a new era and the next decade of success,” she reflects, adding, “ Back to the realization that you are never in control. I plan to listen better to our customers, suppliers and teammates because the answer is always in the room. “