How to Build a Profitable Timeless Brand

Irene Chen and Matthew Grenby are the co-founders of Parker Thatch, a luxury handbag and accessories brand they bootstrapped to 8-figures over the course of 20 years. Matt’s expertise spans tech, design, and marketing, while Irene brings deep fashion industry knowledge from working with powerhouse brands like Donna Karan and Calvin Klein.

In this episode of DTC Pod, Matt and Irene share how they navigated the shift from an e-stationery startup to eventually finding product-market fit with their signature luxury bags. They discuss key lessons learned in bootstrapping—the importance of market timing, how to manage inventory risks, and why flexibility and systems are critical when growing a brand.

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Fav Quotes from Episode #352

Building Flexibility Into Inventory Decisions: “When I was at Donna Karen, one thing I learned was if you're not sure about something, invest in grayish goods. And grayish goods allow for you to be much more flexible than, you know, taking a bet on red, yellow, green, black. So if it's grayish, you could always dye it… We didn't have the money to buy fancy fabrics and I loved pedestrian fabrics. But we used canvas because canvas you could print on, you could do things with it, maybe you could dye it if you wanted to. So that allowed for me to have the flexibility of taking a risk on a larger bet on one thing, but I could turn it into other things if things went sideways.” — Irene Chen, 00:20:46 - 00:21:26

Why ICP Unlocks Smarter Decisions: “[Knowing your ICP] allows you to be strategic. It allows you to transcend just being tactical, because then suddenly all your tactical decisions can be made through the filter of the strategic imperative. And it's just like you said, it's freeing and it's really important.” — Matthew Grenby, 00:40:58 - 00:41:13

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3 Best DTC Practices from Irene Chen & Matthew Grenby

1. Stay scrappy and find creative solutions

Bootstrapping a business to 8 figures? It's all about embracing your scrappy side.

As Irene shared, when she needed help creating their first handbag pattern, she turned to an unlikely source: her local dry cleaner.

The result was their now-iconic Mimi Bag, the first step in their handbag market venture.

To apply this lesson in your own business:

➤ Get resourceful with your network and find creative partnerships and solutions

➤ Don't be afraid to start small and iterate—you can always scale later 

➤ Actively seek out ways to stretch your budget further, like hunting for deals on materials or negotiating with suppliers

Remember, staying scrappy doesn't mean sacrificing quality. It's about being strategic and nimble with the resources you have. Sometimes, unconventional solutions lead to the most iconic results.

2. Break bottlenecks and build systems to scale

Is your business hitting a plateau? Take a step back and look for potential bottlenecks holding you back.

For Parker Thatch, Matt realized that hand-monogramming every bag simply wasn't scalable. Though core to their brand, it put a firm cap on production capacity.

Their solution? Eliminate monogramming entirely. This bold move freed up major bandwidth to streamline ops and expand product lines.

But that's just step one. To keep scaling efficiently, you need airtight systems too.

For Parker Thatch, this meant forging strategic partnerships with 3PLs to offload inventory management and streamline fulfillment.

How to apply this in your business:

➤ Audit your processes to identify time-sucks and efficiency killers 

➤ Consider the long-term impact of eliminating or automating bottlenecks 

➤ Prioritize building systems for essential functions like production, shipping, service, and marketing 

➤ Document everything to boost quality and consistency as you grow

Bake in the time to build your backend early on. By combining a knack for busting bottlenecks with a systems mindset, you'll be unstoppable as you scale.

3. Don't be afraid to pivot

One of the biggest lessons from Matthew and Irene's story? Knowing when to pivot is absolutely critical for long-term success.

Parker Thatch actually started as an e-stationery service way back in the early 2000s. But when they realized the market simply wasn't ready to pay for that kind of digital product, they quickly shifted to physical paper goods instead.

That willingness to recognize what wasn't working and adapt on the fly ultimately enabled them to find their sweet spot in the home and fashion categories, paving the way for their hero product: a monogrammed canvas bag.

Had Matthew and Irene stubbornly clung to their original vision, who knows where they'd be today. The ability to pivot based on market feedback is what has allowed them to stay relevant and grow the business over two decades.

So if you find your original concept isn't gaining traction, don't be afraid to change course. Stay open to new opportunities. Listen closely to what your customers are telling you. And adapt your offerings to better suit the current market and demand.

Some of the most game-changing breakthroughs emerge from the pivots. Embrace them and see where they take you.