This week on the podcast: Puja Seth, founder and CEO of Drifted Co. Puja details how she came up with the idea to launch Drifted and her process of starting and apparel company as sustainably as she could. She also shares how important having a vision can be, dealing with the "oh shit" moments in business, balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship, and so much more.
Follow Drifted:
Follow us: @wheeliecreative
Don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss our new episodes every Thursday (and the occasional minisode). Please leave us an iTunes review to let us know what you think about the show!
Affiliate Links:
Episode Transcript
Puja: I always felt like the basis of Drifted is really a female culture, a woman culture, however, you know, however we identify, but it's really just like this feminine culture. Not necessarily gender, but more of an energy. And so I wanted to really touch on that more feminine side of Earth and nature.
[intro]
Iris: Hello and welcome to another episode of Outside By Design! My name is Iris, I host the show alongside Lisa Slagle, and as always, the show is brought to you by WHEELIE, a modern creative agency and production company for the outdoor industry.
This week Lisa interviewed Puja Seth, founder and CEO of Drifted Co. Drifted is an awesome outdoor women’s apparel brand centered around modern living and outdoor exploration. Puja details how a dilemma she faced while traveling in Morocco caused her to create Drifted, and she also talks about the great care she took to ensure Drifted was launched as sustainably as possible. She also shares her product testing process, how to deal with the “oh shit” moments in business, conquering self-doubt, and getting into REI as a new brand. This episode is packed with nuggets of knowledge, so let’s take a listen!
[music]
Lisa: The first question we ask everyone is to describe where you are in the world and what you're looking at.
Puja: Well, where I am right now, physically… I'm in Santa Monica. [laughs] And more specifically, I'm in my… well, it's a nursery for my son/daughter, yet neither one uses it. So it's now my soundstage because it's the quietest room in the house. So I'm just looking… Yeah. I'm sitting on the floor right now, but I’m currently positioned Santa Monica, California.
Lisa: Oh, is it warm? It's probably warm.
Puja: It's warm. It's warm. I have to say though, the warm is great, but I love seasons. And I miss cold. I miss like, that really great brightness of spring, that first 56 degree day when everybody is out in shorts. Not that I'm from the east coast, I'm from California, but I've lived other places. And I just think there's like a comradery in being cold. So. It is warm though, everyday. [laughs]
Lisa: That's awesome. So I loved your quick synopsis of how you ended up starting Drifted. And so will you just tell that story?
Puja: Well, it started out when I was on a trip to Morocco with some friends and it was like mixed company, girls and guys. You know, we'd been doing quite a bit of traveling and just like, we all love adventure. And so one day we just had an itinerary planned where we had like about a… it was like a six or eight hour trail up in the Atlas mountains. And we're going to go trek this guided tour, or guided trek rather. And then we're going to come back down into Marrakech, like near the Medina, and then go to… Richard Branson has like a Casbah he calls it, it looks like a real kind of chic lounge. So we made reservations to go. ‘Cause obviously, why wouldn’t you.
And so we were just like, okay, well, we don't have time to go to the hotel. We couldn't change in between. And so we ended up just needing to kind of wear our clothes on the hike and then change our shoes. Like we could keep them in our packs and then head over to dinner. And so we were just getting done and like the girl- the guys got ready in, I don’t know, like ten minutes. And it was weird ‘cause we were all in like a hotel and um, the girls were like, “oh, what are you going to wear?” And I'm like, “oh, I've got this like Free People top” or like, “oh, I can't wear my like Patagonia pants. ‘Cause like I just look kind of oafy in them” and back and forth and back and forth and like, wow, it's taken like 45 minutes for the girls to get ready.
And it was split, like half of the girls were like, well, you know, I'm just going to dress for the Casbah, the lounge, because I'd rather go there, I guess. Maybe I just won’t go on the trail. And then the other half were like, no, like we want to go on the trail, but we also want to go out to dinner. So they're like, well, is there a dress code at the lounge? And there was. So all things happened, and then we ended up having to change our plans. Just because girls couldn't figure out what to wear, something that could transition and take them from the trail where there... it was, you know, rocky, like a lot of crags. We were going to be, you know, eight hours. It's no small feat for a hike. And so we needed something that performed in the elements. We didn't know the Atlas mountain super well, so we just needed to be prepared. And then we also needed something that kind of polished up. Like you could just take some water and a damp rag and wipe off, and we didn't have it. So it was either, you know, a little bit more restaurant-y or a little bit more trail, whichever way.
So we ended up canceling our plans. We took a shorter hike and we ended up going to just kind of like a casual eatery afterward. And it just sucked. I just thought like, you know what -I'm not really big into like, kind of like taking on like a stance between men and women and like the inequalities - but I go, that really sucks. Like, the guys didn't have a problem. Like why do we have this problem? And like, you know, it just kind of feeds into this like, ‘oh, women care too much about what they're going to wear,’ but like, not at all, like the solutions aren't there. Like we couldn't- we didn't want to care, but we were forced into caring because like we had these two activities.
So it was one of those things where I just go, you know what? What a waste. We just had to change our plans because we couldn't change our outfit. And so that was when I was like, this is clearly not just a me problem. Like I've had that problem traveling a ton, but I thought maybe, maybe I'm picky. And so anyway, that's when… I had always like loved hiking and travel and had this idea to design. And it was like, the impetus was there after that event.
And so shortly after that, probably three months, no two months, at a pretty well-respected very high paying position, I quit. And I went on Amazon and got a design, like, sketchbook. I don't sketch necessarily, I don’t know. And I started drawing out pieces and I said like, these are the things we need for like, technical. This was the performance wear that we need. And then also like how to fit a woman's shape and how to transition, like, what are some really key details and design that make it look sophisticated versus frumpy. And so that was really how Drifted got started, was just a trip to Morocco and having to change plans.
Lisa: Wow. So how did you go from like, “okay. These are my ideas in my sketchbook” to, “okay, now I need to have a fabric supplier and now I need to have someone who knows how to sew” or… what happened?
Puja: That's a really big leap going from like a sketchpad to actual production. And I really did. I had a background in it, like my previous role was… I was a merchant basically, but I ran a really big activewear store, from a retail standpoint. But I wasn't in the… I didn't know factories. I didn't, I didn't know sourcing materials. I knew good fabric when I felt it. I knew good garments and construction when I saw it, but like how to do it, I didn't know. And so I had actually met - ‘cause I was living in Boston at the time - and I had met a girl who was one of the head designers at LL Bean. And so she also had like a big background in active wear, but like specifically with LL Bean and they're all about the elements and weather protection.
And so I reached out to her and I said, “listen, I need help.” I said, “I have this idea. You're the only person I know who could help me bridge this gap and actually find a fabric and find us a factory.” ‘Cause it's hard to find a factory, like, nobody wants to do small runs. Local manufacturing doesn't want to, overseas doesn't want to, so you really have to look for people that are going to be good fits. That will not only work with you, but will hold the quality that you want. So with her connections and her real life expertise, she guided my path a lot in the early stages. And so we had gone, this was pre COVID in like January 20… well, actually we had done some sourcing of materials prior to that, but January, 2020, we went to this trade show in New York, and it was a Tex World and it was like all the textiles were there. And so that was when I started to familiarize myself a lot more with actually how the textile industry worked. And then, she knew of a really, really solid factory in Sri Lanka, who was… and again, everybody, one of the things that was just a standard and a pillar, non-negotiable for us was sustainability and sustainable materials. I didn't want to just do business with anyone. So I knew when, when we start any new business, it's really hard to catch, like someone to do something for you, but I didn't want it to just be, oh, you know, great. You'll take our, you know, we'll take your business. But then here, like we don't really uphold any standards. So fast fashion, like if they did a line of fast fashion, that was absolutely a no-go for us.
So this factory in Sri Lanka was really, really powerful because they actually… every single employee was treated with just very high standards, very ethical. They believed in clean emissions, they tracked it. There was a lot of traceability behind it. So that is how we started to pick our manufacturing. And the same goes with fabric. We work with only Blue Sign Certified fabrics, and Blue Sign is a third-party organization out of Switzerland and they, again, same thing, it's like end to end transparency, making sure there's no harmful chemicals throughout the process, and also that the people are treated well and even the distribution is done properly. So that was just something that we wanted to uphold and it was having that resource and having, you know, my friend early on to really get me started. And then now the relationships are built and we have a little bit of mobility to… not dictate terms, but I would say like call the shots a little bit more.
Lisa: Oh, that's wonderful. And what's your product testing like? Or what was it like in the beginning? Would you just have certain people in different bodies that you would have try out your clothing or… what happened?
Puja: It was a little bit of both. There was field testing and lab testing. And so the lab testing was again, third party, a third party organization that we'd hire from like someone that was like local in either… excuse me, Sri Lanka or in the US. And they would, they would just go through, so it was like color fastness, they would test the construction, they would put in kind of like, you see those crash course with the cars and the dummies, like they put in X amount of pressure to see like, will the grommet pop off if you put on 20 pounds of pressure, a hundred pounds of pressure? How much can it withstand? Like, what's the seam construction like? And so we did all that.
But at the same time, we did field testing, so it was a lot of people, some women who I didn't even know, who maybe I found on Instagram that I just thought, “you know what, they kind of live a bad-ass life and they go on adventures.” So I said, “Hey, can you test these for us?
And see, like, do they hold up to your construction needs?” And then also we have a group of friends that are all into the outdoors, travel, and we have probably like 20 wear testers, different body shapes, different ethnicities, different, you know, different like uses, just for us to get it. And then every time I did a load of laundry, I would throw a piece of the garment in, the sample in. Just to see how well it washed. So I probably washed it like 50 times before we said, “yeah, that's like the right fabric and the right construction.” Because I've just had a lot of garments in my past and you pay money for, and then they fall apart after 10 washes or even even less. But, and that was, yeah, that was something that was important to me too. So that's how we started testing.
Lisa: Oh, I love that. And I love, love, love your fabric. I have the wide leg adjustable flow pant, and I ride my bike in those things. Like, I cruise around town in those, like, oh, I love those pants. The fabric is so nice. It's durable.
Puja: That's what we, you know, we wanted something that was durable, but soft on the skin. And for some reason it was either one or the other that was out in the market. And so that's where, you know, like the wide leg adjustable has a little bungee cinch at the bottom. And that was… when you travel, we thought, oh, that's like a great one to go travel, like on the airplane with, and it's just super like airy, breathable, soft. And we go, but when you go to the bathroom, like, the wide leg is just going to drop to the floor. Like, eww! And so we put the adjustable bungee on there cause we were like, oh, that way she can decide if she needs to bungee it so it just never touches the floor. Or like when you're riding a bike, same thing. Like, it doesn't get caught in the gear. So like those types of things is what we started thinking about like, oh, well, how can you make that look cute? Like adjustability is really important, but how do you make that look cute? So that's... Yeah, that's kind of how we think about each garment.
Lisa: Yeah. That attention to detail is so obvious. And, even in the photography, you have really interesting product photography on your website, and it just feels like there's a lot of thought in every aspect of the business.
Puja: Yeah, well, thanks for noticing, that was something I also wanted to pay attention to was, you know, I always felt like the basis of Drifted is really a female culture, a woman culture, however, you know, however we identify, but it's really just like this feminine culture. Not necessarily gender, but more of an energy. And so I wanted to really touch on that more feminine side of Earth and nature. And I thought like, you know, there's some cool companies out there, Patagonia, North Face, Arc'teryx, they all kind of focus on that rugged masculine culture, which is like, dirt and, you know, it's a lot of adrenaline. And whereas I start to look at Drifted and we use terracotta as our signature color, and that was something I wanted to go with. That's just a really feminine color and you see it all over. It's everywhere in nature, but no one's really like highlighting it. So it was, yeah, just to emulate a little bit more of the feminine side and that beauty side of nature. Along with obviously the excitement and awe of getting out there. But, yeah, that was the something that we paid attention to in our photography and just all the creative that we do.
Lisa: Yeah. It's so good. It's so well done. Okay. So one another thing I wanted to ask you about, because again, it's in this survey you filled out was your top three values and how they show up in your work. And you said, have vision, mental agility, and do it for a great reason, not money.
Puja: Oh yeah. So I'm not a goal setter. My brother has been like a goal setter his whole life, and maybe I have like habit form reaction to not be a goal setter from that. He's an older brother, so that's probably what it is. But I just am not… I don't… I'm not like, okay, this is what we're going to do. And I muscle through it. I find it to be exhausting to muscle through things. And a lot of times, like when there's so much effort involved, I almost question like, is it really the right thing? Like, should I be forcing myself into this or forcing whatever? There should be some kind of natural flow to it.
So I really believe in vision. And it's beneficial, like so many different parts of our life. But with Drifted before I even, like I said, before I even brought the sketchpad and put like my pen to the sketch pad, I closed my eyes and I just pictured, like, what would it look like? What would it feel like if there were a brand, apparel brand or gear brand or whatever it is, what are we doing? Outside of just clothes, what else are we doing? And so I started to picture - for Drifted -I started to picture the community. I started to picture women coming together like me and you having a conversation. I pictured a store. This was obviously pre COVID, but this might happen in the future, but I like pictured a store where, you know, there was many women coming together just on an event.
So I said, okay, you know what? I start to see this new outdoor culture where it's led by really amazing women trailblazers that so many of us are maybe hesitant to go out by ourselves. We're kind of used to our guys like our boyfriends, dads, or whomever taking us out. There's a whole shift in culture that's really not being talked about.
So vision to me is a way that I first set out the direction. And then from there, I kind of backtrack and start setting the goals to that vision. So that way there feels like a little bit of a natural flow and a purpose to it, it's not just about, you know, getting things done. It's like, getting things done to fulfill a greater purpose or a greater vision. And like for this one, it'd be like a little bit of a cultural shift for the outdoor industry.
And then, what was the second one? The mental agility?
Lisa: Mental agility. And I loved your answer to this.
Puja: [laughs] Now I have to think about what I wrote. This one, I feel like there's a lot of, what I said, Oh Shit Moments in business. And business is a series of Oh Shit Moments. If anybody is starting a business or has started a business and you feel like, why am I putting out so many fires all the time? Like, why is it just one mistake after another mistake? Well, that's business. I think that is what it is. There's some really good things too, but it's all a series of really not great things.
And one thing that has been, for me, so important, is having that mental agility. And what I mean by that is being able to bounce back, being able to redirect the talk in our head to something positive or to something more expansive and not so contractive. You know, I am faced with self-doubt on a daily basis. And I think - even when I was super, super, like, just nothing was in my way, I was at my previous work, you know, we finally hit the tipping point of business and it was like, it went from all this hard work to like, “oh, it's all flowing in now. Like, it's all coming.” - I still had just a tremendous amount of self doubt. Like, why me? What is this? Like, what did I do? And so with the mental agility, it's really like not to take things personally, the good and the bad, and to really be able to redirect that conversation you have with yourself. You get a bad customer review or someone just doesn't agree with what you said or what you posted, while you take the learnings from it, you just have to say, okay, this is, we just keep moving forward. And I think having that practice is so important in, again, all aspects of life, but I just think it's really amplified in business for some of us. Those kind of moments can wear on a person. And so having the ability to really hone in on, just like taming your emotions and, and redirecting that attention is really important. And it's good for resilience.
Lisa: Yeah. It's, it's hard.
Puja: Yeah. And it's funny because when we go through it - and I, I'm not separating myself from that - we feel like, “it's just me. Like, I'm the only loser who's this like, quote unquote entrepreneur who can't figure it out. Like everybody else is figuring it out and they've already done it.” And like, “look what they're doing.” And I've talked to, personally, like I have come up… ‘cause I've had a couple of businesses in the past and I've come up with a couple people who are now billionaires with a B. And, and I go, they had the same self doubt that I have. The same. I have to remember back then, when they were just starting, how they were talking and what it was. And like some, a lot of the people who are successful that I've met with business that have that mental agility is what, like they have a practice that they really stick to every single day because they know that the importance of keeping a clear mindset.
Lisa: Easier said than done.
Puja: Yes.
Lisa: And, and then your third thing, which I think ties in directly, was to not do something for money, but do it for a great reason.
Puja: Do it for a great reason, because you know what? There's so many better ways to make money than starting your own business. Like, it is easier… like I still don't cut myself a paycheck. Like, I've been making minimum wage for a very, very long time, but, you know, when you are doing something - and even if it is for somebody else - there has to be a bigger vision, because I think as human beings, we strive to find purpose in life. And I can't speak for everybody, but I think it is a lot easier way to live and a lot more meaningful way to live when you have a purpose in life.
And so when the purpose is greater than just something financial, it's easier to make the bad moments feel better because you go, “wait a minute. It's not just for money. It's not just for me personally, it's for all of these other people,” or “it is for this greater reason.” And so for me with Drifted, it really has been about uniting a culture of women to come together and really shake things up in the outdoors.
The way I have seen the outdoor culture is - again, I don't mean… I don't mean this in a way that is to like isolate or say anything bad about what has been, it's just, it's an evolution. It needed to be there in order for us to be here. And I think, you know, we are now seeing that the outdoors is for everyone. Tons of people, whether it's different backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, different economic backgrounds, we're all coming together in the outdoors. And it has really been only represented by one vertical of people. And so now I think it's just really important, you know, with Drifted, it’s what I said, like, I saw the diversity, I saw the diversity needing to be represented. And, you know, I know I have so many different kinds of friends and I see us, we all get together and nature is the greatest equalizer of all. When you're on a mountain, you're two humans on a mountain and that’s it. Like, there is nothing else that separates you. And even language, you have body language at that point. And it's really amazing. And so that's why when I get down and I - trust me, boy, do I ever am like, okay, I'm quitting. I can't do this anymore - this like one person will tag us in a picture and I'll be like, dang, like they chose to take Drifted’s clothes on their trip. And like, that is a really, that is a conscious decision because those suitcases don't hold that much. So, you know, those types of things continue the motivation because it is, it's a lot easier to make money in different ways. But if you love something, you gotta do it for something bigger.
Lisa: Mmm. How does, like, how does motherhood play into your entrepreneurial journey?
Puja: It's an interesting, interesting thing. I think if you had asked me a year ago, I would say, “oh, well I am so excited about being a mom and being an entrepreneur, and it's going to be my, you know, my kids will eventually take this over one day” and here I am now with two kids and they're both… one's almost three and the other one's five months and it's a lot. It's a lot. [laughs]
Lisa: [laughs] Yeah.
Puja: It’s a lot. You know, my mom helps me, but then I go, gosh, you're really… like, she's loving, but I'm like, she's not super helpful. [laughs] Like sometimes I just need someone like really fast-moving. But you know, I think that it's another thing where you do have to find this balance and one thing I have wanted to do is, like I said, I wanted to make Drifted… it was initially supposed to be bringing community together, bringing friends and family together.
And so what I've done with it is I really try to include my family in it. So whether I'm traveling for work, I'll bring the kids with me and I'll bring my mother-in-law with me and we kind of do it like a, you know, a tour de force with trade shows or with sales appointments or whatever it is, as a way just to keep together. Because I, I feel like I don't want to sacrifice time away from family, at the same time I don't want to be, you know, feeling like, “why did I forget this dream that I had because of family?” and then have that resentment toward them. So I try to bring it all in together and it is a balance. So you'll always hear that from everybody. And it's, you know, they ask the moms that question more than they ask the dads, which is… it is what it is, right? So, it is absolutely wonderful having the family and it's even more wonderful when, you know, I have… my mom can help, like while she's watching the kids, like help me pick out a Pantone for, you know, the spring season. And, you know, I ask my three-year-old who - sometimes his input is valuable - but I ask him like, which one do you like better? And he'll pick one out. And, you know, and as I get older, I think like that's only going to get better. So that's what I look forward to with balancing the two. Just getting everybody involved.
Lisa: I think that's so cool. I run a business with employees and I truly cannot imagine having children too.
Puja: [laughs]
Lisa: So I just, you're a superhuman. Yeah, that's awesome. And so earlier you mentioned when we were not recording that Drifted is going to be in REI, which is incredibly exciting. How has that process been?
Puja: You know, it was… it was great. And it was on like my five-year plan for Drifted. And it happened in seven months, eight months. And it was like, “oh wow.” And this was part of the vision part. ‘Cause I was feeling really stuck. I just want to go back to that. I was feeling really stuck one day - eh, for a while and then one day decided to talk about it - and I chatted with like a friend of mine who's like all into all kinds of alternative healings and stuff, which is like, so up my alley.
And so she was like, “Well, if you could get really clear…” and we kind of just like did some breathing and clearing and she's like, “what would you want to see?” And I was like, well, we need to be in REI. Like, this is a brand for REI and REI is going to be our partner to help us get exposure on it. And really they have created an amazing culture for the outdoors. And I was like, and this is an opportunity for us to evolve it. And yeah, within three weeks of that, it came. And this was prior to like, this was… we had, I had had a friend who was a sales rep show the line to like 15 to 20 different stores, not necessarily outdoorsy stores, but like different types of retailers. And they all said like, no, no, we're okay. We don't get it. And then REI came. And I was like, oh! And then now all the sudden, like people are starting to get it. So I just go back to like, there's vision… you kinda, you get clear as to like where you need to be.
But anyway, so they came, yeah, they came fast. And the buyers we've been working with, the team, is just like extraordinary. It's so cool. You know, we have some, some ties or like some mutual friends that we've kind of known. So it's just kind of fun to like, again, connect with humans and just kind of experience their world from their perspective. But yeah, they've been fantastic so far to work with. So we'll be getting to be in stores starting August this year.
Lisa: That's amazing. Seven months into business.
Puja: Yeah. Yeah.
Lisa: Wow. Well, I mean, I can personally speak to the quality, that's… I think it's going to do really well in REI.
Puja: Oh, great. Let's hope. Go shopping, everybody. Go to REI.
[both laugh]
Lisa: And then was that like, was the package design as grueling as - for sustainability standards for REI - as a lot of people experience?
Puja: So it's… for us, no, it wasn't. But I say that because it was grueling before REI. We happened to adopt what REI’s current standards are into our own business ethos for Drifted. And this was like early on. So the reason why it was easy for REI was because we did the legwork just 12 months, 15 months prior to that. But it was, it was a tough process. Packaging... I mean, this is the part of business where it's just like every little thing from creating a barcode to figuring out like, where do you buy poly bags? What is a poly bag? Why do we need it? All those things, it takes time and research. And especially if you want to be sustainable, because what I have seen - and I have read a lot of import tariff codes, which just is like, so disheartening. I don't know if you've ever read through them. But it is just political science and global economics favoring the non-sustainable choice every time. And you go, “gosh, you get a tax break if you have this amount of plastic in your clothes? Or this amount of plastic in your product?” Versus using this more sustainable material where you're paying extra.
So it was hard. The packaging was really hard and I really wanted to be a plastic free brand, especially with packaging where I feel like it's just such low hanging fruit, get rid of it. We don't need it. So I ended up talking to… I sat in on 8-10 sustainability panels and it was… they're all third party run. A lot of international organizations would host them. And so Switzerland's a pretty major player in sustainability and like certified sustainable choices or options. So I started, you know, talking to the panelists, asking them, what would you choose? Like, what should I be looking for with packaging? I don't want plastic, what's another option? And then, you know, down the rabbit hole we went. I got turned on to an organization called SIMA and they're similar to the Surfriders Foundation and they advise on packaging and it's basically like how to keep packaging out of our oceans, what's the best alternative for it. And so they… they consider things because after all in business, you don't have any influence over a culture, over an industry, if you don't make money. So, you have to make money. You can't just pour your money and then wait until you no longer have cash. So you have to make good business choices for yourself, but you also want to be sustainable. So SIMA was the one that really helped just let me understand where to get the products and like what kinds of things.
So we use… we use corn-based compostable bags. It's a hundred percent corn material. And so with REI, they have even… getting rid of compostable bags because what I found out, and again, this was after having done a lot of research on bagging. And the reason why bagging is important is because when you're in a warehouse, the dust settles and sometimes the dust can discolor the product or it makes it look old. And then you end up throwing the product away. So what's worse, having the bag or having a product discarded. So you kind of have this balance. But REI doesn't even do the bags. And so what I found out with them was not every county or city or state composts. Whereas like in LA, we just throw it in the compost and it's good, you know, it degrades in about six to eight months and that's the end of that. But there are places like in Florida where they don't do compost. And so they have completely eliminated any bag, unless it's, I think a white product. But they have like a tie method where they just use a piece of rope and they fold up their clothes. And so we will, yeah, completely get rid of bags too. And I’ve talked to our warehouse facility to redo our storage as well. So that way we can protect the clothing and get rid of bags as well.
So again, it's just the learning and evolving process as we go. But that's, yeah, something that they are very strict on and they ask about those questions at REI. So we, you know, we were fortunate in that sense of it was not hard for us to meet their needs, but that was because that was just so, so on the forefront for when we started, you know, started business.
Lisa: Wow. It's all so complicated.
Puja: [laughs] When, when you approach it one at a time, it's not. It's just because when you get excited about it, you go down the rabbit hole. And so then in hindsight, you're like, “Ooh, that was complicated.” But in the process, it's more about just… it's kind of exciting, like, oh, okay. That's cool. You do get… the first step is scariest and then like step seven is actually kind of fun. [laughs] And then once you figure it out, you're like, yeah. Okay, good. And then yeah, you just keep changing it.
Lisa: Oh, I love that. Where can people follow you online and also buy a pair of pants?
Puja: They can follow us on Instagram at @driftedco and they can definitely buy a couple pairs of pants at drifted.co. And we are all online. And then soon, like I said, at REI, so wherever you want to shop.
Lisa: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time and… this has been a great episode and I love your attitude and, yeah, I just, I think you're going to do so well.
Puja: Oh, gosh, I appreciate it.
[music]
Iris: Thank you so much for tuning in to Outside by Design. This show is produced by WHEELIE - you can find us at our website, wheeliecreative.com.
You can also visit wheeliecreative.com/podcast to find more episodes, transcripts, show notes, and our affiliate partners. We are on Instagram at @wheeliecreative. Please subscribe, leave a five star review on your podcast app, and share this podcast with a friend who you think might enjoy listening.
With that, I'm Iris. Thanks for being here!