In 2016,聽Jainee Dial and Lindsey聽Davis聽opened the online retailer聽Wylder Goods聽with聽$54,000 from Kickstarter and a simple yet compelling mission: to create a unique gear-buying experience for adventurous women who love the outdoors. Now, in the middle of the coronavirus crisis鈥攂ut not because of it鈥擠ial and聽Davis聽have made the difficult decision to shut down the company and focus on new projects.
“This was well in the works before coronavirus,” Davis told OBJ this week. “This had more to do with the evolution of startups and how they can match up, or not, with the life stages of their founders. To put it simply, it was time.”
For nearly half a decade, Dial and聽Davis聽curated a product line that sought to change the narrative about women in the outdoors. “We have been addressing the legacy of pink, and paisley, and flowery鈥攖his hyper-feminized vision of what it means to be a woman outside,” Davis said in her first interview with OBJ, shortly after Wylder opened four years ago. “I think what鈥檚 coming next is more unisex designs, colors, and patterns.”
“The experience of being a woman differs from being a man outside,” Dial told OBJ in the same interview. To get more women engaged with the outdoors in an authentic way, “you have to have someone with experience speaking with conviction on behalf of those experiences,” she said.
That’s exactly what聽Dial and聽Davis聽did. Over four years, the brand amassed a聽loyal fan base and built a formidable聽 committed to the idea that the industry needs retail experiences welcoming of all styles, perspectives, and attitudes. The company’s social media efforts championed an inclusive, forward-thinking, active lifestyle that eventually became integral to Wylder’s larger mission. Halfway through the company’s four-year run, Dial and Davis started organizing “field trips” as a way to engage their community, traveling to places like Alaska with Wylder customers and brand ambassadors. The company partnered with nonprofits “even before we really had the resources to do so,” Davis said. “It was just something we needed to do.”
Despite success, Davis says that recent changes in everyone’s lives have made it clear that it’s time to move on.
“When I started this company, I was 28 years old and living out of a pop-top camper. Back then, it was fine to sacrifice everything for the growth of the company. For everyone on the team, everything has changed so much. Now what鈥檚 required to run a startup has come into direct conflict with our lives.”
Though she says it breaks her heart to shut down the company, Davis is proud of how she, Dial, and the rest of the team grew over the years.
“Everyone on our team showed tremendous tenacity,” she said. “Businesses fail in a lot shorter time. I鈥檓 incredibly proud of our team鈥檚 ability to stay committed to something that was always challenging, even with so many wins along the way.” Ultimately, though, “it鈥檚 important to know when to fold and to give yourself permission to do that,” she said. “You have to measure your own success in life.”
Davis told OBJ that she has a “fantastic job lined up in the industry,” and that she’ll release the details of that new venture soon.