In a mid-year update to shareholders and investors, Rob Blair, COO, RYU Apparel Inc., said the company had set a $50 million net revenue target by 2025. The Vancouver-baed athletic apparel brand intends to reach an operating ratio of more than 35 percent and more than $15 million in EBITDA.
Blair joined RYU Apparel in late March to ramp up the brands’ growth strategy. His previous experience includes Red Bull, Lululemon, Gap Body, and Nike.
“The losses incurred in 2020 were significantly lower than in prior years, thanks to lower head office costs and lease terminations. With 2020 in the rear-view mirror, our impetus now shifts towards targeted investment in product and demand creation,” wrote Blair in the letter.
“We are in the midst of building an organization of industry veterans, exceptional creative minds and external agency partners that will bring the focus back to crafting world-class products and creating demand for these products. Since February this year, the team has developed four strategic pillars to set RYU on a sustained growth trajectory. These plans will begin to take root in the second half of this year. Over the next three years, RYU will not only differentiate itself in this large, saturated performance apparel industry, but will become an iconic brand leader that resonates across generations. We will deliver shareholder value by maintaining a lean, yet highly effective organization and investing capital raised directly into demand and product creation.”
Among initiatives cited in the update, Blair wrote that a newly appointed Brand Executive Creative Director would assume brand creative lead and would work in with Mother LA (pending final engagement agreement) to build an authentic voice and consumer acquisition strategy.
As interim product creative director, Blair will oversee the aesthetic transformation of RYU “into a highly curated assortment of re-invented classic sports silhouettes, that will remain timeless and spark joy in hearts of our core audience. We have re-imagined our product creation engine, streamlined the supply chain, implemented a new Product Line Management (PLM) system and “category killer” line product line architecture that will drive style productivity and profitability. A new Go-to-Market process will allow RYU to increase speed and frequency of product newness to consumers.”
RYU’s e-commerce platform is undergoing a restructuring tied to improving key performance indicators on traffic, conversion rates, search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM). These actions have already driven gains of 77 percent increases in weekly online sales.
Photo courtesy RYU Apparel
