Hello and welcome to Women in Retail Talks, the podcast where C-suite executive women in the retail space share their stories of professional growth leadership development, personal journeys and more.
I'm Marie Albages, Managing Editor of Women in Retail, a membership-based community of executive women at leading retailers and brands.
Today, I am thrilled to be joined by Andy Donovan.
She's the Senior Vice President of Wholesale and Company Gear at Carhartt.
Andy and I discuss her 11-year history with Carhartt how she's grown the wholesale and company gear business over the years, her journey to leading a team of 100 and so much more.
So, Andy, I'm going to bring you in.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Thanks, Marie.
Thanks for having me.
I'm really excited about this conversation.
I know we had your president and CEO, Linda, on our women in retail stage, I think a year ago.
And she shared, you know, all about kind of the brand emotional connection of Carhartt.
So it's been a brand that's been on my radar for some time now.
And I'm really excited to talk to you about kind of your side of the business.
So let's start there.
Carhartt is, you know, such a unique and beloved brand.
I think it's got this huge loyal customer base.
So I'd love for you to kind of describe how you approach the Carhartt brand, how you see it from the inside.
Yeah, excellent.
I think the best way to get familiar with Carhartt, our brand and our product, is to really start from the beginning.
Hamilton Carhartt founded the company 136 years ago, and he sought out to give the railroad worker a better solution for their daily job.
What he did so well is really put the worker at the center of his designs and, as a result, invented the first bib overall for that worker.
It provided a lot of functionality that didn't exist before and at that time, built something very high quality and durable.
Those quality and durability are core values and attributes that we stand behind 136 years later at Carhartt.
But I'll say that our brand is more than making great product.
We represent the builders and the makers who shape our country, shape our world.
We're part of a community that values hard work, humility, and purpose.
We're strong advocates for the skilled trades, the linemen and the construction workers and all hardworking people that really keep this country running.
So, while we'll always continue to build the highest quality workwear on the market, we stay true to really advocating and being in service of that hardworking consumer.
That's great.
And so you head up the wholesale and the company gear side.
I'd love to learn a little bit more about, kind of, what your primary responsibilities are in that area.
And maybe give us a little bit on the values that you just mentioned, how those are kind of shown and portrayed on the wholesale and the company year side.
Sure, absolutely.
So wholesale business is our largest portion of our business.
That's where we started as a company. as what we do through our retail partners, large and small.
And we sell through many partners, actually, about 2,000, believe it or not.
And then our car company gear business unit is our B2B uniform channel.
So we launched that business in 2019.
That continues to be a core focus for growth for us.
My responsibilities include setting a strategic direction, managing our partnerships and obviously, leading a great team that ensures the brand shows up consistently across every touch point of distribution in those business units.
And it's really about I think how to your question around values.
It's really about balancing, you know, scale with brand integrity.
So we, you know of course we love growth, but you know our North star is to really protect the DNA that makes Carhartt so great.
So we're never going to be that company that just grows for growth sake.
We want to make sure we're growing in the right way with the right partners.
Yeah.
So you kind of had a large part, I'm assuming, in launching the company gear in 2019.
What were you doing before that?
And maybe give us a little bit on how that all came about and your leadership there.
Yeah.
So I joined, I joined career 11 years ago.
And when I joined I I actually Linda, our CEO, in some ways created a position for me, which was really amazing.
There were some retirements that were happening and she's like we have a hole and we need someone to run distribution, our distribution center network, that we were modernizing our DC at the time.
They had a gap in planning and customer service.
So those are my three kind of big areas of responsibility when I joined.
Since then, helped to create the corporate strategy function at Carhartt.
And then as a part of that, I identified the UoForm space as a big growth opportunity.
So then you know, put that whole vision and business plan together in my corporate strategy, wearing my corporate strategy hat, and then was fortunate enough to get asked to lead it and launch it, which was really cool.
I've had I've just had an interesting mix of operations.
You know strategy and now you know more of a general management function running the wholesale and company gear segments.
Mm-hmm.
Any kind of big surprises or challenges that you weren't expecting, as you were asked to kind of lead that transition and open kind of that whole other market.
Yeah.
I mean the uniform space you know is, what we quickly realize is that outfitting an entire workforce is very different from selling to an individual consumer, as you would imagine.
Selling retail, stocking a floor, having inventory to sell through.
You know, a digital experience is just very different.
You know, these uniform programs, you have to outfit the entire team and you have to have what they need.
You know, on day one.
Right.
So the surprise really came in the complexity.
There's also multi-layered buyers from like, a procurement officer of a large company to sometimes it's the individual owner operator of a small, you know HVAC operation that wants to outfit their crew of 10.
Safety requirements, you know, especially in the flame resistant space is a big one.
And the need for seamless fulfillment.
So, you know, we built new muscles, dedicated sales and service model.
We launched our own direct B2B commerce site.
And I will say, you know, we're still adapting.
Like there's, we're just kind of scratching the surface.
And you know, five years in, I'm in the process of, which is always good, right to like Take a look at how we're going to market, you know, with a new lens and kind of refresh and get to that next horizon of growth with that business.
But we've had a lot of success.
We have a great partnership with Centos, which is a big distributor of ours.
We outfit all the under the wing United Airlines employees, which is cool.
We outfit the largest residential solar panel installers in the U.S. called a company called Sunrun.
You know we just have a lot of exciting – we've been able to break into new industries and have some very kind of exciting, rewarding opportunities with that business.
But definitely still room to get better.
Yeah.
Is there a different approach to –
Outfitting, you know, a small HVAC group of 10 to kind of a larger enterprise.
You know, like the, you know workers on an airline.
Yeah.
Yes, absolutely.
So today our direct site, you know, is really tailored for that smaller business.
And oftentimes they don't want, they just want a self-service option to be able to do that.
So you can go to companygearcom and order a hundred jackets for your team of a hundred people, have it embroidered, brand it with your logo and kind of be done.
You know.
So that's like it's.
You know, the smaller the app, the smaller the company.
Typically, the smaller the cruise.
It's a little simpler.
But even with those crews and sort of, the next evolution of what we're going to be doing with that business is to introduce kind of more managed program elements.
So give the option to have like an employee allotment that can, that we can help manage to make it easier on that individual owner operator of that business to outfit their crew and really kind of take all of the headaches with that off of their plate and and make it more seamless.
So but yeah, very different than outfitting united airlines 28 000.
So yeah yeah, i imagine you're dealing with just hire up people and more people and there's legal involved and all of that.
Exactly.
Yes.
Yes.
Okay.
So I want to go a little bit, uh before your time at at Carhartt and talk about you know your life pre Carhartt you were working at major retailers on kind of finance strategy, merchandising side of things, that you had whole other career before Carhartt.
So maybe talk a little bit about your career before Carhartt and then what appealed to you about transitioning over to Carhartt.
Yeah.
So I started my career as a CPA, believe it or not.
When people meet me now, they're like, what?
You're a CPA?
But it was a really great, right out of undergrad, a great foundation.
I did learn after a few four or five years in the public accounting field that wasn't going to be my lifelong dream to continue to do that.
So um was in San Francisco at the time and, you know, met a few individuals at Gap Inc and got the opportunity to work in a jump from kind of accounting to finance and a financial analyst role back in the day.
That was when Gap was in it sort of like, you know, the khaki swing heyday of the late nineties, early two thousands.
And it was Mickey Drexler days, which was really fun.
And, um, I had the opportunity to do a lot of different things in finance, ran FP&A.
But what I most loved about that role was really working more on the long range side and in partnership with strategy.
So then I got a taste for doing kind of more strategic work and then got a call from Borders, the bookstore that's no longer based here in Michigan.
And they had an opportunity for me to take.
And I had some interest in moving.
I'm a Midwesterner, had some interest in moving back.
And then that was really rewarding.
And that's when I shifted in my time at Border, shifted out of finance into, you know, worked on actually trying to sell the company and did some really cool things before that.
But then we moved into more of a, more of a general management role, owning merchandise planning.
So that was, that was really cool.
And then it got a little, you know, burnt out left before we fully closed the door there.
And then took a three-year stint in consulting with a small firm that's a part of Accenture.
And got to work on helping senior teams create and align around strategies centered on the customer and the customer experience.
Built a customer experience practice at that firm.
And then was introduced to Carhartt through a friend at a party.
And he introduced me to lead our CEO.
I talked to her for a full year before actually I was kind of trying to sell her consulting work.
She's like, well, I actually think I just want to hire you.
So lucky for me, you know, she hired me and the rest is history.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Tell me more about you.
Know you said you talked to Linda for a full year before she offered you a job.
I think a lot of our listeners might be in that place right now where they're in transition or, you know, just exploring their other options and they're at the point in their career where you know it's not just you know applying anywhere to a job.
It's forming those relationships, making those conversations building, you know, that trust and that camaraderie and checking in.
So from your perspective, what does that look like?
What advice do you have for keeping those kind of relationships steady and in the hopes that down the line you might benefit each other?
Yes.
I think that's, that's an excellent question.
I think just keeping relationships going, even when you don't need something right away, you know it's just, it's making time and space in your in your calendar to just reconnect, just honestly, for fun too.
You know cause, like any every, every interaction with someone outside of your own sort of company is is an opportunity to learn something new, learn something different, even if it's not like an immediate.
Okay, this is my job I'm going to get tomorrow.
And that's kind of how I approach it with Linda.
I'm like, I'm not sure where this is going to go, but I really enjoy her.
And I think the world of what car?
What's going on at Carhartt, and I'd love to be a part of it someday.
And I also, I think doing some soul searching and kind of knowing what you want.
And at that time, you know I, after years in retail and consulting and big public company retail, you know I wanted to build something more enduring, not just chase the next quarterly earnings.
And really Carhartt offered that rare blend of purpose and performance.
You know, I think, as you know, we're privately held.
You know, very values driven company really believes in doing business the right way, has a long-term view.
Our brand is, so authentic and has an amazing American heritage.
The mission to serve hardworking people just deeply resonated, not just professionally but personally, you know.
So I think thinking about you know what you really want in your next move and finding the companies that you know jive with that is also really important.
At what point in your career did you kind of realized that you wanted to build something that was I think you said a little bit more enduring, a little bit bigger?
Like was there, was there a switch at some point where you realized this?
Well, I think, you know, I, you know, I, I love variety.
I love change.
And that's what consulting offers.
You know, it's like you get to just catapult into these companies and help them solve their problems.
The thing after doing it.
You know, for a few years, and even back when I was at PricewaterhouseCoopers, you know, in the 90s, you just get to a point where or at least I did where I just wanted to see the work through.
You know, in consulting, you hand it off and you hope that what you recommend gets adopted.
And I get a lot of energy and motivation around not just coming up with the great ideas but actually seeing it through to execution.
So I knew I wanted that, you know, and I knew that to get that I was probably not going to have to come back to the company side of things.
Gotcha.
Yeah, makes sense.
Now you manage a team of 100, maybe more.
So I'd love to hear a little bit about you know, some best practices that you've put in place to keep spirits high, to motivate them, to make sure that they're you know, everything that they do is still encompassing the values that Carhartt represents.
Yeah.
I, you know, I think clarity of purpose is huge.
You know, everyone needs to know how their work ladders up to something bigger and Carhartt.
I mean it's so.
It's honestly so easy because I'm just what we represent and the origins of what Hamilton built, you know, way back when.
And you know personally I emphasize transparency.
You know recognition, empowerment.
You know we really celebrate the wins and but we also normalize learning.
You know from the misses.
I'm a big believer in trust and autonomy.
I've hired amazing people and I really just work to give them the space to lead.
A big portion of my group are salespeople, and you know especially salespeople that are geographically dispersed, not close to the corporate office.
Like we, we invest and I have an amazing team.
We just came off our global sales meeting a couple of weeks ago.
I'm an amazing team that puts on, you know, that, that whole event.
It's more than an event.
It's preparing them, you know, to sell with confidence.
So it includes, you know, all the, all the tools that they need to do that really well.
But recognition.
We have an annual award ceremony.
It's like the Academy Awards of Carhartt.
We make a really big deal about it.
I was just on LinkedIn and we are posting all the winners on LinkedIn today.
And it's just, I mean, honestly, it's my favorite part of the job.
It's just getting to celebrate people that are really, really crushing it at Carhartt.
And so We just invest in that and spend a lot of time on that.
Culture is huge for us.
And I think we have something special.
And it's my goal to continue to preserve that.
Yeah, that's great.
Can you give an example of a way that you're celebrating wins kind of on a day-to-day schedule?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, I mean day to day, I do you know, I you know where I have offsites with my team, where we get out of the, you know, get out of the office and really think big about the future.
Talk about what's working with not working.
Um, combine that with, with ways to have fun, you know, I think is important.
I do that on the regular, not every single day, but at least a couple of times a year.
Um, you know I'm a big believer in skip levels and not just you know, talking to my direct report team, but getting deeper to the organization,
Really listening to the frontline and obviously getting in front of customers quite a bit to understand what we can be doing better is super important as well.
So that's kind of what I do on a daily basis.
We also have our sales town hall meetings, which talks about our year and how we're doing and our goals and where we're winning, where we have opportunity to get better.
Really just bring in, make it a concerted effort to bring all of us together on the regular to talk through the business.
So, yeah.
So what about personally?
How do you kind of balance your time?
I used to ask this question of you know what are your non-negotiables when it comes to work-life balance?
And as I kept asking the question of our guests, they kept telling me there is no such thing as work-life balance.
Now I've changed it to you.
Know how are you kind of Recharging and spending your time in order to be your best self at work?
Yeah, I think it is.
I mean, I think there is such a thing as work life balance, but it's, you know, it's more of a mindset.
You know, it's like as professionals, we're always at least I am always thinking about all the challenges that I'm trying to solve.
You know, in my head.
So it is hard to turn it off, but you have to turn it off.
And so, you know, I have a big family.
I have four teenagers.
Obviously, spending time with them is a major priority for me as a family.
We like to travel.
We like to ski, you know, and be in the outdoors.
So having quality time with my husband and my teenagers is something that I really prioritize and make time for and put the phone down when I'm with them.
My biggest non-negotiable is sleep.
I am militant about sleep.
I need eight hours minimum.
So I make sure I protect that for myself.
But yeah, exercise, music, travel, you know, time in the outdoors.
Those are my energy recharge activities.
So we're recording this in late October.
So I'd love for just for you to share you know for the remainder of the year what is kind of the thing that's exciting you the most when it comes to Carhartt and maybe into 2026, if there's anything that you want to tease for us.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, we, you know, we just, like I said, had our global sales meetings.
So we're always into the future.
So I'm super excited about our fall 26 line.
We've got a lot of great product really centered around functional work.
We've got a new product line called steel.
That's going to be coming out.
That's a limited launch to start, but it really speaks to the kind of full functionality of outerwear and bottoms.
And it's really cool.
I'm probably most excited about that right now.
Um, We currently have a campaign going right now called Made Possible, which is really about there's sort of three segments to it.
One is there is a show called The Road with Blake Sheldon and Keith Urban.
And we outfit all of the roadies that are put on that show.
So it's the people making it happen for them.
And it's a country music contest.
So I'm super excited.
So that's going right now.
That show aired last week.
So super excited about that.
We also are outfitting the guys building the Buffalo Bills new stadium.
So that's kind of kind of cool.
So that you'll see that coming around this fall in a campaign.
And then, you know, farmers are a big part of our workers that we outfit.
And so around the holidays, you'll see us helping them create the food that lands on our table for the holidays.
So lots to be inspired by, from both the marketing and the product perspective, as we move forward.
So yeah, and I can't let you go without asking about um your, your take back program.
That's something that personally, I'm very excited about.
And yeah ability, and I love, I love seeing that uh, that it's going through and it's it's what about a year now, that you guys yeah, a couple years and what's going on?
I don't know.
I don't think I mentioned this, but You know our executive chairman, he's fourth generation Carhartt.
The fifth generation is also in the business.
And Gretchen Blade is our head of sustainability.
And she launched that Carhartt Reworked.
So it's super important to us.
Sustainability is a big focus as a brand.
And yeah, it's doing well, better than expected.
So it's a quarter of our values, right?
We aren't just about making a sale and getting another one and another one.
We really, truly want our workers that we outfit to have that jacket for life and pass it down to their, you know, to the next generation.
So having the ability to turn something into, have it reworked or buy something that's pre-owned is tremendous.
Awesome.
Okay.
So two kind of hot seat questions before I let you go.
First is what's the favorite, your favorite Carhartt item that you own?
You know I My first item that I bought when I started with my employee discount was the Gilliam vest.
It's a pretty basic, simple vest.
And I wear, I have like, I have them in every color.
Functional pocketing, you know, just a great item.
But I, you know, the Detroit jacket is also for me a good one.
It's very classic.
It's kind of like the workwear blazer, you know, so I put that on when, when I feel, when I feel like zhuzhed up with my Carhartts and you know, for a meeting.
So but my favorite item that we probably sell is probably the men's chore coat, the duck chore coat and Carhartt brown.
It's just, it's like the classic.
You know, when you think of Carhartt, you think of, I think, think of the chore coat.
It's just the timeless style.
So actually you're, what you said made me think of another kind of unrelated question, which is Carhartt has, you know, you mentioned its origins, has traditionally been led by and tailored to men.
And you're a woman in this male dominated industry.
I know that, you know, Carhartt over the years has expanded their merchandise for women.
Yes.
What has it been like for you?
Have you noticed any challenges or surprises there?
You know being a woman in this, in what we can typically think of, as you know Carhartt, male.
Yes, I know it is.
Well, it's kind of interesting and maybe surprising that, um, most of our senior team are women.
So obviously our CEO or CFO or CIO.
So I think it's like 55%.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, uh, and it's been that way for a long time.
And um, I don't know if there's anything surprising, you know, other than all of us just have a deep appreciation for the consumer, you know, and it's been really cool to watch our women's business really transform in the time I've been, the 11 years I've been, with Cara.
Where we started is not, you know, we're light years ahead of where we were.
And I love it because, you know, that's what I wear.
It's nice to have the clothing that I want to wear, you know, and have it fit and be comfortable.
And, you know, so, yeah.
Great.
Okay, second lightning question is a favorite field visit or job site or encounter with a customer that speaks to mind?
Yeah well, I talked about I mentioned Sunrun earlier, the residential solar panel installer that we outfit their crew.
I think one of the coolest job site visits.
I went on and I'm a little bit scared of heights.
So especially I have a lot of admiration for these workers that climb on a roof pretty steep pitch and carry these huge panels to install.
It's pretty remarkable.
And visiting specifically with the Sunrun crew and the workers on the front line.
Just their love for Carhartt and the tough job they do every day.
So that's probably my favorite.
Yeah, it's going to be so rewarding to just go on a site visit and have them tell you or just physically see you know your products being used to do things like install solar panels.
That's amazing.
Yeah, it's great.
And they keep us on our toes too, right?
So they're also, you know, these loyal customers tell us how they feel all the time.
We change something, they don't like it.
We hear about it and we pay attention, you know?
Yeah.
That's our, you know, our complete focus is to put them at the center of everything.
So, yeah.
Well, I think that's a good place to end.
Andy, thank you so much.
I really enjoyed our conversation.
Thank you, Marie.
I did as well.
Thanks for listening.
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