The time has finally come, we’re (soft) opening Yardsale’s flagship retail store and coffee shop, Double Black next week!

What started as a simple idea for a coffee shop inside of our new space somehow turned into one of the most thoughtful (and surprisingly complex) branding projects we’ve done. We’re obsessed with how it turned out, so we wanted to share a little behind-the-scenes look into how Double Black as a brand came to life.

But first, let me clarify what the space is…

Yardsale is an outdoor equipment and lifestyle brand and Double Black is the coffee shop inside of our flagship retail store in Cole Valley, San Francisco.

Why create a separate brand in the first place?

Every coffee shop is more or less selling the same product: coffee. Of course there are differences in menu items, specialty drinks, and interior design, but at the end of the day, branding is one of the biggest and most important ways for a coffee shop to differentiate itself.

Subconscious or not, branding plays a huge role in whether your space is memorable and becomes a place people want to return to. For better or worse, it can also act as a status symbol. There’s a reason why you’re more likely to proudly walk around with a coffee cup from Sightglass, Equator, or Erewhon vs. a coffee cup from a gas station: it signals to the world that you’re in the know.

That’s why when we set out to build a full-service coffee shop within our flagship retail store, we knew we had to go all-in on branding.

A uniquely tricky brief

We wanted the Double Black brand to feel distinct from Yardsale. Something that could live comfortably within the Yardsale brand world, but also stand on its own if it ever needed to. The challenge is that there aren’t many examples of brands doing this well. Most of the time, when a brand opens a coffee bar inside their retail space, it’s just… the brand. You see it with Rapha and Pas Normal Studios — beautiful spaces, great coffee, but no separate brand for the coffee element itself.

In addition to a logo, colors, and typefaces, we needed guidance on how all of it would actually show up in the real world. Cups. Pastry bags. Signage. Menus. The small details that end up defining how a place feels.

Double Black: An homage to our ski roots

The name Double Black came to us long before we even got the lease for the space. There’s the obvious tie to Yardsale’s skiing roots (à la double black diamond) but my co-founder Kelly and I also love cold brew and usually drink our coffee black. It felt like the perfect fit.

With the name picked, our next step was to find a branding partner to help build out the full brand identity system that could show up consistently across everything people would touch and see inside the shop.

Finding the perfect partners

We partnered with Idle Hands, a small husband and wife design agency out of Vancouver (hi, Rory & Suzy!) whose branding portfolio for bars and restaurants speaks for itself.

We handed them our Yardsale brand book along with our detailed vision for the space, our menu, and our approach to hospitality, and then they got to work on an initial mood board.

The logo refining process

After we aligned on the look and feel we were envisioning, Rory shared a few initial logo directions.

We loved the “crown” logo (it’s actually a coffee filter but it reminds me of a crown or a peanut butter cup) and the diner mug. It was important to also see how these logos and icons would pair with Yardsale’s logos, and how we might want to use them together.

After narrowing things down to the mug and crown, we continued to refine and simplify until the system started to feel cohesive.

Picking the right colors

Since Yardsale’s brand colors are so neutral, we thought Double Black could be a fun opportunity to add in some pops of color. Our core earth toned colors, Porcelain and Espresso, live within Yardsale’s world but the primary color-focused accents are a fun, bright addition.

Nailing the typeface

Rory’s first suggestion, Jetbrains was perfect. No notes.

Bringing it all together

The last step after we aligned on the logos, colors, and fonts was to pull together all of the physical items: menu boards, giant cookie pizza box, bakery bags, coffee cups, etc.

We ended up with an identity we’re stoked on and we cannot wait to welcome people into the space.

We’re set to (finally) open next week and we hope you’ll come and stay awhile. You can follow along on Instagram at @doubleblacksf or @yardsale.day for our soft open announcement.

Cheers,

Cristina

The biggest thing I’ve realized through this lifestyle shift is that not all work is created equal. Building something I’m passionate about is not the same as supporting someone else’s vision. It’s of course stressful because there are very few parts of building a business that are easy, but that’s exactly what keeps me motivated to put in such long hours.

Not to mention, getting to travel around the world to visit our factories and shoot our campaign launches is a huge perk. In just a few weeks, we’re going on a hut-to-hut hiking trip in Spain to shoot our T3 Trekking Poles (launching mid-June—mark your calendars!) and later in early July we’re going to Scotland to shoot our first-ever summer apparel collection.

That said, one of the biggest downsides to an increased workload is the amount of time I now spend in front of a screen. 90% of my workday is spent either behind my laptop or cell phone and I typically work for about 12-16 hours per day. So naturally, when I see content or hear people say they want to return to an analog summer… I can completely relate. While going completely analog and digital-free is nearly impossible (for me and most people), there are a few things we can do to achieve a lower-screentime, more-offline summer.

In thinking about how to reduce my screen time, I thought about all the ways in which technology has latched onto my life and what ways I can reasonably detach from it. Unsurprisingly, my cell phone was enemy number one. Most of my life and daily necessities live there: my camera, my calendar, my alarm clock, my contacts... the list goes on. Then, there’s the aforementioned elephant in the room: my job. While this is a sneaky culprit, it’s unavoidable so the boundaries are harder to set. The last area of my focus was figuring out how to fill my limited free time to make sure screens don’t work their way back into the fold.

I’ll be honest, not every idea on here is going to be possible within the constraints of my life, but simply brainstorming these ideas opened up so many solutions that I hadn’t considered. Yes, technology use is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to consume all of us 24/7.

So without further ado, here’s my guide to having a totally analog summer:

Decenter your phone

1. Turn phone to grayscale whenever possible— you’ll be surprised at how unappealing your phone is without color. Now, you can even control which apps have color vs. not! You can find easy instructions on Google.

2. Get a Brick (or make your own!) Time restrictions do not work for me but bricking my phone does.

3. Build a screen-free morning routine. Unfortunately, the first thing I do in the morning is check my phone. I’m going to challenge myself to at least get myself out of bed before touching my phone in the morning. (In college I used to sleep with it outside of my room and it helped a ton.)

4. Leave my phone at home whenever possible. I don’t need my phone for my 20-minute morning a walk around Golden Gate Park, yet it always accompanies me. From now on, I’m going to make it a habit to just leave it at home.

5. Keep a deck of cards or a bag of Bananagrams on you. I’m not the biggest games person, but I do love a good simple card game or round of Bananagrams. I’ve been bringing them on all of my travels and it’s a fun way to fill downtime that’s not scrolling.

6. Book a trip to a destination without cell service! Hello hut-to-hut trip! You don’t have to worry about DND when nobody can reach you. I went on a solo trip to the Faroe Islands a few years ago and service was few and far between. It was the best.

7. Make a pact with friends to leave phones out of social interactions. I love the old “first one to touch their phone during dinner picks up the bill” rule.

8. Swap out the features that make us so reliant on smartphones. There are so many ways to make this happen. I got a Hatch alarm clock a few months back in the hopes that I wouldn’t have to touch my phone first thing in the morning. (As stated in #3, I have yet to practice this but starting tomorrow morning I will!)

Set boundaries with work (if your job allows it)

1. I do not have this privilege because we’re still an early stage startup and working 24/7, but that said, for more traditional jobs: work during work hours. If it’s not absolutely crucial, it can wait until work hours. Setting time blocks for when work happens will make for more screen-free time, even if it’s just an hour every day.

2. Take Slack off of your phone (this also isn’t realistic for me, but something I suggest anyone do if they can). When you work during work hours and hold that boundary, taking Slack off of your phone is easier. Tell your coworkers that they can call if there’s an emergency (& define what constitutes an emergency so you aren’t getting rogue calls). I had a beloved coworker at my first tech job who refused to bring her work laptop home. Respect. (Not as feasible in the post-covid work-at-all-hours culture, but still, respect.)

GET OUTSIDE! Nature is the simplest antidote to screentime.

1. Start your day with a short or long walk (I started doing this diligently about a year ago and it’s something I look forward to every day.)

2. Get as much direct sunlight (with SPF) as possible.

3. Build your social activities around being outside. When we’re home in SF for the weekend we usually have a “park day” with our friends in Golden Gate Park and play spike ball, volleyball, hang outside, etc.

   

4. Go camping (or backpacking)! We always have at least one camping weekend in Yosemite planned for the summer and it’s always something I look forward to because there is absolutely no cell service in the backcountry.

5. Eat a meal outside. If the weather is nice, I’ll eat breakfast on my stoop some mornings just to people watch and get some sunlight.

6. Invest in picking up a summer sport like surfing, cycling, climbing, fly fishing, golfing, pickleball, or whatever else piques your interest. I’m planning on dusting off my trusty road bike to use it a bit more on weekends this summer when I’m home.

7. Join a club! Meet new people and have something to look forward to on weeknights (other than a favorite show).

8. Pick up analog hobbies/activities like film photography, pottery, metalsmithing (something I’ve always wanted to do), or anything arts and crafts-related.

I hope this helped spark some ideas for how you can let go of technology this summer and get outside. As always, thanks for taking the time to read!

Cheers,

Cristina

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April is usually when I start taking stock of what my summer looks like and begin filling in the gaps. I’ll sit down with my calendar, which is typically filled with weddings, birthdays, and Yardsale work trips, and I’ll see what weekends are still open, and more importantly, where I can carve out time to get outside.

This summer is particularly exciting for Kelly and me because we’re working on the launch of our new trekking poles—an adaptation of our original Yardsale ski poles (as came highly requested by our customers).

We’ve spent the last two years working to bring this product to life (the longest it’s taken us to develop anything!) Our initial plan was to launch them last summer, but after rounds and rounds of prototyping and testing, we realized there were still a fair amount of design improvements to be made before they could meet our clever design and durability standards.

Without getting too into the weeds, there are two parts of the T3 poles that took the most time to get right: the magnetic folding system and the clasp adjustment. Our magnetic folding system makes them easier to carry when they’re not in use, and our clasp is designed to hold under intense pressure without slipping or failing.

Now, after countless iterations and trips to our factory, the trekking poles are (almost) ready to hit the market. The only thing we have left to execute is our campaign shoot in Spain next month, something we’re notoriously skilled at nailing under pressure.

In planning this campaign, we dreamt about all the places these poles will take us. Time and time again, we kept coming back to European hut-to-hut trekking trips—an adventure on many hikers’ bucket lists. Spending your days under the sun, covering ground on foot, and ending each day in a cozy cabin with simple, homemade food. It’s exactly how summer should be spent: wild and offline.

Almost every year, I see someone’s photos from a hut-trip and think, “next summer I’ll plan that trip.” But the one problem with hut-trips is that the logistics feel daunting, the spots are limited, and they book out fast. So often by the time I see the opportunity, it’s gone. Which is why I’m here now, reminding us all that summer is just around the corner and the time to book a European hut trip is NOW.

Not sure how to start planning? I’ve got you covered. I went ahead and pulled together a list of six trekking suggestions for hut trips that are still available. Some are niche, some are more well-known, all are sure to make epic memories.

If you’re already planning a trekking trip this summer, comment below. We’d love to know what adventures you have planned!

6 European trekking trips to start planning right now

E5 Alpine Crossing – Germany, Austria, and Italy

• DISTANCE: ~50 miles (80 km)

• LENGTH: 6 Days

• DIFFICULTY: Moderate to Hard

• BOOKING RESOURCES: Vivalpin (guided) & Macs Adventure (self-guided

Picos de Europa — Spain (where we’re going in May!)

• DISTANCE: ~75.4 miles (120 km)

• LENGTH: 6 Days

• DIFFICULTY: Moderate

• BOOKING RESOURCES: Much Better Adventures (guided) & Bookatrekking.com (self-guided)

Kesch Trek – Switzerland

• DISTANCE: ~37 miles (60 km)

• LENGTH: 4 Days

• DIFFICULTY: Moderate

• BOOKING RESOURCES: Eurotrek Alpine (guided) & Bookatrekking.com (self-guided)

Palaronda Trek – Italy

• DISTANCE: ~22 miles (35 km)

• LENGTH: 4 Days

• DIFFICULTY: Moderate

• BOOKING RESOURCES: Dolomitescape (guided) & Palaronda official site (self-guided)

Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise – France

• DISTANCE: ~37 miles (60 km)

• LENGTH: 4-6 Days

• DIFFICULTY: Moderate

• BOOKING RESOURCES: Altitude Mont Blanc (guided + self-guided) & Alpine Exploratory (guided)

Fisherman’s Trail – Portugal

• DISTANCE: ~94 miles (151 km) for the full Porto Covo to Sagres route; the classic Porto Covo to Odeceixe section is ~55 miles (89 km)

• LENGTH: 4-7 Days

• DIFFICULTY: Easy to Moderate

• BOOKING RESOURCES: Vicentina Travel (guided) & Hillwalk Tours (self-guided)

Happy trip planning! We’re looking forward to sharing a recap from our trip to Picos next month.

Cheers,

Cristina

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I am a child of the 90s and early 2000s. I grew up at a time when cereal was a perfectly balanced breakfast and summers were spent outside. We didn’t have to worry about “being socialized” or adults making time for community because life wasn’t spent online.

Looking back, it’s something we all took for granted.

For just a second, let’s revisit that time using the best digital representation I can think of: sitcoms. After the theme music plays, what do you see? Obviously styles were different, and personal technology was almost non-existent, but the less glaring difference in popular culture wasn’t the clothes or lack of cell phones, it was the spaces they hung out in.

If you’re a millennial or an older gen z, you can probably still name the iconic hang out spots from television at that time:

Seinfeld was Monk’s Diner

Friends was Central Perk

Gilmore Girls was Luke’s Diner

Without cellphones, laptops, and a work culture that encouraged remote isolation, third spaces were thriving. What’s even more apparent was that third spaces weren’t even a point of conversation, they were simply the cultural norm. No one was talking about the need for more work-free spaces because work happened at work. Everywhere else was just a place to hang out.

Ultimately, we all know what happened. The Internet, the iPhone, hustle culture, and the pandemic completely mutated work (verb) at work (noun). What were once gathering places for conversation turned into places for concentrated isolation. And soon enough, neighborhood meeting grounds became more synonymous with silent laptop dwellers.

Which begs the question, where did all of those social spaces move to?

A natural replacement would have been to bars and nightclubs, and for a time they were, but another shift in cultural behavior impacted that too. Year over year, a steady decline in alcohol consumption has driven people away from alcohol-centered spaces and into healthier alternatives.

So where did they actually all go? And how do we start reclaiming hang out spaces in a tech dominated world?

After-School Programs, but for Adults

First, what actually is a third space?. Originally coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in the book The Good Great Place, a third space is a social environment which is separate from our two other primary environments: home and work. The most common third spaces are cafes and coffee shops, but could be any other low-cost public space—like a bar, restaurant, park, or library.

Ultimately, the most critical criteria for a physical third space are that it must be social in nature and be open to the public with low barriers to entry.

When you think about those criteria what’s the first thing you think of? For me, it’s after-school programs. A place outside of where you typically have to be (school + home) that brings people together over a shared interest. And while the traditional form of after-school activities don’t exist in adulthood, the power of community through recreation-based clubs still exists for people of all ages.

And the groups making that happen for adults right now? Brands.

The Modern Third Space

Alongside the decline in alcohol consumption there’s been an equal but opposite rise in active socializing—happening most dominantly through outdoor recreation—with sports like running, hiking, skiing, pickleball, and cycling growing the most. We see this everywhere in San Francisco from the infamous Marina Run Club, to Fat Cake Cycling Club, etc. With it, brands from every arena are stepping up not just to meet the physical product demands of their customers, but to create a community where they can connect. All reinforced through a shared retail space that acts just as much like a storefront as it does a communal hang out space.

When my cofounder Kelly and I began building a retail space for our brand, Yardsale, we knew we wanted this to be part of the design. Community is a key pillar of our brand vision and both of us have such a strong affinity for connecting with others on the mountain, so reinforcing that element to our physical space was important for us. (We also both live down the street from our shop, so selfishly we wanted to build a beautiful space for us and our neighbors to gather.)

Before making any moves, we started researching brands that were bridging the gap between outdoor recreation and third spaces really well. There are plenty of brands that have created beautiful stores, like Aimé Leon Dore and Buck Mason, but they were missing a shared element that truly brought people together. In our eyes, a third space isn’t just cozy and beautiful — there also has to be something to bond over. That’s what makes it a place you don’t just visit once, but a place you return to over and over again.

A few examples within the outdoor world stood out to us: Rapha’s store in Hong Kong’s Central neighborhood, Bandit Running’s store in the West Village, and Pas Normal Studios in SF’s Lower Haight. Aside from having a sports connection, we noticed something else they all had in common: coffee bars.

And so our vision for Double Black, Yardsale’s very own coffee bar, came to life.

(Honorable mention to Tracksmith’s Trackhouse in Boston, where I spent every Sunday morning recovering from long runs in college. Only omitted because they don’t have a full-time coffee bar!)

The Double Black Blueprint

While we knew from famous sitcoms that coffee was an essential part of a great third space, we also knew it wasn’t the only thing. So we went to work studying what made each retail coffee bar really work.

For starters, they didn’t just serve coffee, they served GREAT coffee, and treats. It was clear their menus weren’t an afterthought — they truly cared about bringing customers in for a great experience. Something we took to heart as we taste tested every roast, matcha powder, and pastry in San Francisco.

Second, each flagship store looked more like boutique hotels than they did actual storefronts. They were warm and inviting, with plenty of places to sit, relax, and connect. The spaces were intentionally designed for conversation, not laptop work.

And lastly, they made it easy to build community. Customers didn’t just come in for the coffee or the ambience, they came in for a true sense of community. With regular events like weekly group rides or speeches from professional athletes, customers had a reason to return and hang out. The shared hobby was the glue that kept everyone coming back.

And thus defined our very own framework for a modern third space: a great menu, a cozy and inviting space, and a shared love of sport. Sure, Ray Oldenburg might disagree, but this is my Substack.

The point is that third spaces are not dead, they just look a little different these days. We have to be far more intentional about getting together with friends (and strangers) now that so much of life happens online. We need more reasons to gather that don’t revolve around technology or rely solely on drinking. So why not let that glue be skiing, or hiking, or cycling, or golfing—or whatever it is you enjoy, let it bring us together.

Our flagship retail store and coffee bar, Double Black, is due to open on May 9th in San Francisco, California. If you’re nearby, we’d love to see you there—for a coffee, for a chat about skiing, or for a chat about anything.

Thanks as always for taking some of your precious time to read.

Cheers,

Cristina

The apparel industry is changing—and you don’t have to be a fashion expert to see it. If your eyes are open and your finger is even remotely on the pulse, you’ve probably noticed it already.

One day (read: over many years) it seems like we all woke up to the dangers of fast fashion. As consumer demand began to shift, people started paying closer attention to the fabrics in their clothing and unfortunately, what we found wasn’t pretty. Especially in the outdoor industry.

For the past ~30 years, the outdoor industry has become over-reliant on plastic clothing. And it makes sense. Polyethylene terephthalate, or PET fibers (the chemical compound that makes polyester) are inexpensive and very easy to mass produce. Plus, there’s no denying that an Arc’teryx Beta jacket will keep you drier than a wool sweater in pouring rain.

While there have been incredible innovations in materials and textile science, particularly when it comes to waterproofing, we should remember that for hundreds (thousands, really) of years, “outdoor” clothing was made with natural materials.

My Italian grandparents skied in wool sweaters and waxed cotton coats, their grandparents and family members wore cotton while working in the agricultural industry in Argentina, and their ancestors survived cold winters and hot summers in 100% natural fiber clothing for millennia before plastic ever existed.

But now, you’ll notice that fabrics made from plastic are everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean there are 100% acrylic, polyester, or nylon composition in products that have no business using that much plastic (like, let’s say sweaters for example!? Wtf.)

What’s even more alarming is that polyester is used in roughly 57% of all fiber textiles, with nylon and other synthetics comprising another 10%.

I think we can all agree, the less plastic we use, the better.

Environmentally, plastic is a disaster. And when it comes to our health, it’s even worse. PET clothing fibers are made by burning fossil fuels, they don’t biodegrade, and they constantly shed tiny plastic particles into the air, soil, and waterways. From microplastics leeching into our skin, and the lack of antimicrobial properties — we really should not be relying on these materials as the main ingredient for products that directly touch our skin, particularly when we sweat. (That said, like with everything else in this world, there is some nuance here and we’ll dive deeper on this in a minute.)

With the rise of fast fashion and mass produced clothing, we’ve completely lost touch with what clothing is supposed to look and feel like. Ultimately, we all just want clothes that, well, actually feel like clothes. Clothes that look like you could have made them by hand if you had the skills, time, and materials to do so.

And the fabric most likely to meet that quality standard? It’s wool.

Wool has quietly become the fabric every clean fashion consumer is looking for. It’s naturally biodegradable, it’s antimicrobial, it’s temperature-regulating, it’s durable, it’s… nearly perfect.

Having just spent a year (and some change) designing a ski-apparel line made primarily from wool, we do feel we’ve earned the authority to say so. But! I must add, all wool is not created equal and there are some things you should know before going ram-wild.

Welcome to…

Wool 101: An informal introduction to the hottest fiber in fashion textiles right now
Everything you need to know to start shopping wool

What is wool?

Wool is a textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, including: llamas, alpacas, camels, rabbits, goats, and many others. The type of animal and the specific breed determines the type of wool. For example, Merino wool comes from Merino sheep.

Fun fact: Vincuña wool (sourced from wild Vicuñas) is the most expensive type of wool, selling for around $10,000 per kilogram of finished yarn. Vicuna finished products typically sell for over $20,000. Like this $24,000 Vicuna + Cashmere jacket from Loro Piana

What types of wool are used in clothes?

The most commonly used wool types in clothing are…

Merino: Sourced from Merino sheep, merino is arguably the most popular wool in performance clothing. It’s known for being soft, fine, and non-itchy. Plus, it’s temperature-regulating and moisture-wicking—making it great for athletic apparel.

*Our Men’s and Women’s Baselayers are made of 100% Merino wool and our Men’s and Women’s Sport Coats are all made of a 60% blend.

Cashmere: Sourced from the undercoat of Cashmere goats, usually raised in Mongolia and China. Cashmere is known for being soft and lightweight with a ~luxurious~ feel. It’s less durable than other wools and tends to sit at a higher price point.

Mohair: Sourced from Angora goats, mohair has a distinctive silky sheen and is known for being strong, durable, and resilient. It has a slightly more textured, fluffy appearance compared to other wools and is often used in knitwear and outerwear.

Lambswool: This is wool taken from a sheep’s first shearing, typically when the animal is around seven months old. Because it’s a first clip, the fibers are extremely soft and fine, making it a step up in quality from standard sheep’s wool. You may hear it referred to as virgin wool.

Alpaca: Alpaca wool is known for being incredibly soft, lightweight, and warm—often compared to cashmere in terms of luxury feel. It’s naturally hypoallergenic, making it a great option for those with sensitive skin!

*Our Men’s and Women’s Dinner Sweaters are made from alpaca wool and our Mohair Blanket Scarf is made of, you guessed it: mohair wool! (almost done bragging)

Should I trust a wool blend?

Yes! With caution.

Technically, a wool-blend is any fabric that consists of at least 20% wool. This is where you really want to pay attention to percentages of your clothes because a lot of brands love to greenwash the composition of their materials to appear more natural.

Ultimately, a quality wool blend should consist of at least 60% wool (like our Sport Coat and Baselayers). More often than not, the remaining composition is made from synthetic fabrics like nylon, polyester, or spandex (remember when I said I would circle back on plastics?)

The truth is, while we try to reduce our use of synthetics as much as possible, having just a little bit in a wool or cotton blend is often necessary to create a machine-washable product. Trust me, we put this to the test during our R&D phase.

As wool rises in popularity, we’ve noticed some brands marketing 100% wool pieces as performance-ready, but when you read the fine print, the instructions say absolutely no machine washing or drying. This is where they lose me. I do not know a single person who is consistently washing their athletic apparel by hand. So for the sake of everyone’s sanity, a little blend for practicality doesn’t hurt.

Just pay attention to the ratio. Remember: aim for 60%+!

—

There you have it — a quick crash course on the material that’s (hopefully) coming to a closet near you.

Shop smart, read the fine print, and when in doubt, aim for that 60%+. Your skin, your wardrobe, and the planet, will thank you.

Cheers,

Cristina

Before starting Yardsale, I had a very idyllic picture in my head of what running a business would be like. First, you start by identifying a problem, then you design a product, then you find ways to creatively bring your product to market. And then voila, your customers buy the exact amount of product you predicted and now you have a successful business!

WRONG.

I was so wrong.

My daydream hinged on perfect planning and all of the best-case-scenarios falling into place. But our reality? Very few things actually go to plan.

More often than not, keeping a brand alive is equal parts planning ahead and responding to last-minute changes. Having the vision is half the battle. The other half is meeting demand and thinking fast on your feet.

Take our 30L Day Bag for example. After a killer first year on the market, we were heading into this past ski season with what we *thought* was enough inventory to last us until April. Then Black Friday hit, and we completely sold out of every single color within 72 hours.

Of course, selling out is a great problem to have—there’s no greater sign of product-market fit than exceeding demand. However, we then had a growing waitlist of customers with nothing to sell them.

Queue scramble mode.

In early December, we quickly arranged a new order of 30L bags with our factory AND used this as an opportunity to kick off a smaller 20L bag we had been working thanks to feedback we received from customers who wanted a smaller everyday version.

By January 27th, 2026, we received confirmation that samples of the 20L and a new color we were working on would be ready by February 13th, and inventory would ship shortly thereafter. This was great news! But then we realized we had ~two weeks to plan and shoot a campaign for the launch and restock of our bestselling product.

Queue scramble mode, again.

Less than one month to plan a shoot (in Japan!)—Here’s exactly how we pulled it off

20 days out, January 29th — Kelly (my co-founder) was about to leave for a ski trip to Japan and threw out the idea that we could meet up at the end of his trip to pull off a quick shoot.

Given that our newest light pink Day Bag was aptly named Cherry Blossom (after the cherry blossoms in Japan), it felt like the perfect location fit. I was going to be on vacation in Italy for the Olympics in early February, so before we made any further plans, I confirmed that I could make it from Milan to Tokyo in time for the dates we were working with.

Once I changed my return flight, we locked it in and started planning.

18 days out, January 31st — We documented all of the creative needs for both bags and made plans to shoot both in the city and snow to capture the sizes in their respective use cases (20L bag for city days, and 30L bag for travel & ski days). At the same time, we started reaching out to modeling agencies in Tokyo to find our models. Spoiler alert: Working with overseas modeling agencies is… complex.

For campaigns like this, we’d typically bring our photographers Mimi & Jonas Hill along, but given the short notice—and the fact that they live in Spain—Kelly and I decided we’d shoot this one ourselves and get their help with editing. Kelly was on the digital camera and I was on film.

12 days out, February 6th — I left for my trip to the Olympics and we still had no models booked.

11 days out, February 7th — While in Tokyo, Kelly went to scout a location he found on Pinterest of a pink wall that perfectly complemented our new Cherry Blossom color. Hot tip: Don’t underestimate the power of Google’s reverse image search!

One week out, February 9th-14th — It was the last full week before the shoot and we still had no models booked. I spent the entire week going back and forth with modeling agencies about who they had available with no success.

At the same time, I scoured Instagram for any connections or mutual followers who had connections to folks in Tokyo with modeling experience. With almost no luck via the agency route, I threw a Hail Mary DM to Emi Matsushima, who I follow on Instagram, and it worked! She connected us to her friend, Erica, who happened to be available and down to join us last-minute.

Eventually, during the eleventh hour, we found our male model, Jay. He was represented by an agency and his manager was incredibly skeptical of us since 1) we’re a U.S. brand, 2) we were self-shooting the campaign with no producer or lighting, and 3) we were suggesting taking a day trip to Nozawa Onsen (almost three hours outside of Tokyo). After lots of back and forth and reassurance, we had him secured.

The days before, February 15th-17th — While still in Milan I finalized the art direction with all of our creative references—honing in on iconic locations like 7/11, Shibuya crossing, and Tsukiji Market for their recognizability. All the while, Kelly scouted locations in Nozawa Onsen, our ski destination, for day two of the shoot.

On Tuesday, February 17th, a day before the shoot, I landed in Tokyo and immediately met up with Kelly to scout our final locations.

That night, with everything locked into place, we pulled together a detailed schedule for the next two days, sent it off to our models, and hoped everything went as planned.

The shoot, February 18th & 19th — Despite the chaotic sequence of events leading up to our shoot, the actual shoot days unfolded flawlessly. We had sunny weather in Tokyo and fresh powder in Nozawa, Erica and Jay crushed it, and we walked away with photos that captured the ways we know our bags will be used: from city to mountain and everywhere in between. We also now have two friends in Tokyo :)

Once we wrapped day 2, we spent a few hours making selects to send off to Mimi and Jonas, and the next morning before our flight home we dropped our film off at a local spot in Tokyo to get developed.

Launch day, February 25th — Thanks to Mimi & Jonas’ quick help and the lightning development speed at Osawa Camera in Meguro, we were able to turn everything around and launch the following week. You can check out a few selects from the album in our Japan Lookbook.

While this is far different and way more chaotic than the romanticized vision I had of building this company, it’s way more fun than I could have ever imagined. Are we running and gunning because this our first time doing practically everything? Absolutely. But we learn a lesson from every last-minute change and come out better prepared for the next one every time. We might never nail our inventory planning (who has?!) but we’ll always make exciting moments out of the obstacles in front of us.

Cheers,

Cristina

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Everyday, I commute on foot from my home in Cole Valley to our Yardsale headquarters, often with my co-founder Kelly (we’re neighbors!) The walk to and from the office is usually a time for casual check-ins of “what’s going on today?” on our trek in and “what happened today?” on our return. It’s (literally and figuratively) our warm-up and cool-down for the day. Just as importantly, it’s our time to observe what’s happening in the neighborhood and in the city. While walking and talking everyday, we’re pulling in anecdotal research for our next designs, noticing things like: What are people wearing? How are they getting to work? What are they talking about? Etc.

Last year, Kelly and I dedicated a lot of our time to studying bags. Fresh off of the successful launch of our first ski poles, we wanted to bring that same design momentum in simplifying more elements of the ski day—starting first with the day bag. We wanted to design a bag you could take anywhere, from weekend ski trips to the mountains, to the office, and everywhere else in-between. And that process started with our walk to work.

While walking to and from the office daily, eyeing our fellow commuters, one observation became concretely solidified: totes dominate the every day. Those of us who have not been living under a rock for the past five years know this already. The popularity of tote bags is tough to miss, especially after the resurgeance of the beloved LL Bean Boat and Tote. But what we continued to notice is just how obsolete backpacks are becoming—even among their most likely users: men.

This made us question the shift in style all together, and even more importantly, question what’s keeping backpacks from going completely extinct?

The Great Bag Divide

To start with the latter, easier question to answer, *most* backpacks have something *most* totes can’t offer: organization. While the easy-to-grab tote is convenient for throwing all of your stuff in and running out the door, the interior can just as easily become a black hole with little to no support in organization. Not to mention, backpacks are usually designed with a level of structure that the simple canvas tote can’t compete with.

That said, backpacks lack what most tote bags don’t: personal style.

The shift in daily drivers, especially among men, tells us one thing in particular: style has now become the number one requirement in an all-purpose day bag. From Jacob Elordi to Pedro Pascal all the way down to the everyday commuters, bags have become an extension of an ever-growing need to express our own distinctive taste. But that’s not to say organization should be forgotten. Being all looks and no purpose does no one any good, and we recognized early just how many bags were missing the mark.

When we set out to design our first Day Bag in 2024, we brought all of these requirements to the table with the ultimate goal of creating a bag that simplified ski days to and from the mountain. We had minimal softgoods design experience, so we enlisted the help of our friends at Ideology in Seattle to help bring our concept to life.

Many onsite brainstorms and prototypes later, we arrived at the all-purpose 30L bag our customers now know and love. With thoughtful design specs like a protected laptop sleeve with magnetic closures, and a smooth cinch closure, the Day Bag is more than just a tote for all ski accessories. It’s the bag for adventure travel.

The bag has since sold out multiple times—a double-edged sword for us and our waitlist. Between sold out restocks, the most resounding request we’ve received was for a smaller, easier to haul, version of the bag—a truly EVERY Day Bag, if you will. So Kelly and I went back to the drawing board—scaling down the beloved tote to a version that’s both sharp enough and versatile enough to be used as a daily driver.

Enter: The 20L Day Bag.

The same look and features as the original waterproof bag, with the same emphasis on wearable colorways (peep the new Cherry Blossom color!), just made smaller for adventures both big and small.

The 20L has been my go-to commuter bag since we picked up the sample at our factory in December. As someone whose personal style is rooted in neutrals, I most frequently reach for the Hot Cocoa color since it naturally compliments most of my wardrobe, but I also love the Marshmallow. TBH—you can’t go wrong with any of the colors (yes, I’m biased but our waitlist is living proof).

Kelly and I are both so excited to be sharing this next iteration of our growing bag collection with you. Thanks for reading and please don’t be afraid to drop any questions you have—Yardsale or otherwise—in the section below. We look forward to seeing what you request next!

Cheers,

Cristina

• 🎨 BTS into our recent brand refresh

• 🪩 We’re hiring Fulfillment Associates in our San Francisco warehouse! Take a look at the job and apply here.

• 🎒 FYI - our new Day Bags launched!

• 🚿 Something we’ve been obsessing over

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Behind the Scenes of Yardsale 2.0

We launched Yardsale in November 2023 with one product and the tagline “Ski Poles That Don’t Suck.” And somehow, it stuck.

Our initial branding and messaging was focused first and foremost around skiing, hence our domain (www.yardsale.ski), our aforementioned tagline, and our mission “to create clever gear that simplifies your ski day.”

But what started as a simple idea to put magnets inside of ski poles has since expanded into a mission to inject clever design into everyday pieces of outdoor gear. With this expansion, we decided we needed to refresh our branding and level up our website.

Earlier this month, we rolled out what we’ve been calling “Yardsale 2.0” and thought it would be fun to use this space to share the behind-the-scenes of how we got here.

Our early branding

As it goes with most new brands, it took several tries before we landed on a logo we loved. We kept our original design brief very open ended in order to push our designer to show us very different styles before we narrowed things down.

After testing a few distinct directions, we landed on the cursive version we have today which was inspired in part by the iconic Paul Smith logo. We loved cursive because it reminded us of the winding turns you take while skiing and we purposefully tilted the logo and added a break between “yard” and “sale” to make it feel a little less formal.

We ended up taking the “y” from the word mark to create our first logo mark, which we never ended up using. (It looked too close to the Greek letter upsilon.)

(We also never used this blue color palette and pivoted to brown right before launch.)

Finding the right design partners

To rethink the Yardsale identity, we partnered with Studio Rotate, a design studio out of London behind some of our favorite brands. From day one, they pushed us to think about the words we wanted people to associate with the brand: clever design, approachability, and nostalgia.

Our task was to rebuild our messaging and long term vision, their task was to take it and help us refresh our colors and fonts, create a distinct logo mark, and build an entirely new website.

In April, we stopped in London before our trip to China to kick things off in person. From there, dozens of wireframes, fonts, and logo sketches were shared, reviewed, refined, and (sometimes painfully) cut until we landed on the branding you see today.

Our new “Squiggle” logo mark

Our original cursive Yardsale logo is here to stay (we just straightened it out), but we wanted a smaller, simpler mark to add to our brand book as we start venturing into other product categories. Think like Lululemon’s omega logo or Bandit’s “B.”

First, we looked at versions inspired by the meaning behind the term “yardsale” that featured people falling, but that didn’t feel right. Then we looked at flags and other “Y” letter iterations. And finally, we looked at versions inspired by nature elements. Think trees, birds, sun, etc.

We ultimately went down the “Y” path because it felt more distinct and ownable. From there, we began an even deeper dive into what felt like every possible manifestation of the letter Y.

One night, Kelly and I were going back and forth drawing on old receipts and decided to dust off an old sumi ink painting set I had to explore different designs ourselves. And that’s eventually how we landed on our final squiggle.

Simple, flexible, and grounded in the "Y" of Yardsale, our new logo mark is inspired by winding ski slopes and trail switchbacks. Expect to see it on some fun new gear coming soon!

Fresh colors and a new type face

Our core brown color is here to stay too, just with a slightly darker tone and a few new accents. We’ll continue using earth tones that nod to the outdoors and we’ll add in accents inspired by the bright colors of our flagship P1 Poles.

Our updated typography is clean and modern, but with subtle quirks that keep it fun.

A new URL and a faster, more scalable website

This refresh gave us the chance to rebuild our website from the ground up. And when we say ground up, we mean it. We completely burned down the old site and started from scratch. The new site is faster, easier to shop, and also gives us more space to share stories and expand our product lines as we continue to grow.

Part of our web refresh meant saying goodbye to our beloved .ski domain and finding a new URL. Unfortunately, yardsale dot com was commanding a six figure price and all of the other obvious options were not available or didn’t feel right, so we landed on .day and decided to lean in to the year-round “all day” message.

If you haven’t explored the new site yet, be sure to check it out and scroll to the bottom of the homepage for a fun surprise.

Cheers to all the days ahead

Our new identity is our way of making sure Yardsale feels true to where we’re headed — not just skiing, but all the moments and memories that happen outside, all year long.

We’d love to know what you think. Drop us a note if you ever have any feedback or ideas to share, we read every single message.

Our Latest Micro Obsession: The Public Showers at the Limmat River in Zurich

It sounds weird to obsess over a public shower but we were recently in Zurich and went swimming at River Pool Oberer Letten (a calm section of the Limmat River) and the showers!! They were unreal. 100% free, so clean, so nice. Highly recommend if you’re ever passing through Zurich in the summer.

‘til next time,

— Cristina & Kelly

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Month 3 — January 2024

Two months after we launched Yardsale and one week after we barely survived the holidays, we signed a contract with a small Milwaukee-based 3PL and shipped most of our products from California to Wisconsin.

Everything was smooth sailing. Until it wasn’t.

Month 5 — March 2024

The 3PL wasn’t shipping fast enough, there were mistakes in far too many orders, and packages kept getting lost. Ultimately, the headache of managing them (and the cost) was quickly outweighing the time savings.

We took a trip out to Milwaukee to try to figure out what wasn’t working, but it became clear to us that even with top-tier technology, plentiful warehouse staff, and ironclad SLAs, nobody was going to care more about our operations and fulfillment than we were.

It wasn’t that the 3PL didn’t have the right systems in place or expectations weren’t clear, it was that they simply didn’t care enough and they had plenty of other customers with much higher volumes to invest in. So we went back to the drawing board.

We couldn’t afford another major shipping disruption so we decided to wait until the end of the season and re-evaluate.

Month 6 — April 2024

As our first full winter season came to a close, we ran a few calculations and determined that we could save $80,000 by managing fulfillment ourselves with part-time fulfillment employees back in San Francisco. (Yes, the same San Francisco notorious for high rent and wages.)

After weeks of scouring LoopNet and Craigslist, we found a great ground level 1,400 sq ft office in Hayes Valley that had just been vacated by an AI company. We made a few quick drawings and agreed that it could fit all of our existing and new inventory for the next season (more than double the volume of our first season!)

The landlord offered us the lease with the first few months free and we quickly signed.

Once all of the snow in the U.S. melted, we arranged for the remainder of our inventory to be shipped back to us in California so we could get organized in time for our second season. We bought used desks and chairs from a friend’s company that was downsizing, bought a barcode scanner, put our logo on the door, and settled in to the new space.

Month 8 — June 2024

After weeks of waiting, inventory delivery day went about as chaotically as it possibly could. A quarter of the product arrived back to us damaged due to poor repackaging by the 3PL. Our new office door was not wide enough to fit a pallet through it*. And our next door neighbor urgently (and angrily) needed to get her car out of her garage while four pallets stacked high with heavy product were blocking it.

*We knew that the door wouldn’t be wide enough when we signed the lease but decided the space was still worth it.

We spent six hours hand carrying in every single box from the curb and stacking them inside anywhere we could. It was horrible, but it was also exactly what we signed up for! Despite the pain of moving it all, we were so happy to have control over our product again.

Month 9 — July 2024

In July, our summer operations intern, Logan helped organize all of our inventory and set up our racking system before we tackled our newest challenge: packing out our first wholesale shipments.

Most of our retail purchase orders were split into two delivery dates: one in August and one later in November. Since we had received these POs too late to order fully assembled units from our manufacturer, the only way to ship them out was by hand packing every unit the same way we handled individual DTC orders.

This meant building the boxes, packing all of the components for each pair into the box, labeling, and organizing them by PO. It was nuts but Logan got it done!

Month 11 — September

Once September rolled around, it was finally time to receive all of our new inventory for the upcoming season and put our systems to the test. Confident about our initial calculations and drawings from April, we were not at all concerned about it all fitting inside… until we ran out of space with several pallets still outside on the curb.

In Part 3, we’ll cover how we handled the excess inventory that didn’t fit in the warehouse and how we ended up getting more than 500 applications for our part-time fulfillment job that we advertised as a “menial minimum wage job.”

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Our Latest Micro Obsessions: @schmuck.ny + Will Guidara’s book Unreasonable Hospitality

We were both in New York recently and became obsessed with Schmuck, one of the latest bars to receive the World’s Best Bar designation.

Their cocktails are incredible but their Instagram game is even better and has been a big inspiration for an upcoming project we’re working on.

Somewhat related, we just finished reading Unreasonable Hospitality, written by the GM of famed NYC restaurant Eleven Madison Park. Highly recommend for anyone who’s interested in hospitality or the BTS of running a restaurant.

Thanks for reading and see ya next time!

- Cristina 👋

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Yardsale Launch — November 2023

Before we launched, one of our advisors strongly urged us to manage our own fulfillment for as long as we could. His argument was that self fulfilling keeps you close to your product and customer, and it’s smart to test whether or not you have product market fit before you invest in using a 3PL. Plus, the suffering would make us stronger, so he said.

So that’s exactly what we did. We shipped all of our initial inventory to the largest and lowest cost space we could find: my parents’ house just south of SF.

Eight pallets of inventory were offloaded onto the sidewalk and we hand carried everything inside, completely filling the garage and part of the living room. Then we were off to the races!

Every other day, after working our full time jobs, Kelly and I would drive 25 minutes to their house and pack orders until we cleared the queue.

On higher volume days, we had a pretty efficient assembly line going: Kelly would fold the boxes and print the labels, I would pick the individually boxed components from their boxes, my mom and whoever else was helping that day would pack them into the shipping boxes, and my dad would tape them up.

At the time, we were doing about 10–15 orders a day, so it was busy, but manageable. We had no barcode scanner and no QA process. (Two things we’d later learn were very important.)

What makes our fulfillment operations so complex

Since our poles are modular, each P1 Pole box that we ship to a customer has eight individual component boxes inside (handle, strap, shaft, and basket - x2). The modularity is what allows us to offer customization, which is wildly popular (60% of our ski pole orders are customized) but it also makes for a bit of operational headache.

A significant percentage of orders had completely different colors for every single component, and in our first season, we let customers make one pole completely different from the other. We later had to remove this option in our second season to help streamline operations and honestly, we’re not too mad about it because some of the color combos you all were making were CRAZY! Because of this customization chaos, and because our inventory was strewn all over my parents’ driveway, packing each order was incredibly slow.

From 10-15 orders a day to 100+, overnight

One morning in mid December, we woke up to a flurry of Shopify notifications. Fast Company wrote a feature piece on Yardsale and we instantly went from our steady 10-15 orders a day to 100+ orders per day, and it stayed that way through the end of the month.

We were simultaneously thrilled to be receiving so many orders and also dying inside thinking about how we were gonna pack them all.

Assembling Santa’s workshop

After the FastCo piece went live, we moved a bunch of inventory up to Kelly’s basement in SF so that we could cut down on the drives down to my parents house.

For the first few 100+ order days, we stayed up until 3 am packing away in the basement. It was fun in retrospect, but felt pretty hellish at the time. There were many moments where we had to remind ourselves that this is exactly what we wanted to happen.

On weekends we’d recruit friends to help and my parents would still help by folding as many boxes as they could at night and drive them up to San Francisco so we could cut down on box folding time. It was insane.

Post-holiday

Somehow we survived the holidays and were lucky enough to both leave our jobs in the new year to go full time with Yardsale. Even then, we knew that spending all day and night packing orders was not a productive use of our time.

More importantly, we knew we couldn’t run a business that was fully reliant on us being at home in San Francisco every day, especially during peak ski season. So we decided it was time to start exploring 3PLs.

Finding the right 3PL partner

We asked around for recommendations on a good 3PL and eventually landed on a small operation out of Milwaukee that would accept our volume. We liked that they were centrally located in the U.S. since at the time we were paying a lot to ship orders to the east coast from California. We also loved the fact that they worked with a lot of newer brands and could be flexible as we navigated our first year in business.

The pick and pack fee for each box rounded out to about $6, which is relatively expensive compared to products that don’t have multiple boxes packed into one. Still, we figured the time savings was worth it.

Once we signed the contract, we arranged the shipment of our inventory from California to Wisconsin and were instantly relieved once everything was on its way.

Once we got up and running at the new warehouse, things were smooth… until they weren’t.

In Part 2 next week, we’ll cover the challenges with the 3PL that eventually led us to bring all of our inventory back to SF, and how we set up our first ever proper warehouse in Hayes Valley.

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Our Latest Micro Obsession: Outdoor Recreation Archive

Started in 2017, the Outdoor Recreation Archive is a special project at Utah State University to develop a historical collection of books, catalogs, periodicals, photographs, and manuscripts documenting the history of outdoor gear. Their Instagram account is excellent and their Substack has some really great deep dives into the legacy outdoor brands we all know and love. I recommend reading this one on The North Face, and this one on the origin of Arc’teryx’s logo.

See ya next time!

- Cristina 👋

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In this edition

• 🫧 How we’re testing and selecting fabrics for our first apparel collection

• 🪩 We’re hiring a freelance graphic designer! Want to help us build out the visual identities for our core campaigns, merch, and community programs? Apply for the role here. Reach out with any questions by replying to this email.

• 🧱 Something we’ve been obsessing over

In search of a washable, durable wool fabric

When we started developing our first apparel collection, we knew one thing: the materials need to be able to withstand the washing machine on multi-day ski trips.

The first piece we tackled is a midlayer which we’re calling The Sport Coat. The gist behind this piece—and our entire apparel collection for that matter—is to make pieces that perform well on the mountain and look good enough to wear to a nice restaurant in town after your ski day.

Our key focus is versatility, performance, and style. Basically, we’re here to help you retire that stretched-out and tattered Smartwool quarter zip from high school and throw on something better.

Given these requirements, we knew we wanted The Sport Coat to be made primarily of wool since it’s naturally odor resistant for sweaty ski days but doesn’t look too athleisure-like for a nice restaurant. Plus, wool garments last for generations.

Our midlayer fabric must-haves

• 50%+ wool composition

• Needs to be able to withstand the washing machine and dryer

• Minimal pilling and shedding

• Minimal-to-no shrinkage in the wash

• Warm but breathable

• Durable after seasons and seasons of use

• Soft hand feel

With this list in hand, we got to work sourcing fabrics from all over the world, including Italy, Korea, Peru, China, and Vietnam. We visited a few mills on our last R&D trip, Kelly went to an insane fabric market in China last month, and we got a few recommendations from friends in the industry who were familiar with wool. Eventually, we found 30 different fabrics that on paper, could work for our piece.

Once we had all of the swatches in hand, our first step was to do an at-home wash test to test for shrinkage, durability, and pilling.

How we run our wash tests

1. Measure each swatch and take note of all of the length/width

2. Throw all of the swatches in the washing machine on low

3. Take them out and measure against the original length/width measurements. If they shrunk by more than 10% in the wash, they were immediately eliminated. If they had excessive pilling or were misformed they were also eliminated.

4. If they didn’t shrink, didn’t pill, and kept their original shape, they make it to the drying round and are re-measured.

Our first wash test eliminated 27 of the options and left only three fabrics on the table, so we decided to order sample yardage of all three to turn into proper garment samples.

Next test: Full garment wash and dry

Once we received the garment samples from our factory, we took a bunch of before photos, threw them all in the wash and then in the dryer to see how the fabric performed.

All samples passed the wash test (woo!) but the result after the dryer was not so good…

The first had way too much pilling and the second looked like matted fleece, which left us with a clear winner:

A 60% wool blend with a felted look and feel (read: not scratchy). It had no shrinkage and survived the dryer with minimal pilling.

You’ll meet the final fabric this winter when The Sport Coat launches—but trust us, it’s built for the long haul.

Up Next for The Sport Coat: Lab Dips, Trims + Final Details

Now that we’ve selected our material and locked our design, we’re kicking off our lab dips and finalizing the final trims, tags, and other fun small details. There are so many more fun features packed into The Sport Coat that we can’t wait to share. Mark your calendars for November!

Our Latest Micro Obsession: Heath Ceramics Tile

We stopped by Heath Ceramics HQ in Mill Valley last week and fell in love with their dimensional and dual glaze tile. (I also had no idea they made tile?!) We’re opening our first retail store and community space this fall (more news to come) and so wish that Heath was in the budget…

See you in the next edition of The Backyard in two weeks. Until then, don’t forget to share it with a friend or subscribe if you’re just dropping in!

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Cheers,

Cristina + Kelly

• ✈️ Our last-minute approach to get a few wholesale orders in Austria

• 🇪🇺 Have a can’t-miss ski shop you’ve been to in Europe? Let us know below!

• 🎒 Refer friends, get merch: Start referring folks to The Backyard in exchange for some Yardsale or a $50 gift card!

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This past spring, we landed in Munich with two overstuffed Day Bags, a box of our products, some Google Maps pins, and exactly 23 hours before we had to be back at the airport. Our goal for the day was to visit as many Austrian ski shops as we could.

Back in February, our friend Kyle (founder of Raide) rented a camper van and went on a crazy European road trip to try to win as many wholesale accounts as possible. Shockingly (or not) he had a ton of success, so when we found ourselves with a free day between our trips to London and China this past April, we figured we’d give it a try.

The Route

Here’s what our daylong German-Austrian tour looked like:

8:00 PM — Land in Munich and pick up our rental car

9:00 PM — Arrive at our German advisor’s home for a late night dinner of schnitzel and wine

2:00 AM — Go to sleep after a fun long night of catching up (and a few too many glasses of Riesling)

6:30 AM — Wake up and hit the road towards Garmisch, Germany for a breakfast meeting with our German sales rep, Christian

8:45 AM — Wrap up our meeting and start the drive out to Lech, Austria

10:00 AM — Arrive in Lech to visit four different shops

11:45 AM — Quick drive down the road to St. Anton to visit four more shops

1:30 PM — Start the drive to Sölden to visit the final shops on our list

3:00 PM — Wrap up and start the 3 hour drive back to Munich

4:00 PM — Quick pit stop in Mittenwald for ice cream cones to avoid falling asleep at the wheel

6:00 PM — Arrive back at the Munich International Airport, return our rental car and check in for our flight

7:00 PM — Fly back to London (and agree to never drive that much in one day on that little sleep ever again)

How We Approached Each Shop

We had a list of shops in each city (Lech, St. Anton, and Sölden) that felt like a great fit for Yardsale. We reached out to most shops in advance to try to get a meeting, but not everyone responded so we just showed up anyway.

We walked in to each shop with a pair of poles, a Day Bag, a wholesale catalog, and our business cards and would ask if the buyer was in that day. If they were in, we’d try to chat with them and if they weren’t, we’d leave the product behind and let them know we’d follow up. And then we’d hit the next.

In total, we drove 603 km, hit 12 shops, talked to seven buyers, got three orders (!!), had four schnitzels (all Kelly), and got zero speeding tickets.

Why Austria

With 1/10th the number of days than Kyle had for his trip, we had to narrow things down. We decided to focus on Austria since it was the one core region in Europe where we didn’t have a sales rep or existing wholesale accounts, plus, it was an easy-ish drive from Munich which was an easy flight from London.

What we learned

• Austrian (and European in general) shops will write purchase orders much later in the season than shops in the U.S., and many shops prefer to write smaller intro orders and follow up with several fill-in orders throughout the season.

• German drivers drive very fast on the autobahn

• You don’t know until you try! Some shops immediately understood our product, whereas others took some more explaining. Regardless, it’s always helpful to pitch in person and get buyers’ reactions and feedback in real time.

• The name Yardsale does not translate in Europe (lol)

• European customers on average are slightly more price sensitive than retailers and customers in the U.S.

• The European market is huge. We of course already knew this, but felt even more encouraged after hitting the smallest slice of Austria and getting so much positive feedback.

Overall, Kyle put it best:

🇪🇺 What’s next

We’re expanding big into Europe this season! We just onboarded a new warehouse in the Netherlands and all of our products will be available in every European country + the U.K. starting in October. We’re also excited to roll out a few key retail partnerships in France, Germany, and the U.K., so stay tuned!

👋 Ways to get involved

Have a favorite ski shop in Europe you think we should talk to? Let us know in the comments or by emailing hey@yardsale.ski. We’ll be back in Austria in January for a trade show but knowing us, we may be back in Europe sooner than that.

🤝 Refer a friend, get some merch

Last thing! As a small thanks for helping grow our community, we’ve launched a Backyard referral program. 4 referrals gets you a hat, 8 gets you a destination tee, and 20 gets you a $50 gift card. Just use the link below to share with some friends and we’ll take care of the rest.

Share The Backyard

Cheers,

Cristina + Kelly

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In this edition

• 🧪 Field testing two new products coming later this summer

• 🎨 We want to know what trekking pole colors you’d love to see (tell us in the comments!)

• 🎒 A few essentials to bring on a summer backpacking trip

• ⛷️ A request to hear from ski patrollers and instructors (scroll down a bit)

• 🪡 Something we’ve been obsessing over

Without further ado, I’m reporting live from today’s backyard in… Tanzania! I just wrapped up a 4-day hike up Mount Kilimanjaro (the highest freestanding mountain in the world and Africa’s tallest) and had the chance to bring a few new Yardsale goodies along for the ride.

What We’re Testing

Our First Ever Pair of Trekking Poles

Spoiler alert: We’re releasing trekking poles later this summer (!). Lucky for us, the product development stars aligned and Kelly was able to bring back a sample from China just in time for me (Cristina) to bring on my trek up Kilimanjaro.

We do several rounds of strict lab testing for all of our products (things such as paint durability testing, abrasion testing, pull testing, + many others) so in the field, we’re more focused on ergonomics like hand feel, weight, as well as basic durability.

The sample I had was mostly 3D printed, not made with final materials (e.g. plastic instead of cork), and held together with literal tape, but it was still valuable to play around with them outside. At 19,000+ feet no less! To put them to the test, I used the very scientific method of dropping the poles off of one tall rock onto another rock, assembling and disassembling them as fast as I could, and of course, hiking with them in my hands.

I won’t spoil all of the specific product details quite yet, but we think even non-trekking pole users will love them: They’ll be collapsible to fit in your backpack, adjustable from 110-135 cm, and of course, magnetic. Here are a few pictures from the trail:

We haven’t finalized the colorways yet, so if you have a color besides the typical black, gray, and bright neons we always see, please let us know in the comments!

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Our Newest Hat for Summer And Winter

We’re working on a hat made of discarded fabric from our Day Bag production and we’re naming it The Day Hat! It’ll be what we’ve been calling “crushable” so you can leave it in your ski jacket pocket for après, stuff it in your day pack on a hike, or fold it up really small to put in a fanny pack for a casual stroll, etc. The gist is that it’ll pack really well.

On Kilimanjaro, I was focused on testing the rebound of the brim after it’s been crushed for a while, the moisture absorption of the head band, and the back closure mechanism (which uses the same custom g-hook as our pole straps!) There are some adjustments to be made with the EVA foam of the brim and the tightness of the loop on the g-hook closure, but otherwise it performed well and looked even better!

What I Packed For Kilimanjaro

I’ll be sharing a proper trip/trail report in our new Journal (aka our new home for long form content) coming early this fall, but since summer hiking and backpacking season is upon us, I wanted to share a few essentials I’m glad I brought on the mountain with me. These apply in the Sierras or (near) the Serengeti!

Calling All Ski Patrollers and Instructors

Among many other things, this winter we’re launching a new program to support ski patrollers and ski instructors. We would love to chat with a few more folks about what they’d find most helpful, so if you yourself are a patroller or instructor, or you know someone who is, email me by replying to this email (or shoot me a note to c@yardsale.ski) and I’ll reach out with a few quick questions and get you on the list for some fun gear. Thanks in advance!

Our Latest Micro Obsession: Creative Tag Stitching

We’re putting the finishing touches on our first collection of apparel launching this winter and have been fixated on creative ways to stitch in our logo tags and care labels. I can’t remember the last time I was delighted to see a tag on an article of clothing, but I sure would be if I saw one of these! Our manufacturers might kill us if get too creative but it’s fun to see what options are out there for this small yet significant detail.

See you in the next edition of The Backyard in two weeks. Until then, don’t forget to share it with a friend or subscribe if you’re just dropping in!

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Talk soon —

Cristina

This calendar year, we’re slated to travel to Asia four+ times, so in the spirit of pulling back the curtain, we thought we’d bring you along on a day in China during our latest R&D trip in April.

6:30 am

We started the day early at the gym because we’ve learned that if we don’t go in the morning, we won’t go at all.

After showering off and packing our Day Bags for the day, we ate breakfast as fast as possible before getting picked up at 8 am sharp.

8:00 am

On this day we were visiting a new supplier that specializes in wool knitting and they were kind enough to send a car. Sometimes suppliers send cars, other times we take a Didi (Chinese Uber). The ride was an hour and a half so we took a call with our sales rep in Canada and spent the rest of the ride in heavy traffic discussing our international pricing strategy.

9:30 am

We arrived at the factory and kicked things off with a tour given by the sales manager Lia, and factory owner, Karen.

We always start visits to new suppliers with a tour to see their full facility. This helps us evaluate the types of machines and tools they have so we can get a quick assessment of whether or not they’ll be able to produce what we’re looking for.

This was the first knitting factory we’d ever been to, so there were a ton of really cool machines for us to learn about. There are a lot of niche specifications for this new product, so we spent a lot of time going deep on the different gauge machines, yarn types, and knitting patterns.

11:00 am

We ended the tour in the sample room to start reviewing the samples they had prepared. This was our chance to go deep on materials, fit, and sizing, so we took our time trying things on, stretching things out, and documenting all of the changes we wanted to make.

Samples at this stage are often very far off from what we’re looking for, but we were surprised with how good things looked!

Once we agreed on some sizing adjustments and slight changes to the wool material, we were ready to head out to lunch.

12:30 pm

For lunch we were joined by Karen, Lia, and another sales manager. Factory owners always take us out for lunch to their favorite local spot which gives us a great opportunity to connect and learn more about their personal backgrounds.

Aside from working on product development IRL at the factories, these lunches are our favorite part of these trips. Plus, it’s always fun to try their favorite style of Chinese food and practice our Mandarin pronunciations. Kelly’s is far better than mine…

1:30 pm

We said goodbye to the team and hopped in a Didi to go back to our ski pole factory in Dongguan.

3:00 pm

We arrived just in time to assemble some fresh new 3D printed samples of our trekking poles (launching this summer!)

They looked a little hacky (as most 3D printed samples do) but gave us faith that we were moving in the right direction. If you have any specific color requests, let us know!

7:00 pm

After playing around with the samples and making more adjustments, we went out to dinner with Bernie, the owner of the factory, and Simon, his head of engineering. We’re very lucky to get to work closely with both of them, so it’s always fun to catch up over a traditional Hunan style meal.

9:00 pm

We finally returned to our hotel after dinner and clocked in for our U.S. work day. (Just kidding… kind of.) We try our best to stick to our regular meeting schedule when we’re in China which unfortunately for our sleep schedule means taking calls late into the night.

We nap when we can and do our best to rest up for another day!

A quick question before you go…

We’re doing some research and want to hear about a trip that’s on your bucket list! It can be near or far, outdoors-related or not. Let us know in the comment section below!

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See you in the next edition of The Backyard in two weeks. Until then, feel free to share it with a friend!

Share The Backyard

Last spring, after wrapping up our first winter in business, we put our heads down all summer as we worked on product development for our second season. We re-emerged in October and launched our new collection but completely forgot to share any updates throughout the process. And there’s no fun in that! As huge brand enthusiasts, we’re always interested in seeing the BTS into how our favorite brands are built.

So this year, we’re opening our front door so you can come into The Backyard.

As we prep to release our first non-ski product later this summer (!), we’re busy working on a fully new website, new bags, new poles, apparel, and much more.

Think of The Backyard as a deep dive into fun things we’ve done in the past, a preview for what’s to come, and a way to get involved with all of the decisions that will shape the future of Yardsale. It’s like Close Friends, but better.

You can count on a new edition every other week, delivered straight to your inbox. We have some big announcements coming up, like we miiight be opening a retail store in our favorite neighborhood in San Francisco, there might be some new Day Bag colors coming soon, and we might have some fun new product personalization options coming this winter.

We also just wrapped up a monthlong R&D trip to Asia and have some fun behind the scenes content on how our products get made. (More on that soon.)

Anyway, if you love being outside, love brands, and want to get more involved with how we’re building Yardsale, come on in and subscribe below.

See you in the lift lines in The Backyard —

👋 Cristina + Kelly,

Yardsale Co-Founders