Today we’d like to introduce you to Brianna Kilcullen.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I studied International Business at George Washington University with a focus on human rights. After graduation, I went and worked in Uganda for a small non-profit helping create jobs for farmers to local food markets. When I moved back to DC, I was recruited by Under Armour in their sourcing and supply chain department. My heart was (and still is) always in sustainability and advocating for those who didn’t have a voice. There just wasn’t a team that did that work at UA when I started, which inspired me to carve Under Armour’s first full-time sustainability role and build out a program to audit their factories globally.
After I did that, I made a jump to the west coast to run the sustainability initiatives at prAna, a subsidiary of Columbia Sportswear. Throughout the course of that time, there were several pivotal moments that led up to the big moment to start Anact. I would say the 2016 election was a pretty big one. I remember waking up the day after the election and not believing it was real. I was staying at my best friend’s house in LA and I had to drive back to San Diego. I cried the whole way on the drive and realized that if I wanted to see something get done in this world – I had to do it myself and not wait for someone else to do it. For me, that meant seeing the textile industry evolve and take responsibility for its social and environmental impact.
Fast forward a year later and I had made the decision that the best way to make that happen was to create my own brand and product. I was having issues with the performance features of my current towels picking up this mildewy smell and I was searching for sustainable towels that wouldn’t pick up that smell. I was starting to research towels when I had to travel to China and I happened to be there while they were harvesting hemp and I had the opportunity to learn about its natural performance features of resisting the growth of bacteria based on its molecular structure. It clicked for me that I should have a hemp towel. It’s been a wild ride ever since.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Define smooth… this has hands down been the hardest thing I have ever done. There are a lot of expectations when you tell people you’re a for profit brand in the retail space. People make assumptions on your values and drive. We are bucking those expectations and offering something that most people don’t expect: a movement. We believe that the creation of jobs is the greatest way to alleviate poverty and that what we need now more than ever is to be connected by the acts we can take each day to make others feel the way we want to feel (including acts towards the planet too). The creation of Anact products is our way of walking the walk and talking the talk.
In regards to struggles, for me, I have had to balance my desire to have an impact with the reality of how to create a profitable business that hits budget and forecast on a consistent basis. Securing capital in an authentic way that doesn’t compromise the brand’s values has been a tough challenge. Explaining the difference between hemp and marijuana is an ongoing conversation. Introducing a non-plush bath towel as an alternative to people’s current expectations is no small feat. Launching a Kickstarter and then finding out the success of a Kickstarter is dependent on Facebook advertising two weeks into the launch was a doozy. But I have to remind myself that I have chosen this path (which not everyone has the opportunity to do so) and that the ups and downs are a part of the journey.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Anact – what should we know?
Anact is short for “an act” whether it be an act of kindness, an act of goodwill or the simple act of creating impact. Our act was to create sustainable towels made out of hemp and organic cotton better for all people and the planet. We created Anact because our products are not only superior to what is on the market but they are also addressing the social and environmental injustices in the textile industry. In addition to making an impact in the textile industry, our goal is to connect with other change-makers around the world taking simple acts that address social and environmental justice issues.
We consider ourselves an activist brand that seeks to solve problems and create a movement of other activists connected by the shared belief that while we can’t control others – we can control our response. We recently did a collaboration with GiGi Lucas, founder of Surfear Negra and Malcolm Jackson to raise awareness around aquatic inequality and send young girls of color to learn how to surf through the proceeds made from our limited edition black lives matter tote bag. Our series, Act Up, will be a recurring event series where we profile change-makers who see gaps in our communities and create initiatives to fill them.
We are one of the first companies to offer a hemp-based bath towel and the only company in the world offering our product at this time. We were successfully funded on Kickstarter in September 2019. We were identified as a strategic brand partner by Amazon in April 2020.
We’re more than a towel company.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Having drive and knowing our why. When the going gets tough (which it inevitably does) we have hunkered down and been able to stay the course because we remember what got us here in the first place, which was making a product better for all people and the planet and disrupting the textile industry.
Pricing:
- $10 WASH TOWEL (UNDYED + UNBLEACHED & UNDYED + BLEACHED)
- $15 HAND TOWEL (UNDYED + UNBLEACHED & UNDYED + BLEACHED)
- $35 BATH TOWEL (UNDYED + UNBLEACHED & UNDYED + BLEACHED)
- $35 LIMITED EDITION #BLM TOTE BAG
- $50 BATH TOWEL SET (UNDYED + UNBLEACHED & UNDYED + BLEACHED)
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.anact.com
- Phone: 4432401939
- Email: bkilcullen@anact.com
- Instagram: @anactglobal
- Facebook: @anactglobal
- Twitter: @anactglobal
Image Credit:
Malcolm Jackson, Michael Sun, Masha Sardari
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