In this first episode of Start Something, we talk to Trinity Wiles, the founder of Trinity Mototech, a fashion brand for female motorcyclists.
She talks about her entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, growing up in the Midwest, narrowly avoiding arrest in Italy (!), and what it takes to build a fashion brand in a predominantly male space.
From the Deep Dive
Trinity’s Nashville Faves
Advice from Trinity
- Google and YouTube are your best friends.
- Just get started and do your research. Don’t let others intimidate you.
- Listen to people who have don it so you don’t make their same mistakes.
Links from the Episode
Transcript
if I've learned anything, like getting into the professional world, right? Yeah. Like it shocked me how no one knows what they're doing. Even experts in their field. Don't really necessarily know what they're doing.
Derek Brown:Hey, what's up everybody? I'm Derek, founder and CEO of Bunches, and your host here at Start Something. Let's go. I am here with Trinity Wiles, the founder, CEO, of Trinity. Motech, yes. And the head of product at Liquid Intelligence. Great to see you this morning. Thanks for having me. Of course. We're gonna jump right in. We want to get to know you a little bit, right? And there's no better way here at Bunches to get to know someone than HAQs. Has the rumor of HAQs spread to you yet? It is
Trinity Wiles:not. Okay. What,
Derek Brown:what is a HAQ? So, a HAQ is a hypothetically asked question. All right? So, okay. I'll drive you through a couple of them. Just answer them as I ask them, right? Okay. There's no
Trinity Wiles:wrong first thing that comes into my mind.
Derek Brown:you sometimes yeah, you might wanna think about it. You might want. impulsively answer. Okay. There's no wrong answers. This is who you are. The one thing to keep in mind is I'm not asking your favorites. All right? So if you were a global city, any city in the world, what city would you be? Ooh. I might know the answer to this one, but maybe not.
Trinity Wiles:I would be Florence Yeah. I love Florence, Italy there's just a warm, welcoming Italian culture there. Yeah. And the artisan craftmanship and the hard work that people put into their daily businesses that they just run their storefronts, their shops. Yeah. And the way they live their lives.
Derek Brown:I, yeah. And I think we'll actually see that kind of through, through the interview this morning. If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?
Trinity Wiles:I'd be a coconut because I wanna be on the beach. Okay?
Derek Brown:does that also mean you're like hard to crack to kill someone if you fall from a tree?
Trinity Wiles:I don't know if I'm capable of killing someone. but I can be a hard coconut to crack. Yeah. I would say for
Derek Brown:sure if you were a beverage cocktail, alcoholic, caffeinated. or otherwise. Anything at all. What beverage would you be?
Trinity Wiles:An espresso martini. I have. Ooh. Mastered the perfect balance of being overly energized. Yeah. And also enjoying, you know, the taste Of coffee. Yeah. And
Derek Brown:alcohol. That's a good one. This is where I have to remind people I'm not asking your. This might be the hardest
Trinity Wiles:to like separate. If you were asking me my favorite, I would've said Red wine. A Merlot okay. Yes,
Derek Brown:But this next question is actually even harder. Okay. If you were a genre of music, what genre of music would you be? Again, not your favorite. This is who you are. And if you can't narrow down a genre, how I'll take
Trinity Wiles:artists. Some like indie alternative or, yeah, indie alternative. Just because. I don't really think you can fit me Trinity into a box. I don't really even listen to indie alternative. I would say a genre that you really can't fit into a box is what I would identify as.
Derek Brown:Yeah. That's cool. And then last, but certainly not least arguably the most important question. If you were an animal, what animal would you
Trinity Wiles:be? Lion. That's my spirit Animal.
Derek Brown:So would you say that you are a Florence coconut, espresso, Marti, indie alt lion kind of person? Lionness
Trinity Wiles:Lionness yes. Yes.
Derek Brown:Perfect. That, that's awesome. And so now we get a sense of who you are at your core. What is it that you're doing day-to-day now? You know, talk to us about, you know, liquid and then obviously we'll dive into, Trinity soon too yeah.
Trinity Wiles:So I am head of product and operations at Liquid Intelligence, and we develop smart mirrors for homes. Yep. So essentially our interactive smart mirror can turn your home into a smart home. Yeah. By connecting to your appliances, helping you with energy saving, essentially automating a lot of the mundane things in your life. Yeah. So day-to-day I am working on liquid, also working on building my fashion brand, Trinity Moto Tech. So I started that out of basically trying to solve my own problem. I started riding a motorcycle in 2020. My pandemic hobby. You know, when we were all born we all had 'em. Yeah. We're like, what are we gonna do? I started riding a motorcycle, took the class and absolutely fell in love with it and realized, you know, I love fashion. Yeah. But there's not a lot of great protective gear out there for women. Yeah. That's fashionable. So da, day to day, I would say like I'm 75% in like spending my time in liquid product operation. and then 25% spending on Trinity and building that brand.
Derek Brown:So, yeah. No that's cool. I want to dive a little bit deeper into kind of who you are, how you got here. So we do this fun thing here. Start something where we d dive into kind of socials background, et cetera. So I'll start with this. Okay. Powell, Ohio. Yes. Western Carolina University. You ran cross country. Yep. Found the. We won't share it.
Trinity Wiles:Yeah. Running photos are never the most flattered.
Derek Brown:I know. How do you think coming from middle America? the Midwest. Yeah. Western Carolina. I went to Eastern Carolina University. How do you think coming from middle America, not the coast, right? Not New York, not la, not Miami, not Seattle, has shaped how you think about starting building projects. Variety of spaces. You know, also happen to know that you've always had an entrepreneurial streak. You know, how do you think that your childhood and growing up and going to school in places like that has really shaped how you see the world?
Trinity Wiles:That is a really good question. So, yeah, like you mentioned, I grew up in Palo, Ohio. I am one of three, so I'm a triplet. Okay. That's why my name's Trinity. There's three of me, Oh, wow. Yeah. But growing up in that environment, my parents. Encouraged us to really be our own individuals. Yeah, you know, explore your own interests, try different sports. And you know, now as an adult I'm like, man, I really appreciate that cuz it'd be way easier for them as parents to be like, okay, you all three need to do the same sport because I don't wanna run around five different places. Yeah. Trying to, you know, take you guys to different things, but my parents really encourage that individuality. That's really where I feel like I got a, an entrepreneurial spirit. I realized oh, I don't have to be doing what everyone else is doing. I don't have to compare myself to my sisters and what they're doing. And while we love doing activities together, like exploring new things I think was like a big part of my childhood in a big part of what my parents encouraged me to do. So they really. You know, I grew up thinking I can do anything. So Yeah. Like with this like naiveness and confidence to do anything that I wanted to do. My dad was a teacher, my mom was a nurse. They weren't really entrepreneurs, so I wasn't necessarily surrounded by it, but they were, you know, always encouraging us to. you know, try new things, start businesses or side hustles, things like that. So I think growing up in that environment with that supportive of parents and family really helped. And Western Carolina, I went down there for cross country and track and I think. you know, running in college at the D one level taught me the sort of discipline that you need to have. Yeah, working towards a goal y like whether that's running or what you're eating and, you know, I wasn't always perfect with it. That sort of, you know, activity taught me the discipline to go and start businesses. you know, I had the confidence to take the risk cuz my parents were so supportive. So
Derek Brown:yeah, that, that's pretty cool. Have you part of the entrepreneur journey, and I'm sure you've run into this with wear and share with know, Trinity even now like, is running through walls, right? And not being afraid of obstacles. And do you think that those kind of experiences really ingrained that in you or did you have to learn that? Hey, I have the freedom to do whatever I want, but I haven't experie. real obstacles, yet I haven't experienced like people saying no, et cetera. Have you had to like learn that along the way or do you think you experienced that even younger
Trinity Wiles:Powell and, yeah, I mean I think it's something that I learned as a kid on a small scale you know what I mean? Yeah. Especially with my parents encouraging me to like try new things. You know, things didn't always work out and you know, you know, I. kind of fell in love with challenging myself. And I was driven by those nos or Yeah. You know, things maybe not working out. I'm like, I'm gonna figure out how to make this work. You know, are you stubborn? I would consider myself stubborn. Do other people consider that from my dad, Yes.
Derek Brown:Yes. So a couple of years ago you were posting quotes of. Yes. You write them on a piece of paper, put them on a whiteboard. It seems like you're an avid reader as well. why did you stop?
Trinity Wiles:Okay, so this is a really cute story actually. So those quotes I actually got from my dad, he Oh, cool. Retired from teaching in every single day. He would write a quote of the day on the board and his students would love it, and they would want him to change the quotes, and they were so excited to see the quote of the day. When he retired I took this bag of quotes, Uhhuh and you know, I started doing them when I was at the ec. Like I would have different people reading the quotes of the day and I'd be posting them. The reason I stopped was because I stopped working at the EC and I left the quotes there.
Derek Brown:Do they still have them? Do they probably put away? I
Trinity Wiles:I have to go back and look. I don't know. They're, they were in a little like locker. Yeah. In the
Derek Brown:background. If you're at the EC listening right now and you see this bag of quotes, please
Trinity Wiles:save them. Bring them back. No, I do, I should start that again because people really loved that and I loved it cuz. A cool connection to like my dad. Yeah. And all of that. So, no, that's
Derek Brown:awesome. I'm not gonna lie to you, it seems like a lot of work. Like
Trinity Wiles:I can't even imagine. I can't imagine writing them. I didn't even write them. I just had to post them
Derek Brown:That's wild. 180, I guess 180 days
Trinity Wiles:in a school year. Yeah. He had more than that. He had way more than he had years worth. That's
Derek Brown:crazy. So, speaking of quotes and books and avid learning, et cetera, as the proud owner of a assigned Gary v book, what did you think about mute Gary V from Mike Audi. Shout out to Mike and Tiki
Trinity Wiles:So, okay. I was more, you know, I was like, mute Tony Robbins, But I think Tony, if you're listening, I'm sorry. You know, I think he has some like baseline principles. Are good that, especially for people just like dipping their foot into the entrepreneurial journey and marketing journey and things they're good for, but like I, I don't know, like I'm not really a fan of hustle culture. I've been like caught up in hustle culture before it like chews you up and spits you out. Like it's not sustainable. Like now I feel like it was really like the pandemic that I think changed my view on that. As far as Gary Vigo, you know, like I'm a very neutral Yeah. You know, neutral opinion on him. How'd you get the book? I got it from a friend. Okay. Yes. And they
Derek Brown:got it signed. Yeah. That's cool. Which is cool. But we touched on this earlier, but I happen to know that you love Italy. did that arise during kind of the Trinity Motech journey where you were like sourcing and you know, figuring. The materials and all that kind of stuff, or did it predate that? You know, is it just fashion related? Is it deeper? Talk to me about that.
Trinity Wiles:So it's funny because I studied in Roman College for a few months and I loved it. But I feel like going back as a 25 year old person who's starting a business in the fashion industry, I had way more appreciation for it than when I did when I was there, when I was 21 years old. And that's crazy. Like I always thought, oh, like Italy is nice, but I never really felt a strong connection or desire to go back till I was starting this business. And I saw that the largest motorcycle expo in the world was in Milan. Yeah. And I was like gives me an excuse to go to Milan, meet my suppliers, meet some other people in the industry, potential buyers. why not? So I booked the trip and then once I got there, I started meeting more like local artisans. Yeah. And locals. And really felt way more connected to it than I ever did when I was there for you know, a couple months in college. Which is funny. I spent more time there. Yeah. But now I feel way more connected to the place that I did when I. You know, passing through and
Derek Brown:studying to, to Milan specifically, or just to Italy in general? Italy. Yeah. I
Trinity Wiles:actually hot take. Okay. But I didn't love Milan Oh, wow. There's a hot take, which is like fashion capital, but I'm like I like Florence a lot more. Yeah.
Derek Brown:Yeah. Definitely enjoyed Florence. As, as well, like it's a beautiful city. It's also, it also seems a little more rustic, or not rustic. Rustic, it's not the right word, but authentic. to me than maybe Milan.
Trinity Wiles:Yeah, I did feel like to your point, it was more of a commercialized city. Like it felt like a London to me. Yep. Yeah. A
Derek Brown:hundred percent. So last but not least, in the deep dive I know you're nervous. No reason to be nervous. I'm gonna show you this tweet. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see it on screen. what was going on that prompted
Trinity Wiles:this one? Entrepreneurship is mental. F Okay. February, 2021.
Derek Brown:This is post pandemic, so you can't blame the pandemic for that
Trinity Wiles:one. No, I can't blame the pandemic. Honestly, man, what was going on in my life? It must not have been that detrimental. because I don't remember that Oh, you were just trying to
Derek Brown:get likes,
Trinity Wiles:reason No, to my 20 followers. Yeah. No, I did. Yeah. I used Twitter. There's a journal a little bit. Yeah. No, that's good. I think I think it, it really is though. It's a true rollercoaster. Like you, you probably know this. Yeah. You started multiple businesses. Like you can literally start on a high. Your morning, you know, you have a great meeting, something goes great, you get a great signed contract, and then something crazy happens in the afternoon that could totally ruin your day and you just gotta put it in perspective and think like Yeah, okay. Like you can't ride those emotions like a rollercoaster. You need to be, as you know. Yeah,
Derek Brown:a hundred percent. And I think, you know, a lot of people, like in our circles in the startup world or whatever would say, entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster, and that's right. What goes missing is, you know, if you're on the outside kind of hearing that you think over the course of the couple of years that you're starting a company, you, there are ups and downs. It's no, the rollercoaster can literally take place in an hour. right? Where, you know, a crucial talent hire decides to go somewhere else, but in the same hour you get an email from an investor saying that they're in Totally it's like it's pretty, pretty wild. So have you always been
Trinity Wiles:entrepreneurial? I think so. I was. Never doing anything like crazier or never like really a tinker type of entrepreneur until I, you know, got older. Yeah. But like I was always the lemonade stand kid. Yeah. Or in Ohio. Yeah. You know, it would snow a lot. So me and my sisters would go. knock on our neighbor's doors and say, Hey we'll shovel your driveway for $5. And there's three of us, so we're out there and it's a lot faster. So I was always that type of kid, but it wasn't really until I was in college that I got into the tech space. Sure. And started exploring that. Did you always
Derek Brown:think that you would start something?
Trinity Wiles:No. Yeah. Nope. Wow. Yeah. I always thought you know, initially I thought I wanted to. You know, go into the medical field, which I went to a camp in high school and I almost fainted when I saw blood. And I was like, this is not for me. I can't do this. So, so immediately figured out that wasn't for me, that wasn't the right path. But no, I never really pictured myself starting something. I always knew I wanted to do something impactful. Yeah. I just didn't really know how that.
Derek Brown:Considering that, I think the answer to the next question is pretty obvious do you think entrepreneurship can be a learned skill? Do you think that it's like all of a sudden, yeah, I think I wanna start something.
Trinity Wiles:Absolutely. I do think there are some people who are just naturally super entrepreneurs. Like you've probably met them, they're always like, have 10 businesses or tinkering in their garage, like building something that like Yeah. Everyone's like, what what you doing over there? But I do think. You know, innate trait that some people have, but I do think entrepreneurship is a learned skill. Yeah. So
Derek Brown:post being a fainter at camp. Yeah. So after that what were your interests? Because now all of a sudden, you know, I suspect if you're anything like me, it's like you get interested in a topic. I think I want to go in the medical field. there's good money helping people, et cetera, et cetera. And so you're like learning about it. That's how you end up at camp, right? Mm. And then all of a sudden that rug gets pulled out from under you. What did you turn to as a next topic of interest or area of.
Trinity Wiles:That's when I, we had business, we had a DECA class Okay. At my high school. So, then I went and joined the DECA class and I got really into that and writing a business plan Yeah. And things that I just, I love that. And I guess that's of where I landed Yeah.
Derek Brown:Still am. So that was, seems like that might have been the initial spark for entrepreneurship now. Not necessarily tech or anything like that, but you know, of starting a business. that, Is that.
Trinity Wiles:I would say yeah, like senior year of high school. Yeah.
Derek Brown:Yeah. And then you ended up at Western Carolina. Is that where you were exposed to the startup world, tech
Trinity Wiles:world? Yeah. I mean it's a funny story how I made it there. I knew I wanted to go to school outside of Ohio. Sure. I had people like always laugh when I tell this story, but I had this little app on my phone. Okay. And you could put in what you wanted to study, like your major, and then kinda like the price range for tuition that you wanted to pay. Okay. And you could shake it. and it would randomly generate schools within those filters. So I shook the app.
Derek Brown:you asked an eight baller to go to school? Yes.
Trinity Wiles:That's amazing. I like I found Western Carolina. I like, I've never heard of this school. Yep. So I call up, I look up their coach's information online. Yeah. And I like call up their coach cuz I'm like, you know, out-of-state school's expensive. Yeah. Let me try to get a track scholarship. Yeah. So call up the coach, he's send over your times. Come and visit. And they offered me like a partial scholarship so I ended up going there and That's crazy. That was,
Derek Brown:And fell in love with the big city of Cuy.
Trinity Wiles:Yeah. Yeah. The very small city of Cuy. Yeah. But
Derek Brown:yes, You mean it's not a global tech center? No,
Trinity Wiles:no, it's definitely, yeah, definitely not any tech hub. Going to school in the mountains was a really fun, unique experience. Yeah. ECU was, were you guys by the
Derek Brown:beach? We were on the other side, Greenville, North Carolina. So about halfway between Raleigh and the beach.
Trinity Wiles:Yeah. Okay. Did you guys make beach trips
Derek Brown:then? We did. Yeah. Often. And, you know, Morehead City Atlantic? Atlantic Beach. Wilmington's a little bit further, but most of the time it would be to the outer banks. So a lot of fun. Yeah. The mountains were a lot of fun as, as well. that was a little bit of a drive from ecu. It's six hours. Yeah. Call away a little bit further, but yeah. Did you get to the outer banks
Trinity Wiles:often? No, I never made it there. I went to Wilmington a few years ago for a friend's bachelorette and that's I had never made it there during school, so that was my first time there. Yeah.
Derek Brown:Nephew, cousin. Shout out to Mason if you're listening. He's at school in Wilmington for film school actually. Oh, cool. So he's like right there on the beach, but it's fun. Yeah. So at Western, is that where you first. Dipped the toes in the water. Look at that segue from the beach to getting involved in tech. Yeah.
Trinity Wiles:Perfect metaphor,
Derek Brown:Yeah.
Trinity Wiles:Is that where you learned about tech? I did. And it's funny cuz like you said, it's not like we were really surrounded by even like a big city that had access to tech, but Yeah. You know, I took my first entrepreneurship class my freshman year. We had a group project, and the group project was to come up with an idea and a business plan and do the pitch for the class. Yeah. So my group came up with this idea called Tipster. Okay. And it was a way to automate credit card tip reporting. in like high-volume restaurants and bars. Yeah. Yeah. So basically at the end of the night, if you're a server or a bartender, you have to manually enter in all your credit card tip amounts into the point of sale system. Yep. Which is like their computer system. And that took forever after college nights. So essentially we created this little janky device out of a cardboard box that you could use like OCR recognition. You know, read the handwriting and digitize the tip amounts. About what year was this? This was 2015.
Derek Brown:That's pretty ahead of the curve. O
Trinity Wiles:ocr Yes and no. 2015. Yes and no. It didn't work. Great. It was a prototype. Yeah. But like we, you know, we rallied some of our coder friends in actually made like this prototype of workable. Like it definitely wasn't sellable, but that was my. Shot at the entrepreneurship thing and learning about startups. I had no idea about anything before I started or anything in tech for that matter. So.
Derek Brown:Wow, that's pretty cool. And did that did you make revenue?
Trinity Wiles:No, we did. Yeah. Just like I never made it that
Derek Brown:far. Yeah. That's cool though. And so that was the initial. Company in your resume.
Trinity Wiles:I would say tech, product. Tech. Tech. Product. Tech
Derek Brown:experiment. You didn't take into the tech Yeah. You start a product, then you start a company. So at what point did you like get into fashion? because this is Trinity. Motech is not your first fashion foray. Mm-hmm. right? When did that start? that's even as a hobby.
Trinity Wiles:I would say like graduating college. Okay. After I had a little more money. Yeah. You know, Yeah. It's hard to get in to know fashion with no money. But yeah. That's also when I started Wear and Share. Okay. Too. So that was the fashion tech company and that was my first legitimate startup
Derek Brown:Yeah. And so talk to me about wearing.
Trinity Wiles:Yeah, so essentially we are developing smart mirrors for the retail industry. Okay. It's a very interactive experience, and it was a way for customers to essentially track and log what they were trying on in stores and push it out to social media channels so people could then purchase. So smart mirrors for like the dressing room? It was outside the fitting room. Okay. But yeah. Essentially, you know, a very interactive, experiential type of smart mirror, so, oh, that's
Derek Brown:cool. Yeah. Why analytics? like in fashion. Why not supply chain or some other kind of area of applying
Trinity Wiles:tech. So there's a lot of missing information about what goes on in the actual retail store. Okay. And that's, the fitting room is the highest point of sales conversion, but there's essentially no data. So our whole goal was like, how can we get more data about what PE people are trying on, be able to market back to them with their own content or their friend's content, and in return get those analytics that will essentially down the road help supply chain. Yeah. So if you can predict what is selling well and what's not selling, buy location per store. You can then go back and bake that into your inventory management. Yeah. you know this store in Florida is getting all these coats, but like coats aren't selling here. It's funny cuz a lot of the big change, like that's still how they work with their franchise businesses. They're just sending out X amount here, there, and they're not using any analytics about, you know, the actual geography, your demographics or,
Derek Brown:and so everything you wear and share revolved around like the convers. The sales conversion? Yep. Like how can we improve this by a percentage point, like
Trinity Wiles:five? Even like a two percentage, like sales conversion would be huge. Oh, wow. And we reduced the amount of returns and is
Derek Brown:it literally like this person tried this thing on, they didn't buy it? or this person tried this thing on and they bought it. Is that really basically, yeah, that's all it comes down to. So how did the, so the Smart Mirror wouldn't improve that as much as track it.
Trinity Wiles:So it would also, we had a, the, we theorized that it would improve it, especially if you post a picture on a platform asking your friends if you should buy it or not. Getting that sort of social proof and realtime. Oh, I see feedback from social media yes, you should. While you're still in store Yep. Was something we were also trying
Derek Brown:to improve. So it would take a picture while you're trying to, got it. Yep.
Trinity Wiles:Okay. You would essentially pose it was experiential, had like filters and AR and stuff, so. Oh, that's
Derek Brown:cool. Yeah. I had this interesting conversation the other day with a friend about Adams versus Bits, and you're like at the intersection there. where it's like a real world thing. With an experience, but also using that to collect data and you know, improve decision making, et cetera. Was that hard Building actual product.
Trinity Wiles:Yeah. Hardware and like physical products Yeah. Are really difficult. Yeah. There's a reason not a lot of people do it. Yeah. Yeah. I love it though because I think there is something really unique about an experience and experience software. Yeah. Within like a unique sort of hardware, not just an app on our phone. Something you can actually touch and feel. Something I love, like the overall experience of like, how are we experiencing this
Derek Brown:app? Yeah. So what happened to wear and share? Feel free to share as
Trinity Wiles:much or as Yeah, I left the company I thought I had, you know, greater opportunities and where I'm at now liquid, like we're still in the smart mirror space, so it's still something I know how to do. Something I love and I'm super passionate about, but I think it goes a lot more I guess we can have a lot more impact than just retail and fashion. Yeah. By
Derek Brown:being in the home. Yeah, that makes total sense. And you know, B2B sales is not nearly as fun as b2c,
Trinity Wiles:that's for sure. So liquid is b2b. Okay. Yeah. So we're partnering with AV companies Okay. And builders to actually get these devices into the.
Derek Brown:Oh, from the, so like at the contractor level? Oh, cool. Yeah. Like when they're designing the home. And so it's like an amenity for the
Trinity Wiles:Yeah, it's like a tech package. Yep.
Derek Brown:Oh, that's cool. Yeah. You know, when you buy a car you can upgrade to the tech package or whatever. same kind of thing with the house. That's cool. And so it's, you know, in that regard it's B2B toc I guess. Cause they're trying to sell Absolutely. The customer. Yeah. And so what typically, you know, is it just the Smart mirror? Is there like a. taking over part of the other tech package in the house or,
Trinity Wiles:well, the smart mirror connects to appliances. So there's certain you know, lights blind, like basic house controls that we connect to. So yes, we do have to, you know, use APIs and talk back and forth to those kinds of appliances. But eventually we do wanna get into more experiential. Apps and things like services and things
Derek Brown:like that. So from my mirror in the morning while I'm brushing my teeth after I get up, I can turn my coffee maker on that type of thing.
Trinity Wiles:You, you hypothetically could not version one, but like you of course that is something you would be able to do. Yeah. View or it knows when you get up cuz it has it sensor, so you wouldn't even have to click anything.
Derek Brown:Oh, just automatically cut it. Wrong. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah, that that's really cool. And so, with that. Like you're working your, it's not a nine to five, I'm sure, but a nine to five your 75% job, right? Yeah. What was the catalyst for Trinity and how dare you name a company after yourself? I know where did that come?
Trinity Wiles:Initially it made me cringe, but the more I thought about it, I'm like, no, like I have the perfect name for this. Think about Trinity from the Matrix. Yep. She rides a, she's a badass. She rides a motorcycle. We all wanna feel like Trinity. Yep. And then also, you know, I thought really deeply about the meaning behind the brand, but Trinity is like the three in one, right? Sure. Like being on two wheels. You're that third component, you are the three in one, the Trinity. And I'm like, this is, that's cool. The trinity of riding, you know, you are the, the third component of being on two wheels. So I felt like my name perfectly played into the brand. and you know, I saw what was out there for women's motorcycle gear. Yeah. And I'm like, hey, I think I can design and develop things that women would be happy to wear. Like to work or, yeah. Out with their friends where they don't have to go to the bathroom and change Yeah. When they get there. Cuz I've, I talked to so many women who have that same problem. Oh, when I go somewhere I just take a backpack and change because I can't. This gear to a normal setting, Yeah. I'm like, that's ridiculous. Like we need to be able to do that.
Derek Brown:So, yeah. No, that makes total sense. And you know, tongue in cheek, I think it is a great name and you have a great brand as well, thank you. The art logo mark and et cetera. Shout out to Dylan Yeah. Good job, Dylan. Yeah, that, that's cool. And so are you positioning tr Trinity you know, talk to me about the initial positioning like, is it. Motorcycle riders or is it like a lifestyle brand that leans towards motors, motorcycle riders? Like how are you thinking about training
Trinity Wiles:at this point? A lifestyle brand? Yeah. That is for motorcycle riders. So the first product that I've launched with, and it was a soft launch, but yeah. Is an athletic athleisure piece. Okay. So, you know, I would say 50% of our buyers so far have been motorcyclists. 50% have. Just girls that work out go to yoga. Even like new moms, that's the funniest market cuz it has a zipper, it's a tanking top that has a zipper. And I've gotten multiple new moms say, this is perfect for breastfeeding. Yeah. And I'm like, I have this like market. I had no idea. Huh? Even was a thing when I thought about this design. So I would say it's a lifestyle brand that is definitely catered to women who ride motorcycles. So Lululemon
Derek Brown:with an edge? Yes. Yes. Edgy, Lululemon, Yeah. That's cool. That's very cool. So, what's been the hardest thing so far? How long have you been going? How long has it been around?
Trinity Wiles:So, I first decided to act on this idea in June. Okay. So I've been
Derek Brown:so rewind before that. when did you have the.
Trinity Wiles:December. Like that. Okay. December before
Derek Brown:of 2021? Yes. Okay. And so for those six months, how did you stop from acting?
Trinity Wiles:I wouldn't say I necessarily stopped. I was just like, Preoccupied with other things. Yeah, sure. I was working at another job and honestly they took a lot of my time. Yeah, that's okay. And like mental capacity and like creativity. So I was just burnt out on doing creative side projects. Yeah. So I honestly was just of like poking around, seeing what was out there for six months and then decided to finally take the leap in June and. I would say, going back to your question, what was the hardest thing? Yeah. Finding good suppliers. Okay. I went through three suppliers before I found the one that I have now. Okay. Who's absolutely amazing. But man, I had some shitty suppliers. I even got, I got scammed on the internet from one like Oh my gosh. Like
Derek Brown:and what's the cycle? Back and forth with the suppliers. like how, what's the delay like? I have to imagine it's hey, change this. Then they have to retool, then they have to produce the new thing and then they have to send it to you. Yeah. So
Trinity Wiles:let me take you through the cycle from like ideation to actual sample. Yes. And then I'll go through the sample process. Process. So I start with an idea, a sketch like I'm. Okay. I'm, you know, creative person. Sure. But I have no technical design skills. So I start with a sketch, and then I contract,
Derek Brown:and this is you know, sports bra with a zipper. Yeah.
Trinity Wiles:Okay. So I start with a sketch. You know, I come up with an idea, figure out, you know, what are the components I want in this design? Sketch it up. And then I hired a contractor for the technical design aspect. Okay. So, this technical designer. Shout out Colin. He's awesome.
Derek Brown:Good job, Colin.
Trinity Wiles:How'd you find Colin? A friend of a friend. Okay. Yes. How'd you find He's in my run club. Okay. So we are friends. Yeah. There you go. So just yeah. Yep. Re reach out to people in your net work. You'll be surprised who you find. Yeah, a hundred percent. So Colin creates what they call a tech pack. So that's the actual specs of the garment. So this measurement needs to be this for this size. Yeah. It needs to be this many inches for this size and creates this whole tech pack, which essentially would be like a scope of work in software
Derek Brown:development. Okay. And a tech pack is that's the industry term? Okay. Yeah. So if I were to walk into any supplier and say, Hey, I have a tech pack for. Whatever, A hoodie. Yeah. They would know exactly what I'm talking
Trinity Wiles:about. Yeah. And they'd be like, share your tech pack. Okay. That's what the suppliers wanna see when you go to them is do you have a tech pack? Okay. Because they need that kind of framework of what Yeah. You know, everything sh, all the specs should be. Yeah.
Derek Brown:And it accounts for various sizes. Yep. Like it's the full
Trinity Wiles:Yep. Spectrum. It has the fabric information. it has, you know, all the detailing, like the zipper information the measurements for all the different sizes and what they should be in.
Derek Brown:And so that, I have to assume that's a lot of back and forth, even before you get to the supplier. between you and Colin. Yeah. Because Colin knows what they need. he's basically a translator or an interpreter between what's in your head
Trinity Wiles:and the supplier. Absolutely. So actually he's in North Carolina. He's in Greensboro. Yeah. So I actually, this summer went down and spent we spent five days together, like knocking out the tech packs, making sample prototypes, going to like Joanne Fabrics and just you know, making stuff in the kitchen and like making sure the fit was right and it was still getting the design we wanted without being overly complicated for the suppliers, cuz. For me, I was like, I want unique designs, but I also don't want it to be impossible to make.
Derek Brown:I'm just trying to think so you're in the zone for five days, right? Because you still have a day job. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you take time off and Yeah. Was my vacation, I'm gonna go, you know, design fashion. That's cool. And so, I didn't mean to cut you off from your timeline, so did you now have a tech pack? What's.
Trinity Wiles:So then I start reaching out to suppliers on the internet. Okay. So this is something that I've experienced with because of my background in manufacturing hardware. Sure. For smart mirrors. Yeah. So I figured, okay, like suppliers are the same. So first I started within the US I'm like, I'm gonna try to find a US based supplier versus overseas. Okay. Just because it'd be easier to go meet them, manage that kind of thing. But I quickly realized the suppliers that work with these sort of protective fabrics for motorcycle gear. Yeah. They have a lot of military. So they don't care about like a small startup business coming to them. Like they don't need new business and they have the machinery that you know, works with the protective materials that specialize. So they're like, sorry,
Derek Brown:protective materials. Like Kevlar yep.
Trinity Wiles:Okay. Kevlar airmen. Yep. That kind of
Derek Brown:stuff. Okay. Yeah. I didn't even think about like your average needle is not going through Kevlar. Yeah. Yeah.
Trinity Wiles:That's cool. So then I realized, okay, I need to go outside of the us So the first thing that I do whenever I'm going to like manufacture anything is essentially look up like what are the areas around the world that are really known for manufacturing this Sure. Kind of products. So, for motorcycle gear, I found Pakistan. Okay. Was the place for it. Yeah. So I started just sourcing some suppliers over the. Over some different platforms and had some back and forth. Had a few different samples made. The first ones came back terrible. I like got them back and I was like, did I design the ugliest thing in the world? Yeah. That's crazy. It was
Derek Brown:like, these are horrible, so bad. It's making you doubt yourself. Yeah,
Trinity Wiles:exactly. And then I was like, no, this looks nothing like the tech pack. I wasn't like doing all the measurements. They were way. and I was like, okay I'll give the these guys one more chance.
Derek Brown:So what is it called? What they send you? Just samples sample. Okay. Yeah. And at that point are you like to make sure that the sample, sharing the sample with Colin Pack or you do that
Trinity Wiles:interpretation or? I can, so I can do it because I have all the measurements. Okay. So like I could just literally measure the garment and look at the tech pack and see if it matches. Yeah. obviously I would send call in pictures and videos and stuff. Sure. Cuz we weren't in person, but yeah, I mean they were so far off That's crazy. Oh man. So, so from there after that, you know, two couple rounds with a few different suppliers, it wasn't working out. I finally, I was getting closer to the motorcycle expo. Okay. I really wanted to have a product by then to meet with some potential buyers, but it really wasn't possible cuz the timeline. But I found another supplier that was like, oh, I'm gonna be a icma. I can meet you there. I'm like, great. And I Ila was the expo. Yeah. Okay. IMO was the expo and I was like, great. And that's one thing that I wish I would've done with these other like scammy suppliers that were so bad was like, oh, what conferences are you going to this year? Yeah. Because that's a good indicator if they're legit or not. Because I see they're gonna spend the money to go to conferences either in the US or you know, anywhere else. Like they're legit and you know, you can meet them in person. Yeah. So that's something that. I don't know why it is usually part of my process in the hardware side of things. Sure. That I just didn't even think about for fashion. I'm like, no, it's the same. Yeah. Always ask Yeah.
Derek Brown:And so it's like one of those things where you never know where like the learnings and lessons from your day job or past experiences. Can impact. you know, the thing that you're starting. what does fashion and hardware mirrors have in commons? It turns out a bit. A lot Yeah. Actually a lot. So were you having to pay for the samples? Okay. Was that just coming out of pocket, like salary, money, savings,
Trinity Wiles:that type of thing? Yeah, so I have had a few investors in my business. Sure. Essentially giving me business loans. Yeah. So that's been nice having those. You know, that's really, I started putting my own money in Yeah. And then got those investors. So at first it was really just me bootstrapping. Yeah.
Derek Brown:And how'd you meet those investors? Also? Friends. Friends
Trinity Wiles:of friends Mutual. Yeah. Friends of friends, yeah. Yeah.
Derek Brown:It's crazy. Yeah. social circles. You don't need like a pitch deck and a lot of connections in New York or LA or SF
Trinity Wiles:Totally. To start something. That's cool. Yeah. So one of mine is actually he owns Harley dealerships and then the other one. My boss at Liquid, so yeah. That's cool.
Derek Brown:Yeah. Yeah, that's perfect. And so you have this supplier now that you met in person at ima yeah.
Trinity Wiles:Produced. We almost got arrested at Ima like both of you. Yeah. Let me tell you that story please. I just felt like this was a good story time for this. This is funny. So we were like, so we were meeting for the first time. He had all these samples for me and other clients that he was meeting. but we hadn't made it into the booth area yet. We were like, oh, let's get a coffee. Yep. So, cuz I wanted like an area to actually try on the samples. Sure. But he made, so we get there. You know, I'm trying them on. and the police come over cuz they think we're like, he's like selling me this stuff. Yeah. And like selling, he's no, like I'm here, I have a booth. And he's trying to explain to them, but none of us speak Italian. And they didn't speak English. So like they're asking, they're confiscating our passports. I'm like, oh my gosh, are we getting arrested? Oh. So like we, we literally almost got arrested over these samples. it ended up being fine. And it was funny, like someone came over and started translating and Okay. You know, eventually they were like, okay, but like they took documentation of all of our passports and things. What did they, and
Derek Brown:did what did they think was illegal? That he was just illegal?
Trinity Wiles:Like selling in the coffee shop. Oh, I see. Yeah. So I'm like, here's a tip. Don't try on your samples in a random coffee shop cuz you're not allowed to do business and random coffee. That's weird shops.
Derek Brown:That's weird. That's crazy. So, you couldn't find a supplier. Yeah. You found a supplier. You almost ended up in jail. Yep. And then it's okay, these fit and it was off to the races.
Trinity Wiles:Like they, okay. So the first samples were a little off. And I ended up switching materials too, cuz he actually brought other materials that they had. Okay. And I found some that I liked. But that's pretty typical. Like your first samples are never gonna be perfect, but I knew the quality was so good, like compared to anything else that I had before. And the fact that he was willing to meet in person and actually you know, suggest other materials and things we should use and. He's been absolutely amazing. Like they've done great work. We're about to receive our next samples that will hopefully be our final ones and then actually going into production. So that's cool.
Derek Brown:And are you single skew right now? Yes. One, one product.
Trinity Wiles:That's cool. We'll, current we'll be launching a jacket soon and then a protective legging. So right now. Okay. Like the only thing that's live is the athletic piece, but. The other stuff is more, it's exciting. Yeah.
Derek Brown:that's exciting. And so how are you thinking about getting the word out and distributing?
Trinity Wiles:So I'm gonna launch, like I, I mentioned earlier, Preston. one of my investors owns some Harley dealerships. Yep. So that'll give us like a physical presence. Okay. Is actually like being in those stores. I'm definitely gonna utilize influencers. Yeah, for sure. I think that's gonna be huge, especially on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube. People that are doing gear reviews, getting into some publications and doing some PR stuff, but essentially I wanna do some popups. Yeah. Once I have good, in a good amount of inventory, like I wanna go do some popups and do like coffee and bike nights. Yeah. Or so something like, are
Derek Brown:there like cities where it's like a abnormal percentage of bike riders, like a larger than normal?
Trinity Wiles:I feel like I should know this, but I don't. Yeah, I don't know. I know, West Coast, California. Yeah, sure. It's always nice there, so there's always, yeah. A ton of bikers out there but there's a lot of rider in there. I know. If there's like a specific city.
Derek Brown:Yeah I, I bet it's more, if I had to guess, it would be more event driven. Like fall in the Carolina Mountains, like in the Appalachians.
Trinity Wiles:Tell the dragon. Yeah,
Derek Brown:exactly. You know, be the bike week. so like Mele Beach and Miami, et cetera. Yeah. That's cool. What are you struggling with right now? So you've overcome kind of the supply issue, you've got a good partner there. what are what's keeping you up at night now?
Trinity Wiles:I think the biggest thing is just getting the finalized jacket and pants. Yeah. Because that's really gonna be our bread and butter. And I've realized, it is a more technical product. Yeah. That's why it took a lot. Like it's taking a lot longer to develop than the just the athleisure piece because there's so much more that goes into it. Like we wanna meet certain like safety standards and be able to use like the right materials and still get a good fit in a good, like something that looks good on a size, you know, extra small and an extra large is like something that I'm going for that's currently not. really being done in the industry. Yeah. And it's hard Yeah, that's cool. The mix of materials and like complex kind of styles, but it is really fun. So I think the biggest thing for me right now is just like trying to be patient with getting these final samples done because my biggest mindset shift from developing. software. Yeah. To physical product is like software. You can launch like a good product and have some bugs and go back and fix it, but with fashion it's like you wanna launch a really good product first. Yeah. And you can always continue to get better, but like you can't just launch an okay product. Especially with something. like gear that's supposed to protect someone if, you know they slide or get in a crash. So that's something that I'm like trying to be just like telling myself like, it's okay, it's taking longer. You gotta do it. Yeah.
Derek Brown:And these are meant to be written in as well, right? Yeah. It's not pure lifestyle. right? Like you can write in it. So you do have to think. what happens if someone crashes? Yeah. In this?
Trinity Wiles:Absolutely.
Derek Brown:Yeah. There's no beta version of pants. No Yeah.
Trinity Wiles:It's like there is
Derek Brown:no beta version of protecting. That's wild. Wild. So why, you know, tons of obstacles there. Like thinking through the supply chain, thinking through marketing, thinking through, you know, what happens if, God forbid someone gets in a wreck wearing my clothing? Why hasn't any of that
Trinity Wiles:stopped you? Because I'm naive enough to think I can do it. Yeah, that's good. I'm like, if I just keep going. I'm gonna do it like Yeah. If I just keep moving forward, like it's gonna happen, it's gonna work out. Yeah.
Derek Brown:The only way to lose is to give up.
Trinity Wiles:Seriously. Yeah. Seriously. A hundred percent. A lot of people loo, like a lot of people quit when it's hard when it's like, if they would've just gone a little farther or just kept going, they would've been there. Yeah.
Derek Brown:One of my favorite quotes it's probably in the stack at EC or your dad's definitely heard it before, probably is Einstein. He says, I'm not actually that smarter than ever. Than everyone else. I just stick with problems longer. Yep. It's, you know, whether it's stubbornness or grit or just
Trinity Wiles:resilience, just pure, like grit and resilience. That's
Derek Brown:cool. Trinity Motech based here in Nashville. how'd you get here?
Trinity Wiles:Yeah, I I moved here after school. My co-founder in Wear and Share had another business here. Okay. So Nashville was just,
Derek Brown:the spot took, how long ago was that? Six years, five years. Four. Four
Trinity Wiles:years. Yeah. 2019. Three thought on being here. I love Nashville. Yeah. It's like it's one of those cities that feels big enough, but you also walk around and see people that, you know, and it has that kind of warm hospitality. Yeah,
Derek Brown:exactly. Four years, you're basically a veteran at this point. Am I? I, yeah. I've moved here mid pandemic, so almost three years now, which is crazy enough as it is, and two-thirds of the people. have moved here since I did And so four or five years. It's, you're
Trinity Wiles:a veteran. It's kinda, it's fun. I feel like I've just seen myself grow and change so much. Yeah. As a person and like professionally, just since I moved here. It's cool. I feel like I'm like growing up with Nashville
Derek Brown:Yeah. No, a hundred percent. The your company is too. Yeah. Like your company is growing up at the same time. And so, some quick hits here. what's your favorite spot to eat here in Nashville? Go-to.
Trinity Wiles:Oh, if it's just like a casual night, like Sure. Jack Brown.
Derek Brown:Okay. I love Jack Brown. Yeah. In Germantown. Very cool. Fancy spot. You have a fancy spot. You like
Trinity Wiles:I don't know. I should have one, but I don't. It's
Derek Brown:fine. Jack Brown can be fancy. Browns is my fancy night. Yeah. That's fantastic. So if you're looking to get some work done put the he headphones in, enjoy some coffee shop ambience type thing. Where are you headed? Was your favorite coffee shop or spot to hang out?
Trinity Wiles:Mackay Cafe. Where's that kind of In 12 South. It's right by Belmont. Okay. By that planet smoothie behind.
Derek Brown:Over there near like proper bagel?
Trinity Wiles:Maybe it's not that far. Okay. It's a 12 South. Okay, cool. It's between 12 South. And how do you spell Gulch? M A I k a I. Okay.
Derek Brown:I'll have to check it out. I haven't heard of that one. That's a new one. It's cool.
Trinity Wiles:It's a good vibe. Lots of plants in there. Yeah. Good sunlight. What about a happy
Derek Brown:hour cocktail
Trinity Wiles:spot? Park Cafe in Sylvan. I don't know that one either. It's good. It's so low. I'm writing all these down. So good. And they have great, happy ordeals. They have a nice patio out back. Very unassuming. It's right next to Lola, that Spanish
Derek Brown:restaurant. Oh yeah. I love Lola. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I know where you're, know where you're talking about. And it's like good drinks, like after work type of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. What if, so if you're creative in the space wanna meet other creatives, where are you going to, like serendipitously run into somebody?
Trinity Wiles:I'm still learning that, to be honest. Yeah. I'm trying to get myself more in those creative circles, cuz I've traditionally been in the tech circle space. Yeah. Which, you know, they're still creatives in tech, but Yeah. I'm trying to find more of those like, Fashion in creative, artistic. I think a good spot is the Taylor space. Okay. That I've been, it's like a co-working, but like co-working for creatives. Oh, that's
Derek Brown:cool. where is that?
Trinity Wiles:Germantown. Okay. By between like fifth and Taylor and the Goat. I know I'm using like restaurants as the, it's in that general range.
Derek Brown:If you're listening, you can Google maps both of those places and find them. And then last but not least, what's the best hidden gem? Something. If I'm maybe from out of town visiting Nashville, I don't want to necessarily be on a party tractor on a Friday night.
Trinity Wiles:Why not? I love the
Derek Brown:party tractors. Maybe I do that on a Friday night, but then Saturday I want something offbeat. Where? Where should I head?
Trinity Wiles:Shelby Park. That sounds, I feel like a lot of people know that, but it's funny because I do talk to local people here and they're like, where are the trails that you're always out running on? I'm like, Shelby, they're like, It's like back far and east and they have the air park back there, which is
Derek Brown:cool. Yeah. There's a lot out there actually. Mm-hmm. Every time I, because you can drive through it. I'm always astounded at what's out there? There's people fishing, playing golf, It's what are y'all doing?
Trinity Wiles:skateboarding. Yeah. On that thing.
Derek Brown:Yeah. It's wild. Very cool. So what would you say to someone who's heard. heard your natural recommendations, heard your struggles with the Trinity story, and maybe they're encouraged, right? and then they want to start something themselves. What did, what piece of advice would you give them?
Trinity Wiles:Get started and Google and YouTube are your best friend. Okay. And also no one knows how to do anything. So if I've learned anything it's funny, like getting into the professional world, right? Yeah. Out of college. It was just, it shocked me how no one knows what they're doing. Even experts in their field don't really necessarily know what they're doing. Yeah. So don't be intimidated by someone's title or, you know, experience per se. Like you may have knowledge that they don't have, and. you can learn a lot of things just from like Google and the internet. You don't need to have like traditional background or traditional, you know, schooling in it. Just go out and do it. Like I don't have a traditional background in fashion. Yep. I just was sketching on a piece of paper and wanted to make it happen. chasing a passion. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. So just get started and do your research. Listen to people who have done it so you don't make their same mistakes. Yeah. So
Derek Brown:very cool. No, that, that's amazing. Feedback. So now's your time to shamelessly plug, give you full permission. Where should people, you know, find you, your endeavors online? What's going on? Yeah.
Trinity Wiles:All my girlies go to trinity moto tech.com. Yep. We have a cute athletic tank that is for anyone, not just motorcycle riders currently live on our site. And then LinkedIn, Trinity Wiles hit me up. Yep. Like I love LinkedIn So
Derek Brown:you might be the only
Trinity Wiles:one you'll find me on LinkedIn. Yeah. Instagram Trinity. K a y e. So yeah. Very cool. And
Derek Brown:for Trinity Motech, do, is there like a newsletter or
Trinity Wiles:social feed? We have an email list, yeah. Okay, perfect. So we're on Instagram, same thing. Trinity Motech. And if you go to our website and sign up for our newsletter. We do that like once a week,
Derek Brown:so that's amazing. So, if you're listening ladies please check it out. Trinity, thanks for joining today. Thank you so much for
Trinity Wiles:having me. Yeah, a hundred percent. It's awesome.
Derek Brown:Yo, what's up everybody? It's Derek again. If you enjoyed the conversation, do us a favor by both subscribing and sharing Start Something with your friends. Thanks a ton for listening. Talk to you again soon and until then, we love you bunches.