“If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It”

3C talks with James Kelly, co-founder of Seattle-based Woolly Clothing, about how digital tools helped him build a successful apparel business

Tell us about Woolly Clothing. What inspired you to start the business?

I started Woolly Clothing in 2012. At the time, I was working at Amazon and learning about e-commerce and all the cool digital tools available to online sellers. Within my first year, I had an “aha” moment: I should use those tools to build something of my own. 

I had a good friend — now my business partner — who, like me, was a big skier. We both loved merino wool products for their comfort and performance, but back then they were prohibitively expensive. Even a single pair of underwear cost about $70. 

Our vision for Woolly was to build an affordable, direct-to-consumer merino products brand. We also wanted to expand merino beyond skiing and hiking gear, and use it to make clothes like t-shirts and polos that people could wear to work and around town. From day one, we’ve focused on offering affordable, versatile merino products.  

How has Woolly changed since you launched it?

Our business has grown significantly. We started off selling only men’s boxer shorts; today, we sell a whole range of men’s and women’s underwear, activewear, tops, and tees. In our first year, we had about $50,000 in sales. This year, we’ll likely reach $20 million.

Something else that’s changed is where we sell our products. When we launched, we sold exclusively on Amazon. Today, about 70% of our sales come through our own website, which is powered by Shopify. The remaining 30% come through Amazon. 

Something that hasn’t changed, though, is our use of Amazon’s shipping and logistics service, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). FBA stores our inventory, then packs and ships all our orders whether they’re placed through Amazon or our own website. We’ve stuck with FBA because the alternative — coordinating multiple warehouses and shipping companies — would have been way more complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. Using FBA has given us a lot of flexibility, and has allowed us to focus on things customers actually care about — better products, better service, and lower prices. So FBA has really been critical to our growth and success.

You recently met with Washington State’s Attorney General. What was your message for him and his office?

They seemed to assume that small businesses are forced to use services like FBA, or have no other choices. We use FBA because it’s what works best for our products and business model. But other small-business owners make different choices. Some use a combination of different warehousing and shipping companies. Others build their brands through TikTok, influencers, brick-and-mortar stores, or online marketplaces like Etsy or Faire.com. There are more ways than ever to find customers and bring products to market.

As lawmakers consider policies that could change how digital platforms and their services work together — including the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) — what do you want them to understand about the potential impact on small businesses like yours?

The biggest thing I’d want lawmakers to understand is that these tools work for us because they’re integrated and work together seamlessly.

FBA works because it connects with both Amazon and our Shopify-powered website. When someone orders a product from us, FBA pulls the product from our inventory and ships it to the customer.

If lawmakers force Amazon to break that system apart, millions of small businesses like mine would have to spend far more time and money managing shipping and storage. That would leave us with less money to invest in products, customer service, and hiring — and likely force us to raise prices. 

More broadly, though, lawmakers need to understand that today’s small businesses have a wealth of options; there’s a tremendous amount of dynamism and competition among business-service providers. New sales platforms, fulfillment services, marketing channels, and AI tools are constantly emerging, giving entrepreneurs more ways to build businesses and reach customers. 

Congress should build on that progress by protecting the integrated tools that help small businesses succeed. As I told the lawmakers I met with, “fear no change — but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”