Any of y’all about to start your own brand? Here is your man.
Adam Valdies runs Free My Store, a company that helps new brands launch their website as well as distribution: two vitals parts of doing it right.
The concept was born 3-4 years ago. Adam went to business school in Santa Barbara and then began working with Vincent Nesi, the founder of Bugle Boy. “Those hard core fashion garmentos were kind of celebrities back in the day!”, Adam laughed. He learned merchandising, import/export, and selling from Nesi. “Once I left that I was really interested in the workings of the fashion supply chain. I thought it was fascinating to see how the business works,” Valdies explained to us.
Adam started working in distribution with the end goal of communicating with new brands so they aren’t led down blind paths by large corporations who see them as just numbers. “Our generation is super creative and we grew up in an awesome time. We needed an avenue to help these creatives with logistics on the back end,” Valdies told us.
He started with e-commerce and developing young brands sites and then supplying their customers with the fastest delivery. To get a really modern, clean e-commerce and have it connect to the logistics in the most efficient way to make the customer happy is vital. Adam’s company warehouses the project, builds the online stores, takes the photography and helps with import and trucking through Asia and Europe. So that leaves designers to focus on design and sales. Smart Man.
Says Valdies, “We are having a ton of growth because so many people need this help. The beautiful thing is that so much fashion is relying on social media. You can have 100k followers from that exposure, and get great success as opposed to just selling to a retailer and waiting for the word to get out.”
His current clients include Generic Surplus, Pizzanista, Our Open Road, Minimal Animal, Linus Bikes and OTZ Shoes to name a few.
Below we speak to Adam about his personal style.
I’m a minimalist with what I buy and own. I like cool pieces that last a long time. I grew up in LA but I am not a sandal and board short guy!
Jeans: I don’t wear ’em! I ride a motorcycle to work (1974 r90 BMW). Jeans just don’t fit into my lifestyle. I wear chinos daily. I don’t even know my style, ‘motorcycle workman’?
Pants: I have black, army green, cigar, maroon colored chinos. WESC since I used to work with them. I have some vintage ones I find along the way. I wear Acne too.
Socks: I wear long Dickies socks. Today I have baseball stirrup socks on! My girlfriend went to England and bought me a bunch of heritage thick wool socks. You got to keep your feet and head warm!
Shoes: I wear Chippewa boots; I really like these American made work boots. I also wear Original Converse Chucks and Broken Homme. When I dress up, dress shoes are Generic Man and JD Fisk.
Shirts: For the most part I wear Unis. I wear a lot of shirts inside out because I don’t like logos. I also buy vintage tees. It’s funny because they print them inside out so when I wear them they are the right side out! I also like Velva Sheen.
Sweaters: I wear Peruvian alpaca cardigans from a brand called Watson because they breathe really well.
Suits: Brooks Brothers mix and match options for multiple looks.
Outerwear: Filson, an old Schott peacoat and a vintage denim jacket.
Accessories: I wear Ray-Bans, a lot of hats. My girlfriend is from Tennessee so I wear vintage hats from the Earnest Tubbs Record Shop in Nashville. He is a really cool country singer. I wear a lot of trucker hats too! My belt is Mister Freedom. When I buy something I want it to last. It’s great to grow with something.
What is your favorite app? I’m huge into food so I use an app called Ness. The icon is a heart, which is really simple and I love it. It locates food spots. There are so many great restaurants so it helps me find good ones. I use Shralp Tide since I surf and it shows me the tides at the beaches near Los Angeles.
Favorite piece of technology? I am constantly on my iPhone and my Mac Book Pro and Camera. I have a Canon Mark 2 and Apple TV. It’s an old craftsman home so I use a projector and we project everything on a big white wall!
What is your next tech purchase? I just got Sonos, so that has been cool! I like anything wireless. I’m going to attempt to connect it to my grandmother’s record player. Let’s see how that works! Always buying computers too, Apple of course.
Photo by Bryan Ulrich
