Online sales boom for Queensland sportswear brand LSKD

Jason Daniel has turned his sports and activewear business into a global brand with forecast sales of $50m this year.

LSKD founder and CEO Jason Daniel. Picture: Nigel Hallett

It took a change in mindset and a leap of faith for Jason Daniel to steer his active lifestyle clothing brand away from a wholesale business to focus solely online.

But it has paid dividends.

In just two years the decision to step away from the bricks and mortar side of LSKD and embrace e-commerce has catapulted the sports and streetwear brand and its motto “chase the vibe” onto a global market which has resulted in a dramatic increase in revenue.

The shift online by the southeast Queensland-based business has seen turnover jump from $3.3m in 2018-19 (of which less than half was online) to $9m the next 12 months of which $8m was online.

Logan-based sports and streetwear brand LSKD as gained worldwide exposure since embracing its online strategy.

In the 2020-21 financial yeat they expect to turnover $40m with expectations that they will break the $50m mark for the calendar year.

And as part of that online growth LSKD has had a five times increase in social media followers over the two years to 650,000.

However, Mr Daniel, 34, who founded the company in 2007, said it LSKD has been no overnight sensation.

He said it has not been an easy journey having spent years evolving the brand and then having to prove the naysayers wrong.

“It wasn’t an overnight success. We faced roadblocks every step of the way, from selling into a retailer and being told by some I couldn’t do it, learning how to leverage the internet, to saying no and giving ourselves a fresh start with a new name in 2018,” Mr Daniel said.

“It was 14 years of trial and error. So, while we may be on track, the reason we’re on track is because we realigned our focus to our community, our mission and our product — and put everything we had into getting those three things right.

“We quickly grew to understand that to persevere, you have to do what you love and find a community that aligns with what you love to do, too.”

LSKD founder and chief executive Jason Daniel at his Yatala warehouse.

LSKD — or Loose Kid inspired by a high school nickname — designs men's and women’s sports, fitness and adventure apparel and accessories with a street aesthetic from tights and sweatshirts to hoodies, puffer jackets and more.

Product development can take up to 12 months, taking into consideration consumer feedback, ensuring the fabric fit and feel is perfect, and tested daily in all different sizes and a range of training sessions.

While design is in-house, LSKD has suppliers around the world which may change in the future with the company making moves to manufacture some clothing lines in Australia.

In September LSKD will consolidate its global operations from two properties in Yatala into a new state-of-the-art $7m 3500sq m office/warehouse with prime highway frontage in Logan which will house about 50 staff — a sharp increase from 12 workers just two years ago.

Mr Daniel said while there were many factors contributing to the company’s phenomenal growth the coronavirus pandemic was an important part with e-commerce usage skyrocketing around the world because of lock downs.

LSKD chief executive Jason Daniel at his warehouse with staff Kristi Malouf and Kitahna Huata.

“COVID was big for our brand because people needed to exercise and also have the right clothing,” he said.

“Also, importantly for our future, we were also able to hire quite a few people with fantastic skills at a time when the big brands were reducing their workforce.”

Born and bred in Logan, south of Brisbane, Mr Daniel grew up racing Motocross, surfing, riding BMX and generally being part of anything that involved action sports.

He said his “light bulb moment” came with the realisation that he wanted to create a product that he and his Motocross mates could wear while they were not racing.

Mr Daniel launched LKI (Loose Kid Industries) 14 years ago while trying to become a professional motocross racer and complete his carpentry apprenticeship.

“For those three years when I wasn’t working on a job site I was working on the brand and I probably doing about 100 hours a week,” Mr Daniel said.

“It took me a while to figure it out. I was 21 then and social media didn’t exist.

“I never started it up for the money and it wasn’t just the fashion side. Everyone loved the product. It was a real passion and it was about connecting with the community and having relationships.”

America has proved to be a big market for LSKD.

Mr Daniel finished his apprenticeship in 2010 and was able to devote his time to the business which over the years grew steadily supplying products to some of the big names in the active lifestyle retail industry including City Beach,

However, he knew that the business had to change.

A large part of the transformation was to move from LKI to LSKD in 2018 which was driven by the changing social landscape and needs of their community.

In May last year they launched an online store for the northern hemisphere, specifically focusing on US and Canada while at the same time growing its Australian and New Zealand business.

Sports and streetwear brand LSKD.

“It was such a big transition. We closed our wholesale business in July last year and focus purely in e-commerce,” Mr Daniel said.

“The decision wasn’t an easy one. We were doing well but we couldn’t break past a certain point, and I just had to ask myself `why?’”

“We were missing a piece of the puzzle. So, after a long journey of asking why, learning from the answers, and creating humility around every move, we started making better decisions every day.

“Using all that experience we decided to create a brand to focus what our customers wanted, — functional sportswear with a street aesthetic. It was a risk at the time, but for me, having authenticity as a team is one of the reasons why we’ve grown to where we are today.

“And knowing that this huge business pivot was what was needed for the long term and where we saw ourselves in 10 to 20 years – this is without a doubt one of our biggest achievements to date.”