Meet Rachael Kemp of wayre in East LA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachael Kemp.

Rachael, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all started when I lost my beloved pale blue dress on my classic post-grad euro trip in Seville, Spain. That dress made me feel confident and sexy while traveling. My Osprey backpack was stuffed to the brim with clothes begging to stand in front of La Sagrada famila, but I kept going back to the same dress. Because well, she was easy, functional & made me feel limitless. That’s what sparked the idea behind wayre. It took me a few trips around the global and lots of frustrated packing moments before I realized I needed a new travel dress.

I was blessed to grow up traveling. As a teenager, I often felt more comfortable on an airplane than my own bedroom. I think it was because I knew that new experiences were only moments away. I never took it for granted. And I never stopped traveling. To this day, traveling is where I feel the most myself.

After graduating from Azusa Pacific University with a communication studies degree, I landed a job at a start-up that what would prepare me to conceptualize and gain fundamental skills to build wayre. Sandrine Rose threw my freshly graduated self into the deep end of apparel production, and I learned to swim real fast. Sandrine was an incredible mentor to me. Throughout my time at SR, I got my hands on all aspects of running a brand from marketing to design. After three years working in the denim industry, there were two major pain points I couldn’t ignore: the denim industry in LA is a major contributor to textile waste and the people behind the sewing machines deserve better. After gaining a baseline understanding of what it took to launch a brand and witnessing the deep need for change in the apparel industry, I decided I had to try it for myself. So I quit my job and began focusing on wayre full time.

Since then, we’ve launched wayre on Kickstarter and raised over $90K in funding.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Launching wayre has been a major learning curve. It’s taken a large dose of humility and a whole lot of Googling. We had a major hurdle when we launched on Kickstarter back in July. On day one of crowdfunding, we raised $30K. On track to fund on our $50K goal in a matter of days. They say the secret formula for Kickstarter is to fund within the first three days or you won’t fund at all. Day five rolls around and we are crawling… with only $200 a day coming in. We did as all good business people would do: we freaked out.

Diving into damage control, we realized we were BLACKLISTED by Facebook. Every advertisement across our social media platforms were shut down, every post including our Kickstarter link was removed. We halted. Until this point, we relied heavily on ads to fund the campaign. Pivoting our strategy, we began targeting friends and family to “give $1” to a small business, along with a few other strategies and influencer endorsements. Five days later, we funded our goal WHILE still blacklisted. The Facebook ban didn’t lift for almost two weeks during our campaign. Even so, we came out on top with $75K+ raised via Kickstarter and another $15K externally. So YES there have been obstacles, but a problem solving and determination have pushed us through!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with wayre – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Say goodbye to overpacking & hello to your simplified travel wardrobe. wayre makes apparel for the modern traveler made from reclaimed plastic waste in a factory that pays fair wages & raises the bar for sustainability – lightweight, packable and made to keep up with the traveling woman. We are so proud to partner with Everest Textile in our efforts to combat textile pollution. I co-founded wayre with my brother in law, Chris, also a fellow traveler. Chris takes on all things operations & I head up creative, design, branding and socials. wayre will change the way we travel using functional and innovative fabrics paired with modern design.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
As I write this, we are gearing up to fulfill our Kickstarter orders and launch our eCommerce site in early 2020. We have big plans for where we will take wayre. We will be extending the line to cover trans-seasonal travel with pieces that meet all types of traveler’s needs, No matter how you travel or where you are heading, wayre will be your go-to for all your travel apparel must-haves. Our hopes is to take a holistic approach on eco-travel as a brand, working remotely (anywhere in the world), advocating for environmentally positive travel consumption and for more sustainable & ethical workplace practices in all the factories we work with. wayre takes an intentional and conscious approach on travel and what we will wear while we’re there.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shopwayre.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @shopwayre

Image Credit:
Mackenzie Breeden, Chris Klann, Blake Hunter

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.