Sarah Kauss, Founder Of S’well: Transforming An Everyday Item Into A Cult Wellness Accessory

Sold across 35 countries, in stockists including Starbucks, Whole Foods Market and Neiman Marcus, when it comes to wellness, S’well’s stainless steel water bottles have become as ubiquitous as green juice and yoga pants.

Generating over $50m in sales in 2015 alone, and earning founder Sarah Kauss a spot on Fortune magazine’s prestigious 40 Under 40 list, the six-year-old company is on track to double its sales figures by the end of 2016. It’s not a bad result for the self-funded business, which launched out of a New York City apartment.

Priced between $35 and $45 (£25 – £35), and available in over 200 colours and designs, Kauss’s premium water bottles have garnered attention from fans in all corners of the world, with high-profile names such as Ellen, Tom Hanks and Oprah endorsing the brand.

It’s a tale of success only few can hope for, but for 39-year-old Kauss, she’s not satisfied yet.

On a mission to leave a significant impact on the environment, Kauss plans to rid the world of plastic bottles  over 200 billion of them, to be exact.

Working towards bettering the environment one S’well bottle at a time, here the entrepreneur explains the passion behind the brand, how she transformed an everyday item into a cult accessory and why, when it comes to business, things worth doing seldom come easy.

How was the idea behind S’well originally conceived and what was the mission behind the brand?

The mission behind S’well is to rid the world of single-use plastic bottles.

The idea came to me when I was hiking with my mom in Arizona back in 2009. At the time I had been using a bottle that didn’t keep my water cold on the hike and didn’t look good when I would bring it with me to meetings at work. I knew then that I wanted to create a bottle that was fashionable and functional.

We haven’t been able to rid the whole world of single-use plastic bottles yet, but I believe that we’ve begun to convert many of the plastic users to S’well customers and together we’re making an impact.

How did you get the idea off the ground logistically and financially?

S’well really came to life in my New York City apartment. I worked with a designer who helped create the iconic shape and soon enough the bottles were being manufactured in China.

Before I had the team that I have now, I was doing everything from order fulfillment to customer service. I self-funded S’well and to this day, still own 100% of the company.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve experienced since launching your own business, and how have you overcome them?

Things worth doing seldom come easy.

In starting S’well, I left a well-paid, senior position at a publicly traded company for the unknown world of being an entrepreneur. I then invested almost all of my life savings and spent 100% of my time and energy on designing a water bottle with a purpose. I decided to take a big risk for something I believed strongly in. I knew early on (and believe still) that S’well bottles have the ability to change the world. That passion has kept me going through my entrepreneurial journey, and the hard work is starting to pay off.

How difficult has it been to scale S’well globally?

It has been a challenge in some areas of the world to get same kind of love as we have in the US.

We’ve found that going into new markets, we often have to shift selling points and emphasize certain features to make the product more relatable to a certain lifestyle. For example, in Asia, the bottle’s ability to keep drinks hot for 12 hours is much more attractive to consumers in comparison to keeping drinks cold for 24 hours, because they don’t drink cold water.

What do you think has been the key to S’well’s success in terms of transforming what is essentially an everyday item into a cult accessory?

I think a lot of S’well’s success has been organic. We’ve never done any big budget marketing or advertising campaigns. We’ve been really lucky that our customers and celebrities like Tom Hanks and Guy Pearce are just true fans of our product and are happy to talk about the product.

We’ve had our website crash quite a few times from Kaley Cuoco posting on Instagram. The product really works and our customers have been our biggest advocates in making the bottles an essential accessory.

How have you managed to foster relationships with so many different stockists and influencers across the globe?

In the early days, I was approached by big box retailers and I turned them down. Even though it probably would’ve grown the business much quicker, I knew they weren’t the types of stores I envisioned S’well to be sold in. I always knew I wanted the bottles to be sold in the “best of the best” stores like J. Crew, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Williams Sonoma and more, and now they are.

We love our smaller mom and pop stores too. A lot of them have been with us since the very beginning and we’ve found that they’re often our biggest advocates. We’re definitely picky about where bottles are sold and I think this has helped us position the brand the way we hoped to.

What are your future plans for S’well?

S’well is growing extremely quickly and even more in our international markets, but there’s still a lot of room for us to grow within the drinkware space and I’m excited for what’s to come.

We’ve recently begun a five-year innovation plan so stay tuned for future S’well products.

What is your top piece of advice for entrepreneurs trying to turn their concept into a cult brand?

Listen to your customers and interact with them, they’ll end up be your biggest advocates.

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