Well Made

71 Getting Weirder with Emily Sugihara, CEO and founder of Baggu

Episode Summary

A year after our first talk, Baggu founder Emily Sugihara shares how they're preserving the heart of the bag brand.

Episode Notes

Things are getting weird at Baggu, and that’s a great thing. The Standard Baggu has been around for 12 years, but the company is still finding ways to grow and experiment. By trusting their experiences, founder Emily Sugihara and her team are finding confidence and empowerment in their brand voice and values.

Baggu doubled their team size in a span of a year. On the show, hear their approach to hiring and training and implementing processes while preserving the heart of the brand with an influx of new hires (11:24). More than a decade in business, Emily illuminates how they recently delineated their company and product values (13:02). She shares how establishing those values boosted performance management and empowered more decision making among employees (19:26). Emily talks about finding freedom in their product designs through experimentation and worrying less about expectation (24:37). Baggu is taking incremental steps towards sustainability. Hear their efforts in sourcing ripstop nylon made of 40% recycled materials (34:50). Finally, Emily talks about embracing long-term thinking, growing the equity of the brand (45:59).

Follow Baggu on Instagram.

Also mentioned on the show:

Links and images can be found on the Lumi blog.