Surf-Inspired Brand Byrd Rides Men’s Grooming Wave Into Walmart As It Straddles Mass And Prestige Distribution

Byrd is attempting a difficult distribution maneuver.

While looking to drive its business at Walmart, where the surf-inspired men’s grooming brand recently entered nearly 1,519 doors, it’s aiming to maintain a prestige presence in concept and clothing boutiques, barbershops and surf stores like Deus Ex Machina, Surfside Sports and Wittmore. Currently, about 45% of its sales come from large chains, 35% from Amazon and its own website, and 20% from roughly 200 independent stockists.

Founder Chase Wilson acknowledges mass-market availability runs the risk of devaluing a brand in the eyes of higher-end accounts and their customers, but Byrd hasn’t noticed pushback so far. The brand is projected to hit $3.5 million in sales this year. Next year, Wilson predicts it could potentially triple or quadruple sales if it amplifies its reach at retailers, particularly Walmart.

“Byrd is so unique because we are able to live in a really awesome barbershop in New York, but also at a Walmart store,” he says. “It’s definitely a nod to what Walmart is doing in their beauty category. They’re bringing in niche brands, and that’s exciting for us as brand. We’re able to double down on expanding our customer base and sales, and be in a category with more premium brands that are like-minded, not just the P&Gs of the world.”

Byrd is unique because it’s not P&G. It would be incredibly tricky for a conglomerate to birth its story in a strategy session. In his freshman year in high school, Wilson, whose great grandfather was a barbershop owner in Fargo, N.D., who marketed a hair tonic, received his first barber-style faded haircut—and he was entranced by the goop that went into keeping it coiffed.

He tried countless products, but didn’t fall in love with any. Then a professional surfer (at one point, he was among the top 100 surfers in the world and sponsored by Quiksilver), the sea and the sun were constant factors complicating his hair maintenance and product choices.

“A lot of the water-based products would sting my eyes when I surfed. The flip side was oil-based products would take weeks to wash out,” says Wilson. “I wanted to create a happy medium between the two, and something that worked for me.”

He ordered beeswax online and commandeered his mom’s crockpots (he confesses to ruining a couple) to test different recipes. Once the recipe shaped and held his hair without being overly sticky or crunchy, he knew he’d landed on the right formula for what would become Byrd’s Classic Pomade. He secured a lab in Berkeley produce 2,500 units of the formula. In total, he figures he spent $5,000 to launch Byrd in 2012.

“Byrd is so unique because we are able to live in a really awesome barbershop in New York, but also at a Walmart store.”

Design was important from the beginning of the brand. Wilson enlisted his friend Scott Wilson to be its creative director. Together, they honed a design straight out of 1966 surf documentary “The Endless Summer.” Its yellow and black color packaging, and throwback lettering exudes 1960s-era California surf culture.

Staying with the surf theme, Wilson relied on the rolodex he amassed as a professional surfer to lay the early foundation for Byrd’s distribution. Surf shops such as Oakland Surf Shop picked up the brand as it was getting off the ground. In 2016, Byrd broke into major retail with Urban Outfitters. Two years later, it headed to Target. It’s now sold online at the big-box chain. Retailers have been increasing men’s grooming offerings as sales in the category are advancing.

To fund retail growth, Byrd, which has eight people on staff, has turned to loans from friends and family members, and a line of credit. It’s not seeking external funding at the moment. “We haven’t taken any outside capital or gone the VC-backed route that you see these days,” says Wilson. “This has been more of a cowboy approach, and we’ve made it work, and I think that’s what makes it authentic and organic.”

Geo-targeted advertising served up to men visiting stores Byrd is in has been a crucial element of its brand awareness program. “There are ways that we can get scrappy without having to run a national TV campaign,” says Wilson, who manages Byrd’s wholesale network. The brand has tapped Quiverr to manage its Amazon business.

Byrd can straddle premium and mass-market retailers because its prices appeal to a wide range of customers. They’re mostly from $9 to $20. Wilson says Byrd’s core customer is “between 20 and 30 years old. He’s a single working professional out on the dating scene wanting to feel confident about himself and in the workplace.” Its top markets are California, Florida and New York. Byrd has extended abroad to eight countries, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Netherlands. Japan is its top international market.

At Walmart, Byrd debuted with three products (The Slick Pomade, Matte Pomade and Classic Pomade) all priced at $9.97. Across its assortment, the brand has around 30 items, and its smaller accounts tend to carry a deeper selection than Walmart. Texturing Surfspray is its bestseller, and other items are Hydrating Bodywash, One-N-Done Hair & Body Wash, Daily Face Wash, Hydrating Soap On A Rope, Purifying Shampoo, Lightweight Conditioner and Hand Sanitizer, a product that was very helpful for business as the coronavirus took root in the United States. To date, styling has been the biggest contributor to sales.

Byrd operates The Byrd’s Nest barbershop locations in Los Angeles and Newport Beach. Wilson describes the brand’s barbershops as “product development think tanks”—and it’s doing a lot of thinking about new products. Byrd has women’s, baby, shave and hair loss products in its pipeline. However, Wilson is careful about not spreading its attention too thin both in terms of product development and distribution.

“We’re really focused on the Walmart partnership, growing that and ensuring success there,” he says. “With the pandemic hopefully starting to be in the rear-view mirror, a lot of partnerships like barbershops are roaring back to life. So, we are also focused on building that distribution outside of Walmart and Target as well as our online business.”