Meet Ryan Mayo of Last Exit Goods

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Mayo.

Ryan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I used to work in marketing for an energy bar company. We talked a lot about ingredients and process: where the food comes from and how it’s made. That was a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Consumers were finding value in knowing the origin story of their food, how it was farmed and the quality of ingredients. I changed my personal behavior as a result. My grocery list would never be the same.

It occurred to me, though, that I couldn’t answer the same question in regard to the origin of my clothes, my outdoor gear or my everyday carry items. When I “audited my closet” that day in 2012, I found that I owned almost nothing made in the USA. That opened my eyes to this whole subculture of really amazing companies that were still making blue jeans and boots and shirts and fishing waders right here in America. I was inspired to make a change to try and support these businesses that were taking this risk to disavow cheap overseas labor, finding the finest materials and doing it all here in the USA.

At the time, I had just broken my favorite belt. After an unsuccessful attempt at finding a Made in USA belt at the mall, I decided to try to make my own. My wife saw it and asked me to make her one; then the rest of her department at work put in orders, too. It was very grassroots in my learning a new craft as a “side hustle,” but I found there were people who liked what I was doing. I worked my butt off on nights and weekends to fulfill orders, and I found a new passion to build not just products but a brand with purpose. In 2015, I quit my job and went full-time on Last Exit.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I can’t imagine any entrepreneur describing their experience as smooth. I’m certainly living and learning from the wild entrepreneurial experience underfoot. The “Last Exit” is the idea of taking the long road, the one off the paved highway, to find adventure and self-fulfillment in nature. So maybe I’m just not a “smooth road” person!

But it’s largely a “solo-preneur” effort. I designed Last Exit to be very lean from the get-go. I have people who help me in many facets of the business – from manufacturing to sales and marketing – but I am the only full-time employee. That’s a double-edged sword, of course. I think my customers appreciate the “personal touch” that goes into the products and story. But I literally personally touch everything that goes out the door. So not only making (most) of our goods by hand, but I’m also packing them into boxes and making the daily run to the post office or UPS store. That is definitely a struggle to keep up with at times. I am not Amazon Prime.

Along with that, I would say one of the things I underestimated was the loneliness factor of being out on your own. It’s palpable, and one that I have to counter with other more “social” areas of my life. I’m lucky I have a great partner in my wife, a wonderful family and support system with amazing friends. I’m also lucky to live in a place where I can be on my skis, behind the handlebars of my mountain bike or sloshing around a trout stream within only a few minutes of my workshop. That helps me feel a bit more connected to balance-out the spending a lot of time feeling by myself.

Last Exit Goods – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
At Last Exit, we make minimalist goods – quality products that are without frills or complexity: slim wallets, small (and mighty) packs and bags, simple and functional goods that you carry and use every day. The common refrain is that Last Exit products only get better with age, in and out of pockets and bags, cars and planes, boats and trains. And we make all our goods here in Colorado, sourcing materials (where possible) from within the greater United States. Outside of our quality commitment and customer service, what sets us apart from others is the grassroots Last Exit story. It has meaning that crosses over into the outdoor lifestyle of our customers who choose to support values-driven businesses.

I have been involved with the outdoor industry for over 15 years. One of my favorite parts of the industry is its collective efforts in conservation of wild rivers and places where people recreate outdoors. We stand alongside our friends and industry neighbors in diverting revenue and time to nonprofit groups doing great work to protect these areas for us all to enjoy. I’m proud that we continue a commitment to donating over 2% of our net sales to our partners in conservation: Trout Unlimited and The Conservation Alliance.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I think looking back, I was so caught up in every aspect of building the business that, despite my background in marketing, I did not maximize my opportunity in sharing the story and building a following. The jury is still out whether or not social media will be a long-term trend that continues as a strategy for growth, but I feel like we were studying at the library when everyone else was picking friends on Instagram! With a do-over, I’d probably hire someone to work on that in lock-step with the brand-building I was doing.

So much has changed in retail in the last five years – so I’m more likely to just give thanks for the things I *didn’t* do differently. I’m so glad I didn’t invest in brick-and-mortar retail space at the outset. I’m so glad I didn’t seek outside capital, even though I had the chance. I’m so glad that I have kept true to my original commitment to doing Made in the USA. It would be SO much easier and SO much more profitable to be a brand manager and designer and offshore my supply chain and manufacturing. The rise of Shopify and Amazon FBA, the opportunity was there. It just didn’t make sense for me personally.

Famous last words, maybe? There has just never been a version of this story that was purely about making money. I don’t have an exit strategy to this thing. I love what I do, and I want to do it for as long as I can.

Contact Info:

• Website: lastexitgoods.com
• Phone: (970) 439-0029
• Email: hello@lastexitgoods.com
• Instagram: @lastexitusa
• Facebook: @lastexitusa
• Twitter: @lastexitusa

Image Credit:
Castner Photography, Lindsay Piittmann, Ryan Mayo

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