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Bikerumor Podcast #014 – Apidura founder Tori Fahey unpacks her startup story

Written by Tyler Benedict
interview with Tori Fahey founder of apidura bike packing bags
7 Comments
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As the gravel scene explodes, more and more riders are looking for longer adventures. And Apidura is right there with a bag for that, with arguably some of the best aesthetics on the market. In this interview, founder Tori Fahey (pronounced “fay”) tells us where the inspiration to start the company came from, how they design the bags, and the challenges of launching and growing. And Watts and I give a few more hints as to our intro/outro voiceover’s identity…see if you can guess who she is and we’ll send you a pile of goodies!

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Tyler Benedict
11,280 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com, where he’s been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel and ride in new places.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler also loves the Vanlife & family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part and off-grid adventure.

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marc
marc
5 years ago

Well, for me it is just a marketing company producing overseas, while the original inventors still produce in us and take the risk of the entrepreneur.

1
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Hurricane
Hurricane
5 years ago
Reply to  marc

Not true. Im sure every American entrepreneur would love to produce their products in the USA but the cost constraints to do so are sometimes cost prohibitive. Most everybody whats a great product at a great price, but most are not willing to pay up, or even care if its made here. You cant blame an entrepreneur for trying to make a profit( which is usually a lot less than that of the re seller) after paying all of their expenses such as material, manufacturing, liability, advertising, etc.

0
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Tyler Benedict
Author
Tyler Benedict
5 years ago
Reply to  marc

Does it really matter where it’s made? And with a (U.S.) government that’s making policy to effectively discourage on-shore manufacturing, assembly, and packaging jobs, any smart entrepreneur and business is almost forced to move much of that overseas in order to remain competitive. But they’re based in London, which presents its own issues with Brexit and everything else. Europe has it’s own weird laws and restrictions by country. None of it’s ideal for a small business that’s actually making a physical product.

I’d argue that they’re as much of an entrepreneur as anyone else that’s started and still actively involved in the day-to-day of the company. They do the design and testing in-house. And they have to buy minimums and then warehouse them and then hope everything sells. At the heart of it, every CPG company is a marketing company. Every service company is a marketing company. Without marketing, no one finds your product, and you don’t sell any.

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K-Pop is dangerous to your health
K-Pop is dangerous to your health
5 years ago
Reply to  marc

So by your floppy critique of what makes an entrepreneur, one of the originals that you mention (Revelate) has been producing much of their lineup in China for the last few years. I’m sure Eric will be really bummed to hear he’s just a marketing company. [rolleyes]

0
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Marc
Marc
5 years ago
Reply to  K-Pop is dangerous to your health

Well, companys like apidura or Blackburn create the pressure by producing overseas, and it makes it way harder for all others to keep production local. Labor costs are higher, environment costs, margins are much lower. So in the end everybody is forced to move production overseas. Jobs will be gone, the knowledge, the culture. Stuff will be produced in some sweatshop, who don’t know what they produce.

This is everybodys right to do and this is not meant as an apidura diss, but for me it is a huge difference to rent a contractor in asia or pay your own workers with social security etc.

In the end the customers decide. Just some insights which got overseen all the time.

Maybe apidura is interested so shed some light here?

0
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K-Pop is dangerous to your health
K-Pop is dangerous to your health
5 years ago
Reply to  Marc

There are more domestic bicycle bag makers than ever before, some even using locally sourced materials producing out of small shops even garages from their homes. So it’s not like you don’t have a choice. Speak with your wallet instead of trying to backpedal disses, which your original statement was. Your criticism here is nothing but an an exercise in melodrama. The vast majority of the bicycle industry is connected to Asia in some way, even the smallest makers.. and this didn’t just happen yesterday.

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Tyler Benedict
Author
Tyler Benedict
5 years ago

All – the silence after the interview has been fixed, it now segues directly into our post-interview recap. If you’re already downloaded the file before 8:45am EDT June 11, just fast forward a couple minutes after the interview, or delete and re-download. Thanks for listening!

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