At A Glance‍

Stefan Gehrig’s interest in CrossFit is what prompted him to rethink the design of his gym bag. His background as a research scientist influenced the rigorous way he measured, tested and refined the product. Add the entrepreneurial itch that spurred him to try this as a side hustle, and it added up to this inspiring story about a company whose best-in-class gym bags are renowned for being the toughest and best-organized on the market.

Who is Stefan?‍

Meet Stefan Gehrig, Founder at KNKG‍

‍About KNKG

Founded in 2011, KNKG makes gym bags that are known for being exceptionally tough and extremely well-organized. From the beginning, the bags have been made of the highest quality materials. They are designed with everything from one-snap outer-pockets to internal dividers to dedicated shoe zones.

‍Stefan’s entrepreneurial journey‍

Stefan didn’t study business. He was a research scientist. In fact, he has a doctorate in muscle disease. That he’s now running a company known for its gym bags can be traced to two things that happened back in 2011. First, he read “The Four Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss. Second, as someone avid about CrossFit, he realized there were no gym bags designed to accommodate the gear that activity required.

He set out to change that. After designing an initial bag, he used Alibaba to source products from three different factories in China, all of which made military-spec, high-end nylon bags. After getting samples and making a few iterations and adjustments, he placed an order for 500 units of that first KNKG bag. “It was a one-product brand for a while,” Stefan says. “Very much a side hustle for the first four or five years before it really got steam, and we started expanding our range significantly.” Today, KNKG bags are known for their durability and functionality.

KNKG’s team structure‍

The company’s lean core of full-time workers don’t work out of a single office, but they’re not entirely remote either. Everyone lives in the vicinity of Melbourne, Australia. The bags themselves are manufactured by various partner factories, with third-party logistics partners fulfilling the orders. 

‍CX is the difference‍

KNKG set its sights high: It wants to be a best-in-class gym bag. That means it is competing with the biggest athletic apparel brands in the world. Companies like Nike, Under Armour and adidas, which have a much larger catalog of products (and more importantly) a larger marketing budget behind them. “The only way to beat those guys,” Stefan says, “is to have a better product, better customer-service experience, better warranties. We just have to be better throughout the entire customer journey.” That means a responsive and empathetic customer-service team. “If there are any issues, which always happen with products,” Stefan says, “we need to be able to solve them for the customer, whether that’s replacement bags straight away, replacement shoulder straps or zipper pulls or whatever it is.”

Organic endorsement‍

Several years ago, KNKG had a first-time customer who was making a purchase, and the staff took the time to explain the details for specific products, helping her make the purchase that fit her needs best. Turns out, she was a close friend of Nate Diaz, who is one of the most recognizable and popular mixed-martial arts fighters in the world.“We had no idea who she was friends with,” Stefan says. “She was a customer of ours. We went the extra step. Nate reached out personally to us and said, ‘Hey, I love your products. Can I get some?’ “That ended up being our biggest celebrity or athlete influencer, which was completely organic. “

‍Constant improvement‍

Given Stefan’s background as a scientist, it shouldn’t be a surprise that he focuses on collecting data regarding his company’s products. “We listen to customers a lot,” he says. “We get feedback all the time. We're constantly improving. We never have a fixed product as such. If there needs to be changes, we're constantly iterating.” Everyone in the company has an equal voice when it comes to putting ideas forward—from the head of marketing to the teams overseeing manufacturing. “They're the ones on the front lines producing the product,” Stefan says. “They often have the sharpest insights into what’s working, and how to improve things”

The add-on game‍

For the first six to eight years, the average order size was typically just a single item. Introducing add-ons like weight belts and dividers—products that complemented and enhanced the core bags—proved to be a game-changer.

“It improved our average order value,” Stefan says. “And it gave customers a reason to come back and buy again, which increased their lifetime value.” That higher revenue, in turn, expanded the marketing budget available for customer acquisition.

‍Seasonal spikes‍

The final two months of the year are the busiest for KNKG with Black Friday and December constituting as much as 40 percent of sales. Stefan says he spends the rest of the year planning for that push. The first step is a given: You need to know you’ll have inventory available.

Then comes the fulfillment process.

“If you're using a 3PL,” Stefan says, “you need to really vet them. Make sure that they have the capacity for meeting their service-level agreements during peak.” Finally, you should have your marketing campaigns not only planned but automated. Emails should be prepared well in advance. Sales strategies should be laid out, and automations implemented for everything from SMS messages to social-media posts. “From an internal point of view,” Stefan says, “we have most things on autopilot.” If all that is dialed in, it allows your team to focus on the customer-service requests and other things that inevitably pop up during that final month of the year.

Tech stack 

Klaviyo

Advice to other entrepreneurs

Stefan says there’s only one piece of advice he would offer to people who haven’t started yet. “Get started,” he says. “You just never know where the brand is going to go, and there's a long period of time where you're sort of shouting into the abyss. So throw something out there, see how it works, start to see what sticks, iterate and improve.” It doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, it probably won’t be perfect. You will learn what you need to do differently, however, which is the only way to get closer to your goal.