00:00Pelican product CEO JC Curley joins us here. He is of course the former CEO at Levi's and Gibson
00:07Guitars. So man you make stuff that guys just love. Yeah. But also that's increasingly becoming
00:13important in the field for military operations. How did you get into that part of the business?
00:18Well I mean Pelican started as a passion project for protection 50 years ago and then if you think
00:23about in the last 50 years what's happened protection's always been needed. But today's
00:28world like if you think about explorers and protectors and defenders and collectors and
00:32creators they're all investing in something that needs to be protected. So as a CEO we get to think
00:37outside the box and but we also have to think inside the box. So as we pivot now to the
00:42to the
00:43dynamics we're seeing today in defense there's three big things happening. One of them is just
00:47the sheer attention on defense and the investment. Two is the replenishment dynamic and then I think
00:52of more importance for us going forward is the form factor shifts the unmanned dynamics the drone
00:57dynamics and they require mobility transport protection versatility organization situational
01:04protection. Right. So we offer all that and it's it's putting a lot of positive pressure on us
01:09to actually innovate with agility going forward. So I mean with with camera equipment you know the
01:15professionals around here they seek out Pelican cases. They go to B&H and buy them. With other
01:20my cousin I told you made make sunglasses that are like six hundred dollars. He sells them in Pelican
01:25cases because it's an expensive item that you don't want to break. With with this military goods you
01:31have to I imagine go to them and say like hey we have a fantastic product for you and then
01:37organize a
01:38government contract. That's a whole different kind of transaction. It is and you know we call it our go to
01:43market cycles. And so but what we're seeing now with the with the sheer scale required as you think about
01:48companies like Andril companies that you didn't hear about five years ago now coming onto the scene. What we're
01:53seeing and what we've witnessed is is in the last few years it's a very tactical relationship of we make
01:58something we need to put it in something we need to. Now we're we're working on multi-year partnerships with
02:04with a
02:04lot of folks who are investing and innovating for the future. So we now have our our engineers working with
02:10us way
02:11upstream. The worst thing that could happen I don't know worst thing that could happen is they they finally get
02:15that
02:15drone ready and they they can't protect it ship it transport etc. So we now work way upstream with them
02:22strategically to make sure that we can scale up. We have the solutions. They have the selection. And by the
02:27time their drone say is ready for market which is at an increasing pace. We're we're right there lockstep
02:33parallel with the solution. One of the benefits you have at least in the other products that I've bought from
02:38you is that
02:39they're made in the U.S. Yes. How difficult is it to find the labor to manufacture in the U
02:45.S.
02:45Obviously you have a history of doing this with guitars. Yeah. But it's a different kind of product. It is
02:50different. But I think when you think about first of all growth helps attract you know a certain
02:56individual who says I want to be part of something cool Pelican. So we have that brand but also elements
03:00of
03:00automation we're working on coupled with yes there's AI but I don't call AI art what's artificial about it
03:07anymore. It's augmented intelligence helping us on quality. So the labor dynamics are are important but
03:14they're not the only thing that we're focused on because now with scale our factories today in Torrance
03:20California South Deerfield Massachusetts we're actually running seven days a week three shifts. So the labor
03:25dynamics are there and what we're able to do is a skills matrix for people to say we'd rather have
03:31a skilled operator looking at automation dynamics than just a traditional worker on the line and
03:37we're seeing a very very strong healthy balance there. But I imagine you have to charge a much higher
03:42price than competitors. I think about your time at Levi's right they used to use these fantastic looms
03:49from cone mills you know and those have all gone to Tokyo. Now you're paying three four five hundred
03:55dollars for a pair of jeans made like that and no one makes jeans in the U.S. anymore. How
04:00can you
04:01continue to manufacture here and keep price competitive? Well I think it is that combination of automation.
04:06I think there's an element of scale and growth and also if we offer the best protective solutions in
04:12the world we can command a premium price and so when the mission is on the line and we like
04:16to say for all
04:17the explorers adventures protectors we're not the heroes but we enable and empower the mission to be
04:22accomplished. And so it's a mindset for people that say if if the mission is well prepared and protected
04:28the chances of the mission being accomplished go up. What is the price of that? And so we were able
04:33to
04:33command premium pricing and we're also able to bring innovation back into the solution. And as I
04:39mentioned the amount of investment being put into what goes into a pelican deserves premium protection
04:45which comes at a premium price. You also have a premium brand right when I think of a product like
04:50a pelican I think also of a product like a Yeti. Yeah. You know and they have like this cool
04:54Austin
04:55brand thing Torrance California also a very cool place. Yeah. How do you build on that? I think I mean
05:01first of all you start with what got you here which was our founder Dave Parker was a passionate diver.
05:06He wanted he wanted light underwater so he developed an underwater flashlight. He wanted a first aid kit
05:11that was crush proof dust proof waterproof. That's what started it. A hundred million cases later
05:17billions of missions later you can trace it right back to an authentic starting point. On the on the
05:22west coast in Massachusetts Harding Industries was synonymous with the science of protection. James
05:27Harding was a literally a protection genius. And so you bring the soul of California Torrance you bring
05:33the science of protection from South Deerfield Massachusetts and that is a very very powerful
05:38combination for protective solutions. What kind of growth are you looking at JC? Our if the last
05:44year is an indicator we're seeing it's increased step change every quarter. Obviously we're a private
05:49company. Our financial partners at Platinum Equity have been not only supportive in terms of where we've
05:55been but seeing forward how do we how do we leverage our synergy together for scale investing ahead of
06:01the curve. So our growth we've seen I can share that we had a record first quarter and we're on
06:07track to
06:08have probably the strongest year in the history of the company. And that despite I mean you make stuff in
06:12in the U.S. So you don't have to worry about tariffs on the finished product. Correct. But you do
06:18have to
06:18worry about I imagine it's petroleum based. You know chemicals and and compounds. How do you see pricing
06:27right now with the straight of Hormuz closed. Yeah we were we were very you know some might call it
06:32luck
06:32but I think it was strategic proactive decisions we made about a year ago. Tariffs were one thing but
06:37what we're also seeing and no one foresaw a year ago was coming. So we developed a series of countermeasures
06:42but now we're leaning into it. So we worked with a new resin supplier about six to twelve months ago.
06:48We
06:48wanted innovation and we want to also look at cost. So we're now in a very healthy balance of we
06:53worked with
06:53a new resin supplier. It brings improved innovation to our resin which makes our cases stronger lighter
06:59UV resistance etc. But at the same time we were able to our scale and growth means we can leverage
07:06that back into our supply base. So we can we can push our costs down even if the inherent base
07:12of the
07:12cost goes up if that makes sense. Yeah of course. Great to have you on the program. Hope we can
07:16talk to
07:17you again JC. JC Curley there is the CEO of Pelican products.
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