We enjoy including a number of brands within our issues whether it's our roundups or editorials that we style. So when we have the chance to share more behind these brands it's a great way for you to know more about how they were created, their vision, and more about their assortment. We have been a fan of BÉIS since it launched in 2018. With a focus on travel as well as being on the go, we have enjoyed seeing how Shay Mitchell has infused her love for travel, quality, design and more into this brand!

We hosted Athleisure Mag Summit® where we sat down with Liz Money, SVP, Brand & Creative, BÉIS. We talked about her background in the fashion industry, how she came to the brand, digging into the assortment and projects that they have coming up that you'll want to keep on your radar.

ATHLEISURE MAG: I’ve been looking forward to chatting with you about the brand and in prep for this interview, I found out that we both graduated from Indiana University so it’s always exciting to talk to another person from there!

LIZ MONEY: You know that not only am I graduate from there, but our president, Adeela Hussain Johnson, is also a graduate from IU!

AM: I didn’t know that!

LM: Yeah, she actually graduated in the same year.

AM: I graduated in 2002 and it’s always fun to connect with those that went there.

LM: I graduated in 2004!

AM: Nice!

It was great to be connected earlier this year through the Accessories Council when we included pieces from the brand in our JUN ISSUE #90 photoshoot that we did at Kimpton Eventi Hotel. We’ve been a fan of the brand since it launched! So we love that since this is part of our Athleisure Mag Summit® virtual event, we can talk to brands and people that are involved in with the brand in order to get to know more about them, to include them in our YouTube Channel and in our issue of course! We’re so excited to have you.

LM: We’re excited to be part of it honestly.

AM: So, before we dig into all thing BÉIS, I wanted to find out more about your background! Can you walk us though previous brands and/or positions that you did prior to coming to this brand?

LM: Sure! You went to IU, you lived in Indiana, you know about the brand Vera Bradley, It’s a very popular, Midwest, Southern, East Coast brand. I spent 12 years there – pretty much right out of college working for them. I started on their cutting room floor because I was just out of college and they didn’t have very many positions open and I knew that if I was going to stay in Indiana, it would be one of the few opportunities that I would have to design and do creative. It was sort of an opportunity to get my foot in the door. I ended up working on the cutting room floor and sewing placemats for my 1st 8 months there during second shift from sometime to midnight – I can’t remember!

I used every opportunity I could to get in front of the people that I needed to by going to company events and chatting with those people. Pretty much, I was very persistent. I applied for every internal job that I felt that I could potentially do that my degree supported. I was a fine arts major and studied a lot of sculpture, but primarily, I studied textile design as it pertained to art. So, I did that and ended up becoming an assistant in the product development department and I just took on more and more tasks as they saw fit. I was under essentially, the VP of PD, the VP of Design and the Cofounder of the brand – Barbara Bradley Baekgaard. I was working with them every single day. I showed them what I could do, above and beyond, then I worked my way up at Vera Bradley. I spent the bulk of my time there as a Trend and Creative Director. I really worked over the development and design and working hand in hand with marketing, merchandising, and all of those departments from a product perspective, but also from a creative and trend perspective. Then Beach House Group which is a co-founder of BÉIS, reached out to me and I started working here!

AM: I love that and can I just say, growing up in Indiana, I remember my early days in terms of knowing the brand as the classic Bible book covers and the obviously, once I started styling, I couldn’t believe how the product assortment, colorways, etc grew and they had some fun pieces like the duffle that converts to a hanging bag which I used with shoots and styling my clients for the Grammys. The fact that they went from the patterns and hues to what I knew them as a kid to where they are now is really cool for the heritage of that brand.

LM: I mean honestly, the position that I had with them was just incredibly rewarding and taught me so much that I was able to reciprocate into my knowledge here for BÉIS.

AM: I love that and tell me what you do at BÉIS.

LM: Of course, we are a travel brand and are more so an on the go brand. We are at the pivotal white space of a brand that is giving you this affordable highly functional product that also looks really good and then with our own personal creative spin on it which is essentially putting a little humor to it. We have a lot of lifestyle and are incorporating high fashion as well. I am the SVP of Brand, Creative and essentially I am over our product and design team, our creative team, and our marketing team.

AM: That’s a big umbrella.

LM: It’s a very big umbrella. I try to think of ways that give me a bit of a smaller umbrella so we’re going to be hiring a VP of Marketing so that’s great!

AM: Well that’s amazing!

I remember when the brand started in 2018, I don’t remember what the first product was, but I feel pretty early on, The Weekender was there as a fashion stylist and accessory expert so when I travel that’s great, but I do need bags that I can lug my items to photoshoots, work with my celeb clients – so to see that you guys have created such an assortment and that you have items that can work in an array of situations, it’s truly a brand that is on the go!

What is the ethos of the brand and why did Shay Mitchell want to create it?

LM: So honestly, the ethos of the brand is to be in that white space of creating an on the go brand and it was very intentional that we launched the brand with bags and not with rolling bags and that came later in 2019 as you know. This ethos of creating an on the go lifestyle brand really helped us through the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 when travel felt that it was really at a halt. I felt that we could easily pivot to bags that we could use on a daily basis for a walk, etc.

So really the ethos of the brand is creating this fun lifestyle brand that is relatable, affordable, and accessible to people. It’s on the go right? You’re always on the go! You’re going to the gym, the grocery store, you’re going for a walk, whatever it is that you are moving to. Shay is an incredible partner in this brand. She’s involved in the day-to-day quite honestly in the creative, product, and the positioning and the reason why she wanted to develop this brand is because she is centered into this ethos. She travels a lot, she has her YouTube Shaycation and she was traveling a lot for her job, she’s traveled since she was 15 years old when she start ed getting into the industry she was in Thailand or Bangkok for awhile. Travel is in her blood. She knows it and she understands it. What she noticed was this gap in the industry of really expensive bags that were great looking, but they had no functionality, really cheap bags had some function, but they looked really cheap. So she was like, where is the perfect bag that is in the middle of that. The Weekender is actually one that she carried and that she loved. It’s a beige bag and she wanted to design off of that bag that she had and loved for so long and sort of got scuff marks, was dirty and had been with her all over. I have no idea of what that bag was as I have never seen it. But we just based off of her sketches and drawing and hearing about her background of using it the love that she had for it and all the places that she took it to, it’s basically how that on the go lifestyle brand was created.

AM: I love that! As someone who has designed collections I’m always interested in other’s approach to their assortment. What do you look for when it comes to adding new designs or even new colorways? You guys are doing really amazing at that as well.

LM: I mean, it’s not that much of challenge. As you know from a design perspective and for an assortment, you’re essentially trying to look into a crystal ball to figure out what people want. A lot of it is trend driven and design driven and we use programs. We shop the industry and look at what we are attracted to and what Shay is attracted to as well. We have an insane and amazing community of the brand so we’re able to tap into them to see what they want. If we hear them shouting loudly about something that they specifically want then we try to bring it in. A Rolling Weekender is something that we have been trying to work on for awhile because primarily, it’s the size of a Carry-On. So we get a lot of complaints that it’s super heavy. It’s a Carry-On that essentially you carry and whatever you put in there, it's going to be heavy. So, making a potential solution of being able to roll on it is something we want to bring out in the future and we are currently working on that right now.

And then it’s really about leaning into the data and looking at the boring stuff and seeing what people are searching for. A lot of our color expansion has come primarily because either we have done a small drop of something and we see that we have an insane amount of people signing up for it and eventually, we want to be able to answer to these people! They have signed up for Maple and there are 40,000 people that like it, then we are going to bring Maple into the core line.

AM: I love Maple!

LM: That’s how some of it happens!

Maple is one of our top colors right now. How we decide what colors, we are a brand that started with beige and black in our first couple of years. We didn’t really launch any colors in those first 2 or years and then the consumer started wanting color again and I think that’s a nuance we’re seeing across a number of industries right now. Interiors right now, beige and this gray were in and now people are reinvigorating color into their spaces! So I think that we are seeing that trend across the board, but we want it to remain to look good all together so that if you do have a collection that is a mélange of colors that are offered in our product category that look good and match back to each other. Although we prefer monochromatic ha!

AM: Same!

What do you feel are the core pieces of the brand?

LM: The core pieces of the brand are The Weekender, Rolling Luggage is hands down – that’s what the consumer says it is. There is one new item that is really ticking up – our Sports Sling! We literally can’t keep it in stock and I think it’s because when we started designing this, I wish I could go through the iterations of it. It was this thing that could be a long sleeve, it could be a bag, and then it would zip together. When we saw it zipped we loved how compact it was and then we added this sneaky water bottle pocket – it’s the perfect travel companion and the perfect everyday bag and now we’re going to be adding it into multiple different colors. I do think that our sport category is slightly underrated, but the materials of this category are amazing.

But if you are looking through the consumer lens of where is she putting her dollars, it’s our luggage and our Weekender. For me, our luggage, and not to put the word value on it, but it’s a value item. It’s has more function than on any piece of luggage on the market, in this category, at the level of durability that we offer and at that price point. It’s great luggage! I converted my husband to this luggage, Rimowa people who are stans! Once you start using this luggage, people get it!

AM: I love that sling back, it’s one of the ones we shot for our issue. Like you said, I love that water bottle in it. Plus it lays so nice for those who want to wear it towards the front whether you have ample bosom or not!

LM: We take that into account in our testing! We have all sizes and shapes on our team. We try them on, everybody!

AM: I love that as a brand the focus on intention and design and having all of these areas where you’re optimizing its use! How do you decide about that functionality and to make sure that those elements are there?

LM: Yeah, So we honestly have our staple function pieces and there are no compromises to them. They will always be in that bag if it makes sense for the bag. We learned that by trial and error. If we came out with a line and it didn’t have the Trolley Sleeve just because it was a bag that didn’t have it as it wasn’t going to be a travel bag, it would be more of a bag that didn’t have it as it wasn’t going to be a travel bag, it would be more of a daily tote. But then customers would let us know that they would have bought it but they wanted that sleeve. So it was the trial and error of learning what are those core function pieces that we have to have in all of our products. So those are the things – the Trolley Sleeve, Padded Laptop Sleeve – ways to use it everyday and ways to use it for travel. We know that the consumer is not always buying 2 bags – some do, I buy a bag for everything. But some want to use the same tote bag for work, for travel, for sport/gym, whatever – they want it all. So giving the all, but also being mindful that if it is intended to be a sport bag, let’s throw in the sport function – a pass through for your yoga mat or your tennis racket. If it is travel specific, it has to have a padded laptop sleeve, it has to have ease of accessibility so that you can go through TSA. Honestly, finding things to add on like that sneaky water bottle pocket, hidden pockets that are great for easy accessibility of your phone, but it’s not on the exterior so that someone can grab it. Our key leash is a stable, but functionality is a consumer driven thing, but it’s also us using the bag and seeing that this bag can use something like this to level it up times 10!

AM: If someone is brand new to the brand, what are 3 pieces that you suggest that they should have?

LM: Ok, I am going to tell you that this is the worst thing for me to say – I am not personally a weekender girl!

AM: What?

LM: I don’t know why. I don’t travel like that. My number 1 is you have to get the Carry-On – you absolutely have to. If you don’t spend the money in any other way, the Rolling Carry-On is a must. Next to me, you have to have a bag that goes on top of it. So if you’re a Weekender Girl, then the Mini Weekender is a must. I love all of our East to West Totes which are in our Recycled Collection. The Premium Duffle and the Premium Weekender just came out. I will carry this over the holidays for the first time. I love that it is a duffle, but it also snaps. So it can be more of a tote which I am more of a Tote Girl. You can’t go wrong with our Work Tote because it is super buttoned up. It’s very structured and super roomy and expansive. The third piece is like a sling. Honestly, that is my perfect travel uniform but also the sling and the tote or if you’re a backpacker or weekender – once you get there, you have your Carry-On in your room and then you have these other pieces to take you throughout the rest of your journey.

AM: When I’m styling on set, I use the Sport Pack for accessories that I am bringing on/off the talent or event some of my tools so that my kit which has everything can just stay In one place. I definitely have enjoyed bringing that piece recently into my styling tools for sure.

I also love the engagement that is around this brand! You have some people who are just down for the brand and you have done amazing partnerships with your hotel concept that you did in Dallas and in LA! Can you talk more about this and whether you plan on rolling more out and will you be coming to NY?

LM: So you just missed us in NY when we did a quick week long pop-up!

AM: I know! So bummed as by the time I realized it it was already wrapping and we were on set – but it looked great!

LM: Yes our community is so engaged – sometimes scaringly, but we love it! People either love you or hate you – but we have a lot of love and we’re super fortunate that we are able to engage with our community and one of those ways is through the experiential through our pop-ups. The one in NY again, was such a short stint. The BÉIS Hotel Pop Up was our very first pop up with the BÉIS Motel and it was in the Glass Box in LA at The Grove. We wanted the next iteration to be more experiential and we definitely will continue to create experiential touchpoints in real life with our consumer. Next year, our first one will be loyalty based or service-based pop up. One of the things that we hear from our customers is that our product is maybe harder to clean or how to keep the product in a way that it can last longer. We’re going to be popping up with the BÉIS Wash and we have partnered with cleaning brands and they have helped us create some formulations that get certain stains like wine, mascara, Sharpie, and scuff marks off of bags. We’re going to do another short pop up over a weekend. We’re using this opportunity to have people bring their bags in and we will clean them up for you and we’ll potentially do some livestreaming and show people how to clean their bags themselves at home and we will potentially make this kit for sale for purchase and use it to keep their bags looking good!

AM: I love the campaigns and the images/videos you do. What’s your timeline and the planning involved when you’re looking to do them?

LM: So, our creative process honestly starts 18 months out when we’re designing the collections. We’re a very drop based brand for the last 5 years. We will start moving away from that and start driving into our core of the brand – our luggage, our weekenders and that’s essentially when the creative process begins. Not only does the design and the product speak to how we end up doing the creative. I think I sent you some photos of the Slate Collection. The Slate Collection launched last year in January with our Sport Collection. Essentially, a color that our consumer really loved and we brought it back. We actually brought it back in a small way with Nordstrom for their Anniversary Collection in July and re alized that there was even more love for it! The whole campaign was about being a clean slate so there was this whole car wash scenario! Honestly, it’s about having fun! When we’re going through this creative process, it’s about having fun! It’s great that we love it, but that our consumer will also think that it’s a great idea and that it makes sense with the brand in some way or the other and that it’s a little bit fashiony! It’s about being interesting and not just showing bags in hotels and rooms – which we do and they perform amazing, but sometimes it’s about having a little bit of fun too!

AM: What have been some of the projects that you have been part of that you were really excited to have your fingerprint in there?

LM: Our pop ups for sure! I think that some people witnessed that our first pop up that we had in The Grove, when we opened up, I literally cried – I don’t know if it was a pain cry or a joy cry?

AM: Maybe relief haha!

LM: Yes relief! It was like, wow we’re finally done! That one was super exciting for me. It was the first time that I had done something like that and that I felt that I had owned the process. I also think that the creative and the look of it was just so cool and people’s reaction at The Grove – there are pop ups there every single month. So for people to walk by and say, “wow, it’s the best one that I have ever seen. For you to have so many things in a 20’ sqft x 20’ sqft space.” That was truly a testament to how we as a brand look at everything. When we do something, we’re going to go as in as we can. That means we’re going to look at it from all angles, how we are putting it on social, how does it look on the website, how do we entertain and invigorate our customer at every touch point no matter where they are or what they are doing. So the pop ups have been amazing!

I would say that in general, just the growth of this brand! I have been here for 5 years since we have launched the brand. There are 2 people that have been here longer in this brand and that’s Shay and Adeela, who is also the other IU girl!

AM: Oh nice!

LM: Just seeing the growth of the brand and when you go from a team of 4 or 5 to a team of almost 40, it’s so incredibly rewarding. I have gone from a position where you are the person who is doing most everything because there are only 4 people and you have to split up and do a bit of everything for the business. That was only for a very short amount of time and we grew to 7 and then to 12. Now we’re at almost 40! To see the growth of the brand, how my position has changed from a doer to a cultivator of all of these people and now we’re teaching them and helping us grow this brand beyond our wildest dreams, I think that is probably one of the most regarding and awesome things.

AM: That’s definitely cool to see and you have first hand knowledge in seeing that growth and where you are with the support of 40 people. I remember many years ago when I worked at Lacoste HQ in their Wholesale division – the whole US part of the company was only 60 people and you were doing a lot of support beyond your direct role and it’s interesting to think about how much you do just to get that brand to where you’re positioning it and to meet the needs of partners, customers, etc.

The same can be said here at Athleisure Media and sometimes people have a concept that there are all of these people doing these things and in many cases, that is not what is happening!

LM: Nope! You raise that curtain and it’s like hello!

AM: Exactly, it’s a shock if you ever get to see behind the curtain haha!

You can watch our virtual event on our YouTube channel and we currently have our giveaway that kicked off on Dec 21st and runs through Jan 3rd. For more details on our Athleisure Mag Summit® Series X BÉIS Giveaway, you can find out by visiting our Instagram post so that you can enter!

IG @beis

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | BÉIS