Welcome to the latest episode of our Beyond Threads podcast. In this edition, we caught up with the dynamic couple Ellen Cattebeke and Joris Smeunix – founders of the fast-growing menswear brand Wolk Antwerp. Together with our host, Erik Janssen-Steenberg, Business Development and Innovation Manager at Bleckmann, they discussed their experiences of running a fashion start-up – and how they balance the many competing pressures of their business and personal lives with managing their logistics operations.
Space to grow: Working with a specialist fashion logistics partner
For many fashion start-ups, coordinating logistics operations can prove to be one of the most challenging – and potentially limiting – factors in trying to grow your business. For example, the space and manpower required to pack and process orders will always place a hard limit on a company’s fulfilment capabilities. And, like many fashion start-ups, Ellen and Joris began by fulfilling orders from their own home. However, given their rapid growth, this soon became unsustainable. “It got to the point where every room in our house was filled with boxes”, says Joris. “We were even scared that the floors were going to fall through!”
Once orders reach a certain volume, all start-ups have to make a choice: either invest in warehouse space and staff or outsource to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider. “We looked at leasing our own space” adds Ellen. “But it just didn’t make sense for us. It would have cost us so much money, and then we could still have had problems or delays if people called in sick or something.” Instead, they decided to outsource Wolk’s logistics operations to Bleckmann with our new Bscale solution, giving the brand all the capacity it needed to accommodate its rapid expansion – without the need to invest in its own warehouse space.
Streamlining operations with efficient fashion fulfilment
Like storage space, time is a finite resource for many fashion start-ups – due to the limited manpower available to them. And when it comes to logistics, time constraints not only place an upper limit on the number of orders you can process. For example, Ellen and Joris would spend hours each evening picking and packing orders. “It was incredibly difficult to take days off or go on holiday”, says Ellen. “If we weren’t there to do it ourselves, then fulfilment simply wouldn’t get done, and orders would be late.”
As well as taking a toll on Ellen and Joris’ personal lives, managing all the logistics processes took valuable time away from other areas of the business. “After a while, we really wanted to put more time into marketing and growing the brand, as we felt we were ready to make that next step”, Joris explains. “But we found it difficult to do this when all our time was being taken up by packing and processing orders. Since partnering with Bleckmann, we’ve had much more space to concentrate on developing new products and growing the business.”
Want to find out more about Wolk Antwerp’s growth journey with Bleckmann? Press play on the latest episode of the Beyond Threads podcast to get the full story! You can also get all the details about our new Bscale solution here.
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Transcript
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Hi there, and welcome to another episode of Bleckmann's Beyond Threads podcast. As always, we will be taking a deep dive into something that is developing a trend, a shift, in the sector of fashion and lifestyle, with a particular focus on supply chain management and fulfillment.
Today, the topic is starting your own fashion brand—what you have to endure, what you will have to negotiate to become a successful brand in today's markets. For this topic, I'm joined today by our pristine guests, Ellen Cattebeke and Joris of Wolk Antwerp.
Ellen Cattebeke: Hi, Erik. Thanks for having us.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Well, thank you very much for being here. Without you, this wouldn’t work. To start off right away: Would you please introduce yourselves, explain what you do in day-to-day life, and give us a bit of background on your very, very beautiful company?
Joris Smeuninx: Okay, we are Ellen and Joris. Our brand is Wolk, Wolk Antwerp. We are a direct-to-consumer menswear brand. We use innovative merino wool yarns in all our garments, so they don’t build up smell, they hardly wrinkle, and they’re extremely comfortable.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: It’s really a natural wool—that’s the differentiator.
Joris Smeuninx: It’s 100% natural and has so many characteristics that are really beautiful. You can wear our clothes for several days in a row without washing. That’s the main benefit. We really bring this performance from outdoor sports into day-to-day wear.
Ellen Cattebeke: Actually, it started from a frustration we had. We are both designers. We freelanced a lot for different brands in Europe, so we had to drive a lot to clients. After a four-hour drive, we would change our outfits at the last gas station because we wanted to look crisp and neat, and we couldn’t do that in the clothes we had back then.
We were also backpackers. We traveled a lot, hiking for days, and we always relied on merino wool clothes. That’s where we fell in love with the material. You can wear merino wool for days in a row without the need to wash it. So we’d backpack with only four T-shirts for two weeks. From there, we got the idea: Why not integrate that performance wear into daily wear for men? So that’s how we started in 2018, bringing the performance of merino wool to everyday life for men.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: So when you take a step back and look at your own company and products, you’re not just another fashion brand trying to make a name for itself—you’re actually bringing a solution to an existing problem?
Ellen Cattebeke: Yes, we call ourselves problem solvers. We’re not just another fashion brand. We see ourselves more as an apparel brand than a fashion one. We’re also not following the big trends. We focus on good basic pieces that are never out of stock so people can come back after years and buy the same shirt or T-shirt again. That’s our focus.
Joris Smeuninx: This problem-solving approach comes from our background. We’ve been designing technical apparel for outdoor sports—trekking, hiking, mountain biking—where material comfort and fit are everything. When we create something new, we always ask: Is there something we can do better? What do we need? And we start with the material. Often, we spend a year or more just developing the right material before proceeding to the product. So maybe our new introductions are a bit slower than other brands, but that’s because our quality threshold is very high.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: But is there also an idea behind it that you don’t want to be a fast fashion brand, and that you want to be more... I don’t know... mindful of sustainability?
Joris Smeuninx: Definitely. We didn’t want to board the train of fast fashion, where every season you need to do something else. A print is in fashion one year but outdated the next. If you take one of our pieces from five years ago, you’ll still want to wear it today. So it’s not just basics, but definitely timeless. Probably for a menswear brand, that’s not a big problem, right?
Ellen Cattebeke: Men are easy.
Joris Smeuninx: Much more timeless than women.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: But if your product is good anyway, why change it? You’re solving a problem rather than following trends.
Joris Smeuninx: Exactly. Our collection consists of core pieces that are always available, with smaller introductions that disappear when sold out. But you can always come back for the bestsellers.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Now, let’s talk about your backstory. You’re not only working together—you’re also a couple.
Ellen Cattebeke: Yeah, we are. We met at university 22 years ago. We moved in together during our studies, and even our first job was together—we got hired by the same company without them knowing we were a couple. We kept it secret for six months, then they found out. After five years, we started our own design agency, freelancing for clients, creating technical apparel and bags. Eventually, we decided to make our own products, because we wanted to do things better. We’re a good tandem, even though we have different approaches. It’s sometimes challenging, but because we’re husband and wife, we can be direct. There’s no filter.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: No filter? That sounds awfully Dutch for a couple of Flemish people.
Ellen Cattebeke: Yeah, sometimes it’s hard for me, but we’ve known each other for 22 years, so it’s okay. But yeah a day in the life? How does that look? Mornings are like any other parent’s. We have two daughters, aged eight and ten. One of us drops them off at school while the other goes to the gym. Then, whoever does the school run also handles deliveries—packing boxes onto our bike and riding to the post office. Our office is on the second floor of our home. I handle design, development, and finances. My task is managing marketing and the webshop. But we make all decisions together. Actually, the hardest part is the evenings—after the kids are in bed, we handle fulfillment: printing orders, packing, and customer emails. Which is also had because its in the evening and everything is quiet but we can focus. But Sundays, it’s even busier. Sometimes we come home from a family gathering at 11 PM and still have to process weekend orders because customers expect Monday shipments.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: It sounds like a very busy existence. What were the biggest hurdles in growing your company?
Joris Smeuninx: Money and time. Banks don’t prioritize fashion brands for loans—it’s considered risky. We bootstrapped, freelanced, took out loans, and got family investments. Investors approached us early, but we didn’t want to give away shares too soon. Now that the brand is solid, we’re open to maybe external partners.
Ellen Cattebeke: Logistics was another challenge. We are lucky that we bought a house that was large enough. We have a house that has a 2nd floor and it's empty. Our stock filled the top floor of our house and at this moment we feel like our kids deserve their own separate bedrooms. And to be honest, we even worried about the floor collapsing!
Erik Janssen Steenberg: That sounds like a clear sign it’s time to outsource fulfillment. In Bleckmann we are working on an article that shows what boxes to tick to know when to outsource your logistics and I think you guys practically ticked the boxes just before the floor space.
Joris Smeuninx: So that’s it in terms of space. It takes time of course in terms of delivery and its not consistent in a way that we also take holidays. And we also put on the website that packages will be delayed and we see of course that we lose a certain amount of orders.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: But you shouldn't be penalised for being successful. I understand the sentiment of the customers, but maybe then it truly is time to move on and entrust your baby to an outside party like us.
Ellen Cattebeke: Yes, we're looking forward to that, definitely.
Joris Smeuninx: But we have enjoyed doing the fulfilment, right? We have. Because honestly, it was right when we started, we were doing the whole setup and I think I told you: this is one of the first tasks we will outsource, the fulfilment. It's just... It felt like useless work.
Ellen Cattebeke: It's true.Not useless, but not something your heart is in. “Monkey work” we call it sometimes. It doesn't feel as important. -Repetitive.
Joris Smeuninx: But when we started doing it, we discovered that we're building a relationship with our customers, we're getting valuable feedback.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Customer satisfaction levels are high.
Joris Smeuninx: We discover problems early because it comes straight to us. Things like streamlining the process and shipping issues—I'm happy that I know what can go wrong before we move to a fulfillment partner. So right now, if you're a start-up, I would advise everyone to do the fulfillment themselves for a decent amount of time.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: You have done the groundwork, know what to look for, and know how you can double-check easily if or when you get a supplier. But that also ties into a phrase I always use when I'm on stage or at an event, talking to brands just like yours, typically at the same stage: You guys come up with a pristine product, or at least a very good idea... and unfortunately, when you're successful, fulfillment operations become a big part of realizing your dream.
But none of you have ever woken up saying: "I need a nice product because I want to get into supply chain management, logistics, and fulfillment." So I think you're spot on in timing. You need to be able to return to where your heart is—the product—and not look into lead times of a shipment going out. That's where companies like us come in.
Ellen Cattebeke: Yeah, definitely. We also looked into our own warehouse, of course. But very quickly, we said to each other: That means you also have to hire people. They can get sick, they go on holiday—what will happen with that? We'd probably have to go back to the warehouse then. So it was a good decision to go for a 3PL partner, definitely.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: When we look at your brand today, what are the big differences, changes, or growth trajectories that you followed, comparing when you started to where you're at now?
Ellen Cattebeke: As we said before, we are designers. We were very much focused on the materials, on finding the right sources, and on doing it in a sustainable way. Our product is really spot on. It's really good now. We were doing marketing as well, because we need to be a direct-to-consumer brand. We did advertising, and we told the whole story behind the product. But now we need to focus more on that part—the marketing. But we lack time because we're focusing on so many things right now, including fulfillment. We really want to free up time to focus more on that very important marketing part. That will be our focus when we make the shift to the warehouse—to use that time to go full-on with marketing.
Joris Smeuninx: But we will also do our first hire this year because it became apparent to us that marketing is even more important than a good product. We've been lucky to grow a lot through search. We had a lot of organic traffic and paid traffic because we have a niche product. Men are really looking for a solution for shirts and T-shirts that don’t smell, don’t wrinkle—perfect travel essentials. That's how they come to our webshop, find us, and convert. Now for us, the task has become more about actively driving sales through marketing. And that's very time-consuming. Other fashion companies see themselves more as marketing machines than product machines. For us, that's a complete mind shift. But we will make it happen.
Erik Janssen Steenberg: Okay, now I have the privilege to generate a cliffhanger… because it’s already time to end this session. We now know who you guys are. We know where you're coming from. We know the product. And we know why you started to look for a possible 3PL partner—to outsource the pesky logistics behind getting the orders fulfilled. But the cliffhanger needs to be: Where are you going to be with Bleckmann in the years to come?
We're going to make sure that you'll be part of the decision-making these guys had to do, why they chose Bleckmann, and what the new operation will look like.
So this is all the time we have for today. I hope that we will see you soon for part two, where we will digress on all that these guys have to share. Thank you very much for watching, and see you soon.
