Chase your dreams

Water

"I just want to create to inspire, fail forward, go as I flow, work hard to play harder and be the best version of me" - Anna

It was during one of my trips to Indonesia that I have met Anna for the first time. Our common friend, Sabrina, introduced us and is simply was a match. How can it not? Anna is this fun, opinionated, empowered and inspiring woman who has lived plenty and who’s wise insights can teach us better. During that time together, we talked, drank too much, shared thoughts… Her story is long and fascinating, she didn’t have it easy and it took a strong person to go down (and up) this/her path. Since that time, Anna became a friend that I will always go back to visit and who will forever be an example for my personal journey. And I hope that we can inspire others with this story.

 

Anna, you started off in the fashion business in Holland for O’Neill. How did this experience make you grow and why did you quitted to follow your own path?

If it comes down to who I am and what attracted me from a young age, it has always been excitement, diversity, seeking boundaries and crossing them. So when I saw Top Gun at the age of 12, I knew: I want to become the female version of Tom Cruise. Everything aligned well in High School, time passed by smoothly, and the day of the tests to join the air force arrived. I failed at one of the last test and my dream was lost. A month later though, I decided medical school would be my go to study and becoming a plastic surgeon was my new goal. Before final exams started though my parents split up. There I was, an angry and really sensitive teenager that felt that not studying for her exams would be enough to graduate. On results day, instead of being with my parents, I got the call in the back of the bar I was working. My mentor told me that I had to re-do an exam and drop my extra subject Chemistry in order to graduate. Easy decision just because I wanted to leave the parental house. Medical school flew out the window with that decision though. What to do next was the biggest question as I had no freakin’ clue. I decided that a year off in the US to figure my shit out and play basketball was the best choice. Upon arrival the basketball team was full so I picked up every class that interested me. From art-history to business law from human sexuality to tennis. 2nd term, I joined the tennis team and from then on besides the 2 ½ hour practice a day, I just followed classes that I liked. By the end of the year, I chose that I would just study Law. The variety of Law School excited me but during an internship at a big law firm in year 4 the doubt of not being on the right path was confirmed. I just did not fit in. I tried to stretch graduating by writing 2 theses for both business law and international law. I really was desperate to figure out where I needed to go.

Through a part-time job I got introduced to O’Neill, a spark ignited and I knew that was the path to take. Through the brother of my best friend from high school I started working at O’Neill as a secretary. And that’s where it all came together. 1 ½ year of “skill optimising roles” the CEO introduced me to Michael Neill and I joined his division “International Licensing”. At the end of my career at O’Neill I was Licensing Manager South America, Europe and Product. Up to this day I still think it was the best job ever. I travelled heaps, which wasn’t always as sexy as it sounded, it was diverse as I worked within Sales, Marketing, Legal and everything in between. However, 7 1/2 years later I felt discouraged and I knew this wasn’t the place where I needed to stop.

Achieving and accomplishments academically from a young age diverted me from listening to what I really needed for myself. What do I desire to be good at instead of doing what you are really good at? My brains have always been there but it felt as if I am not meant to be here to use them in the way that I was using them at that moment. So I needed to start digging a bit deeper what I really liked without just looking at my skill set. That’s where the real decision to quit my job and go to Bali came from. Explore and figure it out. Once that decision was made it went really fast. I rented out my house and lived with my mother for 9 months (god bless her) so I could save money really fast. Before I knew it I handed over my resignation letter in February 2014. They were shocked, which didn’t come as a surprise to me as I had all the knowledge and was paid peanuts. After some packing and arranging, 2 months later I was on a plane to Bali to figure it all out. Everything from there on was just a figurative dusty road with the knowledge that the road was going somewhere, I just had no clue where it would take me.

Tell us about Reckon, how did you come to design and produce hats? What were the challenges to come to the success you have today with your brand?

Reckon Headwear started a whole while back after a big long-recovery from an ear-surgery. Television was too busy for me to handle and reading literally hurt my brain. So I taught myself how to crochet beanies. It was calm, easy and meditative. Note that calm an easy were the biggest prerequisites. The next few years, I earned a couple of gas-money euros on the side by selling these beanies to colleagues on our annual snow-board trip with the whole company to the Alps. Other than that it was nothing really mentionable.

At the moment I arrived in Bali, I got bored after 2 months. Beanies were not high in demand as you can figure but by accident I found this tailor on the outskirts of Denpasar that could make t-shirts. 2 kilos of Fabric and 2 days of sowing later, I had my first Reckon Headwear tee. No label, no packaging, I just took it back to the beach and got advice from the boys. No one was interested in any of them, they were ugly and unfashionable for even the slow movers in the group so after a while the only choice was donating them to the local family. My friend, Tobia Luca, though proposed to make a tee with a flower pocket and off I went, the Luca tee was born. He bought 5, I made more of that money, sold some more and all things came together. But this type of fashion was never really my thing, I always wear what is functional, what makes me feel good or are inspired by, but fashion by itself is something that is materialistic and ambiguous to me. Just something where a lot of companies want to earn a fuck load of money from. I wanted to stick with headwear. Mostly because I just loved them, but how?

2 years later into this unpretentious t-shirt business, Ronnie Mazzei, the licensee of O’Neill in Argentina with whom I was still close, flew me into Buenos Aires to build a business plan for him. During a drive through San Isidro we made a deal. Reckon would go where it deserved to be, develop good quality affordable felt hats and caps. A piece of headwear that everyone can enjoy while wandering their life without digging a hole in your monthly expenses. Designs were drafted, and made, samples were ordered and delivered and then the final production order was placed. 12k USD in total. Scary as f$&# but I had Ronnie, he would be the investor and I would do everything else. Clothing was also designed by myself (who would have thought), all inspired by my mates in Uluwatu and the line looked epic. When final samples came in, I stuffed a van with my friends and 12 surfboards, for a weekend to G-Land and an accompanying photoshoot. My good mate Jelle Mul was flown in by me as the main photographer because I just digged all his perspective on photography. Raddest and craziest trips of my life, maybe even their life. They all had their signature hat, shirt or tee. A cool and humble experience for me that they all just said yes and joined. On top of that they even chipped in a bit of cash to make the pressure a bit lighter on me. None of them being models but since we had just a beyond genuine fun surf trip, all images came out insane. I decided that Australian markets were the way to go to launch this “semi-new” brand.

After the photoshoot I had to go to the US and that’s where I received the call that Argentina collapsed. Ronnie needed all the cash he had. I was in the middle of Northern Californian redwoods when I got that news so I had to reach out desperately. My good friend Aad and my mom, were the ones that helped me on the spot. I had a tiny bit of time to think about the business plan and as soon as I had time, I smashed it out and send it through. Without them, Reckon Headwear would not have been here at all.

My good friend Katie lived in Melbourne and we booked these insane cool festivals as a new brand., they loved my approach and I loved them for believing in me. The day of our first market we managed to clear the first shipment at the airport and 5 hours later there was our first market, Nightjar in Torquay. That’s what it was, a Jeep packed with 32 boxes in Torquay and Reckon Headwear in the finer more sophisticated edition was born and launched.

After Australia the shipment arrived in Indonesia and I started to sell them at Single Fin, an iconic bar and restaurant on the cliffs of Uluwatu that also has a retail store. My boss Tai Graham let me do it for the work I had been doing for him. This was Summer 2017. And her we are 2019, 2 years later and I distribute to 20 account. Stock goes fast so planning is of the most important essence. It’s a lot of work and time that goes into it but the reward of seeing people wearing the hats you put so much love and time into is all worth it.

–> More about Reckon! <–

 

What are the challenges that you are facing today? In which direction is Reckon evolving/growing? What are you aiming/what do you with for?

As like every start up business that didn’t start with a big cash back up, cash flow is our main challenge. I would have loved to distribute to Europe straight away but I am a lot in Indonesia so I can manage that territory better. To solve that we created a warehouse where we can directly ship to consumer and/or retailer. So besides distributing everywhere directly, we also limit our footprint on the earth. By truck it goes from the factory to the warehouse and from there it goes either directly to consumer or to the retailer. No shipping product back and forth the world, so that’s big plus for me. Besides the sales numbers hat grew exponentially, that is one of the biggest achievements this year. Environmental solutions for shipping and packaging.? What are the options to protect felt (aka wool) hats from rain while I ship them from A to B? Send me an email if you have a solution because it hurts me that this plastic, even though recyclable, is only there for single use. Other than that it is just a lot of fun. We make cool stuff, find solutions for problems and work hard to grow up to our potential.

Where does the name Reckon come from? What does that represent for you?

Reckon for me is about creating to inspire. Giving people another view on the decision that you make by yourself, that you can do whatever you want to do, if you really want to. If that entails quitting your job and living in another country that’s awesome. If that is living a subtle peaceful and amazing life as a lawyer with 3 kids in a suburb, fuck do it. You only live life once so make sure you decide how you are going to fill it. Different things make different people happy, stick with that. Our WHY is created to inspire people:

ALL THAT WE CREATE IS GENUINE
BORN AND RAISED WITH BARE HANDS,
NURTURED WITH ADDITIONAL HELP.
MADE WITH HARD WORK, LOVE AND CRAFTSMANSHIP.
EACH STYLE INSPIRED BY A FELLOW WANDERER,
FOR YOU TO ENJOY WHERE EVER YOU GO.
NOW YOU KNOW WHERE RECKON COMES FROM,
WHERE WILL YOU TAKE IT?

So, when I was in Bali by myself for the first time in 2007 that was exactly how I felt. I had my ex-boyfriend from 2 months visiting Bali for 5 days and his Greek friend Aemilia and we had the most insane amount of fun. But when they left, I was there on my own and I went to the warungs at Dreamland because you could stay at the beach and surf and eat and surf and eat and sleep. That’s where I met these guys from Cornwall, UK, who persuaded me to join them to Keramas this one windy day. Since everyone was a goofy footer, we ended up driving South to find some left handers. That’s where I was introduced to the word reckon. You are not taught those words at school in Holland. Each street coming up that turned left one of them would say: “I reckon we might find a left-hander here”. Imagine this with a proper UK accent. I just followed, I was a kook and actually got smashed so hard that day that I didn’t really surf for 2 years after. The word “reckon” stuck. It represents freedom, it represents creating, it represents do not think too much, it represents general life to me.

 

Last question, what’s next for you and Reckon?

Reckon to me is the epiphany of freedom and Bali allows me to be. To remain close to me but also to help other people grow, to diverse my tasks and time but also keep it real and balanced. Sometimes there are moments that I look into the mirror and think of the things that I do not have as a 39-year-old woman. Don’t get me wrong though I think it is part of being human to ask yourself whether you think the grass is greener on the other side. Luckily, I am and I feel blessed that I was born with me, that each and every decision in my life build up to where I am right now. And I am content and proud where I am. Nothing is perfect obviously, so I do think a lot about my wish to start a family, but it is just not happening at this moment. It is what it is and I am trying to focus on the other stuff. Comfort spread itself when I realized that it is me that has to make it work, I can dread the stuff that didn’t or doesn’t happen or the stuff that did happen but left big scars, but hey, I was made to survive them, so stay on track and chase those dreams. Don’t follow them, chase them. My blessing is my support system and my own personality. Years have passed and I am more and more and more appreciative for my discipline, my don’t-give-up-if-you-really-want-it mentality, my no-bullshit approach and contrary to that my vulnerability and sensitivity. It is me, I learn, I grow but I want to become the best version of me. Up to this day, I am becoming more and more proud of the woman that I have become. Reckon will head where it will head, I plan but its again all ambiguous, I just want to create to inspire people and headwear is the path that sprouted from that. A little seed planted around 10 years that is growing into a ravishing flower.

Words: Nicki Antognini & Anna Marte
Pictures: Sabrina Schmid, Nicki Antognini and many more talented photographers
Location: Bali, Indonesia
Thanks to: Anna for trusting me to share her story
Link: Reckon Headwear