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14th Jun 2019
In the last few weeks, Jen Rubio became a unicorn – the co-founder of a privately held start-up valued at over a billion dollars, that is. Her meal ticket is Away: a luggage company designed with functional travel at its core.
To paint a picture, Away’s hard cases are fitted out with external phone chargers, a built-in lock, an internal laundry bag, and a polycarbonate shell guaranteed to last a lifetime. All the things you need, but are seemingly difficult to find in one place. They also look great; sleek, minimal, but still highly personal, thanks to optional monogramming and a vast mix of colourways.
The brand, since its launch in 2015, has gone from strength to strength, pulling in an estimated $300,000,000 in sales in the last 12 months. Despite the zero’s, initially, things weren’t easy. Rubio, who spoke at the Vogue Codes 2019 Sydney Summit, explained that the initial $25,000 investment was by far the hardest capital they had to raise – the hundreds of millions that came afterwards were, ironically, a lot easier.
With great success though comes imitator brands, interested in siphoning a piece of the pie for themselves. It sounds crushing to have the greatest work of your life copied over and over. Rubio though, is mostly unfazed, falling back on the sentiment that imitation is in fact the greatest form of flattery, and considering herself in a position of great privilege that her competitive set consider her work gold standard.
“We always thought, what if another company copied our product from day one,” says Rubio, ruminating on the fact that it was likely, if not probable, that should Away be a wild success there would certainly be similar products popping up elsewhere.
Her plan from the start was to also build a brand, alongside the physical product, that couldn’t be copied. “What we could create that no one could copy was an incredible brand story and community.”
A true statement indeed, given that a huge part of Away’s success is down to the fact that the brand is thoughtful, relatable, and in tune with the way we travel in 2019. The brand is actually in the process of a huge global expansion, both in its e-commerce presence, and bricks and mortar stores. The official Australian launch was actually celebrated just this week at a pop-up store in Sydney’s Paddington. The pop-up, titled Origin: Away, will be open until Sunday, June 16, should you be due for a new set of travel wheels.
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Rubio, who has just capped off six weeks of international business travel with the Vogue-centred Sydney leg, is proud of her success, but she’s hardly finished, mentioning to audience members that Away doesn’t just want to house the world’s travel goods, but fill the bags as well. World domination is of course on the cards, but for now, she’s back home for a well-deserved rest.
For more speaker coverage from Vogue Codes 2019, head to vogue.com.au/vogue-codes.