An awesome product is table stakes': Weezie co-founder Lindsey Johnson on building a luxury bath brand

The key to DTC towel brand Weezie's success is staying in its lane -- or, bathroom.

That's according to co-founder Lindsey Johnson who joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast. The company, which makes luxury bath towels along with other bathroom-related products like bathrobes and bathmats, has seen year-over-year growth and said late last year that it was on track to hit eight figures in revenue in 2021.

"The bath towel is the hero product of Weezie, and we are going to stay in that world," Johnson said.

According to Johnson, what has helped Weezie grow is the company's relatively conservative approach to growth. Other than a seed round, Weezie has remained bootstrapped -- and it's been very intentional about every expansion or new sales channel into which it's dived.

Some of that is because of the very nature of the business. Weezie offers custom embroidered towels -- all of which are made and fulfilled in its own U.S.-based facility. Scaling such an operation is difficult, to say the least. "[Wholesale] is something we've always struggled with... because customization is such a big part of the business," she said. "While, of course, our products are wonderful on their own, it doesn't tell the whole story."

Now, thanks to growth from the last few years, Johnsons is trying to figure out how to grow these channels while remaining true to Weezie's roots. Meanwhile, she's also trying to figure out where to expand to next geographically.

Weezie currently has one store in Atlanta, which she says has been a successful sales driver and brand booster. With that, Johnson is also thinking about opening more stores, but added "it's not in the near-term roadmap."

Put together, Johnson has big plans for the next few months -- but is also trying to make sure Weezie stays by its North Star. "I think it's a big year of just investing in the future," she said.