We have been following David Johnson Wood very closely, and have been trying to get a few minutes of his life to have some chit-chat with him just to know more about him and his businesses. After chasing him for a long, we could manage to have a chat with him and here are the questions we asked:
Can you please tell us about yourself, and about how your Virtus Outdoor Group (VOG) clothing lines come into existence?
David: My name is David Johnson Wood; I’m a father of four amazing kids and husband to an incredible wife. We have several global companies, and we’ve lived in Hong Kong for over twelve years.
I’m an entrepreneur with a background in Marine intelligence, sourcing and design, manufacturing, and logistics, and I’m an extreme endurance athlete and avid outdoorsman.
I was deployed in every terrain in my time in service. The gear we were issued was a battle in itself to move and be protected by the elements; the camouflage we had was subpar as well. This led me to create a hybrid clothing system with patented tech fabrics and a new digital camouflage pattern to be used together or separately per mission demographic and target market.
What type of customer benefits most from VOG apparel?
David: Anyone who wants authentically made functional clothing to meet their everyday mission or adventure. Our largest market is endurance athletes.
Where are you based? And what locations can people purchase VOG clothing?
David: I live in Hong Kong, I’ve been here over a decade, but I’m currently relocating to Spain. We have our United States Headquarters in Tennessee, where our U.S. Company is based.
We sell B2B in over 30 countries, each country with its own E-commerce website. We also ship globally from our website VOGSTORE.COM.
What are some of the things you had to teach yourself or learn to accomplish creating your own apparel?
David: That’s a long list!
- Design,
- Patenting / Trademark
- UPC/SKU codes
- Sourcing
- Printing
- Fabrics
- Application
- Cut and Sew
- Logistics
- Media
- Film
- E com
- Websites
- Logistics
- Legal
- Licensee legal
- Global markets
How important is personal branding, and what do you do to grow your brand?
David: This is the most important; we live in a new era of simple due diligence; we don’t need big-box retailers. Amazon brought us next day shipping and connected us globally to shop for anything we want.
Social media has followed this model connecting Shopify to our pages, which creates the opportunity to connect directly with the end-user. We all want authenticity and truth. Showing our story and being transparent is what has built our brand and brought the most valuable partners and joint ventures to the table.
What are your goals for your company this year?
David: We have several joint ventures that are 500X multiples out of the gate. These are new tactical camouflage and fabric partners, media pieces, and tech/game/training apps. Each of these will take serious bandwidth, so it’s all about time management and appointing the perfect team to focus on their demographic and not waste time on others.
BAMCIS, SALUTE, and KISS are acronyms I take from my time in the MARINES directly over to business.
Do you have any tips for our readers that are trying to break into the industry?
David: Find a gap in the market that you can bring value to, assure it is where you know your life’s purpose can bring value and pursue it endlessly with humility, honor, and perseverance.
If you’d like to know more about David Johnson Wood and his company Virtus Outdoor Group, you can check out the contact on Instagram @davidj_wood & @virtus.outdoors.
