Hi BREAD friends

It's been... a year.

At the best of times, 2024 has felt like a rollercoaster. At the worst of times, it's felt like spinning head first through a vortex. A lot of small things happened, and a lot of big things too.

We kicked off the top of this year with our highest high (our FACE OF BREAD photoshoot) and our lowest low (a $500,000 theft).

Whilst we celebrated our hair-foam launch, re-launching in Sephora stores, and finally getting our FACE OF BREAD campaign off the ground, something devastating was ticking away in the background.

Someone stole over 30,000 units of our best-selling hair-mask (that's over ~$500,000 worth of retail value) like an audacious thief in the night.

...well not exactly.

It was actually right in the middle of broad daylight, and was, more accurately, a trucking fraud scandal that turned our team into a mini squad of detectives.

Nobody wanted to take responsibility. So we were on the phone with every law enforcement agency you can think of for months (we were taking it the distance!).

We placed orders of suspected stolen product online to reverse search addresses. When we were getting nowhere with law enforcement, we contemplated taking matters into our own hands when we discovered one of the thieves was located a mere 10 minutes away from our offices (!).

Not too long after, a silent celebrity backer of ours launched a directly competing brand, and we discovered they were using not one, but two of our key partners to do so.

Soon after, we had to say goodbye to many of our long time vendors and collaborators as we as a brand felt the squeeze of the economy and a very tough fundraising environment for brands of our size.

The blows kept coming.

But against this back-drop, we were, inexplicably, having the best year that we've ever had in business.

We changed things up a little. And a little more. And as we started doing things differently, different results starting coming.

Our sales were doubling. Our team was energized in the same way that you, our customer, was energized.

It didn't matter that all the "bad things" were happening. Because the good things kept coming, too.

We launched in over 350 Boots stores
we built our Ambassador Program (TYB) to over 11,000 members
we launched game-changing styling products and accessories, and
we've consistently been performing ahead of our retail partners targets the whole year.

Why do I feel like I'm writing a board memo to all of you? 😅 I promise we're getting to the point.

BREAD is now in over 1000 stores around the world, in multiple countries, including the USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand. We have over 20 products, and millions upon millions of views across our social channels.

If I told you how small our team was, you'd probably drop your jaw open like most people do when I tell them in person.

"You have how many people on your team?",
"You're doing all of that with less people on your team than I can count on one hand?"

So, this week I'm giving thanks to them (the mighty team that could) - and to you.

Because something dawned on me as I was typing out the draft for this email and a question came to mind:

Why does BREAD feel so big when the reality is that we as a team and brand are still actually small?

And I think I've figured it out.

It's because in many ways it feels like you, our customers, are also apart of our team.

You help this brand go. Tens of thousands of you.

You aren't just our customer. You're like our board, and our Head of Marketing, and our CEO.

We make BREAD for you, but also with you.

You make BREAD feel like a really big ship, even though we're a small fish.

To have you all on this ride, building this brand with us...

I cannot express my gratitude enough for what that feels like.

So, thank you.

It truly means more than you'll ever know.

Maeva xx

(Founder of BREAD0

P.S. I obviously couldn't end this email without letting you know that we have sales <3 So many sales. On our site right now (up to 50% off), plus our favourite retail partners like Sephora, Ulta, and Boots UK. I'd love it so much if you stock up - we're making way for new things, so some things won't be around for much longer ;)