Meet Brendan Kennedy | Founder & CEO of NxTSTOP

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brendan Kennedy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brendan, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’ve spent my life traveling the world for work and most importantly to explore. Over time I began asking myself what I could wear to make travel easier. I only travel with a carry-on, I wear the same thing on the plane each time, and try to maximize the number of outfits for any given situation. At the same time, I am super passionate about the environment, and I realized there’s no brand out there focused on travelers and sustainability. NxTSTOP was born as the idea to bring these two concepts together — the world’s most versatile travel apparel that could be more eco-friendly.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
NxTSTOP helps people Pack Less. Do More.™ while exploring the world, commuting locally, and everywhere in between. Our sustainable Travleisure® apparel has been featured in Conde Nast, Travel + Leisure, GQ, etc, and we supply companies like Delta Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Avis, and many others.

Unlike any other company in the world, our products are designed by travelers, for travelers. NxTSTOP’s proprietary Travleisure® design fuses performance with sustainability. We zero in on what your ultimate wardrobe should be to meet the challenges of travel situations — versatile, breathable, cozy, anti-wrinkle, odor resistant — while making sure we have biodegradable or recycled materials at the core of the design. We know this combination is a differentiator because it helped us win large deals with travel leaders like Delta Airlines.

Our journey has been exciting and super unique. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic was a crucial inflection point for us in product evolution and growth. In late 2019 we tradmarked TravleisureⓇ as the fusing together of performance with sustainability to create the world’s most versatile travel clothing. When travel came to a halt in March 2020 we were one of the first companies pivoting into face masks, and put this design into practice with a high quality eco-friendly, bamboo Travleisure® face mask. We launched on April 5th, and immediately saw huge success. Publications like GQ, Vogue, Esquire, and NY Mag featured us and TravleisureⓇ was off to the races. 2020 became a whirlwind of success in DTC, in Amazon, and very impressively with Avis Budget Group, NASA, and many other major companies buying wholesale from us. In 2021 with the world beginning to open back up we were finally able to launch our apparel collections, and we also continued our success in reaching big travel companies including Delta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.

However, our growth has created its own challenges. Operationally, we went from selling in two U.S. states to all 50 in just a few months, and also launched in Canada, Mexico, and the UK. So, for a reporting and tax perspective it was a huge lift to get things setup and automated with only 4 full time people. Also, I’ve had to constantly fundraise each year in order to support our capital needs, which is a very energy intensive process. Apparel itself is not a “hot” space, so it’s required all of my determination and skill to figure out the best financial options and line them up.

It’s an amazing feeling to see how much we have done with so few resources – especially during a pandemic with a travel company! With travel coming back strong, I fully believe we are going to blow it away. We’ve learned our lessons, perfected our product, and the market is finally moving in the right direction. It’s simply an incredible opportunity.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Day 1: Coors Field Area – catch a game (even if you don’t like baseball) and bar hop around the area with little restaurants. Day 2: Lower Highland for happy hour and bites – one of my favorites for the more neighborhood feel.
Day 3: Red Rocks Amphitheater – whatever show is there, go. A must see for the acoustics and venue.
Day 4: Levitt Pavillion for Saturday afternoon music vibes
Day 5: Union Station – hit Snooze for brunch, then go for a walk along Commons Park on the river
Day 6: New Terrain Brewing Company – cool outside vibe in Golden with dog park

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m dedicating this shoutout to my friends who believed in NxTSTOP from the first, and invested either directly or through their efforts. Over the years they have been the most incredible cheerleaders and support system for me to build the business into what it is today.

Website: https://thenxtstop.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtstopapparel/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanmkennedy/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/nxtstop-apparel

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mistabk85 and https://twitter.com/thenxtstop

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenxtstop

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8S2jwhTo3fWUVu2ePnCa-A

Other: NxTSTOP tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTdp4HFtJ/ Blog: https://thenxtstop.com/blogs/nxtstop

Image Credits
Photographer @coastalflicks