Olaf Growald
One conversation finally convinced Prasad Reddy that it was time to make a change.
Reddy had just taken over control of Twisted X, a well-known cowboy boot brand based in Decatur that had fallen into bankruptcy before Reddy and his co-investor took over. As Reddy navigated through those waters, an unexpected issue took Reddy by surprise.
In 2009, Texas was mired in a drought, and freshly introduced to the western wear business, Reddy noticed the company was hardly shipping any boots by the time the summer rolled around. Reddy asked one of his top salespeople why.
“Prasad, don’t you see,” he said, “it’s 100-plus degrees outside. Nobody buys boots right now.”
That’s when the light bulb popped on.
“That’s when I decided,” Reddy said, “we can’t just be in the boot business. It’s a six-month business. I’m going to get into casual shoes. They sell year-round.”
The results have been nothing short of miraculous. Since Reddy took over the company, Twisted X has become a total western lifestyle brand with a green bent. Twisted X has grown by more than 100 percent over the last three years, and sales had crested $70 million by the end of 2018.
But Reddy is proud of Twisted X for more reasons than revenue and growth. The company has sold hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes from its eco-friendly line made from millions of recycled plastic bottles. The company also plants a tree for every pair of shoes it sells, and it’s striving to have a total carbon-neutral footprint. The company is also extremely active in the local philanthropy community, something Reddy says has helped to create a workplace that draws in great employees and invites them to stay long-term.
In other words, Twisted X is more than a company to its employees. It’s a mission.
“I’m very proud of my team,” Reddy said. “The people make the company. All of the employees want to be part of the sustainability program. They’re proud of all the philanthropic things we do… The entire team supports it and they always come and tell me how proud they are to be part of the organization.”
Twisted X was founded in 2005 as a western wear company that primarily produced cowboy boots. Three years later, the company was in bankruptcy. An investor friend of Reddy’s called him and asked if he would help rescue the company and build it back up. Reddy, who said he was looking for a business opportunity at that very moment, jumped in with both feet.
It was his Run Toward the Roar moment.
Sometimes the safest place to be is the one that feels the scariest. Lions—with their intimidating teeth and deafening roars—are designed to provoke fear. But the real danger lies with the smaller, quieter lionesses. In the animal kingdom, the lion’s job is to roar and send prey scattering away from the startling noise—right into the path of the waiting lionesses, the true hunters. If gazelles knew to run toward the frightening sound, they would have a better chance of survival. The roar doesn’t represent the real danger.
Likewise, humans sometimes have an instinctive desire to shy away from pursuits that look and sound scary. But often, running toward those challenges and conflicts is the best (or only) way to grow and meet our goals. In business, those who run from the deafening noise never reach their full potential, while those who turn and face the fear thrive.
Reddy’s moment came when he heeded the call to build Twisted X into a new creation. The only problem? The year was 2008.
“It was a tough time for business because in 2008 it was the middle of the financial crisis and no bank was willing to work with you, no financial institution,” Reddy said. “I had a friend of mine through work before who lent us some money for working capital and we restructured the company through bankruptcy.”
Perhaps the tougher sell was convincing the rugged cowboy community to accept casual shoes out of the norm of what they’d typically buy.
Reddy brought his first prototype to a big annual western wear tradeshow in Denver one year not long after taking over. The shoe itself was low-top, and when he showed it to his team before putting it on the showroom floor, his top salesperson spoke up.
“’You don’t understand the business. Cowboys will never buy these. My dealers will not see this shoe,’” Reddy recalls. “He was telling me that he didn’t want to show his dealers the shoe because he thought they would make fun of him.”
Almost every sales rep in the room agreed. Reddy pressed on anyway and showed the shoe that week. When his sales reps noticed the positive response from the public as they filtered by – they were comfortable and stylish – they started to change their tune.
At the end of the day, Reddy says it took almost two years to fully get his team on board with the concept and even longer to convince many retailers that these casual western wear shoes were economically viable.
“Now, everyone must have casuals otherwise they’re losing business,” Reddy said. “Some of the independent retailers who stayed away from casuals are no longer in existence. They give Twisted X credit for introducing it.”
What Twisted X did was introduce another revenue stream into retailers who formerly only sold boots while watching customers leave to buy more casual shoes at other retailers like Dillards or DSW.
Now, go to any rodeo and you’ll see cowboys slipping on Twisted X shoes between events.
“Now, it’s the lifestyle,” Reddy said. “Even the younger ropers, the moment they get off the horse, they slip on the shoe.”