Meet Claire Wolfson | Founder | CEO | Creative Directer at bean goods

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

Hi Claire, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
bean goods started as a project after our dog, bean, suffered from a serious back injury paralyzing his back legs. We originally had the idea to design a supportive harness for dogs prone to back injuries but quickly decided to lean into our apparel & graphic design backgrounds when developing our products. At the time of bean good’s infancy my now husband, Chris & I were both working corporate design jobs. We both were pretty unhappy & uninspired at our 9-5’s & looking for something to express our creativity & celebrate our mutual love for our dogs. We started with our logo which remains the same to this day. We put our logo on simple products like beanies & tote bags. Eventually, we started doing graphic tees & that’s when bean goods really started to take off. I quit my job in 2012 & did some soul-searching & free-lancing before taking the plunge to invest all my time & energy into bean goods starting in 2013. Chris left his job shortly after to join me & we’ve been building the brand ever since then. We started bean goods as a passion project that we quickly realized had the potential to grow into a business that would support our desire for creative freedom & the flexible lifestyle we wanted.

Our big-picture goal for bean goods is to create an experience where our customers feel valued, light-hearted & a sense of belonging. The one thing we want our customers to know about us is that we are committed to always offering new, unique, rad wiener dog gear that evokes joy & hilarity & that we will always be committed to using our voice, platform & dollars to contribute to the greater good & making a difference in this world we share together.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
There are a couple of things that set us apart from others. Our cheeky designs & colorful aesthetic with a rad edge are not something you see often in our niche. We started bean goods from a place of frustration of never being able to find the cool doxie-themed goods we wanted in our closet. We set out to fix that problem by creating fun, clever and well-designed tee shirts and accessories with a little edge that we felt was missing in the current market. Also our doxie harnesses & hoodies are made specifically for dachshunds’ unique bodies & there are very few brands out there catering to this. Additionally, we constantly are releasing new goods – we launch new goods almost every single week – Customers love adding to their bean goods collections. We often do limited releases where things are available for a short amount of time so we have the FOMO factor going & the limited releases almost serve as rare collectibles.

Another thing that sets us apart is the community we’ve grown. We have a highly engaged private Facebook group of 5000 members where people find great value & connection with like-minded people who share a wiener dog obsession. It is such a fun & interesting sub-culture!

Lastly, we are dedicated & vocal about our mission to make a difference with social movements & dog rescue. We donate to many different charitable organizations throughout the year. We fulfill the desire to shop with a brand that aligns with our customer’s values.

Our brand promise is to provide a fun & light-hearted experience for individuals who have a quirky love for wiener dogs. Our customers will always be able to find unique sausage dog themed gear that evokes joy and hilarity. They also will be aware that we are committed to using our voice, platform & dollars to contribute to the greater good & making a difference in this world we share together.

I am most proud of our perseverance. It absolutely has not been an easy road but despite all the challenges we’ve never given up. From the beginning, we’ve believed in our brand & felt confident it was destined for success.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Ooooo! this is a fun one! We’ve lived in Long Beach since 2016 & we absolutely love it! We love the laid-back, unpretentious vibe. We moved here from Portland, OR & it often refer to it as Portland with palm trees 🙂

Here’s a list of our favorite things to do in the LBC:

Bike down to the peninsula on the beachside path & chill on the bayside. It’s soooo beautiful! Grab a Frose to go from Vibes cafe

Grab happy hour at the Pike on 4th or the Good Bar for bomb vegan nachos & cheapish drinks

Hit the Hawk for the best Pina Colada ever

Have dinner at La Traviata. Call before & see if Sam is working & sit at the bar for an entertaining experience

Ballast Point Brewery is always fun if you’re a beer lover

Claire’s At the Museum for a beautiful brunch view on the water.

If you rollerskate or skateboard go to Rosie’s Dog Beach parking lot around sunset on a weekday. Bring your pup for a romp on the beach after a fun skate sesh.

Rent an electric Duffy boat from London Boat Rentals. BYOB & snacks & cruise around the bay with friends at sunset.

Schedule a gondola ride with Gondola Getaway through the Naples canals for a romantic evening

Do some vintage shopping on Retro Row

Free Yoga on the Bluff

Do some shopping at our favorite local boutiques – And Then LB, Port, 6th & Detroit, ANNEISE

Weekend trips to Palm Springs and/or Ojai if you’re in town a little longer & want to experience some other amazing parts of Southern California.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Absolutely! We got early-stage support & business education through the SBDC (small business development center) in Portland, OR (where we originally founded bean goods). We took a few business development courses & I met with my assigned business advisor on a regular basis for about 2 years. The SBDC program helped us set up a foundation & learn the basics of starting a business. More recently I’ve been working with a business coach, Jane Hamill, since the beginning of 2019. I sought out a business coach when we were in a place of great frustration & confusion with bean goods. Since working with Jane our business has exploded. We grew by 80% in 2019, 200% in 2020 & we’re up 50% in 2021. My experience working with a business coach has been a game-changer for bean goods. Jane helped us improve our profit margins, develop a solid product launch system, get our shit together with planning & sooo much more! I’ve found the most valuable part of business coaching is the accountability & having someone to console with the big business decisions. Currently, we also are going through the E-myth business coaching program after completing the book earlier this year. Since we’ve grown so much in the past few years we’ve discovered that we need to put some serious strategic work into our systems & leadership development as we grow our team. The E-myth program is guiding us through this process & the next stage of our business.

Website: beangoods.com

Instagram: instagram.com/beangoods instagram.com/clairewolfson instagram.com/wienerdogsandchill

Facebook: facebook.com/beangoods

Image Credits
photography by Markus Brewster @mowgli_rage , Shannon Cottrell @shannoncottrell , Michele LoBosco @michelelphoto