Meet Douglas Donehoo

Today we’re excited to be connecting with Douglas Donehoo again. If you haven’t already, we suggest you check out our prior conversation with them here.

Douglas, we are so thrilled to be connecting again and can’t wait to hear about all the amazing things you have been up to. Before we jump into all of that, some of our readers might have missed our prior interview, so can you take a moment to reintroduce yourself?
I started 4-RTH about 15 years ago to forge a new path forward for the manufacture and distribution of apparel.

We started with some simple track pants and shorts, but over they years have become a full-fledged athleisure lifestlye brand with more of a focus on Men’s Yoga and athletic wear. An emphasis is placed on design & fit as well — to really emphasize our dedication to Men’s sustainable activewear.

Another element that sets us apart is our early emphasis on selling direct to the buyer via the Internet – circa 2009 – well before the phrase “B2C” was ever known. Because we are American-made at a higher cost, I felt the need to go DIRECT without the additional “layer” of markup from wholesaling. Amazon was an early adopter of our brand and helped us get to pretty significant sales with them in less than a year. That certainly propelled our growth in the mid to late 2010’s.

With Amazon mimicking our product and going to a new “ad” based “pay-for-play” platform, I’ve seen significant loss of business there. Thankfully, in the last several years our business has been steadily growing on the Shopify platform which I highly recommend. Etsy in my opinion is the best platform I’ve seen in terms of Seller support, and it has a been a small but appreciated part of our business for about 10 years & counting.

Awesome, so we reached out because we wanted to hear all about what you have been up to since we last connected.
As I mentioned, in the last several years our business has been steadily growing on the Shopify platform, and in addition to that I’m constantly surveilling the digital marketing space for AI-driven tech that can help solve some key issues like:
~ the staggering # of platforms to advertise on
~ the staggering # of digital media companies to evaluate
~ the staggering # of “influencers” and other fads
~ the bewildering amount of time it would take to properly manage all the above

My core focus is on the fundamentals, and i believe that is what has led to my longevity in a very competitive industry.

Alright, so let’s do something a bit more fast-paced and lighthearted. We call this our lightning round and we’ll ask you a few quick questions.

Favorite Movie: Moulin Rouge

Favorite Book: 7 Chapters of Spiritual Success

Favorite TV Show: the original Dynasty

Favorite Band or Artist: Cate Blanchett

Sweet or Savory: Both!

Mountains or Beach: Beach

Favorite Sport (to watch): Tennis

Favorite Sport (to play): Tennis

Did you play sports growing up (if so which ones): Tennis, baseball

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up: A business tycoon (I grew up on Dynasty afterall)

French Fries or Onion Rings: Frenchies

Chuck Rhodes or Bobby Axelrod: Who?

Favorite Cartoon growing up: Superfriends

Favorite Childhood movie: Wizard of Oz

Favorite Breakfast Food: Burritos

What would the perfect day look like for you? Please give us as many details as possible.
the perfect day to me involves some healthy breakfast foods & coffee, followed by a quick check on email before heading out to play a tennis match. Directly after tennis I would probably grab a quick workout at the gym and then have a significant & healthy protein-laden brunch with a friend. Then i would probably sprinkle in some more work-time and that can vary greatly day to day. A fresh hot shower. The evenings typically involve light work as well as squeezing in a couple Spanish lessons on my phone.

Website: https://www.4-rth.com

Instagram: 4rthlifestyle

LinkedIn: 4rth

Twitter: 4rthlifestyle

Facebook: 4rthlifestyle

Youtube: 4rthlifestyle

Other: @4rthlifestyle (Tik)