Recycling, Retail, and Rapid Pivots: The RAREFORM Growth Playbook With Alec Avedissian

Alec Avedissian is the Co-founder and CEO of RAREFORM, an innovative brand that recycles vinyl billboards into one-of-a-kind bags, backpacks, and accessories. With over a decade of experience in entrepreneurship, Alec has led RAREFORM from its roots as a surf bag company to a thriving eight-figure ecommerce business, recycling 80% of billboard materials in the US. He is passionate about sustainability, creative product design, and building purpose-driven brands that adapt to market needs.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [2:12] Alec Avedissian reflects on RAREFORM’s 12-year journey to becoming an eight-figure brand
• [3:28] The mindset shift needed to recognize when it’s time to pivot product strategy
• [6:13] Building multiple business verticals to stay resilient during market changes
• [7:59] How RAREFORM became a leading recycling provider for billboard materials
• [11:43] Insight into RAREFROM’s product design process
• [16:10] What Alec would do differently if he started RAREFROM today

In this episode…

Pivoting too late can be fatal, and moving too fast can derail a growing brand. For ecommerce founders, knowing when and how to shift product lines or business models is a constant challenge — especially at scale. How can established brands embrace strategic pivots without alienating customers or sacrificing momentum?

For Alec Avedissian, an expert in sustainable product development and vertical brand growth, tuning into market signals helped RAREFORM drive major strategic decisions. Alec explains that rather than forcing underperforming products to work, brands must lean into data, customer behavior, and gut instinct to identify scalable opportunities. He also reveals how building multiple business segments — including B2C, B2B, and recycling services — enabled the brand’s diversification and resilience. Product iterations, he emphasizes, should be informed by timeless design trends while remaining flexible to let go of what doesn’t work.

In this episode of the Minds of Ecommerce podcast, Raphael Paulin-Daigle interviews Alec Avedissian, Co-founder and CEO of RAREFORM, about the art of timely pivots in ecommerce. Alec discusses how diversifying revenue streams sustains growth, the importance of knowing when to abandon a product, and why timeless design outweighs trend-chasing. He also delves into gut instinct in leadership, business evolution over revolution, and the lessons he’d apply if starting over.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Raphael Paulin-Daigle: LinkedIn | X
• SplitBase
• RAREFORM: Website | Instagram
• Alec Avedissian: LinkedIn | X
• Aric Avedissian on LinkedIn
• “How Team Alignment and Founder-Led Marketing Fueled FiftyFlowers’ Explosive Growth With Liza Roeser” on Minds of Ecommerce

Quotable Moments:

• “We kept trying to make it work for far too long — that cost us.”
• “Maybe we should actually just scrap that and start thinking creatively again.”
• “Go the way that the market is taking you, and I think you have to be okay with that."
• "The best brands are the ones that evolve and move with the market."
• "As a CEO, you're always trying to think about tomorrow, looking two years, five years out."

Action Steps:

1. Pay attention to what the market is telling you: Letting customer demand guide product focus ensures better product-market fit and long-term growth.
2. Diversify your revenue streams early: Building multiple business segments creates resilience during market fluctuations or downturns.
3. Focus on timeless product silhouettes: Prioritizing designs that remain relevant over time helps reduce risk and maintain consistent sales.
4. Be willing to let go of underperforming products: Cutting unsuccessful items prevents wasted resources and frees up focus for winning products.
5. Balance instinct with analysis when pivoting: Leveraging both gut instincts and data helps you make confident, informed strategic decisions in uncertain circumstances.

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by SplitBase.

At SplitBase, we design, test, and manage high-converting landing pages and on-site experiences for fashion, luxury, and lifestyle ecommerce brands. Our optimization program pinpoints exactly where your store is losing money most, and then we help you fix that.

The result? Increased conversions and profits for our clients.

With our team of conversion optimization specialists, performance marketers, and conversion-focused designers, we've got your back when it comes to testing and optimization.

Request a proposal on SplitBase.com today, and learn how we can help you get the most out of your marketing spend.

You can find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Don’t miss out on our exclusive podcasts at Minds of Ecommerce.

Episode Transcript

Intro: 00:06

Welcome to the Minds of Ecommerce podcast, where you'll learn one key strategy that made leading ecommerce companies grow exponentially. We cut the bullshit and keep the meat. In a 15-minute episode, founders and executives take us through a deep dive of a strategy so you get to learn and grow your online sales. In the last episode, you heard from Liza Roeser, founder of FiftyFlowers, who talked about how intentional customer touchpoints was key to growing to nine figures. Now, today on episode number 49, get ready.

Alec Avedissian, co-founder and CEO of RAREFORM, a company that makes one-of-a-kind bags from recycled billboards, will be talking about how to pivot quickly as an eight-figure brand when you have to constantly adapt to the market. I'm your host, Raphael Paulin-Daigle, and I'm the founder of SplitBase. This is Minds of Ecommerce. Now this episode is brought to you by SplitBase. At SplitBase, we help leading eight- and nine-figure brands such as Doctor Squatch, Hyperice, and Amika grow through customer-focused conversion optimization programs. Our programs pinpoint exactly where your store is losing money most, and then, well, we help you fix it. The result? Well, you get increased conversions, higher AOV, and of course more money, which in return will allow you to scale advertising profitably. We've been at it for over a decade and can help you manage your CRO process from A to Z, from customer research, conversion design strategy, and copywriting development.

We focus on growing your ecommerce sales while you get to focus on what you do best. So you can go to Nbastore.com to request a free proposal today, and to learn how we can help you get the most out of your marketing spend. All right, Alec, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here.

Alec Avedissian: 01:56

Thank you for having me. Stoked to be here.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 01:58

Yeah. Now, as you know, this podcast is all about going deep, dissecting, you know, one key growth strategy so our listeners can get as much value as possible right away. And you've been running RAREFORM now for how many years? Just for context.

Alec Avedissian: 02:12

Yeah. About 12. Yeah. 12 years starting 12 years. Yeah.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 02:16

And now you're an eight-figure brand and has achieved considerable success.

Alec Avedissian: 02:20

Yeah. That is relative. But yes. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, we are learning every day. Definitely.

Raphael Paulin Daigle: 02:26

Amazing. Now, I know when we were talking just ahead of this recording, you mentioned, how about, you know, how you guys handled pivots, and you actually started as a surf bag company. Did I get that right?

Alec Avedissian: 02:39

Yeah. We did. Our first product was a surfboard bag. And now we pivoted. And we do that every once in a while as like a limited drop.

But we now do mostly, you know, everyday totes, bags, accessories, hip packs, things like that.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 02:53

Yeah. So obviously getting to eight figures probably requires a lot of pivots. But I'm also conscious the wrong pivot can also be fatal. And this is what I'd love to dig a little deeper with you today. And I'm curious when it comes to pivots such as completely changing what's your product line?

Yeah. How do you know when you have to pivot? How do you know what's a shiny pivot or shiny object that you have to avoid chasing? And when it's something you actually have to do, or could you just have kept going with the surf bags? I'd love to know just your philosophy on pivoting when you're growing to that scale.

Alec Avedissian: 03:28

Yeah, that's a really good question. I would say for us, I have a mentor that says, like, go the way that the market is taking you a little bit, and I think you have to be okay with that. For us, I think we started in something that we knew, and I was, you know, my brother and I were surfers, and we have always been surfing. So we that was like one thing we knew. But then when we started seeing what was selling and what kept being, the piece that people kept coming back for was a secondary product to us, but then it ended up being the customer's primary like product.

And I think for us, it took us far too long to pivot. You know, truthfully. So I think that cost us. But then, as soon as we did, it really helped us. The problem, though, is like, you do feel bad because you're alienating in essence, or you're kind of taking the very first customers that maybe bought into the brand for reason X, you know, because they had like some connection through whether it was surf or the beach or the outdoors to now something else.

So you don't want to alienate them, but you also want to have them be part of that journey with you, which I think is really critical. You know, and over time, we're going to keep shifting like the best brands are the ones that you hear about, like, hey, the creative director for this brand is now the creative director of this brand because they have to move. Brands have to move and evolve.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 04:45

Yeah. I want to go back to that. One of those first pivots. You said you pivoted too late. Why do you think so?

Alec Avedissian: 04:53

Yeah, I think we pivoted too late because I think we got we kept trying to put I don't know what the saying is like. We kept trying to make it work for far too long. We kept looking at, hey, was it the price point that wasn't working? Or was it the quality of the product? Or was it the design of the product?

And then pretty soon we were like, or maybe is it just the product, you know, that we were offering wasn't right for the market? And I think we tried fixing all those other things until we finally came to the conclusion like, well, hang on. Maybe it's not just the right product market fit for that one product. And then what other ones were actually working that we weren't putting time into? So it was like the 8020 rule, 20% of our sales was coming.

I mean, 80% of our sales was coming from a product that we put 20% of our time in, you know, and all of a sudden it we were like, hang on, let's wake up a second and let's look what's actually moving the needle here.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 05:43

Interesting. I'm also curious, like, let's say we actually go a little further into your timeline and more to the current day. Obviously, I think the risks that comes with pivoting when you're doing eight figures are much greater than when you're maybe starting out. I know you guys have been very big at iterating on your current products, so what are some of those things that you do systematically in terms of iterations and pivots that are help, that's really helping you be at the level that you're at today?

Alec Avedissian: 06:13

I would say one thing that probably has helped us a lot is actually the pivoting of like actual business segments. So we have the B2C business, right? Like but we started as wholesale like when we started DTC was there, but it wasn't as big like we started with wholesale. So we got into like the rise of the world, the best buys of the world, you know, kind of. And then also the boutiques.

And we realized, like, the big stores didn't really work for us. They didn't tell our story because our brand is more about the story and finding your like the piece that fits to your lifestyle, the bag that fits to that. And so we started then pivoting to like boutiques, you know, like, hey, that works better for us. But the big piece for us has been also pivoting like, hey, we are DTC business, but also we have a recycling arm of our like. We are a recycler, like a service provider for companies.

So if DTC goes down, like we have a pivot that allows us to like offset that decrease in sales by doing something else. So we have a few different business verticals, and I think that's been key for us. That helped us, you know, through the pandemic and obviously at different times when, hey, something's not working on one side of the business, this other piece might be working. So for us, that helped us, you know, quite a bit.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 07:29

So I think this is like a really good lesson and takeaway where you are able to find a I don't know how to say it, but a second purpose to the business that allows, you know, for one side of the business to always do well no matter what. And they're connected, but also not super connected to another. Was it like that from the get go? Were you always both a recycler and the manufacturer and seller? Or did that come later?

Alec Avedissian: 07:59

You know? No, we didn't have it all when we started at all. I wish we had because it would have helped us realize. But it was kind of that same sort of thing. Like we kind of started following, like as soon as we started recycling for the out-of-home industry.

These billboards, like we recycle now 80% of all the billboards in the US. So we're a glorified trash man, really. And RAREFORM is the consumer side of that business. But once we started being like a solutions provider to the corporations and those companies for their recycling, more people started coming to us like, hey, can you find a solution for this? For us?

And we started we used to always say, no, no, we're sorry, we don't do that. And now we're starting to say yes to that. And it's like when you start saying yes to things, I think that's maybe you have to say no to the right things and saying yes to the right things. I don't know how that makes sense, but yeah.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 08:48

I'm wondering how intentional like so. So obviously it takes a lot of work. And obviously there's a business in, in just recycling business. That's a business on its own. When you guys started doing that, was it as was it consciously a strategy to help the other business?

You know, in case it wouldn't go so well. Was or did it just like over time develop as like a great add on?

Alec Avedissian: 09:13

Well, I would say it's definitely a great add on. Right. But it helps us grow. But I think it also as a CEO or a business owner, you're always trying to think about tomorrow. Like my brother and I are co-founders on this.

And the way we say like, what do we do? Like what one person does, the other person, like I always say, he works on today and I work on tomorrow. Yes. And I think for me, being the CEO is I'm looking, you know, two years, five years out rather than where I it gets when we get in trouble is we, we both start looking at day to day because then we're worrying about like the little things that aren't keeping us focused on the big picture. And I think, yeah, I'm always kind of looking for the the next thing for us.

I mean, maybe that's also a distraction too, because I get totally distracted and my Add is crazy. But I also think that allows us to quickly cut things or find something that we can, you know, push towards and see if that will actually be an avenue we can grow and diversify.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 10:11

So, I mean, I think ADHD is a commonality across many of us entrepreneurs. Yeah. And it's always a challenge to deal with in your case. Right. How do you know like when you need to do a pivot.

How do you know if it's if it's a distraction or a worthwhile business move?

Alec Avedissian: 10:33

I think a lot of it is gut. You know, I think where if I try to overanalyze things, I think that's when I get bogged down and I don't make it. But I think now a lot of it is gut. And I think, like, I think if I knew now what I didn't know when I started, I would have never started the business, you know. But there's almost like a naive optimism, optimism that you have to have that allows you to, like, go with your gut to say, like, I think that's there's something there.

I think that's going to work. Obviously, it's not foolproof, but I think there's that just from experience. Like now we've been at this for, you know, more than a decade. Yeah. And so we've made terrible decisions obviously, but we've also made some really good ones that have helped us when if we didn't make those pivots, we wouldn't have got to where we are.

Yeah.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 11:20

How do you apply this process of iteration and decisions to the product creation process? Because obviously, like there's a lot of different bags you can create. You do have, you know, quite a few SKUs as well on the website. How do you utilize. Yeah.

How do you make decisions when it comes to actual product design and merchandising?

Alec Avedissian: 11:43

Yeah. So the the great thing about RAREFORM and the absolute worst thing about RAREFORM is that every bag we make is an original one of a kind. Yes. So it's like if you buy that bag, you know, that one is gone and another one takes its spot online. So we have probably 50,000 SKUs upwards to like 70,000 SKUs online at one time and in our warehouse.

So it becomes a nightmare, but also like a huge blessing. Yeah. So I think for us on the product iteration side of things, we really worry about the silhouette. And is this silhouette something that can be timeless? Because what we receive in like the outside of our bags are always are always going to be different based on the colors of the billboards and the graphics.

So we can't really control that. We can only control one piece. So we worry about what we can control, which is the silhouette. And just like anything, we are looking at what's in the market, you know, what are other people doing finding inspiration on trips or, you know, just finding a way to be different, too, I think is key for us. And if we lose that, like sometimes we get too into like, oh, let's anniversary that product that was really good, you know, or let's come back and let's do an iteration on that when really it's like, hang on, maybe we should actually just scrap that and start thinking creatively again.

You know.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 13:00

I'm guessing that 20% of your silhouettes generate 80% of the revenue. Would I be wrong by assuming that.

Alec Avedissian: 13:05

No, no, you're totally right. Yeah, I think most businesses. Yeah.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 13:09

How often do you test new silhouettes and how often do you get rid of different silhouettes?

Alec Avedissian: 13:14

Yeah. Every year. Every year we're definitely doing it. So it's maybe not so much. We used to do things more to try to stay in like the apparel or fashion, you know, seasons.

We mostly do things in like two times a year. So we kind of just have two seasons the way we look at it. And so we have products that come out, you know, at one time of the year and either those work or they stay or they flop or do we get other ones? But it's pretty quick for us to know. And sometimes we are like, hey, did that not work?

Because it was a price and we kind of go back to that same thing. Did it go to a price? Was it the colors or was it maybe the wrong marketing that They didn't get the word out right correctly. Like so. We have to kind of go on gut or do we say, hey, that was a total flop.

Like I'll give you an example. Like we did iPhone cases. And I thought iPhone cases for us were going to be great. You know, like we got them into Best Buy. We got we started and all of a sudden our customer just did not want that.

And I was just like, I don't understand why it's the coolest thing in the world. I thought it was cool, but nobody else thought it was cool. So you also, you know, have to let things die that you think maybe are amazing, but the market doesn't like.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 14:22

Yeah, totally. I'm kind of curious here though, because you have. So, because every product is one of a kind, right? You do have an additional factor where when you make a decision, whether you keep a silhouette or not, you have to wonder, is it the silhouette or is it the specific products that we created out of that silhouette? How do you think through that challenge?

Alec Avedissian: 14:44

Well, I would say there's certain classic silhouettes, right? Right. At least in the bag world that are, you know, timeless. And I think for us, those are ones that we lean into. Obviously, there's going to be certain trends like the hip pack or the fanny pack, for instance.

You know, the last couple of years has been a very big thing for, you know, everyone. And so I think for us, it's also staying like ahead and trying to think through, hey, how do we iterate on something that's a classic and keep it fresh. So I don't think there is a you know, we just are constantly looking at the products, like constantly getting in samples, constantly putting up mood boards, inspiration and trying to find things.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 15:25

And I think one of the lessons here is not to be afraid of taking out products from your offering when you realize it's not working.

Alec Avedissian: 15:33

Yeah, I mean, I probably have a lot of those products that we probably, you know, that I loved that. You know, I probably have them around here in my office that no one else really liked.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 15:41

Yeah. And there's always a thing, you know, we've worked with a bunch of, like, apparel and fashion brands. And one thing I realize is the the additional silhouettes or products or styles is both a blessing and a curse in the sense that you have more options for customers, which is great. More opportunities to buy. But then you're also leading to more analysis paralysis, which can also hurt the decision a little bit.

So awesome. Alec. Now, if you were to start this business all over again, what would you do differently?

Alec Avedissian: 16:10

Oh, that is a hard question, my friend. What would I do differently? I think I, I would have thought about this business from my standpoint more as a I thought of it more as a, a revolution, I think, than an evolution. So I should have been hyper-focused on making things just slightly different than everything else, so people could see it as an evolution, whereas I think we made it like a pretty big revolution where people don't necessarily want to do that. So what I mean by that is like, our bags are very colorful, they're bold, you know, they're original, they fit someone's style, but at the same reason.

That's what makes it difficult. And so being okay like trying to stay like to your point, like our website should follow the same path as most brands like you go to a collection page, then a PDP page and then a check, you know, whereas like we were trying to help somebody choose and do this work for them, it's like, wait a second, this has been working, why are you trying to change it? You know, so I think, you know, evolution versus revolution would have been something I would have kept in mind. And then I would have I would have definitely gone heavier on DTC earlier in those early years. Yeah, definitely when it was easier and then.

Awesome. Yeah. I think we've.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 17:24

Been talking we've been talking to Alec Avedissian, who's CEO and co-founder of RAREFORM. Now, Alec, thank you so much. Now, if people want to learn more about you or RAREFORM, where should they go?

Alec Avedissian: 17:37

Go to rareform.com and then you can always check me out on Twitter or LinkedIn and hope to get back to you there.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 17:43

Awesome. Alec, thank you so much.

Alec Avedissian: 17:44

All right. Thanks, Raphael.

Outro: 17:50

All right. Well, that's it for today's episode. And thank you so much for tuning in. Now, if you like what you've heard, and you don't want to miss any of the new episodes that are about to come out, make sure you subscribe to the podcast and well, bonus points if you also leave a review in the iTunes store or wherever you're listening to this. Now, if you're working on an ecommerce store that does over $1 million in revenue and you need help with conversion optimization or landing pages, well, I've got some good news because there's a pretty good chance we can help with that.

Go to splitbase.com to learn more or even to request a proposal. If you have any guest requests, questions or comments, tweet me at @Rpaulindaigle and I'll be super happy to hear from you. And again, thanks again for listening. This is Minds of Ecommerce.

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