Episode #598: Building an American-Made Brand-Jim Stallman Discusses Eco Global and Imagination Playground

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This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks nyc. I have the pleasure

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of bringing to our podcast long time family

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business out of Providence, number of

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different product lines. We've talked about the Halo segment

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in the pelt side. I'm also going to talk about playgrounds,

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talk about leather, talk about pivoting a family business.

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So Jim, welcome to Halo talk show. Finally. Thank

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you. Thanks for having me. Awesome. So

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I look through your background here, run eco global

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manufacturing, been a family business for a long time.

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So give us the background on how this started

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around World War II with your father and

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then talk about the sequential

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adds on this business, how those

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journeys started and where.

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So going way back, my grandparents were

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upholsterers in Providence, Rhode island. So

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from the upholstery business. My dad, when he came back

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from World War II, he was in the Navy in the

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Philippines. And when he came back from World War II, he

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basically was starting in the upholstery supply business.

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So that goes through the 40s and the 50s. He grew with the upholstery

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supply business, selling, you know, this is old time horse hair, you know,

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stuff like that, tax, you know, binding fabrics, things

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like that. Then in the 60s Behr came along with the first

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urethane open cell urethane foams, which is the

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cushion foam that we know today, that is in the majority of,

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of seating and packaging and everything else. So

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that, you know, led to packaging, a bunch of cushion work, all sorts

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of stuff. And then when I came in, around

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the latter part, I started working here in the plant when I was 12,

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working in the machine shop and then driving trucks and then, you

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know, doing all the jobs that you would do as a young person

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growing up back in the day when there was manufacturing all over

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Rhode island, it wasn't just the few of us that remain.

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So we found and started to develop crosslink

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foams, roll foams. Basically if you get an ekg,

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that white foam that holds the lead to your chest,

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that's a piece of crosslink foam or the foam that's behind a

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3M command strip, that white stretchy foam. We

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got into the distribution of that, then started, we built a plant,

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I built a plant in upstate New York to manufacture that.

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That got us into the bun business and a lot of specialty items.

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And we started running. We were asked to

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develop a special formulation for Imagination Playground.

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When that started with between David Rockwell and

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kaboom, a non profit playground installer. So we

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became the manufacturing arm of

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Imagination Playground. Then in the

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interim we bought another process of an open

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pore urethane, a gel system. So everything

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related around medical and some packaging,

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cushioning. We did a great program for the

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Hope Lodge, which we call Pillows for Hope, where we donated

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pillows to every Hope Lodge in the US if you don't know about

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American cancer and Hope Lodges, look it up. It's a wonderful program.

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We put pillows on every bed and every Hope Lodge in the US and

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so a lot of, a lot of fun things have come out of, of our

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world. But we really pivoted from the lower end

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packaging, you know, box, that kind of

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manufacturing into the more technical products. Then in

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2018, we ended up buying Imagination

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Playground, the brand. So we became

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the end seller as well. And we did that to keep the

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manufacturing here in the US they had a guy who was running it, trying to

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move it to China. Didn't make sense for anybody. David

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Rockwell. And I said, let's keep it in the US and we

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worked together and made that happen so that we took over and

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kept all the manufacturing here in the US Here in Providence.

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Then we developed. You can see behind me, I have part of the chew' Ems

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logo up. We ended

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up with some injection molding equipment. We started working

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around a couple of programs because of my background in plastics.

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We came up with our own version of a nylon chew toy to

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compete with nylabone. But we managed to infuse ours. We have

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it with and without cbd, so we have a calming nylon chew

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toy. So we went D2C and retail with that

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as well. So what's happened is we kind of went from being an

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OEM supplier to Medtronics,

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Pfizer, Covidian, you know, the medical lines,

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Medline, to being a really a direct to

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consumer, direct to end customer

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supplier, which is what we do now. So now we go all the way from

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original design and development. We build our own tools,

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injection molding tools in house. We move them right onto our own

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machines. We use our own formulations to create the product.

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We design our own packaging with our team. We print

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packaging outside. We don't do that here, but we do all the

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fulfillment packaging, final fulfillment and ship

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from this location throughout the world. So

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Chums is everywhere in the U.S. imagination

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playgrounds in 75 different countries and in every

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state in the U.S. so we're, we're all over the place. So

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when rest of the world was looking out

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everything except brand or what their

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competency was, you decided to

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vertically integrate? Yeah, but

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also I'll just add, I'll just add in there really quickly because I am a

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Bitter American manufacturer, because I saw

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all the products that we helped develop at, whether it was

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Hasbro here in Rhode Island, Timberland with orthotics,

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whether it was massage rollers that we had in Dick's,

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I watched those products that we helped develop here with our

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technology and our talented people. I watch them

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get reproduced to China and then move to China.

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So, right again, I, I am a little bit bitter in

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that we're, you know, we're fiercely American made.

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Gotcha. And how over the last couple of years has that

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helped from a marketing standpoint, in addition

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to a tariff or cost of

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shipping and inflation and so on and so forth?

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Well, during COVID we watched incoming

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containers go from $2,800 to

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$35,000. So we got some instant protection

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there. And back in the day, we always felt protected by the distance

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stuff had to travel from China. The problem is that China

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subsidized a lot of that, subsidized a lot of the shipping. So some of

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those protections by distance vanished.

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And then, you know, the Internet and, you know, being able to

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develop things quickly and, you know, design here

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and send electronic files overseas and get

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stuff made fairly quickly, it's still a lag. And you know, then

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they've got quality operations over there. So it's changed in that in,

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you know, the 80s and 90s and 2000s, it was harder to do

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business in China. Then it became

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easier, but still an additional expense in that the

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amount of, of investment you had to make in

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the logistical, you know, inventory lag time.

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And then, you know, for us, I always felt, you know, we're kind of a

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face to face, you know, person. We like to develop and design with

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people that are around us. I like, you know, to be able to talk to

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people and, you know, talking to people in the middle of the night in,

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in the Far east never, you know, really was our bag.

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But so Covid gave us a little bit of

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protection just because of the screw up in the logistics. Now

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we're all of our stuff's in the US we weren't affected by that.

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Then the, our shipping overseas got a little bit more expensive

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because we're shipping out, so we're exporting, we're a

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net exporter. And then now things are a little

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bit jumbled, you know, just with the, all the issues that are going

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on with oil and moving things around. But all

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in all, being fiercely

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American made has been an advantage. And I feel

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like people are starting to recognize the importance. And I think

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Covid taught us that with you Know, PPE and things like that,

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that you have to still make product here. It's still important to make things

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here. And it's also, you know, it's more fun.

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This is Pete Moore. I want to let you in on a little secret. There's

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this company called Promotion Vault. And what they do is they give out rewards

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from retailers that allow you to incentivize your

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members without having to do zero down and one month free

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or giving away shakes or giving away T shirts. What you want to do

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is build a rewards program that lasts, that people value

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and that doesn't discount your own products and services. So here's the

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deal. There's something called Rewards Vault. The Rewards Vault is going

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to allow a member to set up their own profile. They are going

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to answer questions, you are going to get those answers. You're going to be able

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to target those members and you're going to reward them inside your

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club, inside your spa, and outside of the club and outside

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of the spa to get them to become loyal, to get them to pay

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their monthly dues and to be rewarded properly for

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the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on rewards. You shouldn't be.

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Promotion Vault, your answer, trust me, this is real.

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How has your perspective changed on

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marketing brands instead of marketing

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products on behalf of or manufacturing on behalf?

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You'll be honest with you, I enjoy it a lot more. I am. I

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enjoy. Before we were kind of the man behind the

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screen, we would do all the design work and then we'd

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let them, you know, sell the product and we'd kind of,

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you know, it was all relationships and we'd get the business and it

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was, it was fun in that respect where you'd see your product out on the

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shelf and you know that you had a hand in it. But there were other

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engineers, you know, like Hasbro. There are other people that were involved

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in it now. It's, it's fun because, you

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know, it's, it's easier to move levers and make

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decisions. And, you know, it's also a little bit scary

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because the decisions are yours to make for the product

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that's in the field. So. But I do, I'm energized

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by it. I like it. We've got a lot of really great

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creative people here and we, because I

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grew up as a salesperson first, we're always

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listening to our customers and like even our, you know, our,

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our, you know, not latest upgrade, but we did a

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transportation set for Imagination Playground, which was a big reveal

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and that the association of Children museums a couple years ago, and

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then we entered it into a design award for playgrounds in

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Europe and we won a bronze medal. That kind of

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stuff where we listened to our customers, we adjusted the product by what they

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said, what they wanted, and then took that end product and threw it

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into a design award against, you know,

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multimillion dollar playground installations like tens of

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millions versus our little playground set. We came in third. You know,

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it's not first, but it was still, still fun. But it was

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fun for everybody at our place

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to be involved with that entire process and have

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ownership of the end result.

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So let me ask you just some entrepreneurial related,

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kind of inflection point questions.

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So you're in the upholstery business, you're in the phone

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business. How does the idea

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get generated to say, let's go into the pet industry.

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Who internally says I'm an expert or becomes an expert in

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the pet industry? And how do you kind

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of pivot a family off business to say, hey, I might be

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betting on some, some chewable treats

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here that are not chewable to the. Well, that

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kind of grew organically out of. We had a,

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a comp, a customer who was trying to develop

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products in house. So we were then and we were an OEM supplier to

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them and we gave them residence here in our building.

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So that was part of what we're doing. Hey, we'll build the products. You know,

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you don't have to worry about, you know, storing and we'll store them from here

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and then we'll ship directly. So in a lot of the ways, like we, the

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model that we started Imagination Playground with,

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we started this pet company. In the end, their

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American made products weren't doing as well as we hoped. They were

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mostly a, a health and beauty line for

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pets. So we ended up kind of transitioning away from them.

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And then we all looked at each other and said, hey look, we know a

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lot about pets. I have, have had dogs my whole life. I

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have three dogs now. I love animals more than, I'd

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say it more than people, but I do, you know, so,

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you know, that's really our passion. Just like, you know, trying to help

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kids with open ended imaginative play is a passion of ours. We

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talk about, you know, project Play Strong later. But you

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know, to get into the pet business, we said, hey look, we have

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knowledge of, of this industry, of the materials, the,

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the nylons, and no one's really designed anything new. We know

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how to infuse different vitamins and minerals and cbd.

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We can do that. We'll lead the the market in that. And we

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build our own tools. So it became, hey, look, we injection mold, we

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build, we build our own tools. We can be fast to market. We've

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launched some TPE products. This Crunchems product that is

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a sleeve for a water bottle that dogs can get

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the crunchy sound of a water bottle. And and then because of Imagination

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Playground, we had the entire social media team,

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we had the graphics team, so that we were

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uniquely able to just very quickly

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launch and follow up on that. So what

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buying Imagination Playground did and getting us to that,

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that last mile, like, you know, you'd say if you were in the, in the,

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you know, Verizon or something, you've got that last mile. By being able to sell

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to the end customer and having those resources

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and core competencies to do that, we then started

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to look around and say, what else can we sell? What else can we make?

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And where else do we have a strategic advantage

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over the other competitors in that industry? And it just

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happens that kids and pets are two things that are the

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most fun and we're

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selling into both industries. It's fun. That's great.

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When you take a look at all the a

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tick blowback that's happening right now with all the social media

254
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companies and amount of screen time,

255
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what that's doing to kids from, you know, I used to

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play running probably six hours a day

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where there was a kid across the street, part kid,

258
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but he was playing dungeons, you know, inside his

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living room. Clearly became and probably still

260
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have a much better athlete. How important

261
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has the focus on kids being outdoors

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00:16:30,630 --> 00:16:34,310
and off their phones been to your business as a part of your

263
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narrative or marketing angle? Well,

264
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so before, before COVID

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our, our, you know, we would be at conferences, you know,

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library and NC teachers, whoever. We're talking to children

267
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museums, you know, people at the leaders in children Museums

268
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and we sponsor the emerging museums conference at

269
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acm. I would and I get up and speak. So when I would

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talk to people, I'd say, hey, look, kids got to get off screens. It's horrific.

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There's too many kids looking at this side of there. That's one

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of my dogs. But too many kids looking at that screen and not

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engaging with their friends. Imagination Playground, open

274
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ended, collaborative child directed play.

275
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You can't beat it. You got to do it. Then Covid hits

276
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and then we sentence these children to that,

277
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to staring at screens like it's the Brady Bunch. You know, everybody's a

278
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box and a screen and we've taken them away from all their friends. And

279
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they lost that ability to be able to emotionally

280
00:17:37,980 --> 00:17:41,440
regulate, to talk to their friends, to not do things

281
00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,880
through texting, through a device. And then

282
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I actually, what was a segue into

283
00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,960
operation, place drawn. So at the NAFIS conference, which is

284
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federally affected schools, schools that are near

285
00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,960
parks, military bases, reservations that

286
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:04,600
have kids, but not a huge tax space because there's a lot of

287
00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:08,330
federal lands around, around them. I also spoke

288
00:18:09,050 --> 00:18:12,370
with the, the people running Mathis, which is military affected

289
00:18:12,370 --> 00:18:16,010
schools, and we realized that in,

290
00:18:16,010 --> 00:18:19,850
in speaking that kids that are on base don't have access

291
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to a lot of the cool things and they don't have, in many cases, they

292
00:18:23,810 --> 00:18:27,610
don't have Imagination Playground. And what I didn't realize is

293
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these young kids that are, that are the children

294
00:18:31,610 --> 00:18:35,430
of service members are moving every year or

295
00:18:35,430 --> 00:18:39,190
two from base to base. So we said, look, one

296
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of the things that could be gigantically important

297
00:18:43,070 --> 00:18:46,470
is not only getting kids off of screens and all the positive

298
00:18:46,470 --> 00:18:50,310
benefits for just collaborative play and then all

299
00:18:50,310 --> 00:18:53,910
the benefits to actual the facility where they've got something

300
00:18:53,910 --> 00:18:57,670
that is mobile, it goes indoors, it goes outdoors, it lasts forever, that

301
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kind of stuff, but also to have a

302
00:19:01,910 --> 00:19:05,430
product that they would recognize as a play

303
00:19:05,430 --> 00:19:09,150
spot from one to the next to the next. And that when

304
00:19:09,150 --> 00:19:12,990
you arrive at the new location, your new home, you've

305
00:19:12,990 --> 00:19:16,830
got something that you recognize from where you left and

306
00:19:16,830 --> 00:19:20,350
something that is uniquely suited to

307
00:19:20,350 --> 00:19:23,750
create a collaborative environment. So you start to meet friends again.

308
00:19:24,310 --> 00:19:27,150
And you know, we had a couple people in and we were talking about,

309
00:19:28,270 --> 00:19:31,390
well, this is kind of the same thing as sports. It is,

310
00:19:31,870 --> 00:19:35,710
but remember, a lot of kids don't play sports. You know, a lot

311
00:19:35,710 --> 00:19:39,510
of kids will be, will be turned off by a basketball

312
00:19:39,510 --> 00:19:43,270
court because they're not good. So kids might be out there and it can

313
00:19:43,270 --> 00:19:46,990
become exclusionary. One of the things about Imagination Playground,

314
00:19:46,990 --> 00:19:50,670
it is by its nature inclusionary. It will,

315
00:19:50,830 --> 00:19:54,650
and it's the reason that all the blocks are blue. And we, we

316
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did this 17 years ago. We, we

317
00:19:57,890 --> 00:20:01,490
consciously selected that color so that kids

318
00:20:01,490 --> 00:20:05,010
wouldn't have a, a favorite

319
00:20:05,010 --> 00:20:08,770
color and go off and play by themselves. The whole goal

320
00:20:08,770 --> 00:20:12,450
of this is that kids hang out and play together and they talk

321
00:20:12,450 --> 00:20:16,130
and they learn and they build and they do all the things

322
00:20:16,130 --> 00:20:19,730
that they're supposed to do that's not on a stupid

323
00:20:19,730 --> 00:20:23,540
phone. So. Gotcha. And how many

324
00:20:23,540 --> 00:20:25,860
bases have embraced

325
00:20:27,140 --> 00:20:30,820
so far? We're, we're on a few. I'm trying

326
00:20:30,820 --> 00:20:34,540
to get them on, on every base. That's been my goal.

327
00:20:34,540 --> 00:20:37,940
That's my passion. Right now we're giving some

328
00:20:38,180 --> 00:20:41,900
some sets away. We're trying to find partners.

329
00:20:41,900 --> 00:20:45,580
We've talked to some major one defense contractor and

330
00:20:45,580 --> 00:20:49,350
some some major supporters and we're just looking for

331
00:20:49,350 --> 00:20:53,030
help wherever we can to be able to get this, get this

332
00:20:53,030 --> 00:20:56,790
system wide. It's a big ask. We're willing to participate

333
00:20:56,790 --> 00:20:59,470
as much as we can, but we're a little company so we're kind of limited.

334
00:20:59,710 --> 00:21:03,390
We need a family foundation or somebody to help us out.

335
00:21:06,670 --> 00:21:10,430
This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast.

336
00:21:10,750 --> 00:21:13,710
We are partnered up with a company called higher dose

337
00:21:13,870 --> 00:21:17,230
higherdose.com they are the leader in

338
00:21:17,470 --> 00:21:20,430
workout recovery products, infrared technology,

339
00:21:21,150 --> 00:21:24,670
LED light masks, neck enhancers and

340
00:21:24,830 --> 00:21:28,550
other products such as PEMF mats and sauna

341
00:21:28,550 --> 00:21:31,790
blankets. If you have not gotten on the workout

342
00:21:31,790 --> 00:21:35,230
recovery train yet, your time and your stop

343
00:21:35,390 --> 00:21:38,910
is now. You got to get these products in there before these workout

344
00:21:38,910 --> 00:21:42,190
recovery and spas end up saturating your market.

345
00:21:42,510 --> 00:21:46,070
Having your members walk out of the club and going into one of their locations

346
00:21:46,070 --> 00:21:49,750
for 200 bucks per month where they're paying 39 to

347
00:21:49,750 --> 00:21:53,590
you. Let's become an expert in workout recovery. If we

348
00:21:53,590 --> 00:21:56,990
are already an authority in workouts, Higher Dose,

349
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check it out. There's a wholesale code and we look

350
00:22:00,990 --> 00:22:04,190
forward to helping you augment your products and services

351
00:22:04,670 --> 00:22:08,480
to meet the demands of your members. And hey, let's get people

352
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:12,320
happy, healthy and sweating and the recovery should be

353
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:13,560
just as good as the workout.

354
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,080
Question related to health clubs,

355
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,600
sports performance boxes and

356
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,840
YMCAs. That's typically where

357
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,550
most of the mentors have emanated from

358
00:22:34,030 --> 00:22:36,990
or are working for the halo

359
00:22:38,030 --> 00:22:41,710
sector. So hella active lifestyle outdoors. A number

360
00:22:41,870 --> 00:22:44,510
of large players such as

361
00:22:46,030 --> 00:22:49,550
day clubs on the west coast have catered towards

362
00:22:49,550 --> 00:22:53,110
families as the way to lock

363
00:22:53,110 --> 00:22:56,510
in higher revenue for family,

364
00:22:56,990 --> 00:23:00,620
you know, per month as well as kind of a second or

365
00:23:00,620 --> 00:23:03,940
third place work, home and you know, your

366
00:23:04,020 --> 00:23:07,780
lifetime fitness or sports facility. Have you gotten

367
00:23:07,780 --> 00:23:11,220
traction there with Imagination Playground? Because

368
00:23:11,940 --> 00:23:15,620
I think that would be a great opportunity to be some of the

369
00:23:15,620 --> 00:23:19,180
kids clubs that I'm morphing into. More physical

370
00:23:19,180 --> 00:23:22,940
exercise, not daycare. No, I, I completely

371
00:23:22,940 --> 00:23:26,390
agree. So now where we're in a lot of

372
00:23:26,390 --> 00:23:30,150
ways throughout the US and we're also in a lot of boys and girls

373
00:23:30,150 --> 00:23:33,390
clubs as well as a lot of Head Start programs. So

374
00:23:33,390 --> 00:23:37,190
anywhere where kids are going to be at play,

375
00:23:37,990 --> 00:23:41,110
health clubs are an absolutely wonderful but

376
00:23:41,110 --> 00:23:44,910
untapped potential for us. Because when you

377
00:23:44,910 --> 00:23:48,590
think about it, unless space is an issue, you know, mom or

378
00:23:48,590 --> 00:23:52,120
dad are going to go to a workout or, you know,

379
00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,680
a yoga class or a Zumba class to be able to bring

380
00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:01,160
kids along and then have them instead of sitting

381
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,760
on their phone, you know, and waiting or you know, it to be in a,

382
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,640
a creative and open play space. It, I

383
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:12,280
think it'd be great. But to, to reach out to

384
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:16,120
though, we need, you know, like we're in, you know, a lot of

385
00:24:17,070 --> 00:24:20,430
school related before and after school programs,

386
00:24:20,990 --> 00:24:24,350
health clubs we really would need some help getting into.

387
00:24:25,230 --> 00:24:28,950
Okay. So I think that's another thing. Help with in our

388
00:24:28,950 --> 00:24:32,669
whole initiative as

389
00:24:32,669 --> 00:24:36,350
a investment banker is basically what we do. We help people raise money

390
00:24:36,350 --> 00:24:39,390
and help buy and sell companies. But our underlying

391
00:24:39,790 --> 00:24:42,590
mission is to solve loneliness,

392
00:24:43,620 --> 00:24:47,340
diabetes and obesity. And the way to

393
00:24:47,340 --> 00:24:51,100
do that is connect entrepreneurs with capital if they

394
00:24:51,100 --> 00:24:54,900
have a good business model in their local area. Basically

395
00:24:54,900 --> 00:24:58,100
a 15 to 20 minute, you know, demographic.

396
00:24:59,060 --> 00:25:02,260
So that's kind of what. There's also

397
00:25:03,700 --> 00:25:07,340
Kids Strong as an example that just took in

398
00:25:07,340 --> 00:25:10,320
private equity money from a group that owns Barry's

399
00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:14,640
and D1 Sports Training and fitness.

400
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,920
That could be super interesting where they got kids

401
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,240
coming, helping them with their confidence and

402
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,720
physical exercise and programming. So I feel like this

403
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,800
podcast hopefully lead into a

404
00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,520
peaking interest on behalf of the groups who listen to

405
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:37,220
this to say, hey, this is a great idea and a good use

406
00:25:37,220 --> 00:25:40,220
of square footage and you know, a fun and

407
00:25:41,260 --> 00:25:44,620
popular thing for kids to do. Well, we were through

408
00:25:44,620 --> 00:25:47,740
KaBOOM, affiliated with NFL

409
00:25:47,740 --> 00:25:51,580
Play360. Oh yeah, sure. And then also

410
00:25:52,780 --> 00:25:56,420
we've had sets at PGA Tour sites, part of

411
00:25:56,420 --> 00:26:00,180
their kids zone. So anytime

412
00:26:00,180 --> 00:26:03,540
and even think about it, if you're running a, you know, if you're running a

413
00:26:03,540 --> 00:26:07,330
league, you're running a, you know, a sports camp. Like, you know, both my kids

414
00:26:07,330 --> 00:26:11,130
played and did all the club sports and you know, if you're running

415
00:26:11,130 --> 00:26:14,810
that and your, you know, younger, you

416
00:26:14,810 --> 00:26:18,570
know, sibling isn't playing, you know, it's a great way

417
00:26:18,570 --> 00:26:22,369
for kids to continue to be engaged and to continue to

418
00:26:22,369 --> 00:26:26,210
be active because it's not something where you sit. It's

419
00:26:26,210 --> 00:26:29,850
a Imagination playground is exactly, you know, what you see behind

420
00:26:29,850 --> 00:26:33,650
me. Kids, you know, up and moving around and playing and pack

421
00:26:33,650 --> 00:26:37,370
it up, move it on and go to the next location. Yeah. So

422
00:26:37,370 --> 00:26:41,210
two quick questions before we part here and we'll get this infomercial

423
00:26:41,210 --> 00:26:44,530
out to, to our network. One is what is the typical

424
00:26:44,530 --> 00:26:48,330
engagement? And then the second question, what is the

425
00:26:48,890 --> 00:26:52,730
average kind of purchase for enough of the

426
00:26:53,450 --> 00:26:57,010
imagination playground? You know, SKU

427
00:26:57,010 --> 00:27:00,410
set, Even though we're all blue, no coal mines. I love the cold

428
00:27:01,090 --> 00:27:03,330
get that wrong, if I could say something.

429
00:27:05,810 --> 00:27:09,530
So the average age. Yeah, the average age is

430
00:27:09,530 --> 00:27:13,010
anywhere from old enough to walk, usually

431
00:27:13,010 --> 00:27:16,770
through middle school. That's

432
00:27:16,770 --> 00:27:20,210
where kids are still in that active play zone. Elementary,

433
00:27:21,170 --> 00:27:24,970
third, fourth, fifth grade are really the sweet spot.

434
00:27:24,970 --> 00:27:28,770
But what we find is that older siblings will

435
00:27:28,770 --> 00:27:32,490
watch their younger siblings start to play, and then they'll join

436
00:27:32,490 --> 00:27:36,170
in. And then we've even had team building events at the, like,

437
00:27:36,170 --> 00:27:39,690
the Please Touch Museum in Philly is a huge installation of

438
00:27:39,690 --> 00:27:42,090
Imagination Playground. They have,

439
00:27:43,850 --> 00:27:47,450
you know, nightly events for adults for team

440
00:27:47,450 --> 00:27:50,810
building. So there's a lot of cool stuff with that.

441
00:27:50,970 --> 00:27:54,700
The. The 100 and the classic set. The set that's

442
00:27:54,700 --> 00:27:58,260
been there for a while, we've had all sorts of variations of at this

443
00:27:58,260 --> 00:28:01,940
point, but you're looking at about a

444
00:28:02,100 --> 00:28:05,380
$5,700 purchase and then

445
00:28:05,380 --> 00:28:09,100
additional storage options on top of that. And that's

446
00:28:09,100 --> 00:28:12,580
enough for 20 to 25 kits. So

447
00:28:12,980 --> 00:28:16,020
you can ramp that up a little bit with more curriculum,

448
00:28:16,500 --> 00:28:20,120
play training, things like that. But, you know, we have a

449
00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:23,640
lot of different options that would suit

450
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:28,160
pretty much any installation. So what

451
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,840
we really do and suggest is that people tell

452
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,600
us the amount of kids, their budget, if they have multiple

453
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:39,240
sites, obviously we'll work on price. And just remember, we're lean

454
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,040
manufacturing here. We're building pieces

455
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:47,710
and then fulfilling sets. So we're running for maximum

456
00:28:47,710 --> 00:28:51,270
efficiency of the part. So the best part about

457
00:28:51,350 --> 00:28:55,150
being here in the US and making stuff is I don't have to

458
00:28:55,150 --> 00:28:58,790
import sets and have extra pieces. You can basically

459
00:28:58,790 --> 00:29:02,349
build your own set, or we'll help you design your own

460
00:29:02,349 --> 00:29:06,070
set that works best for your particular application.

461
00:29:07,190 --> 00:29:10,710
Awesome. Well, you are officially now, before

462
00:29:10,790 --> 00:29:14,060
you were in the Halo sector as a

463
00:29:14,060 --> 00:29:17,740
branded supplier. Out of our

464
00:29:17,740 --> 00:29:21,540
Halo, we got Health Activation running outdoors. So you got. You

465
00:29:21,540 --> 00:29:25,020
got the outdoors and we got the active

466
00:29:25,020 --> 00:29:28,819
lifestyle of pets as well. So you

467
00:29:28,819 --> 00:29:32,660
get three out of the four level. And you know,

468
00:29:32,660 --> 00:29:36,380
I am always available. I'm in Rhode island. So you just, you know, anybody

469
00:29:36,380 --> 00:29:39,500
has any questions, you have any additional questions,

470
00:29:39,900 --> 00:29:43,660
I'm Zoom calling all day long and I'm out and about. So

471
00:29:43,900 --> 00:29:47,580
if you're somewhere that I'm near, I can always stop by and say hello.

472
00:29:47,900 --> 00:29:51,420
Thank you. All right, see you. Bye. Thanks. Appreciate it.

473
00:29:58,940 --> 00:30:02,660
This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks, your captain speaking. I am

474
00:30:02,660 --> 00:30:06,270
the founder and managing partner at Integrity Square. We've been around

475
00:30:06,270 --> 00:30:10,110
now for 15 and 1/2 years. We have been helping

476
00:30:10,110 --> 00:30:13,550
people like yourselves get capital, do mergers and

477
00:30:13,550 --> 00:30:17,190
acquisitions, consulting, strategic advice in the health,

478
00:30:17,190 --> 00:30:20,910
active lifestyle and outdoor Halo sector trying to

479
00:30:20,910 --> 00:30:24,230
help as many entrepreneurs as possible get to the next level

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to take that inflection point and be the force behind your growth.

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We are helping companies that have at least $3 million of

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EBITDA, around $10 million of revenue, and

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we are positioned to help you get institutional growth capital

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or to negotiate deals with strategic partners. If

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you go to integritysq.com isq

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you can see our capabilities Deck Happy to set up a consultation at any

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time that is free of charge and we look forward to

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helping solve obesity, loneliness and diabetes.

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Go Healing.

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Sa.