Invest in Felt and Fat Ceramics

In an industry where the designers, makers and end-users are separated by oceans and layers of brokers, we choose to work directly and to own the entire process. We design with our clients, we make the clay and fire the kilns, we keep it local. Because of our vertical integration, investment in technology and focus on agile production, we are able to produce at scale while offering in depth customization and artisanal quality to our clients.

Founded in 2014 by designer Nate Mell, the mission of Felt and Fat is to practice innovative, collaborative ceramic design and manufacturing domestically while providing high quality manufacturing jobs to our local community.

The Story

In 2013 Chef Eli Kulp asked one of his servers, Nate Mell, to design plates for his new restaurant: High Street on Market in Philadelphia.

In 2014 after that first request, Nate decided this could be a business, and Felt+Fat was formed.

As the brand expanded, a growing home audience started asking to purchase Felt+Fat products. Soon thereafter the first Felt+Fat website was launched. Subsequent years saw the hiring of employees, two separate studio moves, small equipment loans and an ever expanding set of production capabilities.

COVID-19 proved to be a major catalyst for growth at Felt+Fat. Government loans and grants allowed the brand to invest in sales strategies that brought about exponential revenue increases. Since then, Felt+Fat continues to grow as these strategies prove to be more and more effective.

Felt+Fat produces ~57k pieces annually and employs 24 staff. The brand has worked with hundreds of restaurants around the country and in places like France, Qatar and Japan. A recent partnership with community lender PIDC and a small group of investors is funding expansion into a new 26k sq ft facility, coming online in Q2 2024. 

Strong Market Presence 

We've got incredible traction with top restaurants around the country that have partnered with us for their tableware.

We also have a stacked lineup of high profile celebrity brand collaborations.

All of our relationships are rooted in an authentic connection with brands and individuals who value high quality, American made production.

Trusted by Top Chefs

As a brand that began in the hospitality industry, Felt+Fat has been embraced by a multitude of chefs and industry professionals across the country.

Major Celebrity Collaborations

Featured in...

Collections

Standard

Core shapes and colors designed in collaboration with professional chefs.

Seasonal

Evolving colors and textures enhance collectability and sustain long-term consumer interest.

Limited Edition

Enabling cost-effective experimentation and keeping the brand relevant to current design trends.

Seconds

Discounted and slightly flawed items hook customers with heavy discounting, minimizing production waste.

Collaboration

Full design control positions us as a premium collaborator, expanding the audience and maintaining brand freshness.

Custom

From color matching and logo embossing to full product development, customization attracts a diverse clientele.

Growth + Expansion

Production scale up is well underway with the main move to our new facility having started in late August. Equipment and facility upgrades will dramatically increase production efficiency and lower cost-per-piece within the first year.

Since we own the entire design and production process, we can easily take small bets on new products and finishes, testing the market before full scale up. Not being fully leveraged in and singular sales vertical allows us to pivot quickly should any one vertical experience a downturn.

We plan to scale revenue in tandem with production by focusing on low hanging fruit. Since Felt+Fat has a great name and many strong relationships in hospitality we will start there. Our new director of business development, Madison Alpern, is already building key relationships and bolstering our sales infrastructure.

Once we're able to reach peak production output and wholesale saturation, we plan to continue to increase revenue through price engineering and shifting sales toward our most profitable verticals. As our brand presence increases we can allow for a higher percent of product allocation towards DTC.

Future projections are not guaranteed.

What's Next?

New facilities bring enhanced capabilities and efficiency with an eventual goal of 400k+ pieces produced annually.

The addition of Madison + increased output allows us to target previously unreachable, large partners.

Expand our marketing playbook with direct mail, SMS, and a versatile ambassador program across marketing platforms.

We'll expand our product lines, adding new categories like hardware and lighting. We'll target business gifting and partner with interior designers.

We plan to attend several major trade shows throughout the year, pop-up in multiple cities and begin moving towards a brick and mortar retail program.

A proven marketing playbook

for DTC growth, scaling to $2M in sales in 2023 (+45% YoY).

We are highly efficient with digital advertising, generating $4.50 in total sales for every dollar spent in paid ads.

Digital advertising has been our main DTC growth lever over the last 2 years. In 2023, we doubled spending while maintaining similar ROI. We will continue to scale our spend and expand into new channels in 2024.

We continued to grow average order value over the last 2 years, maximizing how much customers are spending with us.

Double-digit growth in AOV each year since 2021, fueled by investments in curated sets, bundling and site functionality allowing customers to mix and match pieces. This has led to improved unit economics per order.

We have maintained a healthy mix of new and returning customers, signaling strong interest and loyalty in the brand.

60/40% split between new and returning customers in 2023 as we grew topline by 60% — driven by an optimized email program, promotional calendar and optimized paid customer acquisition strategy.

Consistent Growth

Major growth observed post -COVID continued through 2022 while similar stage companies saw major YoY declines.

66% growth in 2023

(projections not guaranteed)

Scaling Production

2019-2020: Minimal slow down despite COVID shutdowns.

2021-2023: Reaching maximum capacity with current facility.

2024 + Beyond: New facility + equipment brings capacity to 400k+ pieces annually with room for additional growth.

(projections not guaranteed)

Community Focus

We provide quality jobs to the Philadelphia residents that need them most. Entry level wages start at $16 - $18 / hour with generous PTO, 50% medical coverage and parental leave. We plan to increase starting wages, add 401K benefits and increase medical coverage, helping to cement long term employee retention.

The Neighborhood

Felt+Fat was born and continues to run entirely in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia is 7th in size and 1st in poverty among large cities in America. Within Philadelphia, Kensington is the poorest of neighborhoods.

Once a dense manufacturing center with a thriving middle class community, the neighborhood declined into poverty as factories were shuttered in the 1960s. Today, Kensington is known for being the epicenter of the opioid crisis in the Northeastern United States. 

In spite of all this, we see hope as young entrepreneurs, makers, builders and artists have been working to elevate this corner of our city. We are proud to be a part of this movement and excited to help create jobs and beauty in this place we call home.

Staff

We are dedicated to developing the new generation of ceramic manufacturers and finding them in our own backyard. 100% of our staff live in Philadelphia and many in the neighborhood where the factory is housed.

We provide competitive compensation, professional development and specialized training in specialty areas like mold making and glaze chemistry. Our staff are professional artists, the recently incarcerated, part time musicians and avid food nerds. We believe in creating generational jobs that build generational wealth. 

We've Assembled a World Class Team

In addition to our local community, we've established a world class leadership team and advisory board that will help Felt and Fat get to the next level.

With our new manufacturing facility that allows us to 10x our production, we've surrounded ourselves with leaders that will help us scale and get to $10M+ in revenue (projected in 2027).

Leadership

Advisors

Join the community.

Most product brands today consist of nothing more than a small team of marketing experts picking through a catalog from an overseas factory, repackaging those goods with a nice font and selling them at a 300% markup. The ultimate goal is to capture enough market share quickly so that they can flip the brand to a private equity firm before their product of the moment goes out of style. This may be an oversimplification and a tad cynical but it's the sad truth of the state of global manufacturing that we have overvalued quick profits over sustainable, community based growth.

We believe that return on investment is measured in more than dollars (though we know those are important too!) An investment in Felt+Fat means providing high quality jobs for a community that needs them. It means preserving knowledge and skills that may very well die out in our country otherwise. It means valuing quality over commodity. In short, investment in Felt+Fat means investing in the future of American pottery manufacturing.

Come partner with us in this mission, we'd love to have you join our community.

More information

For a deep dive into Felt+Fat financials and metrics, please follow this link.