Meet Ian Denham | Co-Founder

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

Hi Ian, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Like many ventures Noodle Bagz was born out of pure chance. We were three rugby players who wanted matching swimsuits for our rugby team recovery sessions. a fortuitous connection in apparel production allowed us to create a set for the crew. Once the word got out we had other teams asking us to produce theirs. We soon realized we had a business on our hands and had a website within two hours of our founders handshake.

What should our readers know about your business?
We’ve got a pretty creative staff at Noodle Bagz. So things like developing a brand identity or producing our own patterns came naturally. The real work for us usually involves logistical elements like shipping, production and events. There was plenty of late nights at the start and there still are. Being such a young business I’m not sure we’re in any position to give advice, we’re still growing and exploring our potential. How about just some insight and and easy tip; A helpful insight may be into our decision making process, where we strive to create a brand that we would personally enjoy from a customer stand point. We ask ourselves simple questions like “would you take part in that event?” or “would you have a giggle at that caption?”. This may not applicable to brands selling in some diverse markets, which is another reason we consider ourselves very fortunate to be selling a product and a brand which we use and love. On a more tangible note a good easy tip would be to delegate well. We changed from three of us helping with every task to tactical delegation based on strengths. We shift some roles around from time to time to save from burnout. We each look after a certain element of the business and any time we have choices to make or problems to face we can always bounce back to our goals and identity board.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
A friend comes into town to stay with the Noodle Bagz crew, sounds key. We’d probably stick to our event motto of ‘Compete & Party’. San Diego is such an active spot so it would be a shame not get out in the sun for some exploring. Start the day off with a quick cliff jump off The Arch at sunset cliffs then grab a coffee at Moniker General at liberty station before cruising on to Coronado for a swim. Glorietta Bay Promenade Park is a cool spot for a swim WOD, it’s well marked with bouys and coupling that with a chilled-out vibe always makes for a good afternoon dip. There’s a strange sense of perfection about Coronado, it’s like The Truman Show. Cooking up a good BBQ in the evening would be our go to dinner. Our co-owners father Tobias Konrad owned and ran Van Nuys German Deli in LA and since it’s closure we’ve got our meat from The Butcher Block in Barrio Logan. If we venture out for a sneaky tipple post feed you can probably find us at a dive bar, The Beachcomber in Mission Beach, Lamplighter in Mission Hills or Thrusters Lounge PB may take the top 3 spots.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Our shoutout goes to our local crew of friends in Pacific Beach who felt confident enough to wear our swimsuits from day 1. Rugby players, swimmers, engineers, bartenders you name it. They all embraced our brand by taking part in our challenging and weird events while rocking a pair of Noodle Bagz. Although these were mostly sports based competitions (Surf relays , sprint triathlons) there was an air of levity about the crew. Not only did they compete hard but they had a good laugh along the way, after all you can’t take yourself too serioulsy while wearing leaopard print.

Website: www.noodlebagz.com
Instagram: @noodlebagz
Twitter: @noodlebagz
Facebook: www.facebook.com/noodlebagz

Image Credits
Images 6 & 8 = Dave DeCaro Image 5 = Taelor Jaxon