10 Minute Text

An e-commerce CEO on how to “cut the head off” the counterfeiting snake

Updated Feb 14, 2023, 12:56pm EST

David Heath, CEO of the apparel brand Bombas, texts with Semafor’s Louise Matsakis about dogs, socks, and online shopping.

David Heath said:

Hey Louise! It’s David Heath from Bombas

Louise Matsakis said:

Hi Dave! It’s nice to hear from you. How’s it going? Where are you working today?

David Heath said:

The Bombas HQ in Union Square (NYC)

And it’s going well!

How about you?

Louise Matsakis said:

Very cool, can you send a selfie? I’m at my apartment in Venice, California, trying to get my dog to stop begging for my lunch

David Heath said:

David Heath said:

I feel you, I brought my dog to work for almost 9 years

Louise Matsakis said:

I like your red jacket. But I think we also need a shot of the socks

David Heath said:

David Heath said:

My t-shirt is Bombas too!

Louise Matsakis said:

Haha this is amazing. How has business been lately? I saw in the news that you’ve been struggling with counterfeits. How do you combat a problem like that?

David Heath said:

Business has been generally good. We just came off of a really strong holiday season and getting into the swing of the new year.

David Heath said:

Yes, unfortunately, especially during the holiday season we saw an uptick of fraudulent sites pretending to be us, advertising to customers and selling poor-quality, counterfeit products. Worst part is, they also were faking our mission, leading customers to think they were doing good, without really donating product to the homeless community.

David Heath said:

It’s really sad when you think about the impact on those really in need

Louise Matsakis said:

That’s extremely frustrating, I’ve heard from a lot of businesses with similar issues over the last few years covering e-commerce. Do you have someone on staff whose job it is just to root this stuff out?

David Heath said:

Not really, it’s a coordinated effort across legal, product, marketing and PR

Louise Matsakis said:

That makes sense

David Heath said:

But we’ve really been reliant on our marketing partners to cut the head off the snake

Louise Matsakis said:

Haha that’s a good metaphor for the problem. Well thank you so much Dave and have a good rest of your day!

David Heath said:

Thanks, you too!