“The best peer group I’ve ever attended”
“The perfect balance between insightful workshops, networking and proper downtime.”
“There were no egos, just genuine interest and openness to share and help each other.”
“I left feeling refreshed, motivated and very grateful to have been part of it.”
That’s how the founders and operators described our last DTC Live Brand Retreat - and we’re doing it all again this January.
From 27-30 January 2026, we’ll return to Gran Canaria for four days designed to help you step back from the everyday, refocus your strategy, and reconnect with what really drives your brand.
Expect open roundtables, small-group workshops and honest conversations about what’s working and what’s not.
Mornings start slowly, coffee, mountain views, and optional wellness sessions before diving into group discussions and practical planning sessions.
Afternoons are for collaboration and idea-sharing, followed by long dinners and the kind of relaxed networking that turns into real friendships.
It’s not a conference. It’s a reset, for you, your brand and your mindset.
When: 27-30 January 2026
Where: Gran Canaria
Who it’s for: Founders, brand operators and senior decision makers
Spaces are limited so we can keep it small, open and focused.
Register your interest here.
When Evren Ozka co-founded MALLET London in 2015, he wasn’t trying to build a global fashion brand. He just wanted to make something different, something that didn’t exist yet..
Fast forward to now and Mallet has grown from a handful of local stockists to more than 350 stores worldwide, including Selfridges, Harrods, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bloomingdale’s.
The brand has since collaborated with Reebok, Swarovski, and Transport for London, keeping its London roots front and centre as it expands around the world.
Here’s what stood out from Evren’s DTC Live session, and what other founders can take from his story.
“When we started, we weren’t thinking ten years ahead,” Evren said. “It was always, what can we do today to grow?”
That meant knocking on doors, getting stocked in Choice, the local store they grew up shopping in, and then building from there.
👉 Takeaway: Don’t overthink the long-term plan. Focus on what you can do right now to make progress.
Every Mallet product ties back to London, from the names of its shoes (all based on London streets) to subtle design references, like the linework on a 3D-printed collab with Zefffeld, inspired by The Gherkin.
👉 Takeaway: Keep your story close. Authentic brands last longer than those built on trends.
Getting into Selfridges was a turning point. After months of trying, Mallet’s agent finally landed a meeting. When the buyer asked if they had stock ready, the agent said yes, and made up a list of 900 pairs that didn’t exist.
Evren flew straight to Turkey, slept on the factory floor, and made sure every pair was finished within three and a half weeks. They delivered on time, and Mallet London hit Selfridges’ shelves.
👉 Takeaway: Sometimes you have to back yourself before everything’s ready. Say yes, then deliver.
For Evren, collaborations only work if they make sense for the brand and its audience. Reebok felt natural, he wore Reeboks to school growing up, and TfL connected perfectly to the brand’s London DNA.
👉 Takeaway: Only collaborate when it feels right. Real alignment beats forced hype every time.
Outside of Mallet, Evren is an ultramarathon runner who’s broken world records and run across all seven Emirates. His next challenge is a 900km run across three countries.
He says the mindset is the same in business:
“When everything feels like it’s going wrong, you remind yourself,I’m not giving up. That mindset is powerful.”
👉 Takeaway: Resilience matters more than talent. Keep moving forward, especially when it gets hard.
Evren’s routine is simple.
“I wake up, run, take my kids to school, and work. But it doesn’t feel like work, it just feels like what I’m meant to be doing.”
👉 Takeaway: Find something you’d do even if you weren’t getting paid. Passion makes the late nights and long weeks sustainable.
“Only people who want to progress themselves show up to things like this. That’s how I know you already have what it takes.” - Evren
User research is a buzzword in every product meeting: “We need to know more about our customers.”
But when it comes to actually talking to shoppers, gathering insights, and making sense of the data… silence. Budgets vanish.
Priorities shift. Deadlines suddenly feel more urgent than understanding your audience.
Why does this happen? Often, it’s not dislike for research, it’s misunderstanding it.
1. “We already know our customers.”
Many brands rely on analytics or past feedback and assume they understand everything. But numbers show what people do, not why. Without the why, decisions are just guesses. Fix: Bust assumptions. Even five customer interviews can reveal patterns numbers miss.
2. “It takes too much time.”
The myth that research slows things down is more dangerous than poor execution. Skipping research often costs more, failed product launches, wasted marketing spend, and lost repeat buyers. Fix: Make research part of your workflow. Quick, focused interviews or testing sessions are better than none. Quick learning beats rushed delivery.
3. “Leadership doesn’t see the value.”
Founders and teams often want metrics and ROI. Insights that don’t show up on a spreadsheet can feel abstract. But research prevents losses, increases loyalty, and improves conversion. Fix: Translate insights into impact. Instead of “users are confused,” say, “We’re losing 20% of potential subscriptions because this checkout step isn’t clear.”
4. “We don’t have the budget.”
User research doesn’t need labs, consultants, or fancy tools. Some of the best insights come from simple, real conversations with five actual customers. Fix: Start small. Talk to a few real shoppers each week, capture what you learn, and share it with the team. Value follows visibility, and budgets usually follow value.
The Real Problem
Avoiding research isn’t about resources, it’s about comfort. It’s easier to trust instincts than admit you might be wrong. But confidence alone doesn’t grow a brand, curiosity does.
So next time someone says, “We don’t have time for user research,” ask: “Do we have time to fix what we’ve already built wrong?”
Skipping research doesn’t save time, it just delays the truth. Speaking of truth, BFCM is less than a month away.
If you're not sure whether your site is ready for the biggest shopping weekend of the year, let's find out together.
We're offering free site audits to help you catch conversion killers before they cost you sales.
We'll review your customer journey, identify drop-off points, and show you what's costing you conversions.
Limited spots available, so secure yours here.
There’s a major shift underway as Lovable launches its new Shopify integration, allowing users to build a fully functional store simply by describing what they want, no code, minimal setup.
It’s exciting, but it raises key questions about where real value lies.
New brands can use it to test ideas and launch quickly with minimal tech effort. Established ones might explore it for micro-stores, campaign sites or experimental drops. It’s all about enabling new types of commerce journeys.
