THULE

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Today we are talking with Karl Wiedemann from Thule. Thule is the well known Swedish car rack company, but not as many people know that they manufacture a majority of their products for the North American market right here in the USA.   Can you give 50 BUILT readers some background on yourself, your time at THULE and your current role? I have been at Thule for 5 ½ years and I am currently the Communications and Sponsorship Manager for our North American Brands (Thule, SportRack, Chariot, Croozer, TracRac and UWS). After racing mountain bikes in college, I took a job in the bicycle industry working at a company that made bicycle tools and cleaning products. After ten years there, I joined Thule and it has been a wonderful place to work. Thule is the type of environment where work hard / play hard is a way of life. Everyday up…Continue Reading

LIBERTY BOTTLEWORKS

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Today’s interview is with Tim Andis, founder and CEO of Liberty Bottleworks based in Yakima, Washington. Liberty Bottles are the only metal bottles made in the USA.   Can you give 50 BUILT readers some background on yourself and the events that lead up to starting Liberty Bottleworks? The catalyst for starting Liberty Bottleworks was REI. I had been selling another brand of water bottles to REI and they asked me to find a domestic supplier. They were tired of foreign suppliers who couldn’t fulfill reorders based on trends in the current season and the excessive freight costs and delays from overseas shipments. I thought, okay, I’ll go find one, but to my surprise nothing existed. Long story short and a lot of hard work later, I decided to build a factory in the US to help customers like REI have a domestic supplier who was flexible and cared about their business…Continue Reading