Travis Bilton

Intro

Travis is one of the co-founders of Akta, a new MTB brand with a priority of making products that they themselves as riders are stoked to ride in whilst leaving the corporate bean counter mentality behind.
Photos by Forrest Riesco

Describe yourself:

I’ve never been good at describing myself haha… Let’s see, I am pretty quiet and reserved, like riding bikes and designing clothing. An old co-worker once said I am like that straight faced emoji, always deadpanned. I only eat cheese if it’s been melted and I check tire pressure by hand feel, never a gauge.

You’ve recently launched Akta, give us an insight of exactly what Akta is and what it stands for:

I think in many ways Akta is the culmination of my experience in the MTB industry. Me and everyone involved in the company had an idea of how we would want to do things differently if we had our own company, and now we are able to act on those ideas. We wanted a brand that was 100% focused on MTB and a representation of how we view the sport. We have no desire to get into gravel riding apparel, or moto gear (although we all love those things) we just want our brand to be fully committed to mountain bikes. We all found that, in terms of apparel in MTB, we weren’t really attracted to any one brand. Once we started asking around, we found a lot of people were the same way. They either didn’t like a brand and what it stood for (or lack thereof), but didn’t mind the product or vice versa. In many ways Akta is an avenue for all of us to focus our passion into. I want Akta to be a mountain bike brand, rather than a brand that happens to sell to mountain bikers.

Before we go in depth there, rewind it back to how you first started making your way into the industry?

As soon as I learnt how to ride a bike the obsession started. It really went to the next level when I discovered mountain biking. Since then most of my life decisions were based around bikes. That led to my first real job which was a mechanic at my local bike shop. I worked at a number of different bike shops for years after that.

How did you then end up in the position of creating your first Company Lavan Apparel?

I think a big part of this was being young and naive, thinking it would be cool to start a “t-shirt” company, and a supportive mom who said go for it. I really had no idea what I was doing for a while, but I was stoked on it and it seemed to be doing well so I kept going and learning along the way.

What thoughts initially come to mind when you think back to the Lavan days?

What the hell was I doing and how did I keep it goin for that long haha. I think it goes to show how passion can be a powerful force when you want to do something. It was the best education I could have ever asked for. It was definitely the school of hard knocks, and I ended up losing a big chunk of money in the end, but you can’t learn those real world things in school. It’s cool to still run into people today that know about and remember Lavan. When I was working in Germany, some of my coworkers knew about the company and had no idea I was the one behind it, that was cool.

What stand out memories do you have from those times?

Hands down it would be sponsoring Stevie Smith and Emil Johansson. Stevie being the first official team rider, and Emil being our last. I remember seeing Stevie at the BC cups on a clapped out bike and gear, just destroying the tracks. He was always on a different level. I walked up to him after the Mount Washington BC cup and asked him if he wanted to ride for my new clothing brand, and he was like fuck ya I do! I gave him a couple t-shirts, and just like that he was our first team rider haha.

A few years before the end of Lavan I got a sponsor me email from this little Swedish kid, Emil Johanson. He put together a shaky dad cam video of him riding skate parks and dirt jumps. I was blown away at what he was doing at his age, I knew instantly this kid had huge potential. I also thought it was pretty unreal that some little shredder all the way over in Sweden wanted to ride for Lavan. I remember thinking if only I kept Lavan going for a couple more years, we would have been on the Crankworx podium with Emil.

What ultimately led to Lavan’s demise and how did you end up accepting that conclusion?

It all ended with a shit business deal. Because Lavan was fairly small, I was working with smaller vendors to produce my product. The customer before me in production didn’t pay for their order, so the factory didn’t have enough capital to finish my order. It was a couple year ordeal where I got maybe a quarter of my order and none of my money back. It totally killed any momentum the company had and a lot of my motivation to keep it going. It was right around then that the opportunity to design for Race Face came about. Perfect time to move on.

Thereafter you were at a more corporate company in the form of Raceface, how did that role differ and what can you take from your time there?

The main difference working at RF was I didn't need to worry about any of the business end of things. I got to solely focus on design and development, which was a nice change. At that time RF was still in its resurrection phase after their receivership, so it was still a fairly small team and an all hands on deck mentality. This really let me learn so much as a designer. Being at a company of this size allowed me to be involved in all aspects of the product cycle; from initial concept, to colour research and fabrics, to development and testing, all the way to product launch, I even got to help coordinate and be at a few product launch shoots.

What was a trigger for stepping out of what could have been a comfort zone at Raceface to start something new?

I think since the Lavan days I’ve always dreamt about doing my own thing again. I’ve always dreamt about putting all my passion into my own thing, rather than a shareholders pocket. The last number of years I’ve realized how few brands I am actually attracted to within the MTB industry. I wanted to create an authentic brand, which is definitely a buzz word these days, but I don’t think there are too many left out there. And maybe this is something that I have only realized by working within the industry, from an outside perspective, maybe the marketing departments are doing a good job of conveying how “core” they are. It became hard to see these companies paying big dollars to some design agency to build out this beautiful brand book that is supposed to be the companies “true north star” but when it came down to staying true to it, I would have someone in Ecomm telling me what to design because they think they can sell a boat load during black friday. None of the athletes or people that actually rode bikes wanted such a product, but it had maximum profits, and that was what most decisions were based on. Bean counter mentality.

Relatively speaking Akta is in its infancy but how do you feel its message has been received?

I think it’s been received well! I hope so anyways haha. We are just under a year old now, so the brand has been out in the wild for long enough to get somewhat of an idea of how it’s been received. After our initial launch, it was super cool and motivating to hear the initial feedback. Now that our product has been out and being used in the real world, the positive feedback there really helps solidify we’re on the right track. When a customer reaches out to tell me how stoked they are on the product, or even if they have suggestions, I love that. I hope we continue to be an approachable brand that gets to interact with our customers.

What are you excited for that you can achieve with Akta?

Currently the ideas far exceed what the budget allows! That's exciting and motivating, though. I really want to keep pushing our sustainability, recycled, eco initiatives. That area is improving and changing quite quickly in the apparel space, so I hope we can stay at the forefront of that. Aside from designing and developing the best product, I’m stoked to get to a place where we can support the industry more. Whether that is supporting athletes, trail days, events, or anything that helps build and support our community. Selfishly I want to be a title sponsor of a World Cup team one day so I can be at the finish line congratulating our athletes like Max Commencal does, so rad to see the owner of a company that still genuinely has that much stoke on bikes.

Or what are you already stoked on that you’ve managed to do?

I am incredibly stoked on our first line. It was a stretch for us to pull it all off. I wanted to make sure we came out with somewhat of a full line so we’d be taken seriously as a legit brand, not just someone putting logos on something. Also being almost entirely Bluesign, GRS certified, recycled materials is something I’m very proud of. It was something I was pushing for years previously, but profits always took priority. This would have been the single easiest way for us to increase our profit margins, and as a small brand that is always tempting. Our small but amazing dealer network is something else that I’m super proud of. It’s been great building those relationships this past year and excited about our expansion for next year.

Switching into the product itself, what is the total journey a product goes through from start to finish that we may overlook?

Something that people might overlook is just how far out we design things. I am already working on 2025 stuff and certain items that require a longer testing time will be even further out. Before we had even decided on a company name, I already knew which product and materials I wanted to work with. That definitely helped us get to where we are sooner.

What do you believe were the key elements in your past that have facilitated you to be able to produce and do what you do today?

Running Lavan back in the day definitely built the entrepreneurial foundation for me. Although I had no idea what I was doing, I was stoked to learn all aspects of business and design. Moving to Race Face after was the perfect stepping stone. The soft good department there was very small, so I got to learn and be involved in all parts of the business. It was really the perfect training to allow me to go full circle and come back to doing my own thing.

How has your passion for the sport and your own riding endured through this journey?

If I didn’t have the passion for bikes I wouldn’t have gone down this path. I am definitely a mountain biker that happens to design clothing and not the other way around. I love designing apparel, but when I think about doing it in a different industry, I am nowhere near as stoked. Sometimes I wonder how riding bikes continues to be this fun; it just never gets old.

Have you had to face some serious injuries and adversities along the way? How did you end up keeping on coming back?

My dreams of racing professionally were derailed by countless injuries. It seemed like I had a season ending injury every year for a while. Some heavy ones as well; ruptured organs, ruptured arteries, aneurysms, some wild stuff! The first time I ruptured my spleen (done that one twice) I had some big complications that the doctors overlooked. For four years I didn’t think I’d really ever ride or even run anymore. I had so much scar tissue around an artery that had ruptured, which somehow doctors didn’t notice, in my leg that it wasn’t getting any blood flow. Had a big ol limp leg for a while. Even through all of that I never really thought about giving up riding. Thankfully the injuries have been limited lately!

In your position in the industry how do you avoid being drawn in to clicks and likes chasing?

That is definitely a hard thing to not get drawn into these days. Seems like everyone is chasing these vanity metrics that I have come to discover don’t always translate into sales. A big thing for all of us at Akta is putting out content that we are genuinely stoked on.. If it happens to get some good clicks or views, that’s a bonus. We really want to avoid jumping on social media trends just to get views.

Influencers must fall under that umbrella, they funnily enough don’t appear on your radar though…

In our brand book, one of our core values is “Athletes > Influencers”. We want to work and promote riders that are pushing their riding and care about the sport as much as we do. I think it must be a tricky time for athletes these days to try and not “sell out” but still collect a paycheck. The other day I saw Loic Bruni promoting a canned salmon brand or something haha. I guess anyone that gains a social following is tempted by the influencer money. I think there’s a way to do it authentically, but that line can be pretty thin.

Intro