Head of Sales · Onboarding Guide · 2026

Welcome to
Handker.

Artist-designed bandanas for everyday adventures. A founder-led brand built on hand-drawn artistry, grit, and genuine human connection.

38% YoY Growth
$350K Best Month Ever
80K Email Subscribers
Handker
$350K
Best Month on Record
January 2024 — archive sale
38%
Year-Over-Year Growth
Current trajectory
80K
Email Subscribers
In Klaviyo
18
Bandana Series
Series 18 at manufacturer now

01 — Brand History

The story behind
the bandana.

Understanding where Handker came from is your most powerful sales tool. This is a brand built on instinct, artistry, and genuine resilience.

2018

The $35 bandana that started it all

Beth walked into White's Mercantile in Nashville and paid $35 for a one-color screen-printed bandana. Two weeks later, she was in India visiting a manufacturer with her friend Missy — the same bandana cost $0.75 to make. The gap in the market was obvious: nothing existed between a $0.99 Walmart bandana and a $40 artisan one.

March 2019

Hemlock Goods launches on Faire

12 original bandanas. Beth made the website, did the logo, and did everything herself. She uploaded her entire 1canoe2 customer list to Faire and got front-page placement (before Faire was big). First 4 months: ~$100K in organic revenue.

$100K in first 4 months
2020–2022

Pandemic growth + product expansion

Bandanas became masks. Hemlock manufactured masks during the pandemic, which dramatically accelerated growth. The company steadily expanded its series model and trade show presence.

Summer 2023

The lawsuit — and the rebrand

A cease and desist from Hemlock Hat Company (California) — deeper pockets, unavoidable settlement. Cost: $10K to settle + $50K in legal fees. Rather than go quiet, Beth turned the rebrand into a brand moment. Postcard campaign: "Don't be a d*ck. Hanker. The D is silent."

January 2024

Best month in company history

Massive archive sale to clear Hemlock-branded inventory. The rebrand momentum turned adversity into the brand's strongest month ever.

$350,000 — wholesale + retail combined
2026

Where we are now

3rd best sales month on record, 38% YoY growth, new $60K website launched March, Series 18 at manufacturer. Wild rags just launched and are selling exceptionally.

02 — Product

What we sell.

Product is where Beth's heart is. Understanding the line — what's core, what's growing, what's experimental — gives you credibility with buyers. Click any card to expand.

70%

22" Bandanas ↗

The hero product. Hand-drawn, screen or digitally printed, premium cotton.

Launched as 12 designs ("Series 1") in 2019, now on Series 18. Each series has a named concept, mood board, original hand-drawn designs, and a photo shoot. 2–3 launches per year. Retail price started at $14; now higher. Massive margin, easy to ship, photographs beautifully — perfectly designed for social commerce.

↑

Wild Rags ↗

Larger scarves. Just launched — selling exceptionally well.

Launched on the website ~3 weeks ago and immediately took off. May be a category moment in the broader market. The launch photos were taken spontaneously (jumping out of a car with friends in Texas) and performed brilliantly. Strong opportunity to push to wholesale accounts now.

✦

Joy Drops ↗

One-off curated drops. Paris flea markets. India bazaars. Always sell out.

Occasional drops of things Beth finds in her travels — flea markets in Paris, markets in India. Listed, photographed, and sold as special events. Always sell out. Primary purpose: customer connection, content, and creative joy. Not a core revenue driver but powerful for brand engagement.

+

Supporting Products ↗

Slides, quilts, totes, home goods. Mostly viewed as marketing.

Brass bandana slides are consistent sellers. Quilts, tote bags, jewelry, picture frames, and home goods have been experimented with over the years. Beth's current instinct: "more, not new" — deepen what's working. Home goods may be a distraction. Backpacks underperformed in 2019 but worth revisiting given the larger audience.

03 — Systems & Tools

How the business runs.

Every platform you'll need to know. See Section 06 for the login checklist.

📦
ERP — Central Hub

CIN7 (Cin7 Omni)

All orders flow through here — manual, Faire, and Shopify. Your primary daily tool. Check the dashboard every morning and log the sales figure into the Google Sheet.

🛍️
DTC Storefront

Shopify

Retail orders and the customer-facing storefront. Connected to CIN7. Pull daily retail revenue from here to understand the DTC side of the split.

🏭
Warehouse Management

Extensiv (WMS)

Receives fulfilled orders from CIN7 and manages physical inventory and fulfillment. Good to understand the flow even if you're not in it daily.

🛒
Wholesale Marketplace

Faire

Trade wholesale marketplace. Orders flow automatically into CIN7. Bentleigh now sends weekly emails to wholesale buyers here — early results look like it's lifting orders.

📧
Email Marketing

Klaviyo

~80,000 subscribers. Managed by Bentleigh. Retail emails ~1x/week. Faire wholesale emails ~1x/week. Spend time with Bentleigh to understand the audience segmentation.

📊
Ad Attribution

AdBeacon

Tracks spend and attribution across Google and Meta. Use directionally — Beth doesn't trust the attribution numbers fully. Total revenue is the real KPI.

📣
Ad Agency — Google + Meta

Best Practice Media

Manages paid ads on Google and Meta. $4,700/mo agency fee. Bi-weekly calls. All creative is produced in-house by Bentleigh — the agency does not touch creative.

📈
Daily Sales Tracking

Google Sheets — Sales Goals

Maintained since 2019. Log daily sales from the CIN7 dashboard here every morning. Includes a ROAS tab updated monthly. This is how Beth tracks the business at a glance.

💬
Team Communication

Slack

The primary communication channel for the whole team. Everyone is on Slack all day. You must be active here — this is how the team stays connected as a remote operation.

☀️
Daily Routine

Log into CIN7 → note day's sales → paste into Google Sheet → check Shopify for retail breakdown → check Slack for team updates.

04 — The Team

Who you're working with.

A small, talented, remote-first team. Each person has a clear lane — understand those lanes early.

B

Beth

Founder & Creative Director
Sets all brand and product direction. Approves all creative. Results-oriented — she wants to see outcomes, not daily check-ins. Your primary point of contact. She is also first and foremost a product person.
Your main contact
C

Cathy Sloss

Customer Service & Order Management
Handles CS and ad hoc wholesale outreach. Childhood friend of Beth's. Reliable and self-sufficient but needs explicit, clear instructions — prefers to ask rather than self-direct. Not a natural salesperson. She'll do anything you ask; just be specific.
Needs clear direction
B

Bentleigh

Marketing Manager · Remote, Iowa
Runs all of Klaviyo, designs all Meta and Google ads, handles website layout. Highly skilled and fully self-managed — a genuine delight to work with. Brand-side focus, not sales. Spend time with her early; she knows the customer deeply.
Spend time with her early
B

Brooke

Social Media
Manages reels, comments, and all social content. Also Beth's partner in Frameworks, a separate brand launched recently.
Social & content
E

Eileen

CFO
Owns QuickBooks and holds a lot of financial reports and information. Expect more interaction with Eileen than you might anticipate — she's a key resource for understanding the numbers behind the business.
Finance & reporting
D

Tama Weidner

Sales Rep · Pacific Northwest
The only sales rep in the network. Focuses on natural grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest. Top account: New Seasons Market. Strong relationship. Geographic expansion of the rep network is an open question.
PNW rep

05 — Key Accounts

Know the accounts.

There is no formal account management program today. Building one is your first big opportunity.

Current State

No formal account check-in or outreach cadence exists today. Cathy Sloss does occasional outreach but it's ad hoc. Bentleigh recently started weekly Faire emails to wholesale buyers — early signs are promising. Building a structured program here is your highest-leverage early win.

06 — Logins to Set Up

Before you can start.

Check these off as they get created. Click the checkbox when done.

07 — Priorities

Where to focus.

Five clear priorities, in order. This is what success looks like in year one.

01

Key Accounts

Huge potential here. We sold to Anthropologie once, seven years ago — that relationship is worth revisiting. Also explore western wear chains like Boot Barn and similar retailers where the Handker aesthetic is a natural fit. Map the whitespace and start building those conversations.

02

Sales Strategy & Best Practices

Build the infrastructure for a real sales function: documented processes, systems, trade show analysis, and training Cathy on outreach. There is also potential to hire a dedicated sales person — ideally someone who could pull double duty and support Frameworks and/or Larney as well.

03

Take-Home Revenue

Top-line growth is great, but the real goal is profit that transfers to investments. After a couple of strong growth years, the target is at least $300K in owner distributions this year. Every revenue and cost decision should be filtered through this lens: does it move real money home?

04

Operations

Lower priority because things are running well — but always open to feedback, ideas, and input. The biggest lever here is product assortment discipline: more of what works, not chasing new categories. If you see something that could be tightened up, speak up.

05

Amazon & TikTok

Both channels have real potential — but neither is free. The question to answer before recommending either: what is the operational lift, the cash required, and the realistic revenue upside? Come with a model, not just enthusiasm. TikTok advertising is already on the radar; Amazon is a bigger strategic question about brand positioning and margin.

08 — Metrics That Matter

How we measure success.

Know what Beth looks at — and what she doesn't over-index on.

Watch These

  • Total revenue (wholesale + retail) — tracked daily in the Google Sheet
  • Year-over-year growth — currently running at 38%
  • Monthly ROAS by channel — on the ROAS tab of the Google Sheet
  • Wholesale vs. retail split — current: ~$202K wholesale / ~$130K retail
  • Series launch performance — new series every few months

Context on Attribution

  • AdBeacon numbers are directional, not gospel — Beth does not fully trust attribution models
  • Total revenue is always the real KPI
  • Ad spend tracked monthly: Meta typically higher than Google
  • Agency fee: $4,700/mo to Best Practice Media
  • Creative performance is judged by results, not by agency metrics