Steph Hon, founder of travel capsule brand Cadence, has a professional ballet background that is proof that everything is connected in one way or another. It was in that dance world, bouncing from place to place and needing something, anything, to make maintaining routines feasible, that the brand's seeds were planted. She pivoted to sports marketing where the same need was present: "I was traveling with athletes and their managers and realized they share a lot of the same pain points," Hon says. "We spend so much time curating these routines that make us feel most ourselves and the minute we leave our home, those routines tend to be a side note or hard to transfer."
Hon recognizes the importance of routines and what those mean to people, whether in terms of supplements or skincare. She recognizes that this same need exists outside of dance and sports and applies to anyone trying to always feel like their most consistent and at-home self. And so for Hon, making these things not only easy and possible, but also making them chic was a no brainer. She created capsules available in a range of ten colors and with customizable labels that are TSA-compliant, leakproof, and magnetic.
CadenceMaking an indisputably great product was a non-negotiable for Hon, who is breaking into an industry that comes with a lot of noise. "We're in a world where products aren't memorable anymore. They don't actually make us loyal. In terms of Cadence, I would order refillable travel containers and they would leak everywhere," She says. "I recognized that the world needs a business that actually cares about making amazing products. We used to. My grandma's stove lasted twenty years and it was a standard stove. All of my sweaters are my grandparents or parents and they last years."
Another non-negotiable, very much inspired by her ballet background, was considering the way the product moved and how it responded to the customer's movements. She considered how the product would stand up against minor annoyances and inconveniences that wouldn't necessarily ruin a day but certainly wouldn't make it better or easier. "With the product design, I was very aware of movement," she shares. "Our capsules have caps that magnetize to the side so you don't have your hands occupied by two different things. All of the capsules also magnetize together in a honeycomb form so that you can just pick up one thing and move it instead of a having to grab several things."
Although it seems like Steph Hon solved the problem she set out to, she's is constantly on the lookout for new problems to solve–that's just her nature. And, as she continues to come up with chic and effective solutions, her supplement and wellness routines remain intact daily thanks to Cadence.
What led to you wanting to create this brand? What do you think was missing from the market?
"There was a lot missing from both a philosophical perspective but also a true problem solution perspective. When we're at a hotel or in an unfamiliar time zone, place and space, we should still be able to have the supplement routine that makes us feel our best or wash our face in a way that makes us feel like we're at home even though everything else around us is different.
We don't buy things pre-made from a manufacturer, which is how so much is made. We actually build everything from scratch and everything is patented. So it's truly customizable, solves everyone's problem, is beautiful to look at, easy to use, and ties everything together with a bow to solve everything."
How important was the brand's aesthetic to you?
"The goal was definitely for the product to look chic. I run our innovation team and we don't set out to design something pretty, it just has to be, but it first has to solve every problem. Simplicity visually was also important to us. It should be able to fit into your environment. It should feel like a piece of art in your bathroom. The parcels should stay open like a tray in your bathroom. It should be so beautiful that you don't need to hide it away."
CadenceWhat are your beauty and wellness routines?
"Skincare is a really important part of my routine. It is a non-negotiable when I travel, and one of the words we avoid at cadence is 'essentials;. I don't like that word because why should we only have our essentials when we travel? It should just be all the things that make us feel good. And so for me, that's my entire skincare routine. Brand-wise, my routine is a mix of Sofie Pavitt, Skinceuticals, Stratia, and Dr. Denis Gross.
How does the product play a role in your day-to-day life?
In total, I probably have twenty capsules that I bring with me always for skincare and haircare. I also have a pretty big supplement routine, so that's a whole other set of capsules. I touch my capsules every single day."
Do you think other brands are catching up to what you're doing?
"I think it's great whenever people use refillable packaging, that should just happen progress and that is never going to impact us because there's always just going to be a world where you want things still in a more condensed and organized way, but people should move in that direction. We just got the first dupe that we saw and purchased it and took it apart to study it. But our product is an investment, and there's so much about it that's invisible to the eye, like the leak proof-ness. So when we were comparing these dupes for example, which is always very fun to do, they're not completely leak proof because the patented part of our process that they didn't and couldn't replicate. I think people have a lot of one-off products because that's how they are thinking about solving the problem. But we like to just stay focused on what we are doing and figuring out how we can do what we're doing better every time."
CadenceWhat do you want people to think when they visit the website or Instagram?
"I want them to feel two things. One, I want them to feel calm. That's really important, and in control, is what we like to say. We want them to feel in calm and in control. The other is inspired by the innovation of it. Another word we like, a phrase we use internally, is be 'a brand people can root for' and that's one of our pillars in the company: making decisions that we will be proud of no matter what happens. And so that's probably the third word: innovative. Maybe the third word is thoughtfulness and connectivity. In terms of social media and the way we communicate what we share, we're trying to just share more about our background. We're not a giant company. We own our own fulfillment center and that means we get to package things individually and offer a crazy amount of customizations. We should show that."
As a business owner, what does a typical day look like?
"Every day is so different. I run our innovation team and I run our creative team and I also do the CEO role. Today and this week have been fun. I got to really lean into the creative team side. We did a lot for the holidays and exciting upcoming collections. I was on set kind of creative directing our studio shoot with some creators we always work with. That is really fun because our product is incredibly versatile. We have moms who are packing for their whole families using it, really excited. We have people going out and dating across the city or people whisking away to Europe for multiple weeks. My other day-to-day can look like going to the city and being in our Brooklyn studio. We have 3D printers always running. My two designers are there and we'll do prototype reviews. We prototype everything in house, hundreds of prototypes for every product. So just touching, feeling, thinking: would this solve the problem?"
Cadence
With a brand where the product is already great, is it hard to stay innovative and creative?
"No, only because there's so many more problems to solve. I never set out to create a container company. The capsules are an amazing product line. They're just one of many future product lines for us. I wish there was more time in the day solve these problems more quickly. But what always brings me a sense of inspiration is just I believe wholeheartedly in our philosophy. I will never launch a product that I do not believe in for the sake of making money."
