The Future of DTC Is…Boring?

Not many people know the name Ryan Treft. That’s just fine with Ryan Treft.

“I don’t plan on hitting the speaking circuit,” he says. “I’d rather be behind the scenes.” It’s served him well so far. Treft has been behind some great direct-to-consumer success stories—stories you also may never have heard of because they didn’t get much press and weren’t awash in investor money. But they made money. Lots of it. Which was the point.

Now Treft has bought a brand many people heard of: It’s Brandless, the onetime DTC company that raised nearly $300 million (much from the notoriously growth-hungry SoftBank) on the promise of selling cheap, everyday goods