Meet Ryan, Founder of Kult of Athena

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_color=”” video_preview_image=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” type=”legacy”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” center_content=”no” last=”true” min_height=”” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_sizes_top=”” border_sizes_bottom=”” border_sizes_left=”” border_sizes_right=”” first=”true”][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” font_size=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]Ryan, founder of Kult of Athena, started 20 years ago on a mission to bring high quality swords, weapons, and knowledge to fellow enthusiasts. What began as a means to solve his own frustrations while building a sword collection, has since evolved into the premier marketplace for swords and weapons across the globe. With first hand experience and an unmatched knowledge of the business, we sat down with Ryan for a three part interview series to hear the ins and outs of building this one-of-a-kind business and the ‘80s movies he credits with solidifying an early fascination with swords…[/fusion_text][fusion_youtube id=”NfV2aOSiMGY” alignment=”center” width=”900″ height=”506″ autoplay=”false” api_params=”&rel=0″ hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” css_id=”” /][fusion_separator style_type=”default” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” flex_grow=”0″ top_margin=”20px” bottom_margin=”” width=”” alignment=”center” border_size=”” sep_color=”” icon=”” icon_size=”” icon_color=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_color=”” /][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” font_size=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]Tom: How did you get into swords and armors before starting Kult of Athena?

Ryan: When I was a very small child I was always fascinated with swords, armor and sword sorcery movies. I was always a big fan of ‘80s movies and as a kid we’d stay up all night watching these things on Showtime like “Excalibur,” “Conan” and “The Sword and the Sorcerer.” I also always had toy swords and organized medieval battles in the backyard with other kids.

It was a lifelong interest that I feel like, maybe, I was born with because as soon as I started seeing these movies something resonated in me and affirmed YES, this is what I want. I want this life.

Over time I grew up and started a career in web design and the love of swords was on the back burner. Once I was more of an adult and had some disposable income, there weren’t a whole lot of affordable swords in the market. We’re talking early to mid ‘90s where it was only rather expensive decorative items. Marto was a big brand back then but they tend towards the fantasy type which is not really what we try to focus on – we try to scale on the historical ends of things. [Ed note: KOA occasionally carries Marto but it’s demand has declined over the years.] 

Long story short, I didn’t start a collection immediately. As time went on I would pick up a few decorative things that were in a lower price range, that I was able to locate, but ultimately I was dissatisfied with the selection.

One thing led to another, and while I was doing web design for another company they were mailed a catalog from a small swords supplier. They had nothing to do in the swords space – they sold european model trains – so the mailer was passed on to me.

They were decently priced – at this point it was late ‘90s – and it was interesting, lower end, very decorative items, but it was cool.

That’s when I was inspired to start my collection – things that I could find to hang on the wall for fairly cheap. But extrapolating out from that, they were good prices and I realized I could get a wholesale account and start a business.

I decided to make a quick website and sell some of these things – so I did it. That’s how Kult of Athena was started in early 2000.

We started with 12 items on the website. Just one page thrown together, not super advanced, but enough to get some products up there with a simple shopping cart to see what happens. It started going surprisingly well. One order here, one order there.

The entire business was started on a $200 investment, to be honest. I bought swords at wholesale and took the profits to make the next order, and so on.

I was running it out of a spare bedroom in my house that quickly filled up with swords.

I had begun importing stuff directly pretty early on and it became clear that I was approaching what would be the limit of what was available to sell. I was going to tap out of the wholesale supplier pretty quickly.

With that in mind, a couple years of being in business I started making connections with some of the overseas manufacturers and put into production some items and importing them directly. Soon I was coming up with my own designs and handing them off to more factories for production. At that time it was still mostly decorative items but we were able to expand the product offering lines.

Tom: So when you started sourcing from different companies, would you say it was mostly fantasy items, or functional pieces you were buying?

RW: I was interested in historical things. I will always take a simple viking sword over a goblin weapon with skulls all over it.

There’s a place for that stuff and some of it can be really cool, but it doesn’t resonate with me as much. I was always looking for more historic pieces, so we started to lean towards generic fantasy stuff – like plausible fantasy. These specific swords or daggers weren’t something that existed in history, but it looks like it could have.

In stage one, we did a lot of stuff like that. Tapping into whatever cool items we were able to get from existing supply chains or starting new supply chains and putting new products into production.

A few years into that, I was able to reach out to the larger, more functional suppliers and we started to carry things like Windlass Steelcrafts, Paul Chen at the time, who is Hanwei now, Conway and those brands.

Eventually as that kept growing I was able to reach out to more manufacturers, or in some cases they came to me as our exposure was picking up. We started to get Del Tin, Arms & Armour, Albion and then grew out from there.

T: Did you start creating your own designs and contacting overseas manufacturers prior to moving into a warehouse space? Was this all happening when you were running KOA from your home?

R: I don’t remember exactly when things shifted as far as which manufacturers and brands I had at the time. Things got pretty out of control rather quickly from an inventory perspective once I started importing directly. If you’re going to start importing you can’t just order ten, you have to order 100 and inventory starts to bulk up. It became less and less feasible to try and contain that all in a spare bedroom. We either had to start building seating arrangements out of sword crates or find some sort of commercial space.

Our first warehouse had a showroom where customers could come in, explore products and purchase in person – but we were fairly small and unknown but some people did make the trek and visit. Today we’re located in the same city, Elgin, but that first shop was significantly smaller than the warehouse we have today.

Over time I was continuously picking up new lines and expanding inventory because the goal in starting this business was at first, to fill my own needs. I wanted to have a really nice sword collection and was really interested in this stuff but didn’t find it being serviced in the market at that time. As we grew into that hole in the market we grew into larger and larger warehouses.

T: It was a huge niche that you were looking to fill for yourself from that first catalogue to realizing the opportunity.

R: Exactly. I had dealt with a lot of the companies that were around early on and I felt they were okay, but that it could be a lot better. I desired more so it was my goal to create that experience for others, myself as well, and start pulling all the best swords, armor and weapons into one place. That was the goal and I think for the most part we’ve accomplished that.

Today, I can say that most all of the major brands, in swords at least, are represented at Kult of Athena. We have several exclusive items and brand partnerships that aren’t available elsewhere.

I think we’ve been really successful in trying to make it easier for customers to have access to these items. Previously all of it had to be directly imported from Europe or somewhere else. A good example is Del Tin who didn’t have a lot of availability in the US market beyond small renaissance fair dealers but now we carry a huge assortment of their products.

At the end of the day we’re here to make it easy for customers to have a wide selection of different products at different price points, for different collectors. My first sword wasn’t an Albion – it was a $60 wall hanger.

T: Mine was a Power Ranger sword with AA batteries. 

R: There you go! I mean that’s where I started, so I never wanted to cut off those collectors. There’s a space for that. Not everyone wants to drop a thousand dollars on their first sword and not a lot of people can. You buy at your level, so I always aim to keep a very wide, diverse line of swords at different price points. If you want to spend as little as $50 to hang something nice on the wall, or up to $3,500 for a really special piece, we have options.

More from our interviews with Ryan will appear over the next two months.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]