Rory McFadyen: How Reflo Built a Sustainable Sportswear Brand, Landed Harry Kane & Scaled Through Partnerships
Building The Brand with James BurttShow Notes
How do you build a performance wear brand in one of the most competitive industries in the world… while trying to fix one of fashion’s biggest environmental problems? In this episode of Building The Brand, James Burtt sits down with Rory McFadyen, co-founder of Reflo, to unpack how a startup launched in 2021 and grew from an ambitious idea into a fast-scaling sportswear business working with major partners across football, golf, motorsport and elite sport. Watch more episodes and connect here: https://www.youtube.com/@buildingthebrandofficial https://buildingthebrand.co.uk/newsletter Rory explains why Reflo positions itself as a performance wear brand with sustainability at its core, not the other way around, and why great product and great storytelling matter more than green-washing. He shares the origin story of the brand, how he and co-founder Pete turned a problem in the fashion industry into a commercial opportunity, and why they chose one of the hardest categories in business to enter. The conversation also goes deep on startup reality; building products with no industry background, learning how to scale systems, evolving from founder chaos into process-led growth, and recognising when the original business model needs to change. Rory also reveals how early inbound interest from the Australian Open and WM Phoenix Open changed the route to market, how Reflo built real traction in teamwear and partnerships, and how Harry Kane became both an ambassador and investor in the business. CONNECT WITH RORY /REFLO: https://reflo.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorymcfadyen/ https://www.instagram.com/refloofficial/ KEY MOMENTS: 0:00 Why fashion is such a huge environmental problem 1:09 Is Reflo a performance brand or a sustainability brand 1:59 Why customers buy product first and sustainability second 4:23 Where Reflo is now and what changed after major growth 5:00 Why building systems and data became the next phase of the business 7:32 What happens when a startup becomes a 50-person company 10:00 The early story of Rory and Pete as childhood friends 14:10 The moment the Reflo idea really began 15:00 Turning waste plastic into high-performance apparel 17:37 Why apparel was one of the hardest possible businesses to start 20:00 How the founders researched the market before launching 22:15 Why co-founders need different strengths, not identical ones 30:00 The first prototype products and early product mistakes 32:18 The reality of fixing bad first samples 33:48 Reflo’s innovation drops and recycled car part capsule 36:12 The early days of selling to friends and first real customers 37:16 The first moments Rory saw strangers wearing Reflo 40:00 How Rory still reads customer feedback, reviews and returns 43:55 Why Reflo does not lead with sustainability messaging alone 45:00 The original DTC plan versus what actually happened 45:53 How the Australian Open and WM Phoenix Open found Reflo 47:48 Why teamwear became a major growth opportunity 48:21 The huge commercial and environmental problem in sports kit 49:15 How Reflo built Reloop and circular recycling into teamwear 50:24 Why genuine partnerships matter more than logo placement 52:26 Why founders must stay focused but flexible 54:20 How Harry Kane discovered the brand 56:38 How Harry Kane became an investor and ambassador 57:03 Why Reflo chose crowdfunding over traditional VC 1:03:06 What the next six to twelve months look like for Reflo 1:05:00 Why DTC is becoming a bigger focus now 1:06:47 Building an in-house agency model inside the marketing team 1:10:16 How Reflo operates as a remote international company 1:13:00 What Rory is most excited about next 1:16:37 What Rory has had to change as a founder to keep scaling 1:18:44 Why leadership structure had to evolve as the business matured 1:22:35 The difference between being a founder and becoming a CEO 1:24:19 Rory’s dream future brand partnerships
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