As a part of this series, we had the pleasure to interview Preston Lynn.
Preston Lynn is the co-founder of Plush Ritual, a direct-to-consumer brand that delivers premium bath towels on a smart replacement cycle and takes back old ones to clean and donate. A former commercial real estate professional, Preston launched his first brand, SABAL Swim, with his wife and business partner Hartley in 2021 before turning his attention to a quieter but universal problem: towels that go flat, stay in the closet too long, and never get replaced. He builds and runs both brands alongside Hartley, with a focus on customer trust, product education, and the kind of everyday luxury that doesn’t require a premium markup.
Preston, thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we begin, can you please introduce yourself? Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
My name is Preston Lynn, and I am the founder of Plush Ritual. I grew up in Dallas, Texas and started my career in commercial real estate. After about a decade in the business, I moved to San Diego to earn my MBA at UC San Diego. During that time, my wife and I took our first real step into the direct to consumer world by launching SABAL Swim in 2021.
The idea came from something simple and personal. My wife wanted swimwear that made her feel confident, especially as someone with a smaller bust, and we could not find anything that truly solved the problem. So we decided to build it ourselves. We tested early versions, launched on a small scale, and the response from customers was immediate. That experience taught us how powerful it is when you create a product that solves a real need and pair it with a brand that customers actually connect with. SABAL Swim became a full time business for my wife, and it also gave us the foundation to build more brands the right way.
Plush Ritual came from a different kind of obsession, my daily routine. Showering is how I reset in the morning and how I wind down at night, and the towel is the final step. I always wanted that fresh, fluffy towel feeling, but I was frustrated by how quickly most towels break down, and how expensive it gets to constantly replace them. The more we looked into it, the more it felt like a problem people quietly accept.
So Plush Ritual started with a simple goal: make the everyday towel experience feel like a small luxury you can count on, without the typical premium markup, and with a smarter replacement cycle that fits real life.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
The person I am most grateful for is my wife and business partner, Hartley Lynn.
Plush Ritual is truly a two person company at its core right now, and Hartley and I operate as a left brain, right brain partnership. I tend to focus on strategy, operations, and building the systems that make the business work. Hartley leads the creative vision, brand, and customer experience. That balance is a big reason we have been able to build something cohesive and premium while also staying disciplined about execution.
A story that captures what I mean is how we have built Plush Ritual without a traditional background in ecommerce. We both came from commercial real estate, so we have had to learn everything from scratch, product development, sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, marketing, customer support, website optimization, and the constant problem solving that comes with running a direct to consumer business. There are moments where it feels like you are learning ten new jobs at the same time. When you are building with such a small team, there is nowhere to hide. If something breaks, you fix it. If something is unclear, you figure it out. Having the right partner makes all the difference in those moments, and Hartley has been that for me.
What makes it worth it is that we genuinely love doing it, and we love doing it together. We get to build a brand we believe in and obsess over the details as a team.
And on the toughest days, the thing that keeps us going is the customer feedback. We get unsolicited emails and testimonials from customers describing how much they love the product, how it elevated their everyday routine, or how excited they are to finally have something that feels like a small luxury at home. Hartley and I will literally read those messages out loud to each other. It is pure motivation. In a complex and competitive industry, those notes are the reminder that the work matters and that the brand is resonating with real people.
I am also deeply grateful for my parents. They have been my biggest supporters and cheerleaders from day one. My dad built his own commercial real estate company, and growing up around that taught me that building something takes time, consistency, and grit. Even when ecommerce felt like a totally new world for us, that foundation and support gave me the confidence to keep going.
So when I think about who helped me get here, it starts with Hartley, and it is reinforced by my parents, and by the customers who remind us why we do what we do.
Ok, fantastic. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. What does your E-Commerce company do? What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current E-Commerce business? Can you share that story with us?
Plush Ritual is a direct to consumer membership built around one simple idea: your towels should feel fresh and fluffy, all the time, not just the first few weeks after you buy them. At its core, we deliver premium bath towels on a replacement schedule that fits your life, and we make it easy to send back your old towels so they can be cleaned and donated through our program. The goal is to take something people deal with quietly at home, towels that get rough, tired, and less hygienic over time, and turn it into an effortless upgrade to your everyday routine.
The aha moment happened a few years ago when we did what a lot of people do. We walked into a well known retailer, spent real money on brand new towels, and brought them home excited. They felt amazing at first. Then about 3 months later they honestly did not feel like the same product. They were not soft the way they were on day 1, and they were not something I wanted on my face after a shower. What frustrated me most was the value equation. If you are spending around $60 per towel, you expect it to hold up, and it should not feel like you need to replace it that quickly.
That experience sent me down the rabbit hole. I started researching how towels are actually made, what makes one towel feel great and another feel flat, and why performance drops so fast. The biggest surprise was realizing how little education exists around towels. People will research mattresses and skincare for weeks, but towels are something we use every day and almost no one talks about what to look for, how to care for them, or how often they should realistically be replaced.
So we sampled towels for over a year and built the exact feel I wanted, plush, absorbent, and durable. Then we layered in the part that really makes Plush Ritual different. Towels are not a one time purchase, they are a replacement cycle. Most brands sell you a product once and disappear. We built a system that keeps you in that fresh towel feeling, at an honest price, and makes the end of life process simple through our return, cleaning, and donation program.
It has been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a failure you don’t talk about often — but learned the most from? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
One failure I do not talk about often is how much time we lost early on trying to finance Plush Ritual the “perfect” way instead of launching the simplest version and learning in the market.
Because we were bootstrapping, I convinced myself we needed a bank loan before we could really move. So we spent a ton of energy building forecasts, rewriting decks, answering follow up questions, and waiting on someone else’s timeline. The process dragged, the goalposts kept moving, and we lost momentum. Looking back, it was a quiet but real failure because the biggest cost was not the money, it was time and focus.
The turning point was realizing that financing had become a form of procrastination. The only thing that truly de risks a consumer brand is customers buying, returning, subscribing, and telling you what they love and what confuses them. Once we accepted that, we made the decision to launch leaner, with what we could support ourselves, and let customer demand guide what we built next.
A second lesson came right after that. We care deeply about feedback, and early on we were almost too reactive. A single email or comment could send us into a website change or a product tweak. We learned to stay close to customers without letting one loud data point steer the whole brand. Now we look for patterns, validate with data, and then make changes quickly and confidently.
What did “success” look like in your first year, and how has that definition changed over time? Can you please share a story about that?
In our first year, success looked very simple: prove that strangers would understand the idea, trust us, and actually want to be part of it. We were not measuring success by big headline numbers. We were measuring it by whether we could create real “wow” moments and whether customers felt taken care of.
The story I always think about is how I would explain Plush Ritual to someone in a quick, 30 second elevator pitch. People usually nod along when you talk about fresh, fluffy towels and upgrading your everyday routine. But the moment that changed everything was when I would add, “And we will even take back your old towels, clean them, and donate or recycle them.” That is when people would stop and say, “Wait, what?” You could literally see the aha moment happen in real time. It clicked that we were not just selling towels, we were solving a problem people have quietly lived with for years: keeping worn out towels around way too long, cluttering the house, and never knowing what to do with them.
Over time, my definition of success has become even more focused. It is still about satisfied customers, but now it is about consistency and trust at scale. A customer loving the towel is important. A customer loving the towel and staying subscribed because they feel taken care of is the real win. It means the product holds up, the experience is seamless, the pricing feels fair, and the program is actually making their life easier.
To me, if customers are genuinely excited, telling their friends, and coming back for the next shipment, everything else in the business moves in the right direction.
In a very saturated E-Commerce landscape, how did you carve out a distinct brand identity? Please explain.
We built a distinct brand identity by doing the opposite of what most towel brands do.
Most companies lead with lifestyle imagery, a few buzzwords, and the promise of “hotel quality.” We lead with education and clarity. Towels are one of those categories where people use them every day, but almost no one talks about hygiene, replacement cycles, or why towels lose their softness and performance so quickly. So our brand is built around explaining the why, not just selling the what.
We focus on three things.
First, we educate customers on what is actually happening with their towels over time. Towels collect moisture, dead skin, product residue, and bacteria. Even with regular washing, most towels slowly break down and stop feeling clean and plush. People keep them far longer than they should, often because they do not realize there is a better option or they do not know what “better” even means.
Second, we offer a simple solution that feels obvious once you hear it. Premium bath towels at honest prices, delivered on a schedule that keeps that fresh towel feeling consistent. It removes the mental load of “When should I replace these?” and replaces it with a system.
Third, we built our identity around what happens after replacement. The towel return and donation or recycling program is not a gimmick for us, it is core to the brand. People hoard old towels because they do not know what to do with them. We make it easy to declutter, keep only fresh towels in the home, and feel good about where the old ones go.
So the brand identity is not about claiming we invented towels. It is about creating a better, more intentional way to own them, grounded in education, routine, and a customer experience that feels thoughtful from start to finish.
What role does trust play in conversion for your business, and how do you actively build it? Can you please share a story about that?
Trust is everything for Plush Ritual, because we are asking customers to do two things that require confidence. Try a new brand they have never heard of, and join a membership that is designed to repeat over time. If trust is not there, conversion does not happen, and even if someone buys once, they will not stay.
We build trust in a few very deliberate ways.
First, we are transparent. We explain what the membership is, who it is for, and who it is not for. We are upfront that our towels will not be everyone’s favorite, and that is ok. We would rather the right customers join than convince the wrong customers with flashy claims.
Second, we focus on proof over promises. We share real customer feedback, real product details, and real education around towels and replacement cycles. The goal is that someone leaves our site feeling more informed, even if they do not buy that day.
Third, we try to earn trust the old fashioned way, by doing exactly what we said we would do. Deliver on time, deliver the quality we describe, and handle issues quickly and fairly.
A story that sticks with me is from early on, when a customer reached out with a message that was essentially, I have never heard of you, why should I trust you with this. Instead of trying to hard sell, we replied with a very direct explanation of the product, the pricing, the membership, and what the experience would look like. They ended up ordering, and then they had a small issue with their shipment. We responded immediately, fixed it, and followed up to make sure they were happy. A few days later, they emailed again, unprompted, to say that the towel was exactly what they wanted, and that the way we handled the issue was what made them feel confident in the brand.
That is the real answer for us. Trust is not something we can claim. It is something we earn by showing up consistently and taking care of people.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your experience and success, what are the “Five Things You Need To Build A Successful E-Commerce Business In A Saturated Ecommerce Landscape?” Please share a story or an example for each.
1. Own a specific problem, for a specific customer
If you try to be everything to everyone, you will lose to the brands with bigger budgets. The fastest way to stand out is to choose one clear problem and become the obvious solution. Example: With Plush Ritual, we are not trying to sell every linen product under the sun. We are focused on one feeling, that fresh, fluffy towel experience, and one system, a simple replacement cycle plus a take back program for old towels. That clarity makes the brand easier to understand, easier to talk about, and easier for the right customer to say yes to.
2. Win on trust, not hype
In saturated ecommerce, trust is the real conversion lever. People do not need another product, they need confidence that you will deliver what you promise, and that you will take care of them if something is not perfect. Example: Early on, we would get messages from customers saying they had never heard of us and asking why they should trust us. We learned to lean into transparency instead of trying to “sell.” We explain exactly what we do, what to expect, and we respond fast. Those same customers often become our best testimonials because the experience matched the promise.
3. Know your numbers, protect cash, scale slower than your ego wants to
A lot of brands die from growth, not lack of ideas. Ads are expensive, shipping is expensive, mistakes are expensive, and you cannot finance your way out of bad unit economics. Example: We made the decision to grow at a pace where we could actually fix issues in real time. If we are not confident we can deliver an excellent experience consistently, we would rather slow down than “blow our shot” and lose customers for life. That mindset forces discipline around margins, fulfillment costs, return rates, and what it truly costs to acquire a customer.
4. Create demand with education and customer stories
Discounts are not a brand strategy. In competitive categories, you need a point of view that makes people care, and content that makes them feel smarter for finding you. Example: With towels, there is a massive lack of education around hygiene, care, and replacement cycles. So we lead with the why. Why towels break down. Why do they stop feeling clean. What “good” actually means. Then we back it up with real customer emails and testimonials. That combination makes the brand feel credible and makes word of mouth far more natural.
5. Build a small team you trust, and learn to delegate earlier than you think
Founders cannot do everything forever, and the work never stops. The goal is to hire help that multiplies your strengths, not just vendors who say the right things. Example: Hartley and I had to learn every part of ecommerce coming from real estate, which was humbling. We also learned that the best partners are the people you know, like, and trust, and can be direct with. If you feel like you cannot speak up to someone on your team, it stops feeling like your company. Once we started delegating to the right people and setting clear expectations, everything got cleaner, faster, and more consistent.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
If I could start a movement that brought the most good to the most people, it would be a movement around decluttering with intention. Not decluttering for aesthetics, but decluttering because it genuinely improves your daily life.
So many of us hold onto things “just in case” or “what if,” and towels are a perfect example. Until recently, I still had towels from my college days. They were not great, they took up space, and they were never going to magically become the towels I actually wanted to use. But I kept them anyway, because that is what people do. We keep extras, we keep backups, and over time our homes become storage units for things we do not even enjoy.
There is something incredibly freeing about replacing worn out essentials with a few high quality items you actually love, and letting the rest go. With towels specifically, it is an instant upgrade to your routine, and it is also a space upgrade. Towels take up a surprising amount of room, so when you get rid of old ones and keep only what you need, you feel it immediately.
The movement I would love to spark is simple: stop hoarding old essentials out of habit, and build a home where the things you use every day are clean, intentional, and actually make your life better. When you remove clutter, you get back space, time, and mental energy. That is a win for almost everyone.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
The best way to follow our work is through our brand channels.
You can follow Plush Ritual on Instagram for product updates, launches, and behind the scenes as we build. If you want the most direct updates, join our email list on our website. That is where we share new releases, restocks, and what we are working on next.
You can also follow our other brand, SABAL Swim, on Instagram as well. That brand is focused on premium swimwear, and it is where a lot of our ecommerce journey started.
I do not post much on my personal account, so the brand pages and email lists are the best way to stay connected.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
