Behind the tools: The making of the Carlyle Tools relaunch

Q: What was the impetus for this complete evolution of Carlyle Tools?

Sabo: Carlyle had been around since 2012 in the NAPA system, and for the first four or five years, it was just hand tools. That was it, and it was around 3,000 SKUs. Then, over the other five or six years, we began to integrate more of our other private label tool and equipment business into the Carlyle brand — things like specialty service tools, pneumatic air tools, lifting equipment. At the end of the first decade or so, we started to see our ability to grow the brand any further plateau. So, we began to strategize on how we (could) energize some additional growth and how to take it to the next level. That got us looking at, “Who are we really targeting?” And that's when we started to collect some of the data, and we realized that there was a massive, massive opportunity with the Gen Z technician. So that's how it all started.

Molidor: Through our research, over the first 16 months of the project, we learned that technicians will spend $100,000 of their own money over the course of a 30-year career, and 70% of those purchases are bought in the first third of that career. So, it's so important that this brand is introduced to these young individuals at a young age, so that they can [use] Carlyle Tools for life.

Q: How did you approach evaluating which products to keep, improve, or retire in the Carlyle line?

Sabo: A lot of different ways. Since the brand was more than 12 years old, we had historical sales and data. From that, we were able to go back and look at (it), which kind of gave us some insights. And then we also paid very close attention to the rest of the industry, what our competition was carrying, changes in types of vehicles, average age of vehicles, what type of specialty tools we were ranging, etc. We probably used four or five different data points to rationalize the range of products.

Q: What data or customer feedback influenced product decisions during the relaunch?

Sabo: We worked with a couple of different agency partners. We had a creative agency and a market research agency that worked with us. They went out and really gathered the market data, the consumer insights. We did host several different focus groups, where we actually brought technicians in, or they were virtual, where we went through different things, and we showed them different options and different renditions of different assets, and we really just listened to what they were telling us and what they were saying they wanted.

Molidor: This is a brand that we did not rush into. And then on the rebrand, this project's been in the works for three years. We started this in April of 2022 when we kicked off the vision of what we wanted to do, and then from there, it took 16 to 18 months of research. We were doing tech research. We were working with our creative agencies trying to figure out the new design and how we looked, how it's going to appeal to Gen Z and the younger technician. And we feel like we've come out with something really special here. And I hope you feel the same way as you walk through the booth. But after that long period of time for research, that's when the development with the factories and getting the products and production started.

Q: What were the biggest challenges in rethinking an entire tool brand while maintaining NAPA standards?

Molidor: I think the biggest challenges are really just the scale of the project. We have many factories across the globe. We had over 5,000 part numbers in the system, and doing the research is the fun part. We were out there doing tours with technicians, looking inside their toolboxes, figuring out how and when they're buying these tools. So, gathering all those data points was the fun part, but actually doing the conversion with products themselves was the more challenging part, because there's so much that goes into it. You think about the graphics and the packaging and the tooling and the factories and the color consistency. We spent an enormous amount of time ensuring the color match was right across the board. You walk in our booth, everything from our toolboxes to our floor jacks to our packaging to our publications, is all going to have a very consistent color match, and that was critically important to us as we launched the new brand.

Q: Can you talk more about what updates you've made to the tools with this relaunch?

Sabo: The important thing to understand is, while some tools changed more significantly than others, every single tool was looked at and every single tool set was looked at. In some cases, we improved ergonomics and aesthetics of tools. We implemented new manufacturing processes that were available to us today that were not available to us 12-13 years ago.

One example of that would be with our comfort grip ratchet handles. When we first launched the brand, a two-shot injection was the industry standard. That's all that was out there, and now we have a three-shot injected handle. We're the first professional tool brand to have that. The other significant change really comes in our packaging. A lot of our tools, almost all of our tools, were packaged in either a petroleum-injected tray or a blow-molded case. And that is not how technicians store their tools. It's not what they expect in their toolbox drawers. We realized that a lot of that packaging was simply being thrown away and creating a lot of waste. By implementing the new EVA high-density foam trays into the packaging, basically providing them with instant tool organization and storage at the time of their tool purchase, we were able to reduce our carbon footprint, improving our sustainability, and eliminating and mitigating the amount of waste. So, some things changed a little bit.

There were a few bigger changes. We did make some factory changes where we saw opportunities again. Over the course of 12 or 13 years, there's been new factories built in different countries and what have you, so we had an opportunity to move some manufacturing into some other parts of the world. Then, in some cases, the tool was already so good we didn't want to change anything.

Molidor: You may have seen the phrase “Built different” that we've been using a lot, so if you think about being “Built different,” that can come in a variety of ways. You can do that with product. That's the easy place to go and think about, and that's why Joe is in his role right now, because he's truly building product from the ground up and innovating with the factories, right? But if you think about other ways that Carlyle can be “Built different,” we can be “Built different” by our warranty process. Look at our warranties like on our toolboxes. Our 3500 series toolbox is the first toolbox in the industry that has a transferable lifetime warranty. So, as toolboxes are passed down in generations or they're sold to somebody else, you can actually pass the title, if you will, of that toolbox onto the next individual.

Our customer service is another way that we're “Built different.” For the first time, we have a dedicated Carlyle customer service number, so it doesn't matter who's making the product or where it's coming from; you're going to have one point of contact for all things Carlyle Tools. That's going to come through phone numbers, emails, and we're going to have a chat feature here coming up pretty soon as well. Financing is another way that we're thinking about this program differently. Again, we're not reinventing the wheel with anything, but we are adding in the benefits and features of the platforms that are already out there.