How melin delivered peak performance support in time for the holiday season with Sierra.
Discover how Archipelago extended the OluKai AI agent’s capabilities to melin.
melin is a performance headwear brand and a member of the Archipelago brand family, which also includes OluKai, Roark, and Kaenon. Known for crafting hats with superior materials and thoughtful design, melin’s community ranges from athletes to adventurers who value style and performance in their gear.
Corey Roth, melin’s Co-Founder, describes their journey: “We wanted a better option when it came to our headwear choices, but it didn't exist. So we decided to create it.”
In early 2024, Archipelago launched its first AI agent for the Hawaiian footwear brand OluKai. The launch was successful in terms of both brand extension and customer experience, and the next step was to determine how to expand these capabilities to melin.
Despite the similarities in backend technology—and with peak season fast approaching—this deployment required a fresh approach as melin’s brand voice, customer needs, and inquiry volumes were all unique.
Going live in less than two weeks
One of the standout aspects of this deployment was speed. "We wanted to see how we could reapply the lessons learned from OluKai and deploy them across different brands in our portfolio," said Dan Kaparski, Director of Digital Products.
Building on learnings from OluKai, the team launched melin’s AI agent in under two weeks. The flexibility of Sierra’s platform helped melin to tailor the workflows and tone to align with their brand voice right from the start.
The impact was immediate. Within days of deployment, melin’s AI agent was resolving the majority of cases, freeing the team to focus on more complex issues just in time for peak season.
“We wanted to see how we could reapply the lessons learned from OluKai and deploy them across different brands in our portfolio.”
A unique voice for a unique brand
OluKai’s agent is all about the Aloha Experience, but melin’s AI agent takes a different approach. Whether it’s about materials, quality, or care, the agent delivers answers with clarity and efficiency, always cutting straight to the point and addressing product questions head-on. This makes it perfect for active consumers who value high performance gear over branding.
Almost all initial inquiries melin received were product-related—questions like “Are melin hats water resistant?” and “What is the difference between snapback and strapback?" melin’s agent adapted to these nuances immediately, thanks to previous learnings from OluKai and a carefully crafted knowledge base.
But it's not just about answering product questions. The melin agent can also help customers take action by managing order statuses, facilitating returns and exchanges, reshipping lost orders, handling warranty claims, and managing promotions and discounts.
An always improving agent
melin was eager to move quickly and independently, taking advantage of Sierra's self-service knowledge base.
Amanda Cook, Head of Customer Experience, began adding dozens of new articles, improving the agent by adding more information and enhancing its ability to respond to a greater variety of questions. Her investment led to a 6% increase in case resolution rates.
“The ability to adapt our AI agent for melin’s unique brand voice in just two weeks proves that Sierra doesn’t just scale across brands—it tailors each experience with precision and speed,” says Amanda Cook. “This approach allowed us to deliver exceptional support right in time for the holiday rush, empowering both our team and our customers.”
“This approach allowed us to deliver exceptional support right in time for the holiday rush, empowering both our team and our customers.”
The future of the melin experience
melin is now able go beyond just chat to transform their customer experience across channels. In the past 30 days, 47% of melin’s email volume has been successfully redirected to Sierra, streamlining their workflow and freeing up the team to focus on higher-value tasks. The melin team is also exploring ways to improve customer experience, from sharing performance tips with new customers to creating personalized recommendations for long-time fans of the brand.
With Sierra, melin is poised to turn every customer interaction—whether through chat, email, or other channels—into an opportunity to fuel adventure and deepen loyalty in the world of performance headwear.
