July 15, 2005
the future is “boutique”?
A nice thought from Caterina, which of course got me thinking about how it all fits in with English Cut:
As I was saying to Andy the other day, the marketplace used to be a human place, where people exchanged the goods they’d grown or made, and each exchange was an exchange between people. Now there are supermarkets and Walmart, and I had a conversation with a clerk at Borders who said that they were going to replace him with a system whereby your goods were tallied by an RFID reader as you walked out the door. There’s something different about knowing the people who make your clothes and grow your food, and I think that this will be an enormous force going forward.
One thing I’m noticing is an increase in the word “bespoke” being used around the blogosphere. Is that partly English Cut’s doing? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps it’s just a word my radar is more attuned to, now that I’ve gotten into the tailoring business.
[Speaking of tailoring:] A few weeks ago I was messing around with the idea of going into the ready-to-wear (i.e. cheaper) end of the business.
I have to say I’m losing enthusiasm for the idea. Two main reasons:
1. It cheapens the brand. Of course it does.
2. A wee voice tells me that it is far easier to sell one $3000 suit than it is to sell ten $300 suits.
Something worth thinking about, in any business.
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No, it’s not easier.
If you can sell one 300$ suit, then you can also sell another and another, and when you’ve sold ten, you might as well sell a zillion more.
Otoh, maybe you’ll never sell that $3000 suit.
In Roy Williams’s words, news flash: sell to the masses, live with the classes. Sell to the classes, live with the masses. (oh and my favorite: people who work for very rich clients are called ‘butlers’)
sorry about the approximation of the quotes.
If you can sell one 3000$ suit, then you can also sell another and another, and when you’ve sold ten, you might as well sell a zillion more.
Otoh, maybe you’ll never sell that $300 suit.
People who work for very rich clients are sometimes called “artists.“
What about $300 bespoke GapingVoid t-shirts?
Hugh
Is not the point that in a world when we all can buy a cheap suit that having a real one that is hand made satisfies a need for maining. I bought a corkpuller the other day — the really fancy one — for $20. 10 years ago these cost $250. You can buy a DVD player for $35. Stuff is cheap and getting chaeper — but the process to make stuff cheaper is socially and spiritually debilitating.
My son has a friend Jen who makes besposke handbags that sell for hundreds of dollars. Imagine that you are married — it is your wife’s 30th. What would it mean to give her a Jen Bag. What would it mean for her to buy you a Tom suit.
Isn’t the wonder of the web that Tom and Jen would only have a small local market but now can access the world?
Rob, I totally agree. The web is indeed a wonder.
To do what Tom and I are doing without the net, you’d need to add at least 3 zeroes onto the end of the numbers.
The problem, in my experience, with pricing questions like these is that the $300 customer expects every bit as much customer service and attention as the $3000 customer. i.e. (in software) You cut somebody a break b/c they are a non-profit, and give them a $10,000 website for $2,500, with the understanding that it might not have a glitzy CMS or be fully integrated with their existing database. Still, they’re happy to have a site that looks like they spent a lot more than they did. But then, guess who’s calling you 3 weeks after launch asking you to add new content, new pages, export the database and etc. Then multiply this by the number of discounted sites you had to sell to equal the price of one full-price job. But maybe customer service is different with suits. I mean, what could go wrong? =)
Eric, you nailed it in one. Suits are very much like software…
Price insensitive customers are best!!!!
Hugh,
My gut says the $300 suit is a bad idea. It could be a successful business move but it runs the risk of being a complete pain in the ass and much less fun.
Yeah, Pat, I’m starting to think the same…
Hugh,
How about leveraging the brand and having some else handle the logistics? You see this all the time with clothing “labels” where the big company (e.g. Claiborne?) buys up the label, leaves the designers/founders/brand builders in place and supplements their efforts with world-class logistics and distribution.
I think the $300 suit idea could be done … with the right partner!
Hugh,
why not do a Jamie Oliver. Create and Sell the books, sell the videos, sell other bits of merchandise (themed around the idea of bespoke or Thomas). That’s where your mass market is. Don’t kill your meme — finest suits money can buy hand made by craftsman. Don’t fucking touch that one. That is your golden egg.
“Don’t fucking touch that one. That is your golden egg.“
Yeah Chris, that is what I’m thinking as well. At least for the foreseeable future.