January 22, 2006
one hundred thousand
The English Cut $300 shirt story is moving along quickly.
We’ve been talking to lots of shirtmaking people. Going well. Looks like we’ll be launching the shirts when Tom next visits America in February.
The market for $3000 English suits is pretty limited. A couple of thousand of people, tops. But the potential market for Engish shirts is much greater. Look at Thomas Pink.
Our plan is basically to offer a shirt of a higher quality than Pink’s, at much lower overheads for us.
We’re thinking about ways to scale the business upwards. We’re going to do it all via online to begin with. If it goes well we’ll see if it warrants opening an offline operation [selling in retail outlets].
Right now our mailing list is a few hundred people. I would like that number to reach well into five-figures before I’m done.
Even the more insane side of me thinks one hundred thousand could be doable, if we execute it well enough.
Maybe check out the Belgian company Bivolino (www.bivolino.com), selling upscale shirts on-line.
Thanks, Bart, I gave it a look.
I found all their Flash animation rather distracting, to be honest.
I’m sure the shirts’ quality is fine. Not sure how good their branding is.
But that’s just me after only spending about a minute looking at it.
I buy from Thomas Pink (offline, in retail stores in the US) and from Coles (online, via their website).
Can’t wait to see what you come up with –
Bryan
Thanks Bryan…
Pink’s have great retail. Not sure if I’d want that kind of overhead, though.
Cole’s makes a great product. A big inspiration for me.
Hugh,
You might want to do a search of http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/Forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=3.
This forum has had literally dozens of discussions about the relative merits of various English and Italian shirtmakers.
Interestingly Hilditch & Key seems to be consistently considered the best RTW English shirt.
Best to use Google to search because the forum’s own engine sucks.
Rgds,
Nick
http://www.carriedinterest.com
Among your potential customers, there are many who have fairly negative opinions of Thomas Pink shirts because of their poor quality, plastic buttons, and amorphous fit for their relatively high price. Some have even been inspired to make other things out of them:
http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=25569&highlight=thomas+pink
Better shirt benchmarks might include Charvet and Borrelli, both of which are not English, which is not to say that there aren’t good English shirtmakers.
BTW, I really like your ideas and outlook on marketing: I must have spent several hours poring over your blogs in the last couple of days.
Two points to ponder (in no particular order):
1.) I just took a gander at Thomas Pink’s site and it sucks. Either they don’t take selling online very seriously, or they’re simply bad at it because no competitor has yet forced them to raise their game.
2.) Recently I investigated advertising in in-flight magazines and was amazed at their circulation, which in some cases surpasses Business Week, Fast Co, et al. It bears noting that Paul Frederick built quite a business with classified ads …
Hugh, I gave the example of Bivolino, not for the greatness of their website, but for their business model. They only exist on-line.
I’m convinced that with a good website, and with good ‘disruptive marketing’, they could be an even bigger player.
Hugh,
Found this article that relates to the post:
http://smh.com.au/news/fashion/mens-fashion – spoilt-for-choice/2006/01/16/1137259993848.html
Now you’re talking! I wear my Thomas Pink shirts with jeans.
Hugh, love your blog.
I’ve bought from Pink at retail, and think they’re overpriced for the level of quality they offer… just my opinion.
An online business model might work very well, esp. if you’re able to micro-target via Google AdWords to Russia, other parts of E. Europe, India, China, Brazil, Dubai, Saudi, etc., in addition to the U.S. U.K., etc.
Global micro-branding + leveraging the Long Tail in an oblique way = serious business potential… could discuss offline.
Best,
–Ash.