Comments on: one hundred thousand

By: Ashish Banerjee

Ashish Banerjee — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 04:48:10 +0000

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.

By: Bill Seitz

Bill Seitz — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 20:14:58 +0000

Now you’re talking! I wear my Thomas Pink shirts with jeans.

By: Duarte Da Silva

Duarte Da Silva — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 10:56:12 +0000

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

By: Bart

Bart — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 17:49:44 +0000

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.

By: Marketing Headhunter

Marketing Headhunter — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 08:41:56 +0000

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 …

By: Andre Yew

Andre Yew — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 05:41:11 +0000

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.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 05:33:03 +0000

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

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 04:15:49 +0000

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.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 03:54:49 +0000

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

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 03:36:26 +0000

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.

By: Bart

Bart — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 03:25:57 +0000

Maybe check out the Belgian company Bivolino (www.bivolino.com), selling upscale shirts on-line.