#colin hunter

[oldsardens]

Colin Hunter - The Coast Of Devon

[dippedanddripped]

Alton Lane's Peyton Jenkins: 'Men are getting more comfortable expressing themselves through clothes'

"We noticed this emerging trend of self-presentation awareness. We were within that crowd, and while we had no fashion or apparel background, we loved the idea of a challenge," Jenkins said on the latest episode of The Glossy Podcast.

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Co-founders Peyton Jenkins and Colin Hunter created menswear brand Alton Lane in 2009, after pinpointing a gap in the men’s suiting market that was just waiting to be filled. They kicked off the company with a store intended to bridge the gap between experiential and retail. It was located on the 12th floor of a 20-story building on Broadway in New York City.

“[Hunter and I] noticed this emerging trend of self-presentation awareness. We were within that crowd, and while we had no fashion or apparel background, we loved the idea of a challenge,” Jenkins said on the latest episode of The Glossy Podcast. “At the time, no one was focused on experiential retail … not like they are today. We thought, ‘If we could combine these two things — better access to fit and a better supply chain — and through a much better experience, then there was something there.’ And we just ran with it.”

Since its inception, the brand has become the official menswear partner of BHLDN, Anthropologie’s wedding brand. And within the last two months, it launched on TikTok. With both of these moves giving the company a boost, its plans include strong growth in 2023.

Below are additional highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.

Crafting a winning and authentic growth and marketing strategy “With marketing, we’ve realized during Covid that, if we want to play against the biggest competitors in the space — from the Suitsupplys to the J.Crews and even the department stores of the world and the LVMH brands — we will have to raise so much money to dedicate just to that. And even then, they’re probably smarter and better than us there, because they’ve been doing it longer. What we’ve tried to do … is use our Instagram, Tiktok and other marketing [content] be a reflection of our personalities. … We also just launched a blog. Instead of taking a very high-brow approach to what menswear is, [we’re answering] the questions that you probably want answered but you either feel too dumb or you’re too nervous to ask. The best way to put it is: We’re trying to create an environment that’s all-access and all-inclusive for wherever you are on the style, size, age and income spectrum. We [want to] be a playground for everyone within a pretty large demographic.” Online vs. in-store sales “Pre-Covid, [our sales were about] 99% in-store. Our goal is to get that to be about 50% in-store and 50% online. We are probably 15% online now. That being said, that number is skewed a little high because, in-store, we’re now adopting the same platform we use online. … Over the first half of this year, we’re strategically bringing our customers into that experience. If we can train them on how to use [the online process] in our store, then they’re going to be more comfortable using it online. We found that buying a $30 T-shirt online is one thing, but buying a nice custom suit blazer online is another. There’s still a mental hurdle that we are getting over with our customer. We’ve also partnered with several department stores to have this [tool] on their floor. There’s a real sustainability play here for department stores of having [this] at their fingertips. With it, they don’t have to hold inventory, which is pretty cool.”

The evolution of the tuxedo “Pre-Covid, a majority of [our sales were from] wedding outfits. That is still a higher number post-Covid than I expected it to be, but I’ll tell you what has dropped off: The traditional black tuxedo has dropped off significantly. We see even the most style-resistant dude love a bold, blue tuxedo, and I love it. The guy that was ultra-classic is now willing to step out of the box, the guy that was already out of the box is willing to take a gamble, and the guy that was willing to take a gamble is ready to go bold. With all of our different fabric options, we actually get to hit every single one. … As that pendulum swings out to more style, it gets people more comfortable expressing themselves through clothes. Frankly, for [most] men, that just hasn’t been something that they do or necessarily put a lot of thought into. … Now the tide turned, where it’s almost that, if you’re not paying attention to that, you’re outside of the majority.”

[laclefdescoeurs]

Wick Harbour - Loading for the Baltic, 1876, Colin Hunter

[retailtouchpoints]

#RIC16 Showcases The Continuing Relevance Of The Retail Store

By Glenn Taylor, Associate Editor

To close out #RIC16, Maureen Mullen, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of L2, made a blunt statement reflecting the state of the retail industry today: “It’s going to be increasingly difficult to compete in e-Commerce without an omnichannel strategy.”

Where once the message to brick-and-mortar retailers was to get online as quickly as possible, today it's the pure play merchants who are being advised to establish a physical presence — and to do it quickly. Online-only retailers need to differentiate themselves from the industry's behemoth, Amazon, as much (if not more so) than more traditional enterprises.

Amazon’s clout can't be overstated: The retailer accounted for a whopping 24% of the entire industry’s sales growth in 2015. On top of this, Amazon has a 36% share of online sales among the top 50 U.S. e-Commerce retailers.

Stores Provide Path To Profitability

Even as total e-Commerce purchases continue to increase year-over-year, the store’s influence can’t be denied, particularly when looking at the success of retailers that have gravitated away from online-only sales.

“Stores aren’t an expense,” Mullen said during her presentation. “Stores are a path to profitability.”

In the case of once-pure play retailers such as Trunk Club, Warby Parker, Proper Cloth and Rent The Runway, their organic search traffic online shot up tremendously as each merchant opened up their own brick-and-mortar stores. With organic reach becoming more of a challenge as retailers flood the market, showcasing physical stores will be increasingly necessary as a means to broaden awareness of the brand as a whole.

The work done by these retailers exemplifies what can be accomplished when thinking outside the box and taking steps that may traditionally be considered risky.

“Innovation can be convenient or cool,” said Colin Hunter, CEO of Alton Lane during a "Meet the Disruptors" panel discussion at #RIC16. “If it's not convenient or cool, it's not worth doing.”

While the “go omnichannel or go home” philosophy may be daunting for retailers struggling just to make their mark in a single channel, there can be a bright future ahead if they trust in their store offerings, hire more digitally-oriented executives and employees, and test out newer delivery models.

Even the current top-performing retailers aren't immune to competitive forces: far from it. Kasey Lobaugh, Principal of Deloitte Consulting, indicated in his #RIC16 keynote panel that the top 25 retailers have actually lost 2% of their market share since 2009, equating to approximately $64 billion. First and foremost, this indicates that there are companies disrupting the retail environment effectively enough to take revenue away even from the industry's powerhouses. While this money isn’t going to the big names, it isn’t going away; it’s just going someplace else, said Lobaugh.

Additionally, it shows that these young guns are actually winning over consumers in a way many top traditional retailers haven’t been able to accomplish, creating a better blueprint for how omnichannel retailing can be carried out in 2016 and beyond.

[mrdirtybear]

‘William Leiper’ (1839-1916) RSA by Colin Hunter from here. Mr Leiper was an artist and architect, read more about him here.

[evil-little-dinosaur]

Hi.

This EP is amazing.

Bye.

[evil-little-dinosaur]

For just a pound a week one watch of this video, you could make the lifes of two dancing musicians just that little bit better. Come on, have a heart.