Branding the man: why men are the next frontier in fashion retail

The behemoth of all flash sale companies known as Gilt Groupe has shown no signs of holding back as they expand into virtually every lifestyle category. Men (under their Gilt Man moniker) has been one the company’s fastest growing categories, but now competition from Mr. Porter (www.mrporter.com), a new, non-discounted site from Net-a-Porter, has forced them to up the ante with the newly launched Park & Bond.

Park & Bond (www.parkandbond.com), which describes itself as “merging a curated selection of the world’s best brands,” has yet to really do that, with a brand list that conforms to what one might typically find at a local Nordstrom. Grooming and Fragrance featured a measly two brands, C.O. Bigelow and Cedes. Park & Bond’s editorial content is decidedly GQ-esque, with features on “How to pack a suit in a carry on” to “How to deliver an unforgettable two minute toast.” One can only assume that Net-a-Porter used Gilt Man as their case study.

The Mr. Porter site is more Rockefeller Mansion to Park & Bond’s suburban ranch house, with a who’s who list of brands that would make any clotheshorse swoon. If you shop here, chances are you don’t need a lesson in tying a Windsor knot or packing a suit. Instead, Mr. Porter is brimming with minimalist dialogues on the perfect wool tie, or the subtleties of color in one’s fall wardrobe (there is a piece on how to cook a steak. It seems editors still consider most men to be forever cavemen.)

Both Mr. Porter and Park & Bond provide pages of style advice, but only P&B has an actual concierge. No doubt  Mr. Porter will follow suit — and not a moment too soon.

The Trunk Club (www.trunkclub.com), which launched in 2009, is all about the personal stylist and that’s essentially the first point of entry. One doesn’t actually shop from the site, rather, one let’s the stylist do the shopping for you.  Trunk Club’s emphasis on personal styling associates, along with an actual bricks-and-mortar environment (albeit only one, in Chicago) makes it one of the more interesting concepts on the scene. Once an associate has interviewed the client about their lifestyle and wardrobe needs, do they then assemble a “trunk” (a box really) of clothes delivered on a predetermined basis (monthly, or by arrangement).

Meanwhile Clad, a new men’s e-commerce site from J.C. Penney Co.’s Growth Brands Division, is set to launch later this month and will work in close partnership with Esquire magazine to essentially market the site and in turn, all of Esquire’s “editorial” recommendations. One can only imagine that the advertising sales department at Esquire is very happy to have an e-commerce channel to wave at their accounts.

Clad is going so far as to offer a proprietary fit technology which they’ve branded as the “Tapeless Tailor.” Like its parent company, J.C. Penney, Clad is decidedly middle class, gearing itself towards “men aged 24 – 54 who did not follow runway trends but still cared about how they looked.” Oh I get it: you mean none of those Big City pansies, right?

The point being that it is perhaps thanks to Gilt’s first foray into a sophisticated online men’s retail concept that a broader and more complex marketplace has emerged, one that raises the bar on traditional men’s retail while allowing men of all persuasions and style sensibilities to find a place to call their own.

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The behemoth of all flash sale companies known as Gilt Groupe has shown no signs of holding back as they expand into virtually every lifestyle category. Men (under their Gilt Man moniker) has been one the company’s fastest growing categories, but now competition from Mr. Porter (www.mrporter.com), a new, non-discounted site from Net-a-Porter, has forced them to up the ante with the newly launched Park & Bond.

Park & Bond (www.parkandbond.com), which describes itself as “merging a curated selection of the world’s best brands,” has yet to really do that, with a brand list that conforms to what one might typically find at a local Nordstrom. Grooming and Fragrance featured a measly two brands, C.O. Bigelow and Cedes. Park & Bond’s editorial content is decidedly GQ-esque, with features on “How to pack a suit in a carry on” to “How to deliver an unforgettable two minute toast.” One can only assume that Net-a-Porter used Gilt Man as their case study.

The Mr. Porter site is more Rockefeller Mansion to Park & Bond’s suburban ranch house, with a who’s who list of brands that would make any clotheshorse swoon. If you shop here, chances are you don’t need a lesson in tying a Windsor knot or packing a suit. Instead, Mr. Porter is brimming with minimalist dialogues on the perfect wool tie, or the subtleties of color in one’s fall wardrobe (there is a piece on how to cook a steak. It seems editors still consider most men to be forever cavemen.)

Both Mr. Porter and Park & Bond provide pages of style advice, but only P&B has an actual concierge. No doubt  Mr. Porter will follow suit — and not a moment too soon.

The Trunk Club (www.trunkclub.com), which launched in 2009, is all about the personal stylist and that’s essentially the first point of entry. One doesn’t actually shop from the site, rather, one let’s the stylist do the shopping for you.  Trunk Club’s emphasis on personal styling associates, along with an actual bricks-and-mortar environment (albeit only one, in Chicago) makes it one of the more interesting concepts on the scene. Once an associate has interviewed the client about their lifestyle and wardrobe needs, do they then assemble a “trunk” (a box really) of clothes delivered on a predetermined basis (monthly, or by arrangement).

Meanwhile Clad, a new men’s e-commerce site from J.C. Penney Co.’s Growth Brands Division, is set to launch later this month and will work in close partnership with Esquire magazine to essentially market the site and in turn, all of Esquire’s “editorial” recommendations. One can only imagine that the advertising sales department at Esquire is very happy to have an e-commerce channel to wave at their accounts.

Clad is going so far as to offer a proprietary fit technology which they’ve branded as the “Tapeless Tailor.” Like its parent company, J.C. Penney, Clad is decidedly middle class, gearing itself towards “men aged 24 – 54 who did not follow runway trends but still cared about how they looked.” Oh I get it: you mean none of those Big City pansies, right?

The point being that it is perhaps thanks to Gilt’s first foray into a sophisticated online men’s retail concept that a broader and more complex marketplace has emerged, one that raises the bar on traditional men’s retail while allowing men of all persuasions and style sensibilities to find a place to call their own.

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In case you missed it, one of the ‘stan’s is on its way to being a major destination for Central Asia’s newly rich. Oil-rich Kazakhstan is polishing its main commercial center of Almaty and gilding it with glittering new shopping centers — and not a moment too soon. DeBeers Jewellery wasted little time in setting up shop and on July 2^nd opened a luxurious new store.

Why here? Well maybe because of all the Central Asia economies, Kazakhstan isn’t doing too shabby — corruption and bureaucracy notwithstanding. Prime Minister Karim Massimov is a rock star now that his country’s economy is pushing towards a “sustainable level.” Inflation finished in 2010 at 7.8%, and 2011 is looking even better. Kazakhstan, for the record, is in the top ten of the largest countries in the world.

In May the average salary per month in Kazakhstan accounted for roughly 84 thousand tenge (Kazakh currency) and increased by 12.5 percent compared with the same period last year.

Which is why many believe Kazakhstan could just be a viable investment with its low level of debt, access to it’s own national oil fund, and ability to essentially recapitalize its own banks. Sounds like a flush economy to me – or almost. Keep in mind China was a long-term investment when foreign retailers set up shop there in the early 1990′s.

But many were stunned when it was DeBeers — not Louis Vuitton or even Chanel — who opened a store here.

It’s not all that surprising, though, when you consider that DeBeers’ CEO is none other than François Delage, the man who in 1992, as President of Louis Vuitton Asia Pacific, was prescient enough to open the first LV store in China. Other than Armani, nobody else had yet dared to enter the China market.

“Our opening in Almaty demonstrates the growing demand for De Beers Diamond Jewelry globally, beyond traditional markets,” said Delage, in a prepared statement. That might be pushing it a bit but Delage is no idiot: in order to groom this future customer and build on aspirational desires, one must provide the desire itself. Why wait for Zales to ruin the moment?

Meanwhile Saks Fifth Avenue is scheduled to open a 91,000 square foot store in August of 2012, which they boast will be 3-floors of über-luxe, not unlike what might be found in the U.S. — but with the local customer in mind. “We are so excited to bring our first store to this part of the world and believe that Almaty, Kazakhstan, with its rapidly expanding affluent population, will be a great fit for Saks Fifth Avenue,” Says Stephen I. Sadove, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Saks Incorporated, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Saks has been down the expansion road before, often in fits and starts but more recently figured out that licensing is probably the better way to go, at least in the beginning.  Other than its store in Mexico City, stores in Dubai and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia have been slow to register a profit. A store planned for China was eventually dropped. My guess is the store in Kazakhstan will be their new model for international expansion, one which will integrate a strategic alignment of brand with local custom, without dilution of the overall brand’s key message of luxury leadership and customer service.

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