Why Isn'T A Cool Men'S Brand Worth 200 Million Dollars?

"A shirt that is born without trousers." (Shirts designed to be worn untucked)
This slogan is everywhere in Untuckit's shop sign, catalog cover and its wall located on the head office of New York. It is neither fancy nor creative.
But this is purposeful.
"We don't want to preside over fashion avant-garde," said Chris Riccobone, founder and executive director of Untuckit, in an office building's conference room on an autumn afternoon. He wore jeans, white canvas shoes and, of course, shirts without tucking into his pants: "our clothes don't need you to spend time with them, and we will not be out of fashion even if the tide is up and down. Our shirt is designed to expose the hem. It's as simple as that. "
This pragmatic style is the reason why Untuckit has risen from fashion start-ups in recent years. The company, which has just been founded for 8 years, has been favored by Leonardo DiCaprio and Apple CEO Tim Cook (Tim Cook), and ordinary consumers are also praising the company in social media. Leonardo Dicaprio,
This comment can often be seen on Instagram: "in September of this year, I bought the first shirt. I am very happy, comfortable, and able to catch my eyeballs. I have bought four pieces. Now, please call me Mr. UNTUCKIT. "
The company, famous for its short button shirts, has developed into an empire with more than 500 commodities, including jackets, sweaters, trousers and shoes, as well as a small number of women's wear and children's wear. It opened 86 stores in the US and Canada and plans to open its first overseas store in the UK this month. The brand expects sales to exceed US $200 million this year.
However, the rapid rise of Untuckit did not make them win a good reputation in men's fashion industry. There is a lot of criticism about the warm praise of every happy customer. "Don't waste your money on a shirt that doesn't work well. Take off your damn shirt, "wrote a headline in the 2018 issue of Esquire magazine.
Others are puzzled. How can a brand built on the concept of no tucking shirt is so sexy and so fast?
"Untuckit is the most unusual case in retail industry," said Youtube Jon Shanahan.
The rise of Untuckit is purely simple.
In 2009, when Riccobono was on vacation in Las Vegas, he realized that he was wearing the same shirt for three days in a row, because only that one would not look good in his trousers.
"I had a chat with my friends and found that everyone had the same problem because the shirts sold on the market were too long," Riccobono said. At that time, he was also a sales representative in New Jersey. "There are so many men with this kind of trouble. Their shirts are almost dragging their knees.
Riccobono asked about 500 men and found that many people wanted to wear shirts that did not need to be tucked into trousers. The perfect length is to cover half of the front crotch and expose the pockets of trousers. He co worked with Aaron Sanandres, a chief executive of the Columbia business school, and founded the Untuckit online store in 2011 with the support of her family and friends.
At the time of Untuckit's establishment, the pattern of direct consumer facing up to now is still rare. Warby Parker was established a year ago, and Bonobos came out in 2007. Riccobono said that in order to win the trust of consumers, they initially wanted to advertise in "Vogue" or "GQ", but they could not afford the high cost of traditional advertising. So they spent their initial marketing budget on radio's morning sports program and Barstool Sports website. Some people who have heard the early advertisements are unbelievable.
"This is the stupidest advertiser in the history of the website," a listener wrote on Reddit in 2013. But the number of people who hold such views is small. In that year, the sales volume of Untuckit increased by 600%.
"Charm is about simplicity," says Alex Fitzgerald, consumer and retail manager of A.T. Kearney, a global consultancy. Untuckit doesn't sell the latest fashions suitable for Soho area. It sells shirts that look good and wear comfortably, which satisfies half the needs of the United States. "
Riccobono soon realized that his brand oriented crowd is just like himself, the kind of person who wants to look fashionable but not necessarily catch up with the latest trend. The company decided to focus on responding to this demand.
Untuckit shirts cost about $88, similar to competing brands like J. Crew or Bonobos. Sanandres said their customers were 22 to 55 years old. According to the data provided by Earnest Research to BoF, Untuckit consumers overlap the customers of Old Navy and Messi department store.
"These customers are people who are interested in Abercrombie or Gap in 1990s, and they hope to go further," said Youtube, the men's clothing net red Shanahan. They don't want to get out of the comfort zone, but they don't want to wear T-shirts and work shorts to the office. Their demand market is targeted by Bonobos and J. Crew, but the latter two brands are too fashionable for Untuckit consumers.
J.Crew, Everlane and Bonobos have noticed the competition and began to promote their own shirts.
Loyal to core customers
In 2014, Untuckit responded to customers' desire to see feedback from physical products and opened its first store in New York. Today, the company has 86 stores, there will be more next year, and will first out of the United States and Canada, in London's Covent Garden and Westfield White City shop.
For a local brand starting from online stores, this is a big gamble. According to past experience, the rapid expansion of retail business has brought down many start-ups. In 2017, Untuckit raised $30 million, some of which was used to support entity businesses.
Although many direct consumer oriented brands are confined to coastal cities like Losangeles and New York, Untuckit has opened stores to Jacksonville, New Mexico, Albuquerque, Kansas City, Salt Lake City and J Coates Dyer, Arizona, in Florida. Sanandres says those stores outside big cities tend to make more profits.
He said: "our customer base is far more widespread than the general fashion brands, so we feel that we should not be confined to densely populated central cities."
The company also adopted a similar strategy in marketing. It advertises in quite a large part of its budget in flight magazines and TV football shows. Like other start-ups, it also buys social media advertising. The combined effect of these practices is that people in the fashion circle may have rarely heard of this brand, while men in the central region of the United States are talking about Untuckit through various fashion messages.
Syama Meagher, chief retail strategist at Scaling Retail, points out that although most of the brands that are directly oriented to consumers are in full swing, consumers are heading for Untuckit because the brand is not going to be too high. Its TV commercials do not make models appear in exotic places or engage in extreme sports, unlike those of male centric advertising, but Riccobono is suggesting that you buy free shirts with a flat tone.
Meagher said: "Untuckit's brand, name, even photo and art orientation are all very popular and mainstream. This is the place that resonates with most male consumers. With its mainstream strategy, Untuckit quietly established a carefully designed Secret Empire.
While almost all retailers struggled on Amazon, Untuckit decided to embrace this channel with a "deliberate" strategy. Last year, they sold off season goods at the original price on the website.
"We land on Amazon because some people just shop on that website, and we don't want to lose those people," he said.
Meagher believes that using Amazon as a clearing channel helps Untuckit manage inventory.
She said: "inventory management is the survival of the brand, and Untuckit is not wise to sell on Amazon. For them, Amazon is not a threat, because they regard the platform as a clearance strategy, and they still rely mainly on physical stores and online stores.
A long journey overseas
Untuckit believes that overseas expansion can bring new customers. After London, they aimed at Amsterdam, Ireland and Mexico.
"Mature brands such as Levi" s, Gap, Ralph Lauren and so on, 60% of their income comes from overseas. For us, the US market is a paradise for growth, but the sea is the way to develop rapidly, "Sanandres said.
American workplace wear has become more and more casual. Now Goldman Sachs also allows employees to wear casual clothes to work. Riccobono believes that with the spread of this trend, Untuckit will be favored by European consumers.
He said: "the United States has been completely recreational, and Britain is heading in this direction."
But not everyone is so optimistic. Roberts pointed out that Untuckit's two largest competitors, Club Monaco and J. Crew, have entered the UK market and gained a foothold in London, thanks to the high-end and formal brand positioning of the two, while Untuckit is the opposite.
"It sounds like a hard deal because the market is saturated. People will dress more and more casual, shirts and khaki pants. This is for sure, so there is still a chance to sell it, but it will be quite difficult, "said Marits Roberts, a British menswear consultant.
He added that London consumers like "British fan" and like to buy casual shirts at John Lewis or Harvey Nichols. In order to change people's habits, new brands must convey a strong message, which is perhaps what Untuckit is good at.
"This name is very Americanized. I think this is its weakness, but to tell the truth, it probably works well. With such a vulgar name, they may be able to occupy the commercial market, "he said.