Discussions about the fashion industry thread

[smittycl]

It's definitely true. I mean... as a chore coat / shacket / overshirt designer, this is obviously a good thing for me. I think that these garments are here to stay, and they're working well presently because:

1) Guys have to carry around a lot of things and I get the sense that messenger bags and the like have fallen out of favor a bit. These jackets offer some easy storage and carry things better than a sportcoat would.

2) They work well in more casual settings. I have a lot of customers in tech, medicine, creative, advertising, etc.. and they find a sportcoat to be too formal and serious for their job. A custom chore coat in a sportcoat fabric delivers that dressed-up vibe, but matches their workplace better. This is increasingly the trend in a lot of industries

Totally. I have several. It's just funny to watch the spread from smaller or overseas makers down to mass market stores. Seems like everyone has them now.

 

[jah786]

2) They work well in more casual settings. I have a lot of customers in tech, medicine, creative, advertising, etc.. and they find a sportcoat to be too formal and serious for their job. A custom chore coat in a sportcoat fabric delivers that dressed-up vibe, but matches their workplace better. This is increasingly the trend in a lot of industries
[/QUOTE]

agree 100%. dressed up casual is a thing now. Customers want it and there is no going back. The brits call it looking 'smart.' Welcome to the era of smart dressing.

 

[Epaulet]

2) They work well in more casual settings. I have a lot of customers in tech, medicine, creative, advertising, etc.. and they find a sportcoat to be too formal and serious for their job. A custom chore coat in a sportcoat fabric delivers that dressed-up vibe, but matches their workplace better. This is increasingly the trend in a lot of industries

agree 100%. dressed up casual is a thing now. Customers want it and there is no going back. The brits call it looking 'smart.' Welcome to the era of smart dressing.
[/QUOTE]

Well, to be fair, the idea of a smart dressed man has been with us for some time.....

 

[clee1982]

is it still "traditional" chore coat in the mass market, by looking at what JCrew calls chore coat it seems like it has gotten more sports coat like (open bottom vs. close bottom on what I would think as traditional chore coat)

 

[DoubleDouble]

well to your mind are they copying some indigenous cultural idiom , or copying goro (whoever that is )

this premise of *cultural license* brings us to a place where mercenary capitalist bootleggers no longer need to pilfer the source culture , rather they can now focus solely on the *licensee* , who is still functionally dissociated from the source culture yet has the preferred *authenticity* in the view of the marketplace .

so , from the vantage point of the cultural licensee (in this case goro) , is it even philosophically possible to defend against bootleggers on - what ? - the basis of *copyright* ?

meanwhile , wake me when minnetonka divests their trademarks .

?

Despite containing Native American elements, Goro did not make 1:1 replicas of native American jewelry. There's a degree of reinterpretation and curation that made his stuff a cultural contribution, it advances the field in some way.

People copying Goro are both copying work of an individual that made a cultural contribution (work "original enough" to stand on its own) and adopting Native American themes that they have not explored enough to be able to reinterpret in a respectful way.

 

[dieworkwear]

It's definitely true. I mean... as a chore coat / shacket / overshirt designer, this is obviously a good thing for me. I think that these garments are here to stay, and they're working well presently because:

1) Guys have to carry around a lot of things and I get the sense that messenger bags and the like have fallen out of favor a bit. These jackets offer some easy storage and carry things better than a sportcoat would.

2) They work well in more casual settings. I have a lot of customers in tech, medicine, creative, advertising, etc.. and they find a sportcoat to be too formal and serious for their job. A custom chore coat in a sportcoat fabric delivers that dressed-up vibe, but matches their workplace better. This is increasingly the trend in a lot of industries

 

[Zamb]

I just got the joke……lol

 

[dieworkwear]

Don't know if anyone else is part of BoF Professional, but they have an interesting article here about Entireworld vs. Vuori

The short of it:

- Entireworld did not have a differentiated product
- Entireworld diversified, but their other products weren't as popular as their sweatsuits
- Vuori was more financially cautious with its fundraising and took a slower growth approach
- Both brands are DTC, but Vuori has better retail partnerships

A Tale of Two DTC Brands: Why Some Soar and Others Crash

This week, activewear label Vuori picked up $400 million from SoftBank, while Scott Sternberg’s basics line Entireworld announced its shuttering. Why did two brands that thrived on pandemic fashion trends face two different outcomes?

www.businessoffashion.com

 

[GG Allin]

Don't know if anyone else is part of BoF Professional, but they have an interesting article here about Entireworld vs. Vuori

The short of it:

- Entireworld did not have a differentiated product
- Entireworld diversified, but their other products weren't as popular as their sweatsuits
- Vuori was more financially cautious with its fundraising and took a slower growth approach
- Both brands are DTC, but Vuori has better retail partnerships

A Tale of Two DTC Brands: Why Some Soar and Others Crash

This week, activewear label Vuori picked up $400 million from SoftBank, while Scott Sternberg’s basics line Entireworld announced its shuttering. Why did two brands that thrived on pandemic fashion trends face two different outcomes?

www.businessoffashion.com

I might sign up for BoF. Are there any criticisms of the content, or is it pretty good overall?

 

[London]

I might sign up for BoF. Are there any criticisms of the content, or is it pretty good overall?

It's pretty good. Ive been a subscriber for a couple of years now. They have a lot of white papers, case studies, panels and proprietary research with partners like McKinsey.

 

[sushijerk]

Don't know if anyone else is part of BoF Professional, but they have an interesting article here about Entireworld vs. Vuori

The short of it:

- Entireworld did not have a differentiated product
- Entireworld diversified, but their other products weren't as popular as their sweatsuits
- Vuori was more financially cautious with its fundraising and took a slower growth approach
- Both brands are DTC, but Vuori has better retail partnerships

A Tale of Two DTC Brands: Why Some Soar and Others Crash

This week, activewear label Vuori picked up $400 million from SoftBank, while Scott Sternberg’s basics line Entireworld announced its shuttering. Why did two brands that thrived on pandemic fashion trends face two different outcomes?

www.businessoffashion.com

I heard a couple of interviews that Scott did during the pandemic and I thought his whole ethos after BoO was 1) Don't take investor money and chase unsustainable growth 2) Be careful about selling through other retail parties. How did he let these factors sink another label?

Also, it seems Softbank will throw money at just about anything.

 

[cb200]

Vuori seems like a boiler plate, check the boxes, "me too brand" and the product and brand doesn't seem differentiated - at all - to me. It comes across as middle of the road not too technical athleisure. That doesn't mean it is bad, but it's odd to read that differentiation was brought up as an issue in comparison to entireworld.

It'll be interesting to see moves made with the investment in Vuori and what's going to happen when the investors want their money out. Start the clock.

 

[Peter1]

Vuori seems like a boiler plate, check the boxes, "me too brand" and the product and brand doesn't seem differentiated - at all - to me. It comes across as middle of the road not too technical athleisure. That doesn't mean it is bad, but it's odd to read that differentiation was brought up as an issue in comparison to entireworld.

It'll be interesting to see moves made with the investment in Vuori and what's going to happen when the investors want their money out. Start the clock.

Vuori is like dumbed-down Lululemon. Probably a very good space to play in.

 

[dieworkwear]

I might sign up for BoF. Are there any criticisms of the content, or is it pretty good overall?

I like it, but I don't know if I would pay for a subscription if I wasn't writing about the clothing industry.

 

[jah786]

It's challenging to create a brand of basics and then also be 'differentiated.' Too differentiated and you are no longer basic, no longer a replenishment business; but if you are too basic then who cares. I will miss Scott's quirkiness.

Vuori doesn't seem special if you are into clothes and trawling threads on SF, but if you go to REI and look at outdoor basics, then Vuori seems a step up. It is definitely differentiated in that context.