The Suit, the Brand, the Business

Why do we buy suits? Because we need them? Because we find one that we like? In the most simplistic terms, yes of course - the product has to be right, and the demand for it has to be there. What is it that drives demand for any product? Without diverging too deeply into the realm of economics, I'd suggest that the answer is desirability. How do you make a product desirable? Answer: build a brand for it which gives it prestige and value, and market it appealingly.

Image courtesy of www.daks.com

Sounds simple doesn't it? And really it ought to be. Unfortunately however, as I discussed in a pair of recent Mensflair columns (one of which is reproduced below), twenty first century branding and marketing seems to be uncharted territory for a number of luxury British menswear retailers and tailoring houses. As someone who is looking to develop a career in menswear, you'll probably appreciate that I find this frustrating; these are my favourite companies retailing my favourite product, and all too often the brand and product image is way off the mark.

It is hugely encouraging then to see that a number of firms have recently been showing a significant new awareness of the power of their own brands. Furthermore, it seems that both niche luxury advertising and digital marketing strategies are beginning to emerge into play for a number of British luxury menswear retailers, who's online presence has been hitherto minimal.

This brings to me onto some examples of those firms which, refreshingly, are getting it right and to a company which I wrote on when this blog was in its infancy: Daks. My already considerable respect for the firm increased significantly when I discovered that they have recently transformed their website, and are now adding an online retail experience to said site. What really excites me about the new website, is the company's obvious awareness and marketing of their extremely rich and historic brand identity. An entire section of the website is devoted to promoting the company's rich heritage and history and this is perfectly complimenting by an acknowledgement that the company's brand values hold a timeless appeal: 'Today the same brand values still apply and Daks offers an array of high quality suiting and tailoring together with outstanding service, where nothing is compromised'.  

Image courtesy of www.daks.com

Another, perhaps even more exclusive brand who've recently undergone a digital transformation is Savile Row tailors Huntsman, whose Creative Director Roubi l’Roubi has encouraged the development of a new, contemporary and inviting online presence; including Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram accounts, in addition to an active blog - by which I mean one that doesn't just post something banal once a month, which defeats the point of digital marketing. Likewise, the company has revamped its website in a similar way to Daks, giving customers a sense of the company's heritage, identity, retail experience and personality. All things that I'd argue discerning customers like to be able to access and get a sense to online.

Furthermore, this has been complimented by the release of a new luxury off-the-peg collection 'archive' collection which is presented beautifully, and pitched at just the right level. There is an acknowledgement that although these products cannot match (and therefore undermine) the company's core bespoke business, which remains 'at the heart of what we do', Huntsman have used digital marketing and promotion to emphasise that the same quality and attention to detail has gone into their off-the-peg collection. They have evidently understood also that it provides a valuable service; access to Huntsman's unique clothing and Savile Row quality, when there is no time-frame or possibly budget to order full-bespoke. The provision of an off-the-peg collection is also an extremely savvy move; the tailors' is showing that its all too aware of how to draw future customers into the business; for many discerning gentlemen, enjoying off-the-peg clothes leads into wanting to try personal tailoring and inevitably, experiencing personal tailoring leads into ordering the full bespoke, completing the retail hierarchy as it were.

For someone who is passionately committed to the development of the luxury British tailoring industry, this indicates an exciting start as far as I'm concerned. I still feel however that a number of valuable marketing tricks are being missed. Social Media (even for the most exclusive of firms such as Hunstman) is still being fundamentally misused by the majority of luxury British tailoring companies. The entire point of social media is that its 'social' - it is not solely about staid promotion - the release of the new collection, or the opening of a new store every three months. It provides the opportunity to communicate with the customer and offer something truly personal and individualistic. It provides a practical way to give a real insight into the beating heart of the company, and start to create a brand with a real personality as Hunstman are doing; you can see inside the shop, you can get a sense of the team who are committed to building the business, you get a real sense of the quality and value of the product, and you get the sense that the company actively wants to attract and value customers with its personality, rather than complacently waiting for them to walk through the door, as if by magic.

In essence, my point is that its no good tweeting boring, pre-prepared and generic advertising material a few times a week, or ignoring all those customers and admirers who enthusiastically tweet the company. Customers need to feel valued and want brands that they can engage with and even lose themselves in. That is how a retailer can get customers aspiring to own some of their product. This requires a rich brand identity and starts with the provision of an intensely operated and committed, personal social media presence and digital marketing to match. Keen customers need to be kept hooked, one blog post every three weeks won't suffice, but twice a week will most likely hit the spot. I myself have learned from this blog, that many followers are keen, and if you want to sell anything (or in my case get people to keep reading) you ahve to give your target audience what they want. Many sartorial menswear brands, need a greater appreciation of the power of social media, when its given the resources and attention required to build business. I firmly believe that investment in active and responsive social media platforms is one of the most successive and cost-effective ways to engage customers and attract sales.

Branding of this sort offers the opportunity to create a company which has enough depth in its brand for the customer to really engage with; it is so incredibly important that customers of luxury products feel that they are not just buying a soulless or anonymous product, but that they are buying into a life choice or style decision, a piece of craftsmanship and heritage. And its not just about selling a good quality suit, every luxury menswear company sells a good quality suit - its about distinguishing the design traits and identity of your product from those against which it competes.

To put it plainly, if the brand has a strong, compelling identity then the customer associates this with the product, and this drives sales - and I have high hopes for British menswear when this catches on a little more.