Yahoo Finance How UNTUCKit is breaking new ground in a saturated retail market
In a saturated retail market, one fashion brand is creating a line of well-tailored, button-down shirts that are anything but boring.
Online retailer UNTUCKit was designed as solution to a problem: Men should be able to wear their shirts untucked without looking sloppy. Since its launch in 2011, the company has opened brick-and-mortar stores, and emerged as one of the biggest brands to watch in recent years. Currently UNTUCKit is on track to reach 100 retail locations by 2022.
Chris Riccobono, Founder of UNTUCKit, told Yahoo Finance in an interview that by “listen[ing] to the customer,” the company was able to expand beyond the initial button-down.
“They would come into the store, or buy online, and say they need t-shirts that are shorter, then they need Henley's that are shorter, then it moved into sweaters,” said Riccobono.
The once digital-only brand now has more than 75 physical retail stores across the U.S. and Canada. UNTUCKit’s core customers are men, ranging from 25 to 70 year-olds.
“We realized early on that a certain percentage of men, potentially up to 70%, always would want to touch and feel the product before buying,” said Riccobono. “And typically, the older the older you are, you want to experience the brand and try on the clothes and touch the clothes before you buy the clothes.”
UNTUCKit’s popularity grew, and started to get attention from female shoppers as well. The company quickly recognized the potential within that untapped market.
Riccobono described how, within their retail shops, females “come in with their boyfriends or husbands, and they'd be standing around saying, ‘we have nothing to look at. So we launched women's [wear]. and that's one of our fastest growing categories.”
According to a recent report from MediaRadar, the average ad spend, across digital, TV and print, by direct-to-consumer brands is up 50% in 2019. UNTUCKit was among the top five brands mentioned in MediaRadar’s report.
“We decided to take fashion and advertise on radio and airline magazines, TV, newspapers, magazines - areas that a lot of people thought were in the past,” Riccobono mentioned, saying that most of its competitors were just mainly focused on digital advertising at the time of the company launched.
“And for us, the response was great,” he added. In fact, UNTUCKit continues to advertise across a variety of channels, pulling off what Riccobono told Yahoo Finance is “the true omniexperience.”
Convenience for the customer is a prime objective, he said. “We don't focus our marketing, pushing you in one place or the other. Wherever you want to buy, that’s easiest for you on that day, we’re happy to make you happy.”
While the brand has seen extraordinary success in America, the company announced it is opening two stores in London next week, slowly making its way into the UK market — then potentially to continental Europe.
“We've learned [European clients] have the same problems we have over here,” said Riccobono. “Obviously the U.S. is much more casual so far than overseas, but they are following closely.”
Sarah Smith is a Segment Producer/Booker at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @sarahasmith
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