Meet Christian. Christian is a red blooded all American male. He has brown hair, green eyes and stands at five feet nine inches with a degree from The University of Chicago. Christian plays poker, drinks beer with the boys on the weekends if he's not accessing that bottle of top-shelf scotch at home. He goes on dates but only when he feels like it. He doesn't cook and eats 80 percent of his meals out on the town.
One evening we all went to sushi whereupon Christian asked in all candor, "How often do you go clothes shopping?" Not understanding where he was going with his question, I answered, "It's all relative -- I guess." I know some guys that go shopping at least once a week and there are guys that go shopping once a year.
Let the truth be known. I enjoy shopping for clothing and I have more shoes than many of my lady friends. The earliest memories of my sartorial sagacity come from holidays in Honolulu, Hawaii. On any given day, one would see Japanese tourists dressed to the nines with impeccable style.
Then there were my trips to Italy where the philosophy of La Bella Figura is just as Italian as handmade gnocchi and everyone from executives to bus drivers look neat in Italian leather lace ups. Bella Figura means “the beautiful figure” but is more so a way of life celebrating beauty, aesthetics and proper behavior. I always enjoy visiting Tokyo, Japan because it's one of the most stylish cities in the world where both men and women, young and old love to express their own personal style.
Back to Christian and our sushi dinner. "How often do you go shopping," he asked. "It's all relative," I answered. He goes on to say, "I think you have style and I need someone to go with to help me shop for clothes." A bit surprised, I agreed to help him put together a nicely curated closet. "In fact, it would be my pleasure," I said.
Aside, my friend tells Christian that he just made my day and she was right since I’ve made it a personal advocacy to make this world a neater looking place and it’s my duty to help my buddy shop for some new threads.
It seems that menswear is becoming more prevalent from the trading floors of Wall Street to the sports bars on Main Street. While their Japanese and Continental counterparts have been shopping for years, it seems men around the globe are graduating from the usual uniform of T shirts and jeans and are out in the stores shopping for themselves.
Retailers are eyeing the male shopper as the new consumer frontier. To boost sales, companies cannot rely solely on what has been tried and true, the female shoppers. The women's market is already strong and now retailers and marketing experts are realizing the need to address the growing needs and demands of the male shopper. The male shopper is easy to reach -- if you can read him since men’s brains function differently and their shopping habits differ from women’s. Men's shopping habits resemble that of a hunter where as women's habits resemble that of a gatherer.
When women go out shopping with the girls, they make a day of it browsing, fitting, and gathering clothes and accessories before they make their purchase. The male shopper already has an idea of what he's looking for before he hits the stores. Once he has zeroed in on what he wants, he makes the purchase and he makes his way out of the store. In the same way, a hunter sees his target and goes in for the kill.
And since some men only hit the stores a few times a year, many of them will buy in multiples. If I find a pair of dark wash denim that fits perfectly and I really dig the wash, I'll buy at least two pair. Maybe there is a shirt that I know I will wear often. So then, I buy a few pieces in case one gets lost with the cleaners or the shirt gets discontinued (as it always does).
So who is the new male consumer? He is like Lapo Elkann, Fiat's iconic marketing director. Lapo looks sharp in a Brioni suit, pocketsquare, and crocodile loafers and still exudes style when sunning in the French Riviera wearing a pair of board shorts and a straw fedora.
This male consumer is also man's man – he doesn’t spend two hours getting ready to go out but he still pays attention to his appearance. For the past few years, the bearded yet debonair Sean Connery has been the face of Louis Vuitton.
The new male consumer is also my friend Christian. He's young, single, and he wants to trade in his slouchy blue jeans for a pair of trim dark washed denim. This new breed of male consumers is like Christian who enjoyed picking out shirting fabric for his bespoke shirts just as much as he enjoys his scotch. It clearly shows since he ended up ordering at least half a dozen bespoke shirts from the tailor -- for starters.
Mark Twain once wrote, "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." It seems like things are looking up for the male market in terms of the choices offered on retail floors across the globe. Women have been the target market of retailers and marketers for years. Now it's time for the fellas to join in on the fun.
***SIDEBAR***
Hermes Man
The retail industry is zeroing in on the menswear market as a place to boost sales -- and rightly so. Men are buying clothes at nearly the same rate as women these days and why wouldn't they when there is so much more on offer on retail floors across the globe.
Originally a saddlery and maker of leather goods, The Hermes Group opened its first and only all menswear boutique at 690 Madison Avenue in Manhattans Upper East Side. No Hermes scarves here, gentlemen. Instead expect to find Hermes silk ties with "Hermes Homme" appearing on the reverse side -- the signature of the new line.
Called Hermes Man, the four story, New York City boutique houses handmade Hermes baseball gloves for USD 8500. This is French decadence meets classic Americana, all hand stitched in supple calf skin.
