The menswear industry is no longer about just selling clothes. The successful fashion brands of today have realized that to establish lifetime relationships with their customers, they need to reach beyond the fitting room.
The personal styling service not only offers selected clothing boxes to customers, but they’ve created a world where someone can live life and their brand, quite directly throughout the day as they interact with the world. This attitude comes in step with a larger movement going on across the men’s fashion world.
Why Fashion Brands Need More Touchpoints Now
Various omnichannel studies found that customers who engage through more than one channel are more valuable over their customer lifetime compared to those who only purchase clothing. The studies showed that brands generating these additional touchpoints harbored a higher retention rate.
Men’s wear companies are finding inventive ways to preserve those connections. Some ship samples of grooming products every one, three, or six months, while others have care manuals on certain fabrics. The objective, meanwhile, stays the same: remain top-of-mind for customers between purchase cycles.
Bonobos has been a pioneer of the showroom, or “Guideshop,” model at which customers can try on clothes but must order online. Although inventive, the brand also found that in-person experiences alone were insufficient. They needed year-round engagement strategies.
Practical Items that Reinforce Brand Identity
Smart menswear companies can expand their brand across the course of consumers’ days with promotional gifts like grooming kits, leather accessories, or labels to tame one’s tech gear. These are the things that add up and make the brand visible, making marketing more efficient.
Stitch Fix, a clothing brand, leverages data differently as it surprises customers once in a while by using customer data to add unexpected accessories that go with products people have bought before. This element of surprise reinforces the idea that the brand “gets” an individual’s style requirements.
How to Build Community Through Shared Values
Modern menswear brands know that loyalty comes from shared values, not just from sales.
Ministry of Supply, known for its performance business wear, builds community by hosting local running clubs in cities nationwide. It’s a natural fit since their clothes are made for professionals on the move, and those early morning runs bring people together.
Another example is Todd Snyder, which partners with traditional American makers and highlights their stories. When customers buy a shirt, they’re also supporting American craftsmanship. That sense of connection keeps them coming back.
How to Implement Strategic Gifting
Strategically gifting makes good sense for brands, too, since more than 80% of the time an individual has their product, they remember that, according to ASI data. For fashion brands, that means the right selection of items can help sustain relationships during the months between people’s clothing purchases.
Companies like HelloPrint provide businesses with options for crafting these branded touchpoints, such as custom packaging or lifestyle accessories that reflect one’s brand aesthetics. The trick is finding items that feel like natural extensions of the brand and not just random freebies.
How Can You Make It Sustainable?
Now people are thinking a lot more about sustainability, and it’s difficult for fashion brands to remain visible without letting go of ecologically responsible practices.
Those that succeed in providing both value and care for our environment gain trust — even in challenging economic times. Their committed customers organically share them through daily life and on social media, without multimillion-dollar ad campaigns.
