Making a British Fashion Statement.. or how to market using blogs
I have this rather unfortunate issue with having to wear a suit and tie on most days. And over the years, I’ve become a bit of a fashion snob.
While my initial suits, shirts, and ties have come from places like Marshall Field’s and the Men’s Wearhouse – in the last two years, I feel like I’ve graduated to Thomas Pink and some other more upscale designers.
But always something classy.. never overly trendy metrosexual sort of things.
For a long time, one of my favorite blogs has been Thomas Mahon’s English Cut – a blog marketed heavily by Hugh Macleod of GapingVoid fame.
Thomas writes candidly and openly about his business as a Savile Row tailor. I’ve enjoyed reading his blog for quite some time.
Back in January, just as I was considering purchasing several new shirts for 2006, Thomas began talking about creating his own line of shirts. While his line is still a work-in-progress, he did link to a beautiful shirt and tie from Coles of London.
It’s because of Thomas’s blog that I ordered that shirt & tie combination from Coles. And it’s because of Thomas’s blog that I later ordered another 7 shirts & ties (along with cufflinks) from Coles.
And when Thomas launches his own shirts, I’ll probably buy a few of those as well. All because of the blog.
Thomas now does so much business worldwide because of his blog that he’s looking at scaling back the number of suits that he makes annually. It’s a great problem to have…
Matt, I’ll be featuring you in our Aristocracy Anecdotes blog the way you’re going. English fashion, if you can call it that, is always understated, never flashy and ruinously expensive. I’m delighted you can afford it. :-)
BTW, that’s Saville Row, not Road.
It’s also Savile, not Saville. :-)
Ahh hell.
Thanks :)
That’s what happens when you write things late at night ;-) Fixed now
~M
It is easy to believe that someone who makes an ultraluxury product, which appeals to wealthy men, in a market with an extremely high barrier to entry, might increase their business by writing a blog.
It would be extremely misleading to imply that is generalizable.
Good on him. It can be a hard thing to try and convince a traditional business that time invested in a blog can be worthwhile. This anecdote is one I’ll remember for those situations when a client isn’t sure about starting a blog.