After quite a number of years in the men’s clothing business; growing a chain from 40 to 650 brick n mortar outlets (I was on the real estate end of that expansion); men’s clothing is the toughest retail business on the planet and the hardest customer to figure out, buy for and maintain inventory on behalf of. Basics, Basics, Basics…and for those of you not around soft goods…thats underwear, socks, tshirts and a belt, if you’re lucky. High margin stuff, but at many times in the sales cycle, that’s the men’s purchase. The vast majority of men do not shop for themselves. The vast majority of men shop very infrequently. When men shop, they are grab-n-go shoppers; at most, 2 times per year. Point being is that if SFIX is banking on growing revenue through the men’s division, good luck! [Keep in mind, I am a SFIX holder]. When men do shop, they touch, feel, try-on and then buy one of every color of the style number they like. In other words, good luck having the right levels of inventory to leverage that event, the right style nos., the right sizes, the right colors, the right seasonality. I have 3 young adult women in my household; I do not have one SFIX customer. That scares me as an investor.
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