Nordstrom Men’s Label
If you were the largest retailer in your category and had tons of loyal and satisfied customers, you’d expect to benefit from a bunch of word-of- mouth marketing. That is unless you’re the largest men’s fashion retailer like Nordstrom. That’s because most men don’t talk about fashion, at least not with each other. We’ll read about it, shop for it, buy it and even talk around it. We may talk about it openly with our spouses or S.O. but discussing fashion with any other men is a definite no-no.This problem is compounded for Nordstrom which is a house of brands. Apart from a few in- house brands, the majority of the clothing Nord- strom sells doesn’t contain any indication that it’s from Nordstrom. Our research among male shoppers (fyi: it was even hard to get men to talk about talking about fashion) revealed that if another man did ask you about your clothes, the only suitable response was to open up your lapel and show the label.
Typically, there would be no opportunity to put a Nordstrom label on most items of clothing, but we realized that trends in men’s fashion are changing that rapidly.
The Insight
After a decade of “casual comfort,” tailoring is back in style. Men want a more fitted look. Flat front pants that hug the waist without the need for a belt and that have a small or no break (the crease where they fall on your shoes). Shirts that are slimmer, with higher cut armholes. Jackets that are shorter and more fitted. Add to that the growth of premium denim, and all of it leads to a greater demand for tailoring services than ever before. And all that tailoring is a perfect opportunity for Nordstrom to add its brand.
The Idea
The solution was simple. We designed small labels that can be sewn into any altered or tailored clothes. Reading simply, “Tailored by Nordstrom,” they allow us to enter “the conversation” (for what it is) around clothes among men. Every men’s garment altered or tailored by Nordstrom since July 2009 has had one in it somewhere. Because men’s fashion is largely a business of replacement, the label also serves as an ad that reminds men where they need to go when whatever it is wears out.