O’Quinn launched during the start of the recession and saw some early success in upscale surf shops and boutiques like Fred Segal and high-end department stores like Bloomingdale’s.
We had not checked in with owner Dean Quinn in awhile, so got in touch to see how things are going.
How is the brand surviving? You launched during the worst time in retail history, and things must have been tough.
Well, launched O’Quinn almost five years ago now. It was a time when things were just starting to get very tough in retail for sure.
We went in thinking it was actually a great time to start a new brand because we knew things were going to get rough for the big guys. They would be forced to open up their distribution and open up more of their own stores to hit their numbers needed by publicly traded and larger brands.
What I didn’t anticipate, though, is that the smaller retailers were way too nervous to try new brands. It seemed that the harder business became for smaller retailers, the more they depended on the bigger brands for help.
O’Quinn couldn’t just go into stores and pay for real estate to showcase the brand. We just can’t compete with giant marketing budgets, orders on wheels and build outs they (big brands) are all offering.
To this day, after five years, we have accounts in our own backyard that have never given O’Quinn a shot. It has been very humbling and tough to swallow even to this day. I would like to thank everybody who has given us a shot and we will always remember the ones who gave us support from the beginning. It’s easy to jump in when everybody is asking for a brand. The ones who create a partnership with you in the beginning and through tough times are the ones we will remember and hopefully help in the future.
Are you still in Fred Segal, the Buckle, Bloomingdale’s, etc.? How many doors are you in total now?
Fred Segal has been a great partnership since the first collection almost five years ago. Karen, the buyer at Fred Segal, has been awesome to us, and we have done very well in her stores. It just goes to show if you have a great partnership with a great store good things will happen.
In Fred Segal, we are merchandised and have a better assortment of O’Quinn then any other store we are in.
The Buckle has been a great partner since we started the brand four years ago. They really are helping us grow the brand all over the country and we can’t thank them enough for believing in us when a lot of retailers have never even given us a shot. We are not in Bloomingdale’s at this time.
Our door count is very small still. In this economy, you really need to pick the right stores to be in, who can pay their bills and not just give you one shot and buy five things and expect them to fly out the door.
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Is the brand growing still? Where?
O’Quinn as a brand is growing all the time in all sorts of different ways. It’s much more recognized across the country.
We have also just started a blanks business. We really feel we have one of the best fitting and quality blanks in our industry. I spent nearly two years perfecting our T-shirt quality, fit and fabrics.
I was not happy with the blanks offered by companies that typically supply the industry, so I searched all over and found a factory in Central America who made amazing Ts. After we met and I spent a ton of time down there, they loved what I was doing and asked to partner up with us. It has enabled O’Quinn to develop what a lot of people feel is the best fitting most comfortable T-shirt out there.
After so many requests from other brands on where they can get our blanks, we decided to open up that part of the business as well. I was reluctant at first to share our special recipe, but now I’m super excited to help other brands build amazing Ts and continue to help our industry build superior product.
Do you think that your blanks business will become a bigger portion of O’Quinn than your own line?
I think that a new blank supplier in our industry could make an impact with offering new fits and fabrics and it could be much bigger then O’Quinn the brand in the market. But it also helps O’Quinn as a label represent superior quality in the market place whether it’s a blank or a collection at retail.
Are you in any new retailers?
We are opening new accounts like Maui Nix in Florida and some in our own back yard like Sakal Surfboards in Huntington Beach.
We are only in a very small amount of retailers in the U.S., and don’t need a lot to keep this brand alive. It’s all about survival in this economic climate. If you just want to be in “the core” accounts, then there is a good chance you are not going to survive.
I believe that it’s not only being in core accounts that define you as a “core” brand, it’s also who is behind the brand that makes you “core.” Everybody at O’Quinn lives and breathes this industry and that defines us as “core” in our eyes.
What has been your strategy to entering the doors you have?
I think that the consumer is very educated now and can appreciate great quality and design over hype. There is always going to be that kid or young adult who really searches for the brand who is not everywhere and is new. We have basically survived just with those kids. These are the customers that find us and support us we are still here five years later.
Do you have any new categories or new marketing plans?
No new categories at this time. We’re just excited to perfect the ones we are already doing. I look forward to the time we can move into other categories like shoes, eyewear and denim only because I love all of them. We are very excited to have Shawn Leydecker come on board to take over sales. His passion and hard work ethic is a breath of fresh air.
