Next in our previews for Spring ’17 is RVCA Men’s. We spoke with Brian Cassaro, VP of Marketing, and Eric Thomas, VP of Sales, to learn what has been working well for the brand and the direction they are headed for spring.
What’s new for Spring?
Brian Cassaro: For Spring ‘17, we have collections by two of our most coveted ANP artists, Barry McGee and Kelsey Brookes.
Barry has a great collection that has some pieces that are exclusive to our upper tier distribution, while Kelsey has a collection that includes pieces in our Women’s line.
Both collections have trunks that will be featured as part of our men’s marketing story for Spring ‘17.
What is the most important product story for spring?
Brian Cassaro: Trunks will be our main product story for Spring ‘17.
Last winter, we invited some retailers and athletes to Hawaii to help us push the line forward in both function and design. We used all of the input to create the Spring ‘17 line and involved people from multiple departments in the company to develop a brand inspired trunk program.
Using some of our heritage lingo, we built our line into categories that we feel represent different consumers, and RVCA advocates. “Industry” is our technical, made for surf, line of trunks. Think progressive surfing and advocates like Jay Davies and Bruce Irons.
“Nature” represents our lifestyle driven trunks where we showcase our ANP artists. Think Alex Knost and Ellis Ericson.
And our “Balance” collection is a mix between the two, bringing elements of lifestyle and performance, to create a very wearable and functional trunk. Anyone on our team could wear trunks in the “Balance” category.
With this strategy, we will tell better stories to our consumers that will resonate with different tiers of consumers.
How will you market it?
Brian Cassaro: We will focus a majority of our efforts in and around partner retail stores. We will also be doing regional activations and hold events with these retailers to reach the end consumer and bring more people through their doors. The plan is to do a few regional experiential events that bring media, retailers, influencers, advocates and our fans together.
We will do some digital advertising to raise awareness, and social media will help us tell the story to our consumers and the fans of our advocates.
What was the biggest hit of last season?
Eric Thomas: Denim is our biggest hit. We are making a major push that started last BTS season and it continues to pay off. It has had a residual effect on our five-pocket twill and chino programs as well. We are taking a good chunk of market share. It is paying year-round dividends for the retailers who are representing it consistently.
As we head into this fall we are expecting our momentum to continue in this revenue-driving category.
Anything else new with business?
Eric Thomas: We are not making any major distribution moves. Our focus right now is on growing our core account base. Our national department store and specialty chain accounts are growing, which is a good indicator of our broadening brand awareness. But, the real opportunity is growth in our existing core accounts, especially the East Coast.
We are bucking the trend right now on growth and sell-through and we just need to keep the momentum rolling. The creative center of our brand culture and authentic involvement in many different sub-cultures is exactly what today’s new consumer is looking for.
Our first read from retailers on spring has been amazing. They are seeing the elevation of categories like boardshorts, hybrids and specialty knits. In addition, they like the advancement of fabrics, washes and processes in our market-leading T-shirt and wovens categories. We are in great position with this Spring ‘17 line to keep the momentum we are currently enjoying.
Brian Cassaro: A running change we are making is the reinvention our strongest heritage category, tees. RVCA has earned customers with our soft hand, high quality, and comfortable tees. Our signature Red Stitch on the shoulder is an indicator of our vintage dye and vintage wash shirts that represent our best-in-class fits and fabrications.
In fall, you will start seeing point of purchase and social media that starts building equity in our trademarked Red Stitch. Going forward, we will be adding new washes, fabrics, cuts and technologies to the Red Stitch program, to evolve our premium tee business.
