Combatant Gentlemen

Online menswear retailer Combatant Gentlemen has made the leap to brick-and-mortar with a sleek, streamlined space that speaks to its millennial audience.



It opened its first permanent retail store in July, at Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, Calif., having previously opened pop-up shops in New York City and Los Angeles, and a showroom at its headquarters in Irvine, Calif. At 2,220 sq. ft., Combatant Gentlemen has a sleek, modern industrial interior, with raw steel, muted hues and dark wood. It features the brand’s entire ready-to-wear collection, including suits, outerwear, tops, slacks, accessories and shoes.



A touchscreen display system provides made-to-order suiting. Shoppers can also interact with a “magic mirror,” an RFID-enabled display that provides additional information about the garment they are wearing.



Vertically integrated, Combatant Gentlemen enjoys maximum control over its supply chain, sourcing wool from its own sheep farm in Italy and cotton from its own cotton fields in India. The brand is sometimes called the “Warby Parker of suiting” for the way it makes traditionally expensive products (100% Italian wool suits, starting at $160) affordable.



Combatant Gentlemen was co-founded in 2012 by Vishaal Melwani (along with his cousin Mo Melwani), who also serves as its CEO. He told Chain Store Age that stores give the brand the ability to interact with consumers on a content and a lifestyle basis.



“We’ve also seen that we can convert at a rate seven times higher than we can offline,” Melwani said. “Stores have always been a part of our plan. I grew up in offline. My parents were the first and only franchisees of Versace on the West Coast. My dad was a master tailor. I apprenticed under him, and then went to work in Japan in supply chain.”



The company’s retail strategy involves starting on the West Coast and then moving east. New York City accounts for 31% of its online customer base, but the rents are not cheap.



“So we’re being very disciplined with growth,” Melwani explained. “We’re not going to be as explosive as some other startups. We believe we should be running profitably, and we believe in tests.”



Melwani forecasts six stores by 2017, going to Chicago, D.C., Boston, and then New York and Houston.



“Everywhere there is a big finance population,” he added.