When I contemplated buying my first Arc’Teryx jacket a couple years ago, I asked myself why anybody would pay so much for a jacket. Since getting the Venta SV jacket, my first Arc’Teryx item – which I can basically wear for 3.5 seasons simply by varying the layering (because it’s windproof, highly water resistant and only has a thin fleece layer) – it’s hard for me to switch to any other brands. I do like Mountain Hardwear as well, but I love Arc’Teryx most.
That’s a sweet jacket. In fairness, though, Pategonia and Mountain Hardwear have similar shells worth checking out.
About the name, marketing texts preach something like:
short
easy to remember
easy to pronounce/write
says something about the quality/product/differentiation
distinct
You’ll hardly find a name doing well in all criteria, but it’s good to keep that in mind. Bad names can catch too, but you’ll probably spend more in promoting them.
The easy to remember thing is probably more important for online brands ( this is just my guess).
Also,BS, I’m probably misinterpreting you, but the overall tone of the thread made me think that you aren’t very worried about differentiation since you just want a small share of the market. Don’t ever forget that every other company will also probably like that same share.
Differentiation does not need to be a big product proposition, and often it just happens in the consumer’s minds (blind tests actually say Coke tastes worse than both Pepsi and Royal Crown - who cares?). It is important that you position yourself as having a distinct advantage for a distinct public ( and this may even be a very small niche) .
One thing that I’ve seen work in other areas is to get closer to very specialized communities. So maybe there’s a tight online climbing, marathoning or whatever community in some online forum. In the best case you’re already part of that. You can interact with that community and ask for input to do things that are lacking in the market - this means get user input in planning some of your products. You’ll be making outfit ideas from climbers to climbers or whatever is the nicest cliche - that may get you instant loyalty as well. For prospects, you’ll be " one of us" ( as you truly are anyway).
The obvious issue is that this kind of involvement may attract some me-too competitors. Even if you don’t go all out, some community involvement will probably lead you to better understand where the big companies are disappointing and give you ideas on how to beat that.
I know everybody is kinda clinging to the same advice ( the " defensive niche" as brain-wash-your-face put it), but that really makes a big difference. If you just want to get some of the cash floating around, it’s likely that a lot of people will get the same idea and that could be annoying.
Remember that a single focus does not prevent you from selling to other groups as well, but gives you a stronger core clientele.
Anyway, I hope you succeed and get rich enough to buy 100% of AAPL and change their symbol to a banana just for laughs.
Thanks for the advice, I do plan on working on some differentiation. But people keep also missing the fact that I’m competing on cost here (more than differentiation). And it’s a major factor. Again, looking at GoLite’s success, it is largely because of their online only model. They undercut competitors by like 30-60% on most of their products because they cut out the final retailer markup. It’s a legitimate, defindible product advantage as other non-online only companies have to honor their msrp or lose their retail distribution, and there are many fewer retailers in the online (direct) only space.
I think there is certainly room for a well-made small outfit piece, particularly in crowds like you mention - climbers, trail runners, etc…tend to be less focused on whether the label says TNF or not and would rather have performance & maybe more open to supporting a startup type label.
That trail-running component (especially distance where you might carry gels/etc) has big potential IMO, as every short I try is unimpressive or changes once they have a great thing going (Patagonia Nine shorts specifically)…if you can nail a piece like that I think there is good upside.
That Venta is nice…I have grown so attached to my Patagonia DAS parka that the thought of losing it/ruining it would bring me to tears…you do that with another piece of clothing and you will be golden.
What are some of the things you really look for in a trail running short? What do people do that ruins a good trail short (what have they changed that you disliked, etc)? And what would you like to see? What do you love about the Pategonia Nine shorts?
This may be getting beyond the idea of the thread, but to briefly answer:
I care about:
length (not a short short type of dude); zippered pocket(s) for gels/keys/etc somewhere; not having unnecessary items (dont need open baggy pockets in front that dont do anything); breathability; comfort (waistband, brief/boxer/whatever); color (something that prevents the wet pants look)
They had it nearly perfected a couple of years ago and then changed it up, now its ~$50 of garbage. No reason to have velcro in my mind, just wears out/tears, sucks when wet, doesnt really seal anything…i think a ton of companies skimp on the built-in brief/boxer where its awful (TNF), a lot of road running brands dont think about needs of ultra or trail runners in their designs, overall I think there is a ton of room to improve on that article of clothing…and one that brand doesnt matter much and where people order more than 1 every 4 years.
I read briefly through the comments, but I figured I would just add my two cents. I also think you should go with a name that distinguishes your brand or products and actually captures what you’re about. I hope you don’t take offense to this, when I first read Eyrie, I thought eerie.
I’m not creative by any means, but I am a consumer who is farily conscious of my purchasing/shopping logic (what I’m drawn to). I think you should approach it like this: if given a handful of company names, would a customer with no prior knowledge of the stores pick your company’s name among ones he/she might visit? I say that because if I Googled Outdoor Clothing and on the list was Eyrie Apparel, and then was GoLite (never heard of them) and some other competitors, neglecting ranking on Google’s search I don’t think I would click Eyrie Apparel from just the name.
I don’t know if I really even helped, haha. I thought I would just mention what immediately came to mind.
I should’ve said positioning instead of differentiation, and I agree that being low cost is a perfectly fine way to position your company. You’ll still need to have something different than GoLite and other possible low-cost entrants, but you already know that.
I had to look up eyrie. I imagine hard core climbers know what it means without having to look it up, but the average person wouldn’t. Hence, you could think about it more like a premium brand with your company called something else (Black Swan’s Climbing Emporium?). If you do make it a brand, why call it Eyrie X, why not just Eyrie?
The company is a brand. The idea is to design upper level outdoor gear, it is not targeting the average consumer that wants a jacket to wear to school or for the annual trip to Aspen. My current view is that it’s largely irrelevant whether or not they know exactly what Eyrie means. 30 years ago when Patagonia was founded most people had to look that up too. Most hardcore climbers don’t even know what Arc’Teryx stands for. And yet they’re killing it.
But I do agree, I may make the name just “Eyrie”. I’ll see how it goes. Honestly, it’s not my major focus right now. I’m for focused on getting logistics setup and products designed, I figure I’ve got 8 months before a name would have to be finalized.
I’m trying to stay away from what I view as cheesy names such as “climbing emporium” because this isn’t a store, it’s a product line, and it’s not one targeting a broad swarth of average consumers.