Challenge 7: AND

Product: AND, a unisex discount clothing retailer

After conducting our survey of Harvard students, we were able to get a better understanding of what womenswear they find good looking on men. In general we found students to be more comfortable with men wearing women’s tops and jeans so long as they weren’t too tight. We found that even if dresses and skirts were more “manly” by conventional standards (darker colors, less frills), students were less open to men wearing these items.

With this information in mind, we decided to create AND, a unisex clothing store. Like T.J. Maxx, AND will specialize in reselling women’s clothing at heavily discounted prices. However, for our store, the clothes will be resized and tagged as unisex to appeal to male and female shoppers. In this way, not only are we expanding the market for underperforming clothes, we are also expanding the shopping options for men. Given the results from our survey, we will focus heavily on women’s tops and “boyfriend” style pants. Some dresses and skirts may be in the store as well from time to time, but they will be much more limited in stock than tops and jeans, and the items will be carefully selected to ensure they will appeal to a large enough crowd. We will not sell shoes as the size conversion could be complicated, and we believe the market to be smaller.

Our sizes will from from 1 – 7. There will be conversion charts like the ones in our presentation to help men and women determine what is the best size for them to wear. Items will be organized by type and then by color, with one of each item hanging above a shelf of its stock, organized by size. For each item there will be polaroid pictures of men and a women wearing the item, showing shoppers how to style the piece and how it can truly be worn by either gender. There will be no mannequins because we don’t want to accidentally encourage gender identification for any given item.

Sources:

https://www.mrporter.com/en-us/mens/rick_owens/detroit-slim-fit-coated-denim-jeans/813424

https://www.theoutnet.com/en-US/Shop/Product/Maje/Corto-printed-silk-crepe-de-chine-shirt/909190

https://products.tradeindia.com/textiles-fabrics/grey-fabric/

https://www.theoutnet.com/en-US/Shop/Product/W118-by-Walter-Baker/Leanne-striped-cotton-shirt/874481

https://www.theoutnet.com/en-US/Shop/Product/Rochas/Floral-print-silk-crepe-de-chine-shirt/766875

https://www.theoutnet.com/en-US/Shop/Product/Tory-Burch/Brigitte-cotton-shirt/855088

https://www.theoutnet.com/en-US/Shop/Product/Altuzarra/Striped-silk-crepe-de-chine-shirt/922844

https://www.theoutnet.com/en-US/Shop/Product/Goat/Anthem-wool-top/852528

https://www.theoutnet.com/en-US/Shop/Product/DELPOZO/Silk-voile-blouse/841743

https://www.theoutnet.com/en-US/Shop/Product/Halston-Heritage/Layered-silk-top/729229

https://www.theoutnet.com/en-US/Shop/Product/Emilio-Pucci/Asymmetric-washed-silk-top/888178