Be creative and pragmatic. It will lead to big things.
Told through a business case, laid out here.
If you proceed creatively, and then pragmatically, or the other way around, the outcome can not be help but be distinctive. Every time.
First, let me start by saying that “big” is relative. But then again, everything in life is. And big is not always better. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to dine on roast chicken in France, you now this to be true.
It’s important that this is established - because relativity is everything - not just when you’re making the decisions but also when you’re evaluating the results. Results matter, and not for the obvious reasons. It’s because those successes are often what propel us to the next step. The mindfuck to watch out for is, your success may be another’s failure (it’s all relative, after all). If you’re using someone else’s measuring stick, you’ll never figure out what’s right for you.
When you figure out what’s right for you, you end up doing things in a wholly unique way. Not different for different’s sake, but rather because it’s smart, it makes sense. This is great when you’re a company, it allows you to not only find new paths but ones that have a high percentage for success. It’s also great when you’re just a human, trying to make tough decisions that propel you forward in life and allow you to take risks (that are right for you).
I’ll give you an example of Creative and Pragmatic thinking at Tibi that led to something incredible. By my measurement.
The problem: We have a small foot print. That means there are very few places where a customer can see/touch/try on the range of our collection. This problem was self imposed - we had committed in 2020 to sell only to stores that shared our mindset. As a result, we cancelled our business with department stores and large ecommerce sites. That meant globally we would be limited to selling to independent specialty stores where the owners were present and vested in their business. We had solid business reasons for making this decision, and zero regrets since making it.
The challenge: How do we solve for the problem without reverting back to proven bad business practices?
The facts: Here’s what we knew to be true:
People were willing to travel, even far distances, to shop our brand. And it wasn’t just for the opportunity to see/touch/try but because it was also an opportunity to meet other like minded individuals.
We had a growing cohort of specialty stores we had worked with for a long time (10+ years) and have an understanding between us that in order to win, we both have to have skin in the game. We trust each other greatly.
Our industry (fashion) gets it wrong. A lot. We shouldn’t follow anyone’s playbook, they’re just not credible enough to follow as gospel or even a directive.
We have a warehouse in Belgium. One in Asia as well.
Our customer is not a typical luxury fashion customer. At all. They primarily own their own wallet and they really enjoy thinking and discourse. Note: A huge marketing challenge is to get people unconditioned before you can present an alternative. Our customers had rebuked status quo long ago when it didn’t meet their needs. No unconditioning needed.
Our collection isn’t huge, but if we’re going to be fully represented it’s going to take up space.
What if: What if we could get one of our favorite stores to convert their store to a Tibi store? We identified Schneeweiss in Vienna, Austria. Yasemin thinks like us, we’ve worked together for over ten years, and her store was big enough to be a Tibi shop but not so big (my opinion) that letting go of other brands would be a huge deal to her (my opinion).
Roadblock: I called Yasemin and pitched the idea. But it turns out she’s really passionate about the assortment of brands that she’s curated. She likes her independence and even appreciates the challenges. I was disappointed, but I understood. Maybe this isn’t the solution.
What if: Yasemin called a couple weeks later. The concept had stuck with her - maybe it’s the right idea, but wrong execution. What if she found a beautiful apartment - one near her store. What if it was a Tibi important. She invests in the space and we develop a creative solution that allows her to have the full collection and the opportunity to grow her business. The facts were:
People travel all over the world to visit Vienna. The location is great.
Our customers deeply trust Yasemin, she’s very present in her business.
We crave intimacy and conversation. This would give us a place to do both. We know people come, at first, for the blazer but they stay for the robust discourse and the new relationships they make.
This is doable. Even as small as Tibi is, we could make this work - it was risky, to invest in the inventory, but it certainly wasn’t reckless.
Pragmatically, can this work? What’s the inventory needed? How does it get there? What would a year look like? Simply, is it doable? Yes, if we look at things in a different way, if we’re more creative in how we approach inventory buying, and what it means to engage with a customer.
Last month I was on a bus at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport - you can be on it a long time. I was standing with Nicole Phelps from American Vogue. She asked what I was doing in Paris, and I answered that my trip had started first in Vienna where we just opened our studio. “Why Vienna, that’s so….different????” I explained about Yasemin, the apartment she chose, the customers I’d just spent days with from Melbourne, Dublin, Milan, Barcelona, Prague. “I’m confused, what do you mean customers? Like people who came to shop?” “Why isn’t anyone else doing this?” I told her I don’t think they can. This idea and execution aligns with our special circumstances - independent brand, relationship with our stores, our end consumer, flexibility to make and design what we want.
It was a complicated story to explain to someone in the industry so long. Nothing about this is done this way. It’s just not. And that’s ok. In fact, it’s really great.
The so what of this? Take things one step at a time. Make sure each move has creativity and pragmatism mixed in. Not always at the same levels - it can be highly creative and still pragmatic or highly pragmatic with a dose of creativity. But the adherence to both being present, always, will help you find new path. Always.
So that you know, if you want to visit The Tibi Studio, you can make an appointment here. Yasemin even finished the walls with Farrow and Balls ring 3 colors. Perfect, right?
