aye.creator
Every guy has been there before — you start the work day with a crisp, freshly-ironed shirt, only to end up wrinkled and sweaty by lunch. By using athletic wear fibers to create comfortable and moisture-resistant clothing, Mizzen+Main feels they have the answer for today’s performance-minded men. The Dallas-based company is changing the face of menswear through hundreds of retail outlets throughout the country. We rolled up our sleeves with Ryan Kent, the company’s president, to talk shop about their newest location in Southlake Town Square.
I WAS A MIZZEN+MAIN CUSTOMER... long before joining the company. As an on-the-road business consultant traveling 40-plus weeks out of the year, I was wearing a suit and tie most weeks and usually ended my days quite disheveled. The thought of a dress shirt that was wrinkle- and water-resistant that you don’t sweat through by your first meeting at 10 a.m. was just super valuable to me. Being a customer was the first thing that drew me in.
JOINING MIZZEN+MAIN CAME ABOUT BY... unintentional networking. I was big into CrossFit at the time, and I met founder Kevin Lavelle during my workout. We became buddies and built a relationship. He was getting Mizzen+Main off of the ground, and we identified an opportunity where we both felt I could help the company. I became their seventh employee eight years ago, and I haven’t looked back since.
THE PERFORMANCE FABRIC IS THE CORE OF... making the shirt sweat and wrinkle-free. It’s made from a combination of Polyester and Spandex, giving it the feel of a gym shirt more than a work shirt. What makes us different is that we care about all of the shirt’s details, not just the fabric. We think of construction, fit, stitching, the evolution it’s had over the years. We’re very confident that the consumer won’t find a better shirt on the market than ours.
THE BUSINESS IS ALL ABOUT... balancing physical with online retail. Some people prefer to shop online, while some prefer shopping in a storefront. The key is being where the customer is. Having our own brick-and-mortar stores and having hundreds of retail partners across the U.S. is a good way to increase brand awareness and get our product into more consumers’ hands. A customer who shops online and in-store also has a higher lifetime value than those who are just single-channel shoppers — that’s why it’s important to do both really well.
WHAT EXCITES US SO MUCH ABOUT OPENING IN SOUTHLAKE TOWN SQUARE IS... that we’ve always been a Dallas-based company, but we haven’t intentionally maximized the value of that. Opening our Southlake store allows us to serve our customers who know and love our brand while simultaneously introducing our product to potential customers in the Metroplex who aren’t aware of us yet. It’s a win-win either way.
DURING THE SUMMER, WE SEE CUSTOMERS NATURALLY TREND TOWARDS... casual short-sleeves given the Texas heat, then we see that trend backward to long-sleeves during the fall. One trend we’ve consistently seen in the past 12 to 18 months is that people really like to look good when they’re working. Whether you’re on a Zoom call, going to the office or pitching at a sales meeting, the days of just putting on a T-shirt are over. They want to look and feel good, and Mizzen+Main helps them to do just that.
THE EYE-OPENING PART OF THIS INDUSTRY HAS BEEN ITS... complexity. When I was an outsider, I thought it wasn’t that complicated — you just cut and sew fabric and make shirts. What I’ve learned once I got into the business is that there’s a lot of science that goes into it. There are a lot of people that hold very high degrees in textile manufacturing, going down to the yarn level with these fabrics to try and get these enhanced performance characteristics.
WE WANT MIZZEN+MAIN TO BE... every man’s favorite thing to wear every day. That’s our North Star. We believe that long-term value is created by customers who build a connection to the brand, and that connection is built emotionally not just through a great product, but through a tone of voice that speaks to them. We’re in the best position to be every guy’s favorite thing to wear every day.