Week 2 EOC: John Varvatos SWOT

John Varvatos is a men’s lifestyle brand that includes apparel, accessories, and cologne. He draws upon the rock n roll lifestyle to appeal to the rugged All-American man. “John's goal is to rid American men of their phobias about style. He wants American guys—regular blokes!-to start saying the F-word: fashion” (http://www.johnvarvatos.com/about/gq-magazine-designer-of-the-year?slide=5).  He brands his line extremely well with rocker collaborations for his advertising and marketing.

Men want to be whom John Varvatos is selling. Yes, his line is well made, fashionable, and yet accessible for the everyday masculine man; however, his target market wants to live the lifestyle he’s portraying. Both his ads and retail stores sell the image. His branding is fantastic.

As much as Varvatos targets his core market, and does it well, he limits himself by heavily marketing to only that segment. His brand appeals to “the man’s man” and not many else. He is so focused on his niche market that not many other types of men are attracted to his brand. This limits him and his earning potential. He can achieve so much more if he would market to the “fashion forward man”, the “outdoorsy man”, “the collegiate”, etc. Opening up his target market will not necessarily dilute his brand image, but offer him a much larger group to target.

The opportunities to open up his brand to make more profits are endless. If Varvatos were to start a women’s line or a home collection, he could become a huge total lifestyle brand. He can sell the same rock n roll image while including different markets he might have not previously thought about. This not creates more earning potential, but establishes brand loyalty. Men are already repeat buyers of his product and the fashion world has taken notice. In 2012, John Varvatos was honored with the Philadelphia University’s 2012 Spirit of Design Award. “First given to Geoffrey Beene in 2002, the award is presented to designers who have made outstanding contributions to the fashion and design industry. Previous winners include Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein’s Francisco Costa, Mary McFadden and “Project Runway” season one winner Jay McCarroll” (http://www.wwd.com/markets-news/designer-luxury/john-varvatos-wins-2012-spirit-of-design-award-5882806). Along with this award he has received the CFDA Award for Men’s Designer of the Year and the GQ Magazine’s Designer of the Year Award. He has been applauded for his designs and his sales reflect that. He can achieve much more by opening up his brand.

There are other brands that have entered the market and are targeting his group of consumers. Direct competitors include G-Star, Diesel, and All Saints. They appeal to the same demographic of the 24-45-market group with a yearning for a rock and roll lifestyle. All Saints, on their website, even has a page dedicated to current rock groups who have teamed up with the brand to hold special concerts (http://www.us.allsaints.com/music/). Indie bands like Scanners, One Republic, and The Weeks target a cool hip rock n roll type of guy and that is someone the John Varvatos brand is targeting as well. 

This can be seen as a threat by the brand, but also an opportunity to not just target the older rock n roll man, but the up and coming younger generations as well.