direct-to-consumer Archives - From Squalor to Baller

The New Private White (and the New Twin Track)

November 12, 2018 No Comments

“Direct to Consumer” companies are everywhere these days. Some are more effective than others when it comes to actually executing on this ideal – often it’s just marketing fluff – but the concept has become commonplace. By “cutting out the middleman,” many young brands are working to offer more competitive pricing than their more traditional competitors. But as common as these companies are, it’s not often that an established brand pivots to this model. That’s exactly what happened earlier this year when Private White V.C. (one of my favorite clothing companies) decided to change its business entirely. […]

In Defense of the Middleman

In the age of Direct-to-Consumer brands, retailers have become a popular enemy. Their entire industry has been reduced to just “middlemen” – some intermediate step that adds no value and instead adds cost. We’ve all seen the ubiquitous direct-to-consumer graph – how marketing, retailers, and everything else just adds layers of cost on top of an already completed product. But is it really that simple? […]