After a year spent absorbing Knot Standard, Billy Reid is back in expansion mode.
Last April, the Alabama-based designer brand acquired the made-to-measure company and its eight retail showrooms. The goal of the purchase was to allow Billy Reid to reenter the custom business, a commercially successful offshoot of its core that was shuttered during the pandemic.
The plan was to use Knot Standard’s technological expertise to create Billy Reid Custom product and add the designer’s ready-to-wear to the existing Knot Standard stores.
“It’s been an operational challenge,” said Jeff Zens, chief executive officer of Billy Reid Inc., “but we’ve gotten through a lot of that and we’re coming out on the other side.”
He said Knot Standard was “a tech company that built retail, and we’re a retail company that had systems and operations.” But it was more than just the back end that had to be integrated, Zens said. The showrooms themselves were converted to Billy Reid Custom, which was a major change for the Knot Standard customers.
“You’re taking a custom business that didn’t have a designer — that didn’t have really a brand — but was competing in an elevated price point custom world, and now all of a sudden you have Billy that has a perspective, a brand and a culture,” he explained. “So we kind of soft pedaled that a little bit because we didn’t want it to be too abrupt for the existing, Knot Standard customer. It’s not what they signed up for.”
But slowly, the staff in the Knot Standard stores has been introducing the Billy Reid, southern-flavored, Americana-skewed line to their customers.
This month marks a milestone for the combined company, Zens said. Billy Reid is sending out a custom mailer to all its customers, marking the first true marketing initiative since the acquisition.
“It’s still the polished tailored looks that the Knot Standard business was selling but it’s through Billy’s lens,” he explained. “You can tell that it’s Billy Reid through the art direction and that sort of thing. So it’s all systems go from a marketing and cross-selling perspective.”
If the effort is successful, it will also serve to introduce the “legacy Knot Standard customer” to Billy Reid ready-to-wear as well, Zens said. “That takes a little bit more coaching, because that’s not what people are coming for. They’re coming specifically for custom,” he said.
“It’s been a challenge to eliminate customer confusion,” he admitted, adding that Knot Standard’s highly promotional posture has also been eliminated.
So while the business is “not as big as I want it to be,” the salespeople, which he called Knot Standard’s “greatest asset,” have done a good job explaining the situation and retaining customers. “We’re just pressing start on the growth mode now,” he said.
Part of that involves opening stores. First up was Dallas, where the company has opened a Billy Reid Custom store on North Henderson Avenue that also sells the ready-to-wear. Zens said the company had previously operated a store in Northpark, but that closed around two years ago.
Billy Reid’s Dallas store.
Jasmine Anwer
“We’ve been in the Dallas market for 21 years and have moved our shop a couple of times for various reasons,” said Billy Reid. “Our opening on Knox Henderson gives us the space to showcase a more realized offering, combining our custom clothing efforts and main collection under one roof. We are super excited to be there.”
The company has also moved out of the Knot Standard unit and opened a second unit in New York City. That store, at 276 Fifth Avenue, also houses the Billy Reid wholesale showroom.
The space, which was originally the Holland House hotel, is located on the second floor and will join the brand’s existing store on Charles Street in Greenwich Village, which Zens said is small, but “super profitable.”
“New York is such an important market for the brand and our industry, making this concept unique,” said Mario Ranieri, head of retail and custom for Billy Reid. “We wanted to create a space that welcomed our custom and ready-to-wear clients, but also create a positive experience for our retail partners during trade show season.”
Beyond that, Zens said the company is planning to expand its San Francisco store to bring in ready-to-wear and is searching for a larger space in Washington, D.C.
“The end game is to have one fleet where you have a full experience of custom and ready-to-wear,” he said.