“疯狂”的男装

    维沙尔与莫希特•麦瓦尼表兄弟有意向你兜售他们制作的一套西装，你会买吗？两人新成立的服装公司Combatant Gentlemen诞生于经济衰退期间，目标群体是可支配收入有限，但是爱出风头的年轻商业人士。公司CEO维沙尔认为，理想中“好斗的绅士”应该“喜欢派对，自命不凡，而且在公司里拥有独立的办公隔间。”Combat Gent提供的产品从衬衣到裤子和领带，应有尽有。单件商品价格不超过40美元。上周，公司推出了第一款西装，起卖价为160美元。

    这家位于洛杉矶的公司只有三名员工，目前还没有任何投资者，但它早期的成功却非常引人注目，甚至令人难以置信。Combat Gent网站每月约有14,000名用户，每天处理90个订单。自去年五月成立以来，公司每月销售额以25%的速度增长，12月份总销售额更是首次突破100,000美元。维沙尔表示，一月份的销售成绩甚至更好。

    表兄弟两人已经拥有了许多热情的支持者。Combat Gent是时尚科技加速器（Fashion Technology Accelerator）项目选定的六家公司之一。该导师项目引以为豪的是著名的顾问，如乐斯菲斯（North Face）创始人道格拉斯•汤普金斯、金宝贝（Gymboree）创始人琼•巴恩斯和扎珀斯公司（Zappos ）扎珀斯实验室（Zappos Labs）主任威尔•杨恩。该项目普通合伙人及投资人恩里科•贝尔特拉米尼表示，在200多个申请者中，Combat Gent是项目的首选，很大程度上是因为，它的创始团队非常适合其针对目标客户确立的商业模式。

    之所以创建这样一家公司是因为，28岁的维沙尔和26的莫希特发现，自己的朋友们在大学毕业后经常买不起一套职业服装。两人对时装的兴趣由来已久。他们小时候就曾在洛杉矶和拉斯维加斯由其父母经营的范思哲（Versace）时装店打工。麦瓦尼家族在美国西海岸一度拥有13家服装店。维沙尔回忆称，两人的童年多是在缝制衣服，和与父辈分析织物结构，而不是像其他同龄人一样玩球。

    而两人在零售业的经历也帮助Combat Gent得以迅速发展。为了节省成本，维沙尔负责设计所有服装， 并在内部制作样品。（服装的设计灵感来自美国家庭影院（HBO）电影《我家也有大明星》（Entourage）中的阿里•高尔。阿里•高尔是一位虽然有些神经质，但穿着非常考究的好莱坞经纪人。）目前，公司坚持提供全年都能穿的服装，以免造成季节性压货或销量下滑。小时候，两人曾跟随父辈拜访欧洲和亚洲的制造商。这些关系得到很好的维护，与中国制造商的关系则意味着公司可以以更低的成本进行生产，并减少浪费。莫希特说：“从某些方面来说，我们其实是在走父辈的老路。”

    当然，要想在男装行业立足并不容易。在Combat Gent针对的年龄段，大部分份额已经被JoS. A Bank、H&M和Men's Warehouse等竞争对手占领。2011年，仅Men's Warehouse一家的销售额便达到24亿美元。不过维沙尔相信，Combat Gent可以提供比高端服装店价格更低的服装，却又不会让购物者把它与低端折扣店联系在一起。因此，未来肯定能在男装市场占据一席之地。目前，Combat Gent仅采用电子商务模式。据数字营销咨询公司eMarketer统计，2012年服装及相关配件在线销售额总计达到409亿美元。去年秋天，高盛（Goldman Sachs）一位员工在邮件中发送了Combat Gent的网址，成为公司的决定性时刻。维沙尔说道，在当天结束营业时，网站共收到70多笔与这家投资银行有关的新订单。

    Cousins Vishaal and Mohit Melwani want to sell you a suit. Born out of the recession, the duo's new clothing company—Combatant Gentlemen—targets young, brash businessmen who are nonetheless short on disposable income. An ideal combatant gentleman is one that "likes to party, thinks he's hot stuff, but still has a cubicle," says Vishaal, the CEO. The Combat Gent line offers everything from shirts to pants and ties. No single item cost more than $40. This week, the company unveiled its first line of suits with prices starting at $160.

    With only three employees and no investors to date, the Los Angeles-based company's early success has been noteworthy if somewhat unlikely. The Combat Gent website has gotten nearly 14,000 users per month and processes some 90 orders per day. Since its founding last May, the company has seen a 25% growth in sales each month, topping $100,000 in sales for the first time in December. Totals were even higher in January, says Vishaal.

    The Melwani cousins have found some avid supporters. Combat Gent was one of six companies selected for the Fashion Technology Accelerator program, a mentor program that boasts advisors like Douglas Tompkins, founder of North Face, Joan Barnes, founder of Gymboree, and Will Young, the director of Zappos Labs at Zappos (AMZN). The program's General Partner and angel investor Enrico Beltramini said that Combat Gent was the accelerator's number one choice out of more than 200 applicants, in part because the founding team fits the very same mold they've established for their target customers.

    The idea for the company started when Vishaal, 28, and Mohit, 26, witnessed their friends struggle to finance a professional wardrobe following college. Their interest in fashion dates further back. As children, the Melwani boys worked in Versace boutiques their parents ran in both LA and Las Vegas. At one point the family owned 13 boutiques on the West Coast. The boys grew up sewing clothes and analyzing fabric patterns with their dads—not throwing the ball around, says Vishaal.

    Their retail background has paid off in getting Combat Gent off the ground. Vishaal designs all of the clothes, making samples in-house to curb costs. (Inspiration comes from Ari Gold, the neurotic, yet well dressed Hollywood agent from HBO's Entourage.) For now, the company is sticking to clothes that can be worn year-round to avoid seasonal overstock or sales slumps. As children, the boys traveled with their fathers to visit manufacturers across Europe and Asia. Those relationships have been maintained, and connections with Chinese manufacturers have meant cheaper production costs and less waste. "Both of us are kind of reliving our dads' footsteps in certain ways," says Mohit.

    Of course, breaking into the men's clothing industry won't be easy. Competitors—JoS. A Bank, H&M, and Men's Warehouse to name a few—have already captured significant business from men in Combat Gent's target age group. Men's Warehouse alone reported sales of $2.4 billion in 2011. But Vishaal believes that Combat Gent can find a place for itself by providing lower cost clothes than high-end boutiques without the stigma some shoppers associate with low-end discount stores. Combat Gent is taking an e-commerce only approach. Online apparel and accessory sales totaled $40.9 billion in 2012, according to eMarketer. A small moment of affirmation came last fall when a Goldman Sachs employee passed around the Combat Gent site in an email chain. By the end of the day, the site had received more than 70 new orders tied to the investment bank, says Vishaal.