Three Years After Launch, Men’s Custom Clothier J. Hilburn Discovers E-Commerce
March 23, 2011 at 06:15 AM EDT
Can you see the difference between these two shirts? One is an off-the-shelf Zegna men's dress shirt that sells at Neiman Marcus for $395. The other is a custom-fitted shirt from men's clothier startup J. Hilburn made from exactly the same material, but it only costs $99. And it's made to measure. J. Hilburn, which is based in Dallas, Texas, cuts out the retailer and its mark-up. The startup is a direct-to-consumer manufacturer, just like Dell Computer, but for fancy men's dress shirts. It was founded in 2007 and started selling shirts a year later. By last year, the company brought in $8 million in revenues, up from $3.25 million in 2009, says CEO Hil Davis, a former Wall Street retail analyst. He projects the company to make $20 million in revenues this year. What's incredible is that until today, the company didn't sell its clothes online.