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I've been in fashion retail for years and after graduating from college , my dream has been to open my own high end mens clothing boutique. Currently I reside in Pittsburgh, but my taste has essentially been formed from a local boutique. Charlotte has always been a favorite of mine, especially with its fantastic demographic of age and culture.
I've done some casual research on fashion boutiques in Charlotte but haven't really come up with much. I'm just double as to a list of Men's(or Men's+Women's) clothing boutiques in the area. Mostly, I am looking for brands sold in Charlotte outside of the typical mainstream fashions found at the high end department stores.
If I have done a somewhat thorough job, It seems as though Charlotte lacks a considerable amount of fashion. Are there any reasons for this?
It especially lacks men's boutique stores. The choices are golf (polo) type stores, A&F and
Hot Topic (eek) There is several Mens Suit Stores but a lot of companies have gone
away from suits to business casual. I would love to see a store like Armani or
Armani Exchange.
There is really know real answer the population changed with the prominence of transplants
taken over but the creative type stores havent.
Agree with Sunny. You have to understand - the natives are into prep and country club wear - and that has been the standard Old Charlotte dress standard for many decades. More to Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren than Armani.
A lot of the transplants are with Banks or in corporate fields of law and finance (CPAs, tax attorneys, etc). But you have to understand - literally thousands of folks in those fields have been laid off.
Business casual is big and in some fields (marketing/graphic arts/web creative types) people are very very casual unless meeting with clients (but even then - I find I am usually dressed a lot more conservatively than my peers).
However, a lot of folks are out of work and so discretionary income has been slashed . . . and that has affected all the retail stores here.
This has never really been a boutique kinda town - but then, there are less than 1/3 folks who are natives so maybe if you had merchandise that appealed to the transplants . . . but I am not sure what that would be. Most of the transplants I know are into business suits b/c that is standard dress for their industry or into very casual clothing.
A lot of folks I have met who have moved here work out of their homes - so that affects how folks dress. I see a lot of people out and about w/ computers working (coffee shops, delis) and into more the sweat suit type of dressing or sweats/T-shirts and jeans than anything else, lol.
Speaking only for myself, I travel for work and work in "business casual" environments nearly exclusively. As such, I find myself wearing button-down shirts and khaki/chino pants almost 100% of the time. I would love a boutique type store that could supply me with bespoke, or at least "made-to-measure", wrinkle free shirts and pants - without them being $150 a shirt.
Right now, I find myself buying from Brooks Brothers and the like.
I have bought almost no clothing whatsoever in Charlotte in the past 2 years or so; I order everything online because there are no men's stores here that carry really innovative or lesser known brands/designers. Charlotte is not on the style map and is oversaturated with ****ty mall brands. There are 3 types of men's styles here, and they all suck.
1. Conservative frat-boy (polo, lacoste, vineyard vines, etc)
2. Business professional (XXL dress shirts, trousers that are 6" too long, square toed rubbed soled black corrected-grain lace-ups)
3. Nightlife douche (affliction, ed hardy, true religion. XXL untucked dress shirt, bootcut seven jeans, pointy shoes that look like pizza slices.)
Charlotte has enough lame ass shops carrying lame ass Stussy and 7Diamonds shirts. If you really want to open a respectable shop, visit real style blogs like The Sartorialist and Fashionisto
The Sartorialist
The Fashionisto (http://thefashionisto.com/blog/ - broken link)
and lurk on the good style boards like SuperFuture, StyleForum, and StyleZeitgeist.
It depends on what style demographic you want to cater to, but some of the brands I would love to have access to in Charlotte are Mason Martin Margeila, Julius, Ann D, Dries Van Noten, Dior Homme, Patrick Ervell, Junya Watanabe, Comme de Garcons, Engineered Garments, Woolrich Woolen Mills, Alden, and lots more.
Establish a strong online presence. Here are a few shops to get an idea of what Im talking about:
I think Ani hit it on the head - too many people here just do not have as large an amount of discretionary income as they used to. And the average income here is below what you would find in a larger, northeastern metropolitan city.
As for me - I have two modes of dress: Business suits and ties during the week (Jos. A Bank is my main resource for that) and jeans and old concert t's on the weekends. Other than a few Royal Underground items, I'm not one for the designer market. But if you can make something like that work here in Charlotte - come on down; the more new, successful businesses we have the better.
VERY NICE POST - BBSLM. But i gotta tell you - take Tres Bien, for example. My son dresses like this -could have been one of their models, lol. But he puts together that look w/ retro clothing and lots of mix and match from various stores.
He also goes the polo/prep route when appropriate - i.e., golf and club activities.
And he wears suits when appropriate (and sports jackets) but again - as Tober said - Jos. A. Banks and Brooks Brothers.
He does the jeans and concert Ts, too - as well as novelty Ts from places he has traveled or stuff Ts he has ordered online.
And we typically buy the bulk of his wardrobe ON SALE - stretches the money.'
But having said all that - if you can come and put something fun together - I am with Tober - PLEASE COME!
I have bought almost no clothing whatsoever in Charlotte in the past 2 years or so; I order everything online because there are no men's stores here that carry really innovative or lesser known brands/designers. Charlotte is not on the style map and is oversaturated with ****ty mall brands. There are 3 types of men's styles here, and they all suck.
1. Conservative frat-boy (polo, lacoste, vineyard vines, etc)
2. Business professional (XXL dress shirts, trousers that are 6" too long, square toed rubbed soled black corrected-grain lace-ups)
3. Nightlife douche (affliction, ed hardy, true religion. XXL untucked dress shirt, bootcut seven jeans, pointy shoes that look like pizza slices.)
Charlotte has enough lame ass shops carrying lame ass Stussy and 7Diamonds shirts. If you really want to open a respectable shop, visit real style blogs like The Sartorialist and Fashionisto
The Sartorialist
The Fashionisto (http://thefashionisto.com/blog/ - broken link)
and lurk on the good style boards like SuperFuture, StyleForum, and StyleZeitgeist.
It depends on what style demographic you want to cater to, but some of the brands I would love to have access to in Charlotte are Mason Martin Margeila, Julius, Ann D, Dries Van Noten, Dior Homme, Patrick Ervell, Junya Watanabe, Comme de Garcons, Engineered Garments, Woolrich Woolen Mills, Alden, and lots more.
Establish a strong online presence. Here are a few shops to get an idea of what Im talking about:
VERY NICE POST - BBSLM. But i gotta tell you - take Tres Bien, for example. My son dresses like this -could have been one of their models, lol. But he puts together that look w/ retro clothing and lots of mix and match from various stores.
Some of the most stylish people do it this way (thrifting.)
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