Gentlemen, Antonio here.
Today I'm going to be talking about men's clothing subscription services.
I'm going to talk about five things you need to consider before you end up using one.
In addition, I'm going to start this off with a quick unboxing of a package I've just received
from Men's Style Lab.
You guys may remember, I worked with Men's Style Lab over a year ago.
You can go check out the old video here.
It's a great company.
I've had nothing but great results.
These guys continue to excel.
I'm a big fan of the company, because they're a small Iowa business.
The founder, Derian the guy is probably one of the hardest working entrepreneurs I know.
He is there to serve people.
When I see something like that, I'm like "I need to bring it to your guys' attention",
because you ask me about this all the time.
Now, really quick, before I get into the clothing, I want to let you guys know everything was
presented in a really nice tissue paper.
They had a little seal on it.
There was a little bow.
A nice, handwritten letter.
I can clearly see what I have.
There was one really cool part: if I keep everything in the box, I'm going to get a
25% discount.
This is a substantial discount.
We're talking everything in the box came out to a subtotal of $715, but with that 25% discount,
actually, it would go down to $536.25.
Something to consider.
It's almost like getting one of the items free if I choose to keep everything.
However, in this case, I chose not to keep everything.
I'll need a little bit of help.
First off, what do you guys think about this jacket?
Let me know in the comments on each of these items.
This was the one item I could not decide on.
Depending on what you say in the comments down below, I'm going to make my decision
there.
My wife loves this sweater.
I love this sweater.
The fit is amazing.
One of the things I love about Men's Style Lab, they're really great on fit.
I chose not to keep this.
I don't know.
The color guys, what do you think?
This shirt right here.
It's by Ben Sherman.
It's a size large.
It actually fit well, but I just didn't the color and the pattern just didn't do it for
me.
The other two items I liked.
This one, this is by GANT.
Nice twill fabric, actually very casual shirt.
At first I was like "Do I really want a shirt like this?"
Then I realized I had nothing in my wardrobe.
What I told them is I wanted to fill the holes in my casual wardrobe.
It's exactly what they gave me.
These pants by Mavi.
Basically, these jeans.
Mavi.
The one thing that threw me off on these jeans was the contrast stitching.
Then I realized I looked at all of the jeans all of the ones I have are pretty much the
same: dark, indigo.
I've got some blacks.
I've got a few.
But I don't have anything with a little bit of contrast stitching.
But the one item I really loved was the sweater.
When it comes down to it, would love to hear from you guys down below in the comments.
Of these five items I just showed you, which one would you recommend to keep?
Which one should I jettison?
Let me know.
Now, let's go ahead and get into those five tips.
The first thing why I think a man should consider a subscription service is convenience.
Above all, time is your limited resource.
Now, in my own personal case, the convenience factor for me is these guys fill in the holes
in my wardrobe.
If you're starting from scratch, they can help you.
If you just need to fill in the holes, they can help you.
In my case, you would think a guy that has access and knows a lot about clothing here's
the thing.
I live in a small town.
I don't have time to go out there.
I go to Ross.
It's 30 miles away.
But honestly, there are not many shopping options.
I've got to go to Chicago.
That's four and a half hours away.
I like to see things.
What I love is they did a great job curating.
I told them exactly I wanted clothing for my casual wardrobe.
That blazer that I'm kind of uncertain about, I did tell them that I wanted something that
would push the envelope a little bit.
Something that I could wear to parties, would still look great.
I could represent myself, my company, and my business.
On the other hand, I wanted something that I didn't already have in my wardrobe.
The second factor to consider before using an online subscription service is what are
they actually sending you?
Understand these aren't charities.
These are businesses.
They have to have a solid business model.
The worst thing and what I would warn you to be careful of are companies that are basically
promising you the world but are doing it at a price that makes no economic sense.
The way that they're doing this is they're sending you an inferior product.
What I liked and what I can vouch for about Men's Style Lab is everything here they don't
make the clothing.
They're not cutting shortcuts.
They're actually using good brands.
We've got GANT.
We've got Mavi.
We've got Ben Sherman.
We've got Slate and Stone.
These are good quality companies that make a great product.
This is going to be a little bit more expensive than if you were to go buy clothing at Target,
over at Coles, or over at Walmart.
But you're going to see a big difference in the quality.
This is clothing that's meant to last.
The third thing you want to consider is the personalization of the services.
Some companies are going to have almost no personalization.
Make sure you're not paying for it.
Other ones are going to be higher end.
You need to make sure that you're getting what you need.
Men's Style Lab I love the fact that they've got human beings back there making these smart
curations, actually going to say "Okay.
This is what Antonio wanted.
This is what he told us.
This is how we're going to deliver it."
Then I can give them feedback, and they can get better and better.
The fourth thing to consider is the fit factor.
Doesn't so much apply to a lot of the smaller subscription services that are sending you
accessory items, but you've got to make sure that your clothing fits you, because here's
what happens if it doesn't: you're going to have to send it back.
You're going to waste your time.
You're going to end up wasting postage.
You guys have experienced that.
You've bought things online, and they haven't fit you properly.
One thing I love about good service and again, Men's Style Lab knocked this out of the park
is this is a large, and it fits me, yet this is a medium, and it fits me.
Why?
Because Men's Style Lab actually measured the clothing.
They didn't go with the sizes that the manufacturers gave them.
Fit factor is very important.
Just go out there, you guys trying to find clothing.
You think you've found something that looks great.
You try to put it on.
It's your size, yet it doesn't fit.
That's what a good subscription service should save you is from that disappointment.
The fifth point I want to make is that a subscription service should help you take action.
Not just by sending you something and saying "Oh, we've sent it to you.
You can't get your money back."
No.
What I mean is they actually should have something set up there that makes you want to use it
to actually try on the clothing.
I already mentioned the 25% discount.
If I were to keep everything in here, they'd give me a 25% discount.
Why is that a great I think motivator?
Because it encourages me to give great feedback so that they do nail it.
Now, in this case, like I said, I think I'm going to send this one back, but you guys
can let me know in the comments.
Another thing that they changed up they now only ship me five items.
You want to be careful of a service that's going to send you too many items.
When they initially started out, I know they sent me 15 items.
Honestly, there was a study.
Iyengar, she put it out.
It's a jam study.
She talked about if you had too many choices, you were less likely to make a decision.
Four to five is about optimal.
Hey, they hit it on five.
Once you get above ten, all of a sudden, you're overwhelmed by choice, and you're less likely
to make a decision.
That's what I really like about this.
They make it so it's easy to make a decision from the return label that's in here so I
could actually send things back to actually the interactive website which makes it very
easy for me to get feedback, and it just confirms that I want to keep everything or I'm going
to send this one item back.
But they make it easy for me to take action.
The bonus point I want to hit on, guys, is it's actually kind of fun.
One of the reasons I use these services is I can't think of everything that's going to
fit into my wardrobe.
Yeah, I know I've written books on this.
I've put out videos.
But what I love is I would never have thought to pick up an item like this.
I'm still on the fence about this.
I would love to hear what you guys thought about this jacket.
Maybe this is something I can fit into my wardrobe.
I wouldn't have known that if there wasn't a human being out there curating for me and
saying "You know, Antonio needs to try this.
He needs to try that."
I tried this on.
I didn't like it.
I tried this on.
I actually liked it when at first I didn't think I would.
The fact that you can have fun, that you can explore, and that you can be surprised I think
is one of the fun things about these services.
It's like going shopping with somebody that knows a little bit more than you.
They provide that expertise.
That's a cool thing.
All right, guys.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
I've mentioned Men's Style Lab throughout this.
Go check out the website.
Those guys are amazing.
They work hard.
I've met them in person.
They came out to my Style Con event last year.
They're real people.
They're trying to make a difference in the world.
I would appreciate it even if you don't go buy anything from Men's Style Lab.
Send them a nice message and say "Keep up the great work, guys.
I think you're doing an awesome job."
That's it, guys.
Let me know what you think in the comments down below.
I'll see you in the next video.