EXCLUSIVE: Athletic Brand Redvanly Opens First Store
Athletic brand Redvanly is opening its first store.
The 10-year-old brand founded by Andrew Redvanly is opening a location in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood on Friday at 242 Lafayette Street. The store adds a third channel to the brand’s distribution strategy, complementing its online business and wholesale business.
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“When we first started, we literally had three shirts for men and three shirts for women,” Redvanly said about the growth of the brand, which began as a golf brand and has expanded to other sports. “It was kind of crazy to start like that, but for me it was more important to actually start something and to learn. We made a lot of mistakes early on, but we knew they wouldn’t hurt us. Our next line was double the size and we’ve been doing that year after year. Within the fourth year, we were profitable and ever since we’ve been a really strong business in terms of profitability.”
Redvanly stated that the brand is operating at a 40 percent margin and will hit $20 million in sales this year.
The brand, which is operated as a family business, has become a favorite of many athletes across golf, tennis, hockey and other sports. Redvanly stated the brand works with golfers such as Henrik Stenson and Louis Oosthuzien for their championships.
In addition to the flagship, Redvanly entered Nordstrom about four years ago and Saks Fifth Avenue about a year and a half ago. The brand has up to 2,000 other stockists, which include country clubs, golf clubs, Equinox locations and hotels across the country.
“One of the areas we’re not able to do until hopefully on [opening day] when we launch is to touch our own customers with our own team and our own stores,” Redvanly said about the store. “When we sell something, whether it’s at Saks or at a country club, we’re not the ones presenting it, they are. We’re not the ones talking about the product, they are. There’s no one better than us to do it, so we feel like that’s an area where we need to dive into.”
Redvanly wanted the store’s first flagship to open in New York City as opposed to other locations because the founder is a New Jersey native and the brand’s headquarters are in New York City. He explained that the brand has plans to open other stores across the country, with upcoming plans for a Miami store.
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