in British Columbia, Startups

indochino.com – Look good and spend a little less

The beta tag has come to retailing. Online retailing that is.

Indochino is a Victoria, BC startup that is trying to bring made-to-measure suits to customers who want to look good, but don’t want to spend a fortune on Hugo Boss, or whatever the must-have designer suit is this season.

An entire suit, which looks pretty good in the pictures on their site, will cost between 250$ and 350$ Canadian. Their pricing is no-nonsense, duties are taken care of and if you need to have further alterations done, Indochino will pay your tailer up to 25$ for the work. Delivery time is 2 weeks from your order, and that includes being hand-tailored in Shanghai, China.

Shirts are a little more expensive. 100$ to 150$ for a shirt, which I am sure is nice, but Indochino has the problem that their brand is not strongly differentiated — which means it is hard to convince someone to spend that much on a shirt they haven’t seen in person.

The market for a service like this is huge. Every large city is full of middle aged and younger men who want to look good, but really don’t feel like shopping all the time. If Indochino can find a way to open up this market, then their business will grow dramatically.

Kyle from Indochino tells me they plan to keep up to date on new trends and styles, in a similar strategy as Zara and H&M. I think this is smart, as it lets you keep selling a lot of new clothing to a young to middle-aged demographic, but I keep thinking that the name “Indochino” isn’t sustainable long-term. It pigeon-holes the offering and limited their horizontal mobility later on. I’d like to hear from them on this.

These guys don’t sit still however, they are already experimenting in BC with an option that involves having a tailor come right to your house to measure you for your suit. If you aren’t in BC, you can have a sample of cloth sent to you along with a tape-measure, so you can measure yourself. Indochino already has a few hundred customers, and I am sure that will grow to thousands soon.

Their operation is lean — no inventory or exposure season to season — but they are going to have to do something significant to stand out from the crowd. A strategy focused on driving sales through social networks could, in my opinion, really set these guys apart. I have shared some of those ideas with them directly, so won’t post them here.

Indochino is a real business with a solid international infrastructure in place, they have the backing of a strong group of angels and their product is good and stylish (I will hopefully upgrade that to great when I have a chance to order my own jacket this week). Now it’s time to break away from the pack and stand out.

Indochino is tentatively looking at raising a new round of financing based on their early success. Contact Kyle Vucko.

I ordered some fabric swatches from them. They came today. I’ll provide a final update when I get my suit (still haven’t placed the actual order)

12 Comments

  1. Ah yes, I have heard about this designer but I would love to know how your suit comes out. I was never a big fan of hugo even though the rest of the world had a completely different agenda.

  2. Ah yes, I have heard about this designer but I would love to know how your suit comes out. I was never a big fan of hugo even though the rest of the world had a completely different agenda.

  3. Not to mention I have yet to have heard about indochino up until now which is kind of nice. I really can not wait to see your new suit I am sure it will be the best of the best, hopefully that is. Nice post by the way!

  4. Not to mention I have yet to have heard about indochino up until now which is kind of nice. I really can not wait to see your new suit I am sure it will be the best of the best, hopefully that is. Nice post by the way!

  5. One of the best ways to get clothes for a bargain price is to buy out of season.
    This means you should buy your summer wear during the winter when prices for
    summer fashions are rock-bottom. Conversely, you could choose to buy winter wear
    during summer sales when these clothes are about as low as you will ever find
    them.
    designer clothes

  6. One of the best ways to get clothes for a bargain price is to buy out of season.
    This means you should buy your summer wear during the winter when prices for
    summer fashions are rock-bottom. Conversely, you could choose to buy winter wear
    during summer sales when these clothes are about as low as you will ever find
    them.
    designer clothes

  7. This market is now starting to become crowded with companies like http://www.moderntailor.com and others also in this space. I love moderntailor and have been buying shirts from them. Never heard of indochino till now though…

  8. P90x .It really is not expensive if you factor in the cost of a gym membership,P90x workout . The cost for P90X is about three months of a paid gym membership but you get to keep the program foreverP90x . You can try many of the online sites, but it will be the same as buying from the company or a Beachbody Coach. Make sure you are getting original DVD's. People are selling copies all over. The problem is how long will they last, P90x workout ,and you truly need the exercise and nutrition guide to even follow the program. You can go to any site http://www.p90xmall.com/ or you can go to and click on products. P90x dvd You can order directly from the site,P90x dvd.

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Webmentions

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    […] first covered Indochino when they launched back in 2007. To say I was excited would be an understatement and anyone who knows me knows I have been […]

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    […] (by way of Victoria) based startup, Indochino.com, who we first profiled in September, and who I finally got around to ordering from a few weeks ago, has announced that they have taken […]

  • StartupNorth » Blog Archive » indochino.com takes new round of financing August 4, 2010

    […] (by way of Victoria) based startup, Indochino.com, who we first profiled in September, and who I finally got around to ordering from a few weeks ago, has announced that they have taken […]

  • Suit Yourself with Indochino August 4, 2010

    […] sure to report back on my experience but thought that since Jevon MacDonald of StartUpNorth covered Indochino’s launch on the weekend, I’d leave it up to him to fill in the details. An entire suit, which looks […]

  • Suit Yourself with Indochino August 4, 2010

    […] sure to report back on my experience but thought that since Jevon MacDonald of StartUpNorth covered Indochino’s launch on the weekend, I’d leave it up to him to fill in the details. An entire suit, which looks […]