The Moss masterplan to reach a new audience
Moss, formerly known as Moss Bros., is in the midst of a raft of new store openings, refits and store re-brands. The menswear retailer opened a new store in Canterbury on 14 September, one on Fenchurch Street in East London on 18 September, and another in Cheltenham today, 28 September. That takes the retailer’s store count to 108, with 12 under the new Moss name as the re-branding process gathers pace – to fit with its more contemporary looks and styles now getting the attention of a new customer base who are perhaps not familiar with Moss Bros. of old.
That said, the retailer is far from intending to leave its old faithful customers behind, in fact its classic suiting remains at the core of the business and is vital to its success. The new direction just gives Moss a way of getting new customers through its doors and on its website, including those who might be more drawn to its growing contemporary casualwear offer and formal looks that have been “casualised” – such as a smart jacket worn with a roll-neck and contrasting trousers.
Its new coats for AW23 are also likely to catch the eye of more style conscious men, particularly the red boucle double-breasted number in the latest collection. More premium fabrics across suiting and casual styles have been another focus, and the design aesthetic is altogether more streamlined across all categories. The new shop fits complement that.
Head of Design at Moss, Gabriella Brick, and Head of Visual Development, Robbi Hicks, talk through the new approach to design, retail and visual representation.
Gabriella Brick, Head of Design
I set out the design brief, but we work very closely with all the in-house design and buying teams – so there is lots of crossover areas now, which is how it should be. A lot has changed compared to how it used to be. The whole collection is merged much more into one as opposed to feeling very separate. All our buyers now buy within the same colour palettes and key looks that we set out for the season to make sure the collection really feels cohesive and as one. Previously, the suit buyer would have been off doing his own thing, and the knitwear buyer would do the same – then when it was brought in they didn’t quite sit together. That’s the main change we’ve made post Covid.
People going back to office have not necessarily been going back to wearing a suit, and it was during Covid that we put our skill and expertise in tailoring into more casual pieces – often made in the same factories, so that bode us well. It’s smart casual product, elevated casualwear. We’ve also casualised some of our formalwear in terms of the styling and construction. And we’ve been creating unstructured suits which are much more comfortable to wear. It’s about bridging the gap and versality. People still want to look smart for work, but they want to be more comfortable, and they don’t necessarily want to wear a suit.
Our whole product offer has been elevated. Also, say a nicer button costs more, we won’t add that on to the selling price. We want to offer the customer the best product we can.
Our business is still heavily suiting focused in terms of the units we buy. It’s probably about 60% of the volume, though casualwear is growing rapidly. We have moved on so fast.
Everything is now branded as Moss, where as before it was slightly confusing for the customer, with the likes of ‘Tailored Fit’ – which was branded as Moss 1851, and the more slim-fit fashion focused Moss London. In order to attract a new customer, re-brand and be where we need to be, we knew we needed to be under one brand name.
Having said that, I don’t think we have left the old Moss Bros customer behind, because we still offer the same navy, black and grey suits across our three fits; slim, tailored and regular. From a marketing perspective, we don’t focus on that as much, but it’s still huge business for us – about 70% of sales in terms of formalwear. Suits range from £229 to £599 within that, depending on the fabric.
We have a huge breadth of fabrics, including biodegradable Polyester and Poly Viscose Lycra, so sustainability is very much at the forefront of what we are doing too. On the other end of the scale, we have a 100% silk Zegna fabric, our most expensive, which we’ve bought for next spring. We’ve got all angles covered, from your first suit through to high fashion and up to premium suiting. All now topped off with quality casualwear, so our customers don’t need to go elsewhere for that.
Robbi Hicks, Head of Visual Development
As we know, Moss has been on a journey. Through the challenges of Covid, changes in men’s shopping habits and the world as we know it changing faster than ever, rather than focusing on the negatives we used the time to reflect as a brand. Now we can we see the opportunities.
We asked ourselves, how can we meet the demands of our customers across all areas of our business? We focused on the product as a start point. It is clear that in almost every industry the days of navy, black and grey suits five days a week, and shirt bundle offers, are over. Yes, the suit has a place in everyone’s wardrobe, however, it has to be versatile. Quality, fabric and fit are critical features. The same can be said for casual. We spent two years (during the pandemic) in active wear and working from home (WFH), but now we now have a reason to dress up again.
We were laser focused on using our 172 years of tailoring expertise and craft to build our casual area of the brand – beautiful overshirts and shackets, crafted with fabrics from Japanese and Italian mills, and moleskin trousers and jackets. We’ve now got beautiful knitwear in various styles, and stand-out coats ready for when winter arrives. Not forgetting, tailoring designed in-house using fabrics from some of the world’s most prestigious mills, like Ferla and Vitale Barberis Canonico. It all feels so right for now. We are not a suit brand that sells some casualwear, or vice versa. This is about elevating casual and softening smart to find that sweet spot for today. Yes, our customers want to be comfortable, but they also want to look stylish. We believe we have found that balance.
To house this product, and create a memorable shopping experience for our customer, we are turning our attention to our store estate and our e-commerce site. It needs to be clean and simple with touches of design and craft. Leaving enough space in-store to allow for the product and information to take centre stage. The new stores we are opening are the realisation of that ambition.
