SRS’ Carter D’Auria and Don Edrington teaming with luxury retailer to expand portfolio in key markets
State & Liberty started because of an ill-fitting dress shirt — or rather, many of them. “We hated every dress shirt we’d ever worn,” said Steven Fisher, who co-founded the men’s clothing retailer with fellow University of Michigan graduate Lee Moffie.
In 2013, the recent graduates were annoyed that they couldn’t find any well-fitting shirts for their builds. Fisher said. “We wanted something that was bigger in the shoulders, chest and arms and tapered at the waist for the athletic guy.” They also wanted it made from the same moisture-wicking, wrinkle material that you could find in a workout shirt, but they didn’t want it to look like a shirt you’d wear at the gym. “We wanted something that had a true professional look so you could wear it to the office or a wedding and no one would know the difference between that and a traditional cotton dress shirt,” he said.
With no fashion experience — “Lee was a professional hockey player. I was a math major,” Fisher said — they created a product line themselves. What gave them the confidence to go forward? “Naivete,” he laughed. They created samples, and friends seemed to really like them. “We put a couple on sale, sold those and got some good feedback,” Fisher said.
Today State & Liberty — named for the Ann Arbor, Michigan, intersection where the two met — boasts 26 retail locations, including La Jolla, California; Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown; New York City; and Kansas City, Missouri. The offerings include not just dress shirts but products from overcoats to four-way-stretch tuxedos.
Fisher talked to ICSC Small Business Center contributing editor Rebecca Meiser about how the brand transitioned from e-commerce to also include brick-and-mortar, the strategic use of pop-ups and more.
How did you decide to connect with SRS Real Estate Partners for help with your real estate search?
“Carter [D’Auria, first vice president of SRS] originally reached out. She had heard about our store in Washington, D.C. At the time, we were open to anybody that could bring us great real estate. SRS brought expertise and market info from all over the country. We were looking to expand pretty aggressively in new cities and places and needed somebody to help us manage that expansion process. They’ve been super helpful in getting us in front of landlords across the country and bringing us some credibility, as well.”
What is it like to work with them?
“Sometimes, the SRS team brings us stuff and says: ‘Hey I know you’re not thinking about this, but we think this would be a really great project for you.’ And we look at it and give it a go. For instance, we just opened down in Green Hills Mall in Nashville. An indoor mall and second store in a city was not something we were thinking about, but it has been extremely successful.”
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