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Campus

Smart dressed men

No more precious spare time spent sweating in a fitting room: TU Delft graduates Jantien Herfst and Mei Ling Tan have created a clothing formula for men who have no time for or interest in shopping, but who would like to look good nevertheless.


It’s every man’s dream: an easy and quick way to buy clothing. ‘We move a piece of the store in his size to his home’, explains Mei Ling Tan, a SEPAM graduate. An online intake interview is carried out in order to develop an idea of his lifestyle. What type of work does he do? What type of clothing does he wear on the job? What does he do on weekends? Based on this interview, Tan and Jantien Herfst (also a SEPAM graduate) select clothes from their own warehouse. ‘We do this in sets’, explains Tan. ‘Always a pair of trousers, a shirt, a jacket, underwear and socks’. Tan and Herfst select two or three of these sets and send them to the customer. He keeps what he likes, sending the rest back and paying for what he keeps.


Intake by Skype

The House of Einstein is located in a large building in Leiden where Albert Einstein lived while he was studying at the university there. Herfst and Tan, who are very stylishly dressed themselves, are seated amidst a group of interns working on laptops around a large table. The new collection has just arrived. ‘We do all of the purchasing in February and August’, relates Herfst. ‘At those times of the year we are contsantly on the road looking at samples from all the labels and placing orders’.


Two intakes are scheduled for this morning. Herfst is about to Skype with Job Nijs, who is self-employed and works for YesDelft. He does not enjoy buying clothes. ‘When I’m shopping I behave like a small child’, he says. ‘The moment I walk into a store, I feel like turning around and going home’. Nijs wants to order a spring box.


Because the some of the questions can be quite personal, the interviews are always conducted in a separate room. Herfst opens an Excel spreadsheet containing all the information and sizes pertaining to Nijs. He has just returned from a skiing trip and is sitting at his computer at home. We see his tanned face on our screen. The setting is informal. Herfst and Nijs know each other from YesDelft, and they greet each other enthusiastically.


Herfst asks Nijs about his shopping behaviour and sizes. Nijs shops twice a year, always going for classic lines and Dockers trousers. ‘I’m not very edgy’, he laughs. In recent months, he has lost 20 kilos. ‘My clothes didn’t fit me anymore, and I bought an entire new wardrobe via the House of Einstein’. He tells us enthusiastically how the ladies have taught him to look at clothes in a different way. ‘I used to have a relatively classic look. Now I’m trying new things. I’m a new man’.


Nijs likes white, slim-fit shirts made of heavy fabric. The more trendy styles of jeans appeal to him as well. Herfst continues her questioning, right down to the underwear (tight or loose), socks and belt. Then the personal questions start. What types of sports do you play? Do you have a family? Do you travel much? Is your career important to you? Finally, they discuss the order. Nijs would like to have three outfits.


Complete outfits

Meanwhile, Tan has started an interview with Diedrick Nierstratsz. He is 33 years old, a former student of offshore engineering and currently works as the head of the production department at Ampelmann. Nierstrasz shops once a month. Nevertheless, he is also a customer of the House of Einstein. ‘I buy clothes here that I would never choose for myself’. Nierstrasz also proceeds to answers all the questions. He usually wears jeans and a sweater to work. His sizes have not changed, the ones noted on the data sheet are still correct. Nierstrasz does not want any boring shirts, and he would like T-shirts with prints for the summer.


Now that they have a good idea of what Nierstrasz and Nijs need, Herfst and Tan go to the clothing warehouse behind the offices. The warehouse contains clothing by Tommy Hilfiger, Nudie jeans, Gant and other labels, all in neat stacks sorted according to size and the type of item. Herfst and Tan select the outfits carefully, right down to underwear and socks. They also consider their customers’ previous purchases.


Herfst tells us, ‘Sometimes you already see it before you during the interview: that sweater and those trousers’. Now that the new collection has arrived, the ladies need to familiarise themselves with the pieces they have and how they can combine them. In the warehouse, the two of them discuss whether Nierstrasz already has a red sweater and whether Nijs is ready for a pair of grim tim jeans. An intern then packs up the outfits neatly in brown paper, ties them with a ribbon and ships the boxes to the men.


Herfst and Tan advise their customers to buy complete outfits. ‘If they just want a pair of jeans, they’re better off just going to the store themselves’. At home, Nijs unwraps a nice, trendy suit. Does he have to look good at work? He laughs out loud. ‘Different standards prevail at TU Delft’, he jokes, ‘but it’s important to me to be well-groomed’. His girlfriend does not mind that she can no longer shop with him. ‘She’s overjoyed with the House of Einstein’.


Nierstrasz is surprised to find a blue-and-white checked shirt, a red cashmere sweater and a pair of light jeans with a belt. At work, he is the only one who is interested in clothing. ‘They tease me for ordering from House of Einstein’, he tells us, ‘but secretely they’re jealous’. If there is one thing that Tan and Herfst should not send to Nierstrasz, it would be skinny jeans. ‘I don’t know if they’re still in style, but I really do not like those’.


Nijs and Nierstrasz are very satisfied with their new outfits. ‘The shirt is really different to what I usually have’, says Nierstrasz, ‘but that’s why I order from House of Einstein’.

The House of Einstein is not targeted at people who need to watch their pennies. All the clothing is name brand and of good quality. ‘Our target group is men between 35 and 45 years of age, whose careers are flourishing and who have plenty to spend’, explains Tan. They are not people who feel like spending their weekends thinking about clothes. ‘They would rather play sports with their children or go out with their friends’.


Fashion and IT

The ladies already have new plans. In addition to a fashion company, House of Einstein is diversifying to become an IT company as well. Here, Tan and Herfst’s TU Delft background is in evidence. ‘Obtaining and processing data is currently the most difficult aspect of the e-commerce sector’, explains Tan. For this reason, they are developing a system that immediately shows them their customer’s sizes for each brand, in addition to their purchase histories. ‘We would like to use this information to predict what the customer might like in the future’. According to Tan, fashion studios and clothing labels are also interested in the system. ‘Before long, we will be able to show them their target group, right down to the level of hobbies and pastimes’.


CV

The feeling that Herfst and Tan have for fashion did not happen by chance. Before coming to Delft to study systems engineering, policy analysis and management (SEPAM), Herfst studied at a fashion academy in London. Tan, who was in the same programme, worked as a freelance stylist for a wide range of customers, including FHM, Veronica Magazine and Elite models.


www.houseofeinstein, www.facebook.com/houseofeinstein Twitter @HouseofEinstein.


Men and fashion

Detailed research by House of Einstein has shown that:

• Over 80 % of the customers feel it is important that others think they look good.

• Only 2 % are interested in being trend setters in the area of fashion.

• Most of the men shop twice a year.

• Only 15 % shop online.

• The average customer purchases an average of 10-15 clothing items each year.

• More than half take advice from their girlfriends.

• One in ten of their customers still prefers to shop with his mother …

Editor Redactie

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