DTC Chat: Gary Lenett on Expanding Duer’s Physical Store Footprint
DTC Chat is Rivet’s discussion series with direct to consumer (DTC) brands to get a deeper dive into their business and latest collections.
Gary Lenett is the founder and CEO of Duer, a rapidly expanding performance DTC apparel brand for men and women. Headquartered in Vancouver, the Kickstarter-turned-lifestyle-performance-brand launched online in 2015 with Performance Denim—a line of jeans made with lightweight super-stretch fabric, wicking and temperature control and details like invisible seat gussets that increase mobility—as its focal point.
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Duer has since added a global wholesale channel, physical retail stores in six locations—including Los Angeles and Denver in the U.S. and Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Mississauga in Canada—and complementary non-denim styles.
Here, Lenett discusses how the brand became stronger in the face of adversity and its future plans to double its retail footprint in 2023.
Rivet: What is your best-selling fit?
Gary Lenett: Our men’s Performance Denim was the first fabric that I brought to the market, and the first product that would meet the need for stretch, comfort and sophistication all in one pair of pants.
Eight years later, the slim-fit silhouette remains the top seller. We continue to develop this fit in new washes to ensure our customer has style versatility within their denim collection. We’ve managed to take a classic-looking denim and integrate stretch and features like our signature gusset for ease of movement, so even in a slim fit, this denim offers a flexible and comfortable fit. Added technical benefits like moisture control and antimicrobial properties keep the denim dry and fresh feeling from a morning ride right into a professional setting.
Rivet: What are your best-selling non-denim items?
GL: Our men’s No Sweat Pant is the crowd pleaser outside of our Performance Denim. The No Sweat fabric name is a nod to the comfort of sweatpants, with design details and performance features found in everyday, stylish pants.
The softness and comfort that keeps this pant at the top of the charts for bestsellers is thanks to plant-based fibers that, beyond a smooth hand-feel, offer moisture absorption and antibacterial properties. Together, our Performance Denim and No Sweat Pant make up about 75 percent of our sales.
Rivet: What’s new in the spring collection?
GL: We continue to evolve our offerings to ensure they’re meeting the shifting needs of our customers. For example, during the pandemic when most of us were relying on loungewear, we expanded our color selection of joggers.
This spring, we began launching new fabrics and styles perfect for travel. The first is our Weightless Poplin AC Pant. This 3.5 oz. fabric is likely the lightest fabric on shelves this spring. Developed to be ultra-lightweight while still having the performance and comfort aspects that define Duer fabrics, this pant for men will meet the need for simple and versatile styling as temperatures rise.
For Duer women’s, we’ve put a lot of time and focus into expanding our denim silhouettes to adhere to a preference for looser-fitting styles. The women’s high rise curve and wide leg are highlights from our spring launch.
Rivet: What’s the best decision your company has made in the last year?
GL: As I think back, it’s almost impossible to distill one decision that I could call the best. However, we continue to invest in our business as it grows. Now—with the scale we have achieved in the past three years—we have been forced to invest in inventory ahead of the curve.
Like many companies, the pandemic and economic uncertainty in the marketplace over the past several years made inventory decisions difficult. But I am proud of how fast we’ve reacted and adjusted our plans. In fact, we continue to have 100 percent year-over-year growth, and we could not have accomplished this without a commitment to having the inventory available to support the sales. This was not an easy decision, but the risk was worth it and allowed us to continue to grow at an astonishing pace.
Rivet: In what ways has the business changed since the pandemic for the better? For the worse?
GL: I don’t know if we would have grown as quickly without the pandemic, which I realize is a bit counterintuitive. Comfort became a nonnegotiable for most people as they shifted to working from home. Luckily, we were in the business of making comfortable pants that also looked great.
Because of the style and performance quotient that we challenged ourselves to integrate right from the start, customers continued to wear our pants post-pandemic which allowed us to maintain our growth. I’m sure for all businesses there were all kinds of headaches that came with the upsides.
However, because we sell through a network of wholesale partners around the world, as different countries went offline throughout the pandemic, predicting sales became harder and harder. The only benefit to the business is that the challenges on the wholesale side have made us laser focused on working with the best partners rather than working with all. In some ways, this has simplified our wholesale business because we’re able to build great relationships with our bus??iness partners and better understand the needs.
??Rivet: How much is the average purchase?
GL: $140 is the average retail price for our pants.
Rivet: What percentage of your customers are repeat customers?
GL: About 55 percent of customers make a second purchase within three months of their first purchase.
Rivet: How would you describe yourself as a consumer?
GL: My consumer behavior is what led me to start Duer. I believe that getting dressed should be simple. I like to invest in quality pieces that I can do everything in. We’ve built a business based on this philosophy by offering versatile, timeless pieces that allow you to do more with less. I also put a big emphasis on avoiding synthetic fibers whenever possible. This started as a style preference and has since grown into a more purposeful decision as I better understand the impact plastic fibers have on the environment when compared to natural, plant-based fibers.
Rivet: What have you learned about the consumer through the stores?
GL: A lot. My favorite place to spend time is on the store floor. I’d say the single greatest thing I’ve learned by watching people step out of the changeroom in our pants is that men specifically are not used to wearing pants with stretch. We’re solving a problem they’ve not yet identified. I see them step out and start to lunge and squat. A lot of us have adapted to living in clothes that restrict and make movement hard or impossible. I’ll never get tired of watching the realization on people’s faces as they experience the comfort of our pants.
The other big learning is that our customers are looking for versatile clothing. We are no longer looking for clothing with specific use cases, we want to be able to do it all in a single pair of pants.
Rivet: Are there any plans to open more stores?
GL: Yes, our biggest focus in the business right now is expanding our physical store footprint. This year alone, we’ll double our store count. In fact, this spring we are opening two new stores in Ontario, Canada with potential for additional U.S. stores. As I mentioned above, most customers won’t believe the comfort until they have a chance to try on the pants in-store, so our goal is to make that easy.
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