Menswear brand The Idle Man is targeting the ‘Instagram generation’ of shoppers with a £500,000 fundraising drive.
The label has just raised £1m from institutional investors and needs the investment to further boost customer retention and fund ambitious international expansion, particularly in Europe.
It is raising the investment through the equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.
The firm runs a blog entitled ‘The Manual’ which has more than a million unique visits a month, making it the third biggest menswear blog in the UK, and has digital at its heart.
CEO and founder Oliver Tezcan believes the brand is perfectly positioned to target the new “Instagram generation” of male shoppers.
He said: “We are going to be the ultimate style destination for accessible menswear worldwide.
“We want to boost customer retention and drive our eCommerce business forward, taking The Idle Man to new markets, particularly the US.
“The fastest growing part of the business is our own label brand, exclusive to theidleman.com, which has grown to more than 20 per cent of total revenues.
“It is now time to introduce more people to the brand both at home and internationally.”
Leeds University graduate Tezcan founded The Idle Man in 2014 because he felt there was a lack of attention paid to men by mainstream retailers.
Sales have grown 116 per cent year-on-year since the firm launched.
The UK men’s clothing market is estimated to have grown by 2.8 per cent in 2016. This growth rate is more than twice that of the women’s clothing market, which rose by a slim 1.3 per cent.
The Idle Man is one of the first ecommerce retailers to focus solely on accessible menswear and has customers in more than 70 countries.
The online store has over 20,000 active customers, and repeat purchasers generate 29 per cent of revenue.