MBA Case Competition featuring Son of a Tailor

“It's never been easier to start a brand, It's never been harder to scale a brand.”

Direct to consumer has created a wave of successful consumer brands including Away, Warby Parker, and Glossier.

However, the DTC space has become increasingly crowded. While Facebook and Shopify made it easy to enter the

market and achieve annual sales of $1-$10M, it has never been harder to scale a new brand to $100M or more. Son of

a Tailor is looking to determine the future growth engines of DTC brands. How do you break past the $10M revenue

ceiling? This year’s case will focus on one of the new 4 P’s of DTC Marketing as coined by Business of Fashion in their

2021 DTC case study: Partnerships.

The 2021 Growth Challenge: Partnerships strategy

Partnerships, or collaborations with complimentary brands, people, and organisations, can unlock growth via fresh

brand associations, access to new customers, and lower priced media. Gap’s announcement of its collaboration with

Kanye West’s Yeezy added over $700M to Gap’s market cap. Sustainable water bottle brand Ocean Bottle has grown

by cobranding bottles for corporations like Google to offer their employees.

We are looking to explore how partnerships can fuel a new wave of growth for Son of a Tailor:

● What kind of partnerships could make sense for Son of a Tailor?

● Who are the right partners that would align to our target audience?

● How would you go about creating these partnerships, and what would be the value prop on both sides?

About Son of a Tailor: Precision engineering meets fashion

Son of a Tailor is a Copenhagen-based fashion-tech company that offers custom fit essentials for men, with a

proprietary algorithm that requires just height, weight, age and shoe size to create perfect fit.

Through technology and a LEAN supply chain inspired by Toyota, Son of a Tailor is fundamentally changing how

apparel is made. We only do custom fit on demand. This means that we create zero inventory waste, cut carbon

emissions in half, and reconnect those who make the garments with those who wear them. All our garments come

signed by the team that worked on them.

Recent news

● We have created perfect fit for 100,000 customers as of May 2021

● Raised Series A funding in early 2021 to bring our fashion model global

● Proprietary Perfect Fit Algorithm is 95%+ accurate

● Industry leading 69 NPS, over 50% customers return

Our audience

Our customers are an audience of investors, politicians, professors and technology employees between the ages of 28

and 65. Son of a Tailor’s perfect fit, attentive customer service, and seamless experience are what keep him coming

back.

While he cares about sustainability, our customer is probably not wearing hemp and going vegan anytime soon. On the

other hand, Beyond Meat burgers, Tesla cars, and investment funds that promise to deliver on purpose and profit? Sign him up. He’s interested in good quality products that save him time. Bonus points if he can also feel like he is on the right side of history. Some of our more famous customers include Hermes’ VP of PR, the Founder and CEO of

Complex, and the head of Dance Music at WarnerMedia.

Timeline

September 13, 14, 2021: Kickoff Zoom and Q&A

September 13th 11AM EST, 4PM UK, 5PM CET

September 14th 130PM EST, 630PM UK, 730PM CET

September 16, 2021: Team formation

● Please send your team name, team members (2-4 people), and MBA emails to

michelle@sonofatailor.com by midnight on September 16, 2021.

September 29, 2021: Office Hours

● Q&A session(s) with SOAT team to discuss ideas, present initial findings, and get feedback

October 6, 2021: Case due

● Max 10 slides, PPT or PDF, covering insights, strategy and proposed execution plan

October 11, 2021: Finalists notified

● Up to (5) teams selected for final presentations

October 14, 2021: Final presentations. Winner to be announced this week.

Judging Criteria

Submissions will be scored on 3 metrics:

1) Innovation: The DTC playbook (design nice packaging, open a Shopify store, put money budget into

Facebook ads) has been largely executed. The prize will go to the team that thinks beyond current

strategies to the next wave of DTC

2) Customer insight: How do potential partners and consumers feel and think? Why would partners be

interested? What messaging resonates with our audience?

3) Practicality: We're looking to execute on ideas, not just store them in Powerpoint. Submissions will

be judged on potential for activation: How quickly can we execute? Can we test it on a small budget?

First place prize

● $500 in custom fit workwear per team member including Oxford Shirt, T-Shirt, Invisible Undershirt

and Zero Waste sweater. For ladies, we will schedule a 1:1 session with a pattern maker to ensure

the fit is tailored perfectly to you.

● 1:1 mentoring session with SOAT Founder on a topic of your choice. Jess began his career at

consulting firm Booz & Co, transitioned to strategy at eBay before founding Son of a Tailor in 2014.

Judges Panel

Michelle Wiles, Head of Brand, Son of a Tailor, Former McKinsey

Gergana Damyanova, CEO & Founder, Blonde Gone Rogue, Former Phillips

Megan Blaylock, Senior Country Manager, Body & Fit DTC Protein brand, Former McKinsey

Hilary Peltz, CEO & Founder, in.Parallel DTC Consulting, Former Net-a-Porter, Alexander Wang

Saba Ahmed, Chief of Staff, theSkimm, Former OC&C, Advent Int’l