also working for the new breed of man who is actively interested in leftfield fashion but, perhaps not living in one of the bigger cities, cannot find what he wants on the local High Street.
"A lot of what we sell online or in-store we're either the clothes hanger
first to do so in the UK or one of very few places where you can get it," says Steve Sanderson, co-founder of Oi Polloi, the Manchester independent menswear store and internet retailer.
Sites like oilpolloi's, laundryroom.co.uk, or microzine.co.uk, for example clothes hanger
, are more able to offer specialist, hard-to-find menswear labels. Yoox.com, similarly, is seeking extra cred with the male online shopper through special design collaborations with the likes of edgy designers Bernard Willhelm and Jeremy Scott.
"Men are more interested in online fashion retailing, and fashion retailers are more interested in it too because the whole product offering in menswear is changing. Men are increasingly after clothesclotheshanger
and brands that are much more particular," comments Rae. "Online retailing is an essential part of being a modern menswear brand now and you can see all the very big brands starting to address it."
"The men's online fashion market is where the action will be clothes hanger
in fashion shopping," reckons Chris Lake, editor-in-chief of internet business research company E-Consultancy, which has worked with the likes of online fashion store oki-ni.com – a company that, knowing where the future lies, recently switched over to being a menswear-only site.
"There's still plenty of opportunity for start-ups: more than ever men are looking for clothes hanger
interesting clothes. And the internet is the best way of finding them and buying them."
