A day in the life
How to create ‘the world’s best jeans’ in Pittsburgh
The Industrious coworking space on the 31st floor of the glass castle that’s One PPG Place, Downtown, is home to several small startups churning out big ideas. One of them is Revtown. It has a simple mission: To make the most comfortable, versatile jeans on the market.
So at 11 on this mild, cloudy Thursday morning in late June, a half-dozen core Revtown employees gather in a small conference room with postcard-worthy views of Pittsburgh’s rivers. Another team member joins in on speaker phone.
There are no suits, no PowerPoints, no long dark oak tables punctuated by high-back office chairs. A Revtown meeting is as comfortable and casual as the jeans it’s working hard to sell. Some employees sit around a couple of small tables with their laptops at hand. Another leans against a table covered in folded jeans, next to a rack of even more jeans.
CEO and co-founder Henry Stafford stands at the front, outfitted in dark-wash denim and a black Henley shirt with top button undone — both by Revtown, of course. Next to him is “the big board,” a large dryerase board divided into the day’s topics of discussion: building awareness, driving traffic, driving sales, operations.
“We go through the board once a week,” he explains.
This is the time when ideas about anything and everything — social media influencers, paid searches, gift guides, new game plans, etc. — are floated, debated and updated. Words such as finding the right “cadence” and remaining “authentic” are part of the Revtown lexicon, along with a commitment to newness and innovation.
“We operate lean and fast,” he says. The company has “fewer than 20 but more than 10” employees.
In the world of retail, Mr. Stafford, 44, has been there, done that.
The Mt. Lebanon native has worked with Old Navy and Abercrombie and Fitch and has been chief merchandising officer at American Eagle. In 2010, he moved on to Under Armour, where he oversaw product and North American business.
Mr. Stafford gave it all up, though, to start something new. Revtown launched its first denim styles for men, along with coordinating shirts, in late January at www.revtownusa.com. To streamline prices — a single pair of jeans goes for $75 — Revtown uses a direct-toconsumer model.
This reporter had the chance to shadow Mr. Stafford and his team for part of a typical Thursday to get a glimpse of what goes into trying to become, as he puts it, “Pittsburgh’s jean company that makes the world’s best jeans.” 11:37 a.m.: Product review
In the Industrious lobby, Revtown jeans and shirts (some of which aren’t for sale yet) are laid out for a show-and-tell of sorts. What separates the brand from other denim designers is its fabric — 92 percent cotton and 2 percent Lycra. The rest is a special yarn that, according to Mr. Stafford, is one of the strongest in the apparel industry.
“That took us about a year to figure out that fabric,” he says.
The company works with a denim mill outside of Milan and a “jean-ologist” to perfect its washes. It typically takes about 1,000 pairs to perfect a wash. “Those little details are truly what we spend a lot of time on,” he says.
On this day, Revtown is prepping to launch a new khaki wash for men that will have the same fabric content as the rest of its jeans. Other brands use 20-some different fabrications for their jeans, meaning that the fit and feel isn’t always consistent, explains Ginny Rothschild, Revtown’s head of sales and sales operations.
Also to come this year is another dark-wash denim for men, along with more shirt options. Maybe even some graphic tees.
“We call our tees our unsung heroes,” she adds, holding one up for the team to feel. They’re soft, lightweight and done in go-withanything colors such as charcoal and navy.
A big project in the works is developing denim for women that’s expected to launch in early 2019. That requires a lot of research: What do women want? What do they like about their jeans? What do they think is missing? The challenge, though, is doing all that while also still figuring out how to best grow the men’s line.
“Those are the really heated discussions that we’ll have as a group,” Mr. Stafford says. “We’ve made mistakes, but we’ve made a lot of great decisions. If you can just make more great decisions than mistakes than you’re probably in a pretty good place.” 11:56 a.m.: Media strategy meeting
They file into a much smaller meeting room to go over affiliate partnership strategies and other plans for blasting Revtown across social media and the airwaves. Creative and design director Courtney Powell shares examples on a flat-screen monitor on the wall. Recently, Revtown has tried spots on radio stations and podcasts, such as Brett McKay’s “The Art of Manliness,” and generated more buzz from the latter.
“People can more easily take action after hearing a podcast” because they’re already on their device to place an order, Ms. Powell points out. Mr. Stafford, seated across the table, leans back in his chair and listens, interjecting once in a while with a “yep” or “got it” to encourage her input and ideas.
Looking ahead to the holiday shopping season, Revtown is considering what other platforms would help it to reach shoppers, about a third of whom are women buying clothes for the men in their lives.
Another market Revtown has its eye on is Canada, where it has noticed an uptick in sales. “Calgary is hot right now,” Ms. Powell says, “and there is no strategic reason that it’s happening.” 1 p.m.: Lunch break Mr. Stafford, who lives in Shadyside, is a creature of
habit, at least when it comes to his food. He eats the same thing daily for lunch: a turkey sandwich from Bluebird Kitchen near Market Square, Downtown.
The group of six or so walk over together, weaving through crowds that fill Market Square for the weekly farmers market. They bring their sandwiches back to the office.
“I like the energy,” he says. 1:21 p.m.: Photo shoot review
Back in the same smaller meeting room (this time, with cans of La Croix in hand), Ms. Powell displays screen shots from a recent photo shoot featuring Pittsburgh men wearing Revtown jeans. One shows local fitness instructor Jordan Rose doing a split jump over some train tracks in Lawrenceville. Others are of Seth Hunter, owner of the vintage furniture and antiques store Toll Gate Revival, and Pittsburgh streetstyle photographer Chancelor Humphrey with his camera.
She calls these “slice of life” photos that emphasize the jeans in action. They’ll be used to promote Revtown on social media and its website.
“We’re tapping into that real story,” she says. “It’s cool to have that tie-in back to the city where we’re from.” 1:41 p.m.: Customer service update Revtown employees aren’t tethered to cubicles. They regularly travel for work, often operating out of Industrious locations in other cities when they’re not in Pittsburgh.
On this afternoon, Mr. Stafford and a handful of others have a conference call with chief digital officer Matthew Maasdam, a 14year Navy SEAL who once headed the e-commerce unit for Under Armour. He was in Indianapolis visiting Revtown’s FedEx supply chain. For Revtown, he’s helped to pioneer an inventive approach to customer service that’s primarily done through texting and managed in house.
Can’t find a package? There’s a good chance you’ll receive a text message that reads something like, “That stinks. I hate it when that happens,” followed by prompt assistance.
“We want to be able to control the tone and increase brand loyalty,” Mr. Stafford says.
Also on the agenda: finetuning the algorithm for the digital tailor on the Revtown website that helps men find their perfect fit based on age, weight and height. It’s hoped that will cut down on customer returns. 2 p.m.: Off to Lawrenceville
First stop, a meeting at Fitt Pittsburgh’s headquarters on 42nd Street. Mr. Stafford is curious if this company that aims to connect people to the local fitness and wellness community could help spread the word about Revtown on its website or if the marketing side of the business could align Revtown with social media influencers, particularly leading up to the holidays.
Next up, a visit to a potential location for a future Revtown store or pop-up shop. Until now, Revtown has operated solely online, but it’s considering a brick-andmortar component to educate more consumers about what it believes makes its jeans so special.
This empty storefront on Butler Street across from Franktuary was a grocery store in the early 1900s. Natural light poured in through big windows, making the mustard-colored walls appear even brighter. Mr. Stafford admires the original tin ceiling. The rest of the team mills around, forming opinions about the space as he chats with the landlords.
4:13 p.m.: Debriefing over drinks, chips and salsa Mr. Stafford wanted to know: What should a Revtown store be like? The team walks a few blocks away to Round Corner Cantina and tosses around some ideas on the back patio over beers.
It’s no secret that traditional brick-and-mortar retail is a tough sell these days. To pull it off — especially for a company that does the bulk of its business online — there has to be a catch to get folks in the door and then keep them coming back.
“It’s not just a store,” Mr. Stafford says. “It’s a place where people come and work, have a coffee. I don’t know, have a beer? What is an experience that we can do that’s natural to this brand that we’re building?”
Until planning resumes the next day, the spitballing continues well after the snacks are gone.