Relaunched in June 2021 with Otero Perfect Fit Journey
Otero Menswear is a men’s fashion brand that provides the Perfect Fit for men under 5’10.” Each piece is designed with visibly leaning and lengthening techniques that are unique to Otero. Founder Steve Villanueva spoke to Paulami Chatterjee about the challenges he faced while choosing stylish shirts for himself that eventually led to founding of the brand.
What inspired you to found a menswear brand that fits the shorter man? What are the challenges you think shorter men face while choosing garments?
I started Otero out of personal frustration. Being a shorter man (5’-7”), I found that finding stylish shirts that fit was often next to impossible. Typical off-the-rack t-shirts and polos are designed for the presumed average of a 5’-11” man. Therefore, for the shorter man, most shirts are too long, too wide, with oversized details (like pockets, collars, and plackets). And different body types aren’t even considered.
In starting Otero, I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve--clothes that fit not just my height, and size, but most importantly my body type. And like most men, I did not want to take measurements or photos for someone to guess at, I just wanted to point-and-click my way to the best fit possible.
Hence the Otero Perfect Fit. The magic is in the body type measurements. 93 per cent of men have a bone structure that is either an upside-down triangle or a rectangle. This structure drives a completely different fit regardless of muscle or fat mass (which is more a measurement of size). Accordingly, Otero shirts are designed to 1) a specific height, 2) to a specific body type, and 3) to a customer’s size, guaranteeing the perfect fit.
In additional, all design elements (collars, cuffs, plackets, pockets) are sized in proportion to a man’s height, giving each shirt a custom-made feel. We call this our Otero 3D Proportional Sizing system.
How did the pandemic affect you in terms of business, sales etc?
The pandemic had a huge impact on Otero. We were in a retail brick-and-mortar establishment and having great success when we suddenly had to shut down operations due to the unfortunate ransacking of the mall. Facing such a big hit to our business we decided to also shut down our online presence until we could figure out a way for the online experience to mimic the instore experience. We were closed for just over a year with no revenue and relaunched in June 2021 with the Otero Perfect Fit Journey.
Did the dropping of orders impact your relation with vendors?
No, we have secure and established relationships, and they understood also having to deal with the results of the pandemic in their own locals.
Is it only polos and t-shirts that you sell in menswear or are there other categories you are into?
At this time, we sell only polos and t-shirts, but we have completed designs for other categories of clothing. We also have a select number of full-grain leather men’s accessories which we use to help promote Otero, including branded belts, bags, backpacks, bracelets, and wallets.
There are a lot of companies which provide virtual fitting options. What made you choose Perfitly’s virtual fitting room technology for your website? What has been the response from end customers so far?
It always comes down to the people first and then the technology. The Perfitly team is outstanding, flexible, willing to be challenged and then always rises to meet the challenge. This rare team attitude and their overall amazing technical performance begins with the Perfitly executive leadership and flows all throughout the organisation.
At Otero we had the vision for Perfitly to replicate an instore experience online. Thus, after a few questions down the Otero Perfect Fit Journey, a customer gets to see themselves in an Otero shirt on their own personal avatar – it’s just like walking into a store and trying on a shirt.
To create the avatar, there is no need for a customer to submit selfies and nothing for them to go and measure because Otero and Pefitly share a deep database of measurements by men’s height, size, and most importantly, body type. Then add to this data the magic of Perfitly’s algorithms and technology and a customer sees themselves front and center. Then with a click, they can try on different shirts, styles, sizes, and the avatar responds instantly.
How has shopping behaviour of consumers changed from that prior to the pandemic?
The pandemic has given the industry the push to online purchasing. For men, which is different altogether in behaviour than women’s shopping practices, they seemed to prefer in-store shopping prior to the pandemic. Men do not like to take things back and instore purchases gave them the assurance of the look and fit they wanted. But once the pandemic hit, we have seen a big shift in online buying. This is the reason why we wanted to take the risk out of the buying experience allowing men to see the shirt on their personalised avatar and be confident in the fit before purchasing.
By the way, the Perfitly solution is so advanced that the fit on the avatar changes based on the type of shirt they picked because it is sensitive to various fabrics and how the shirts are sewn. For instance, mercerised cotton is going to have a tighter fit, more like a performance fabric, than does a standard jersey. And that difference is reflected in the avatar presentation.
Did you have to tweak your collections to bring in more casual stuff?
The Otero products have always covered a full spectrum from casual to extremely stylish. So, the option to go full-on casual was always available. With that said, however, we did not see any major shift toward casual versus some of our more designed and style offerings.
Where is the designing and sourcing for the garments done from?
All products are designed in Boulder, Co and manufactured in Thessaloniki Greece and Ningbo China.
Which international markets are you currently present at? Which new markets are you exploring?
At this stage we are only marketing in the US, but logistically, we are set up to sell in Canada and the UK.
What are brands doing to stay relevant in the times of economic slowdown, trade-wars, and rise in sustainability and circular economy?
I cannot speak to what other brand are doing, but we designed sustainability into our product set from the beginning, from the material to the suppliers we chose. At Otero we are going to stay true to our calling and that is to provide the best fitting polos and t-shirts for the shorter man (5’5” to 5’10”) with our 3D Proportional Sizing that accounts for specific heights, specific body types, and sizes.
What next at Otero Menswear? Any tie-ups or further expansions?
Everyone talks about fit, but Otero has solved the fit problem with its 3D proportional sizing system. We would like to bring this fit to more garments and slowly expand to include 1-off type products, for instance, the best Italian designed dress shirt or a jean jacket utilising Japanese denim, all incorporating the perfect fit. But you better get them while you can for they will all be limited supply items.
What newness would you like to bring in your men’s garments? What are the styles that are trending?
We would like to continue to expand our product line always incorporating the Otero 3D Proportional Sizing system. We intend to stick with the standards that men love, which is why we started with polos and t-shirts
Published on: 03/09/2021
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
20230103183907.png)
