Retail Brand Struggles and Strategic Partnerships

This week's guest is Chris Riccobono, Founder & Executive Chairman of disruptive retail brand UNTUCKit. UNTUCKit was one of the first digitally-native brands to embrace brick-and-mortar as critical to it's long-term success. Chris takes us through the trade-offs between online, wholesale, and own store strategies and how his brand successfully navigated the COVID crisis. He also shares the power of a big, simple idea well executed and outlines how he plans to take UNTUCKit to the next level through store expansion, partnerships, and international growth. 

As usual we open by dissecting the most important news of the week including take-aways from the NRF/CNBS monthly sales report and solid earnings reports from Warby Parker, which suggests that "wobbly unicorns" can find their footing, and Simon Property Group, which demonstrates that certain types of malls are far from dead. We also discuss Target's plan to expand its private brands to Canada and beyond. 

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Check out the podcast version and video recording of the Leaders Leap virtual book launch event.

Steve's new book is available at book sellers just about everywhere, from Audible, and on Kindle for only $9.99 USD.

About Chris Riccobono, UNTUCKit Founder & Executive Chairman

Chris Riccobono is the founder and executive chairman of UNTUCKit, one of the fastest-growing men’s retail brands in the U.S.

After earning his Bachelor’s degree from Providence College in 2001, Chris began his career at GE Healthcare and enrolled in Columbia Business School in 2007. While working towards his MBA, Chris thought of the idea for UNTUCKit after speaking with lots of men about their fit problems—especially the length of their collared shirts—and began the business from his apartment in Hoboken. It began as just a side job, but once Chris and his early customers realized that he’d solved a big problem in men’s fashion, the business quickly grew beyond his expectations—with a compound annual growth rate over 100% each year—into the brand we know today with more than 50 retail locations by the end of 2018 and an entrance into the international market.
 

In addition to furthering his education and growing the brand, Chris dedicated time to sharing his passion for wine through a video blog called Pardon That Vine, traveling the world interviewing winemakers, and teaching beginners about wine. Chris was a winner of the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2018 Award in New York and in his spare time he works closely with the Cancer Center at Atlantic Health System in New Jersey.

Chris currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and children.

About UNTUCKit

Created in 2011 by founder Chris Riccobono and CEO Aaron Sanandres, UNTUCKit has given men a seamless way to look sharp and feel casual by creating shirts designed specifically to be worn untucked. The brand has since expanded to offer fit combinations for all shapes and sizes, as well as new product categories like polos, tees, Henleys, pants, sweaters, jackets, and sport coats. It also offers a wide selection of shirts, dresses, and blazers for women. UNTUCKit is dedicated to creating an unmatched shopping experience with more than 80 physical retail locations across the US, Canada, and the UK . For more information, visit UNTUCKit.com.
 

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.