How Both& is building an apparel brand for trans and non-binary consumers

Tapping into this much-underserved market has led to steady growth for Both& since it officially launched in 2020.

The post How Both& is building an apparel brand for trans and non-binary consumers appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.

Finnegan Shepard is the unexpected brand founder who did. 

An academic turned entrepreneur, Shepard studied philosophy and literature at Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Cambridge before launching Both&, a brand that designs clothing for people who identify as transmasculine, nonbinary and gender non-conforming. 

Shepard was inspired to start the brand based on his own experiences searching for such products, and he knew other consumers were looking for the same thing.

Tapping into this much-underserved market has led to steady growth for Both& since it officially launched in 2020.

An untapped apparel market 

Consumer demand for gender-neutral clothing or unisex fashion styles has been growing in recent years. 

According to data collected by Industry Growth Insights, a market research firm, the global unisex clothing market is expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 4.5 per cent from 2022 to 2030 to reach an impressive $3.2 billion by the end of this period. 

However, as Shepard pointed out, there are major differences between unisex or gender-neutral clothing and products designed specifically for trans or non-binary consumers, especially those assigned female at birth (AFAB).

As the founder explained, many fashion labels use superficial strategies to appeal to trans or non-binary consumers, such as using LGBTQIA+ models in their campaigns without making any changes to their products. 

Also, many apparel brands that market themselves as being gender-inclusive simply sell baggy or oversized clothing that is not specifically designed to accommodate the needs of trans or nonbinary consumers. 

“We’re designing for anyone assigned AFAB and wants a masculine silhouette. So there’s a spectrum of customers there, from trans men who have medically transitioned to nonbinary or gender-queer-identifying people to a relatively large group of customers who identify as cisgender women and just want a more masculine silhouette,” Shepard explained, 

“There’s some deviation stylistically in how these people like to present, but at the end of the day, bone structure never changes. So if you’re AFAB, you will most likely be within a certain height range and are likely to have certain proportionality in limbs, so really, it’s about designing a fit system around that [body type].”

For example, Both&’s Ezra jeans, designed upon popular request, offer more room around the hips, rear, and thigh area for consumers with a curvier frame, while the brand’s Romeo tank top has wide straps and a wide chest ratio to cover binder lines and strike the perfect balance between structure and breathability.

Shepard’s own experiences have helped inform these details as well as extensive research by the brand’s design team.

Both& surveyed over 2000 individuals across the gender spectrum to learn about common fit issues, such as poor inseam-to-waist ratios, and understand style preferences, giving Shepard and co-founder Amiram Assouline, the former vice president of design for Elie Tahari, a competitive edge in multiple ways.

This has allowed Shepard and Assouline to determine the exact types of products and design details their consumers are seeking out. The brand currently offers 400 stock-keeping units to accommodate an impressive range of design and size variations. 

Just as importantly, it has allowed the brand to understand its consumer base on a very intimate level and get a better understanding of their frustrations and hopes, and the common ground shared by this underserved and underrepresented community. 

When asked if anything surprised him along his founder journey, Shepard candidly responded, “I wish I had a more interesting answer to this. Honestly, what was surprising was how shared our struggles were.”

While Shepard was already aware of the needs of trans and non-binary consumers, reviewing the research and seeing the overwhelmingly positive response to the launch of Both& has shown the necessity of having such a brand in the retail market. 

“So maybe the surprise is that there weren’t more surprises,” Shepard mused. 

Both&’s bright future 

While building up a brand with only $5000 in savings during a global pandemic was challenging in the early stages of the business, Shepard said that the main issue now is keeping up with the ever-growing customer demand. 

He reported that revenue has grown 300 per cent year-over-year since 2022. 

The brand is seeking out investors to help it expand with further product development and eventually a permanent bricks-and-mortar presence. 

For the time being, Both& is partnering with “cool, socially aligned spaces” to offer returned items at discounted prices for members of the LGBTQIA+ community and is planning a few pop-up experiences soon. 

When asked about the ideal retail partner, Shepard said that Both& is very cautious about working with outside vendors to ensure a safe and comfortable shopping experience for its customers.

Shepard cited the example of Selfridges, a luxury department store chain in the UK, and its approach to a genderless shopping experience dubbed “The Concept Space”.

While the founder is not sure how inclusive the experience is in reality, he emphasised that he would rather wait to build his own shopping space or work with a reliable partner before moving forward with a brick-and-mortar expansion strategy.

“I think part of being a founder is deciding what fires you’re going to let burn and what things you are going to focus on. I don’t keep really up to date on the latest retail trends or retailers, partially because  I know as a general principle, that none of them are really in a place they need to be,” he said.

“Yet, I do think that that needle is shifting and things are changing. To me, the work is to let that [progress] take care of itself, continue doing what we’re doing well, building out this community and building up this product line. When there is alignment [with a vendor], I’m happy to entertain that conversation.”

The post How Both& is building an apparel brand for trans and non-binary consumers appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.