When the men’s socks and underwear brand Pair of Thieves launched 10 years ago, it took a different approach from many of its contemporaries. Though established during the DTC boom, Pair of Thieves was always meant to be a wholesale-focused business supplemented with DTC sales.
Ten years in, Pair of Thieves does over $100 million in revenue and has a presence in over 4,000 Walmart stores and all of Target’s nearly 2,000 stores. Its wholesale revenue makes up about 80% of the business, and it has never taken any outside investment. Young brands often find themselves overwhelmed by the demands of working with large wholesalers, but Pair of Thieves cofounders Alan Stuart and Cash Warren said they’ve managed to maintain their brand’s identity and profits while working with some of the biggest apparel wholesalers.
“We knew we were starting with wholesale and DTC together, and we built our margins to accommodate that,” Stuart said. “A lot of brands start with DTC and then when they go into retail later, they either have to cut the quality of the product or cut the margins they’re making on it, and neither is very easy or sustainable to do.”
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