Brooks Brothers is back in a remarkable business turnaround
From rock bottom in 2020 to worth nearly $US1 billion in 2023, the American fashion retailer owes its revival to one man: chief executive Ken Ohashi.
How do you breathe new life into a clothing brand that predates Hermès and Louis Vuitton, or redefine a company’s identity when it is almost inextricably tied to an outdated idea of masculinity? And how on earth do you turn around the fortunes of a company that declared bankruptcy in 2020 after cycling through a series of unsuccessful owners?
You hire Ken Ohashi.
Brooks Brothers closed its doors in 2020 due to declining sales because of COVID-19. AP
For Ohashi, the new(ish) chief executive of Brooks Brothers, his appointment was seen by some in the industry as a poisoned chalice. The once-venerated menswear brand has been worn by almost every American president, and occupies a unique place in pop culture – it became synonymous with a certain type of man (highly educated, upper middle class). Transforming it therefore, from boring and old-fashioned to cutting-edge and, well, financially robust, was always going to be a challenge.
Ohashi was up for it.
“It was a bit like painting a house,” he says via Zoom from his office in Manhattan. “It was like, we had this great house, but we kept painting over it and over it. And now we are in the process of stripping back that paint to see the incredible bones of the house underneath.”
The Brooks Brothers look in 2019, at a runway show celebrating the company’s 40th anniversary in Japan. Getty
That’s a neat metaphor for the company that closed its final three factories in early 2020 and, in the middle of that year, filed for bankruptcy because of declining sales amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2020, it was sold to Authentic Brands Group, which also owns Reebok, Barneys New York, and SPARC Group, a shopping mall operator. Ohashi, a fashion industry veteran who was then president of international and global retail at Authentic Brands, was appointed chief executive.
In December 2020, he made his first big move, hiring Gant designer Michael Bastian as creative director.
“Brooks Brothers is an institution,” says Ohashi. “It’s one of the oldest retailers in the world, older than Hermès. Somewhere along the line we lost that. And I knew that the key to the success of Brooks Brothers in the future would be having someone in design who understood that, who wanted the brand to return to what it was. Even before we closed on the business deal, I hired Michael because he deeply understands what the house should look like.”
Bastian’s first port of call was the extensive Brooks Brothers archives, where he selected 30 vintage pieces to put up for sale, sparking interest in the brand once more and tapping into Gen Z’s obsession with nostalgia. “Michael really respects Brooks Brothers,” says Ohashi. “You can’t fabricate that love and respect. He dove into the archives and they have really inspired him.”
Enter new boss Ken Ohashi, who was appointed in late 2020.
Refreshing the design is one thing, but reversing the tide of the business is quite another. Ohashi gamely takes on my questions about what went wrong at the retailer. “We ignored the needs of the customer,” he says. “Brooks Brothers is about achievement and success in many ways. We are at every wedding, graduation, promotion. But we lost the storytelling somehow. So we have to get back to the soul of the brand in that way.”
We are seeing a return to brands that are cleaned up, that are polished. So, it’s the right time for us.
— Ken Ohashi
He has big goals for the company, including elevating the retail experience and investing in staff training. “Buying a suit is an investment, and you want to feel taken care of,” he says.
“For me, this is about the pursuit of greatness,” says Ohashi, laughing at himself. “I want it to be a billion-dollar business, and right now we are slightly shy of that. We have 150 stores, I want to get to 225. International is 34 per cent of our business, I’d like to increase that. We have a good runway and the organisation is moving in the right direction.”
Womenswear from Brooks Brothers’ spring/summer 2023 range. The current trend to ‘quiet luxury’ is appropriate to where the brand is positioning itself today.
The brand is also investing in overseas markets, returning to Australia via a wholesale relationship with David Jones and through its own e-commerce channel. Outside of the United States, China and Japan are significant markets.
While sportswear and the casualisation of wardrobes became trends after COVID-19 struck, Ohashi is keen to offer much more. “[Casual wear] is part of the business, and we did pivot that way during [the height of] COVID,” he says.
Looking good in that old-fashioned but updated Brooks Brothers way: a jacket and shirt from the men’s spring/summer 2023 collection.
“And yes, fit and comfort are the two biggest considerations for our customer. At some point, though, everyone is going back to work. We are seeing a return to brands that are cleaned up, that are polished. So, it’s the right time for us.”
The current trend towards “quiet luxury” plays well for Brooks Brothers, too. Catalysed by television series like Succession and seen on the runways of Miu Miu, Stella McCartney, Thom Browne and more, the time is right for clothing that is elegant, understated and considered – such as tailored suits and shirts, without logos or embellishments.
Ohashi understands timing is on his – and Brooks Brothers’ – side.
Elegant, understated and considered – such as tailored suits and shirts without logos.
“We are at a time when people want clothing that isn’t too fussy, it’s not too much,” he says. “They want to look polished and pulled-together but they also want to be comfortable. I think we are very lucky that this plays into exactly what we do, and have always done, at Brooks Brothers.”
That’s all well and good for someone inside the business to say, but for Ohashi, perhaps the most important overhaul is the way customers see Brooks Brothers. And though the house under those coats of paint is still intact, it needs a renovation. The Brooks Brothers idea of masculinity seems woefully out-of-sync with this post-me-too world – and Ohashi knows it.
“Brooks Brothers is a multi-generational brand,” he says. “We are talking about grandfathers handing down their jackets, men talking about their dads taking them to the store for the first time.” But, he says, its fastest-growing demographic is Millennials, and 15 per cent of the business is women. “We aren’t trying to get away from our [traditional] customer base, but we do not want to exclude anyone.”
Ohashi himself is Japanese-American, gay and father to twin 11-year-old boys. “I am not the person you think of when you think of the CEO of Brooks Brothers,” he says.
“Seventy years ago I might not have been welcome in a Brooks Brothers store. But here I am. I think it goes to show you can always start again.”
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Lauren SamsFashion editorLauren Sams is the fashion editor, based in Sydney. She writes about lifestyle inc
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Brooks Brothers is back in a remarkable business turnaround