Much is said about the mainstreaming of porn, and the possibility that one day, manufacturers of adult product might even be able to sell their products in Best Buys and other major outlets. But Westside Distribution, the sales and marketing firm in charge of Hustler Apparel, is stoked that they’ve recently been getting their products into adult chains.
Over the last year they’ve started reaching out to major adult chains: Pleasure Emporium, The Dejavu Love Boutiques, and Capitol News out of Chicago are all now selling Hustler Apparel.
“We’re talking about guys who have never sold apparel before. They sell video and print,” Eric Gullett, a partner in Westside Distribution told AVN.com. “For them to go ahead and order our clothing lines just shows how strong the brand name is. We’re benefiting from the reputation that the magazines, the videos, and the concept stores have with the adult retailers.”
Gullett landed thirty adult accounts when he first exhibited the Hustler Apparel line of clothing at AEE two years ago. He doubled that last year. But all of the accounts were mom-and-pop operations. “It was the strength of how well it did for them that helped us land the chains,” he said.
It also helps that Gullett’s cousins Theresa, Jimmy II, and Dustin Flynt (Gullet is a second cousin to Larry Flynt), are more than willing to pitch in with marketing the apparel. Gullet credits them with landing the adult accounts.
“They not only do their own jobs, they help other people do their jobs too, and that’s atypical in corporate America,” Gullett noted.
And he hopes his contributions to the Hustler brand will benefit them as well. While Hustler Apparel is sold on the strength of the Hustler name, “apparel pushes the brand even further, because it goes out into mainstream.”
Cypress Hill, Aerosmith, Gwen Stefani, Posh Spice, and of course Snoop Dogg are among the many celebrities that have been spotted wearing Hustler shirts.
Yet in the nearly three years since the full-scale clothing line launched, the majority of their business has been from mainstream outlets. They are sold in urban boutiques such as No Fear, Mr. Rags, and Zoomis. They’ve done well with the extreme sports market – you’ll find their clothing line in a number of establishments that specialize in surf, skate, or motocross lifestyles.
And they’ve turned down bigger mainstream accounts, to keep from growing too large too fast.
“I want to keep it this way as long as we can. I don’t see any reason to stock them with the malls guys now,” Gullett said.
Gullett, along with his partner Kevin O’Neill, know a thing or two about marketing clothes – they met when the two both worked at Adidas. And nothing kills a cool brand like overexposure.
“We’re not trying to be for everybody. We’re not going after everything. We’ve tried to stick true to our roots,” Gullett said. “We’ve tried to keep it clean, so that we can put our stuff anywhere -and on top of that everyone knows what Hustler is, and what is stands for. It’s the idea of Hustler that invokes a reaction for both men and women.”
And that marketing theory seems to be holding water – next year they anticipate sales over $4 million dollars. They’re developing a distributor for Europe. And the expansion of the Hustler Hollywood concept stores – 10 more stores are planned to open next year – will benefit the clothing line in a big way; the current four concept stores already account for a third of over all sales.
They also expect sales to go up with the addition of new items. They try to keep 60-70 items in their catalog at all times, dropping ones that don’t work and replacing them with new ideas. Alongside the classic Hustler T-shirts, Westside Distribution currently sells: hats, beanies, money clips, trucker hats, bags, and many more products types – with an even 50/50 split between male and female items.
And they have just recently introduced velour warm-up suits that are the most expensive item in the line with a SRP of $150.
“That’s when you start being taken seriously as a brand. When you offer items that sell though at that price point – retailers really take notice,” Gullett said.
This spring Hustler Apparel will introduce their first denim line.
With “percentage zoning laws” becoming a popular criteria for establishing adult zoning laws, Gullett thinks that the adult retail market might start opening up in a big way for Hustler Apparel. Many cities call for a store to stock merchandise in a ratio of non-adult to adult products – often a 70 percent to 30 percent ratio – if they want to avoid being zoned into the “adult ghetto”
“Why not bring in some stuff that sells and is profitable rather than have a dead area that just leads back to the video. It’s the same consumer and they’ll pick up a shirt on their way to the video section,” suggests Gullett.
Retailers interested in opening an account with Westside Distribution can call 310-439-2601.
