A Millennial Perspective on Millennial Business With DPTR
“The high of creating something from nothing, breaking down barriers that keep you from the next level and hopefully inspiring others to do the same keeps me up at night.” Departure Danny Loiacono Co-Founder & Lead Designer
Meeting Zak Sutter, one of the Co-Founders of Departure at the JW Marriott back in the winter we talked about reshaping the future of Chicago with millennials, and turned up at T-Pain’s After Party during Lollapalooza weekend. Here is vital information about millennial businesses from a millennial perspective.
Glappitnova was on the hunt for “fresh” businesses and found Departure aka DPTR. According to Zak “not trying to fit in or wildly stand out in terms of style and how you conduct your company” is being fresh. DPTR is a retailer of modern apparel and hand-crafted goods with a minimalist approach, serving both style and function. They are a heavy target for fashion forward millennials throughout the US, and are involved in the influencer music-fashion tech scene here in Chicago. Anything design worthy from DPTR is led by Danny Loiacono. Let’s tap into business and your personal why.
“With only 15 percent of small businesses across all industries marketing to the millennial buyer, the vast majority are missing out on a large and powerful segment of the consumer population.” Manta
Why target Millennials?
The social behavior demonstrated by Millennials have greater purchasing power and far more influence because of their education of the internet. They can organically grow your brand through social media communication. Word of mouth marketing is essential and in the millennial demo a peer’s seal of approval is priceless.
Demand, it’s something we continue to try and plan for and get better at. When forecasting your seasons and sales projections you need to place orders and have designs ready months before they’ll actually hit the market. We have underestimated the growth of our company at times and have not had enough products. Two ways in which we have fixed this are trade-show orders and working with Chicago based manufacturers.
In July Glappitnova had an in-depth engaged forum for building a better Chicago for startups and creatives. As you all know Glappitnova is unfiltered, provocative, and authentic when it comes to issues surrounding our community. The key take aways are noted below. We don’t present themes and experiences because it’s a hot topic at the moment, or it looks good on paper. We are the authentic cause on the ground sparking the unimaginable effect using millennial culture.
- Local investors need to step it up
- Accelerators should steer away from being cookie cutters
- There isn’t a central location for entrepreneurs and creatives to network
- Chicago is a hybrid community not just tech or business
That forum was highly engaged. Glappitnova has a great starting point in improving these issues through millennials, but there is much more work within the city as a whole and around the world. What would you like to see improved in Chicago within your industry, or in general?
“Sourcing and talent, everyone migrates to the coasts.”
So entrepreneurship is not easy, branding is not safe? People will laugh in your face, and many behind your back. You will have to make tough business decisions that will affect friendships, and relationships. You will fail a few times, and then you may rise up to the occasion.
Why the hell are you doing this?
We kind of feel like why not? Why wouldn’t we work on something we love everyday. You have one life. We want to live it creating, learning, meeting great people and adding a style to people’s life. Don’t decide to be an entrepreneur because you think it sounds cool or you think you’re too much on an introvert to work for anyone. You really have to live this shit and bust your ass.
So your why is connecting people through style. That style is the products you create. Chicago is becoming a thriving spot for fashion related businesses. There is Chicago’s first global shoe brand Bucketfeet, Threadmup on the technology manufacturing side of clothing, and Trunk Club on the styling side. Product development is always an issue, what’s your best seller?
Customers can tell the ingenuity that went into designing our Clamshell Wallet. It has character from start to finish. It’s designed, made and sourced all here in Chicago. It hides in your pocket surrounded by hand selected Horween leather protecting your money with style, and function at its finest. Our first huge milestone was getting into our first retailer. That put us in front of a lot of new customers. It also gave us a seal approval from both existing and new customers.
Any Last Words To The Glappitnova Community?
“If you’re not prepared to obsess over your new venture for years and years you might want to re-evaluate your decision to be an entrepreneur.”
