Benji ‘The Jeans Whisperer’ has been working in the clothing industry for 15 years, setting up EnCompass eight years ago. He fits Cityscape out with some slick business advice. 

First of all, why did you decide to open a fashion store? There’s lots of different reasons. I’ve always been into clothing, from a very young age I liked fashion and liked the latest trends. I decided to follow my passions and dreams to just be an owner/operator and work it like that. I think that’s what I’ve tried to achieve.

What was your vision for EnCompass? I guess it was to have a multi-brand store based around denim, with a jean wall that would be quite majestic. I’m particularly passionate about jeans. Not so much the making side of things, although I do love that, but it’s just more how the fits and the silhouettes look on people, and the feel.

How did you choose the location? Well, it’s funny because choosing the location really was a good friend of mine, I don’t think he’s going to mind me mentioning his name, his name is Fili and he’s actually a shirt maker, he makes customised shirts at a really high level. So, he took me in his car and said “Let’s go and have a look at this location.” It was at The Tannery and we walked in and it was still under development. I walked in and loved it and was like, “This is wicked.” It’s classy, it reminds me of arcades all around the world that I’ve seen as well as in London, so I was instantly drawn towards it.

How has EnCompass grown from those first days? Well, EnCompass has grown tremendously well from opening in late 2013. I think the growth from the beginning was slow, you know because we didn’t have much, and it was just me and I was on the floor all day long and with very little stock, to the point where now we are operating at a much higher level, we’re competing really well, having a multitude of brands from overseas as well as a bit more locally.

Has the store become something different from what you expected? Yes and no. I think I marketed it towards the younger sort of demographic in the beginning, you know, the clothes I had in the store was slightly, in my opinion, for the younger people. But, as it turned out, the demographic was family members, you know, so mum, dad, slightly older.

Our customer base is working-class men and women and business owners as well who like to look smart in a pair of jeans and maybe a blazer and a shirt and some nice shoes. So, yeah it’s changed. I mean, in the first two to three years it was more focused on jeans for both men and women, but now we’ve got more sneakers, trainers, footwear as well as hoodies, crews, jerseys, you know, but dressy.

When you start you just throw things into a store with an idea, and you see if you can get a return and the growth comes later once you’ve been at it for a year, two years. You can see the way your store is moving and the type of people that are coming into your store, and you move accordingly, and you try and fit the store out with what the style is at the time.

Being in New Zealand and in Christchurch it’s pretty conservative, so some of the things that I'm probably buying are a little bit laid back just to suit certain people and not too much colour, although colour is getting a little bit better now. It’s just a work in progress, I would say, from the beginning.

Have your customers changed much over the years? Yeah, it’s got slightly younger, we have a demographic. To be fair I would say kind of from early 20s right up to 70-year-olds. You know, the demographic is stretched because the stuff we sell crosses over. A teenager could wear a shirt that a man of 40 would wear. You know, it’s not like a 40-year-old-man’s shirt, it’s a shirt that’s relevant, funky and cool and conservative all at the same time with the right colour palette, so I would say it’s changed a wee bit, there’s a few more younger consumers now popping in and picking up a few bits and pieces here and there which is fantastic. So, there is variety and diversity as well.

You’ve got sweet brands that are hard to find in Christchurch – how do you choose what to stock? You go ranges, the brands that you are obviously attached to and are in partnership with, you go and see them when they have ranges so when they are selling a particular season, you go and see, and you pick. The trick is to pick things that sometimes you don’t even personally like because you’re not really buying for yourself.

Obviously you want to actually make money on that product and sell it, you know. And there’s mistakes made. I’ve bought stock and it’s like “Oh my god what did I go and buy that for”, and sometimes it actually does really well. So, picking labels, I mean it’s a lot of working online, looking at brands, emailing different brands from all around the world, looking at different labels and shops that are stocking and ringing them up which is long-winded, but if you’re determined to get a few things that you feel will work and that nobody else has got and you want to stand out and the money’s right, then you know it’s worth persevering.

So, a lot of late nights working on the computers, looking at brands, emailing these particular brands, where the distribution is, and starting from there. That’s probably why there is a couple of bits in my store that are a wee bit different to the norm.

And how do you actually get the stock? Where does it come from? All around the world. Normally distribution is Auckland, Wellington, there’s distributions in Christchurch where we’re at, and Sydney and Melbourne. They are the main places on this side of the world where the distribution is carrying these particular labels that we stock. Sometimes it comes straight out of Amsterdam or Sweden, but there’s still probably a middle man in Australasia somewhere because it makes it a little bit easier.

I think on a business level, It’s helpful to have somebody there that can sort the stock out and communicate with them at the right time, if there’s a problem or you need to reorder stock. My stock comes a bit from Europe, a little bit from America, London, Australia, and there’s some homegrown stuff from Auckland and here so a good variety of places. But it takes time to get exactly what you want as well.

Is it hard getting the rarer labels? Yeah, it’s hard man. Like, you have to be willing to be told “No” and “Wait” and “Your store may not be quite ready for this particular brand”, which is slightly upsetting a little bit, but you don’t take it personal because eventually if you work your store in the right way and you're on top of things, eventually most of the brands will come looking for you or send you an email. I get emails all the time now from smaller brands that are quite cool that want to be in my store. So, it just takes time.

It is hard getting the rarer labels because most of them are quite unique and want to be in the right store, so the representation of the brand has to match the store and vice versa. For example, you wouldn’t have Gucci with Wrangler and Lee – the match isn’t quite right. A lot of work, self-determination and a lot of rejection. You have to be prepared to be rejected a few times here and there. It makes you stronger and builds character.

Can you tell us the story of your favourite label? I’ve got a few favourite labels, the ones that I like to stock that I really love normally come out of Europe to be fair. And it’s a brand that has been around for a while, not too sure how many years, but probably 20-plus years: Scotch & Soda. It’s a good streetwear label and it’s so diverse, like you can go in when you’re ordering and picking stuff off the racks for your store, you could be dealing with just blazers and shirts and really nice trousers or it crosses over to denim as well and then you’ve got the t-shirts, a bit more streetwear, and there’s lots of variety within the label.

So, I like that brand as well as the women's, which is the sister brand Maison Scotch. They are the same, slightly more expensive. But the consumers here in Christchurch are familiar with it, so as long as you pick the right stock for the seasons it’s fine. And it’s a massive range; I could spend a whole day in the warehouse looking at stock. It’s a good brand and probably one of my favourite brands in my store as well as Nudie.

I think Nudie was one of the first major players for denim that I got into the store back in 2013/14 for jeans with their organic kind of ideology that they’ve been doing from before it became a thing to be ethically made and sustainable. This brand is cool, quirky, direct, it appeals to a mass market and we love it because they care about what they put out into the environment.

What does it take to run an independent clothing business? I would say self-belief is probably one of the main attributes you would need. You know your character, you need to be quite independently strong because in the beginning you’re going to get told “No”.

It’s really difficult to set yourself up financially to start with. All the hurdles and barriers that get thrown in front of you and that’s purposely done just by life, just to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into, because it isn’t easy. It gets easier as you move forward into your professional career but in the beginning it’s tough. It was really tough for me, I was told “No”, I had no brands and I was almost at the point where I was gonna give up because I had other issues going on around my business that was out of my control.

It takes self-determination as well as focus and willingness to work ridiculously stupid hours to win. And small wins as well, because with retail you’re not going to be terribly rich with one clothing store. So it isn’t about the money, it’s more about being in charge of your own destiny. And knowing that I wanna work for myself because I’m good enough at this and I really believe in myself and I have the right attitude to work really hard. You have to work seven days a week just to make sure you’re giving it 110%.

It takes guts, passion, commitment, drive, energy, love, people skills. Don’t expect it to be easy. Enjoying and understanding your fears, fear stops most people from achieving their dreams and their goals. Push hard and work with the fear and use it as fuel to win.

Do you have any advice for people wanting to start their own small business? Yes I do. The dream in your mind should really scare you to do. Really get good at what you want to do for yourself, would be the first step. Be super good at your craft, speciality, profession, so that you know you can do the whole thing by yourself – with some help along the way.

Once you’ve figured out “I'm going to do it,” the number one thing you need to incorporate is work ethic. Work ethic is the number one key to success. You’re not going to win if you’re not working, because nobody is going to help you or hand you anything to start with. You need to prove to yourself and others. Pressure and stress are all part of it, enjoy it and you will be okay.

Do you have a personal mantra or motto? I like to make sure that my customer service is good with the people that support me far and wide, up and down the country, and some overseas too. I like to make sure they have an experience in the store, whether it’s through myself or my incredible staff members, so basically customer service is key. Working hard for them, they’ve put trust in us to fit them out in a difficult item, which is denim.

Denim is always the bane of a lot of people’s existence: “I’ve got to go and get some jeans oh my gooood!”. So, it’s stressful, if we can take that away from them, it makes their time in my store a memorable, exciting and enjoyable one. I’ve had so many customers that have told me ”Thank you, you’re amazing,” and write about it and talk about it and recommend me to family and friends. The motto is: “Work really hard for your customers, make them feel super special and create relationships that are long-lasting.”

If you’ve got an idea of “I want to do this,” and people are telling you, “Don’t be stupid, you can't do it,” I would suggest don’t listen to them and listen to yourself. When you listen to people you don’t achieve anything. Follow your dream and heart.

encompassclothing.co.nz