EFFIE BATEMAN | Lifestyle | Contact
As research shows younger Australians are moving away from supporting the Melbourne Cup, premier menswear brands such as Tarocash, YD, Politix and Connor are reportedly trembling in their boots, citing that their businesses heavily rely on horse racing to exist – with weddings coming in a close second.
Speaking to Charleston Phillips, the Marketing Manager for Politix, The Advocate discovers that despite many brands opting for the softer approach of advertising for ‘spring wear’, instead of ‘races’, there is a lot of fear brewing in the menswear community.
“We estimate that the average Aussie man might wear three suits in his lifetime”, explains Phillips, “one for their formal, one for either their wedding or as a groomsman, and one of the races.”
“If you take away the races, that’s the third of the business”, he adds, explaining the basic maths, “plus, we foresee younger millennials and Gen Z being less into marriage.”
“Here’s a headline for you – millennials are destroying the men’s suit industry!”
Connor’s Product Manager, Nina Dern, says that she’s noticed chinos aren’t selling like hotcakes like they used to.
“Don’t get me wrong, Aussie men still love their beige pants”, she explains, “but ten years ago, we’d have completely run out of chinos a week before the Melbourne cup.”
“Now we have a warehouse full of them.”
Our reporter discovers that despite a lot of conversations centring around animal mistreatment and gambling, a lot of the dwindling numbers in men skipping the races just comes down to pure disinterest.
However, there is one menswear brand that’s reportedly ‘ a lot less worried’, on selling race wear – the go to suit shop for bogans, ‘Tarocash.’
“We have noticed some dwindling numbers, but not as much as the other brands”, said Jeffrey Degan, owner of the Tarocash located in Strathpine’s Westfield Shopping Centre.
“Bogans tend to give less of a fuck about the social discourse around horse racing.”
More to come.
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