Menswear Style Podcast

Samuel Cheney, Operations Director at BEAST / Men's Grooming

December 19, 2019 Menswear Style Episode 43
Menswear Style Podcast
Samuel Cheney, Operations Director at BEAST / Men's Grooming
Show Notes Transcript

BEAST is claimed to be the first Male beauty brand where guys can find an edit of over 80 premium brands spanning categories like Body, Hair, Shave, Face and Fragrance in a dedicated beauty hall space. We speak to Samuel Cheney, the Operations Director of Men's beauty store BEAST. This new brand has a mission to change the way men buy beauty. What started with a small store in London's Seven Dials has rapidly expanded to include concessions within House of Fraser and Flannels stores across the UK. Our host Peter Brooker gets an expert insight into how men are both learning and adopting beauty more than ever before, whilst discussing what the reasons behind this trend might be.

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This episode is brought to you by high smile The high smile teeth whitening kit is a must in any gentleman's grooming routine. If you're looking for an at home alternative that doesn't cause any pain or sensitivity and that whitens and brightens your teeth within 10 minutes, then the high smile teeth whitening kit is a must for you. Just to sweeten the deal a little more they're offering all of our listeners 20% off for a limited time only use the code menswear style at checkout to receive 20% of high smile today the website Hi smile teeth.com that's h I smile tiff.com Welcome to another episode of The menswear style podcast. I'm your host Pete broca. On this episode we'll be talking to creator and founder of Oman Jain Linda Pilkington, among Jane is a perfumery as been on old Bond Street in Mayfair for about 18 years now I think but it's an international brand. You only have to look at the website see how many stores and concessions they have. It's incredible. Linda was very gracious with her time we go into her upbringing, her backstory, we even go off piece, go off the grass many times and talk about her cats. Talk about entrepreneurialship what it takes to get a business off the ground, etc. But it's a very organic conversation. There'd be no editing on this one. So it's warts and all. So Armaan jain.com is the place to go and if you're in town, be sure to visit Linda on old Bond Street you can sit down there have a glass of lemonade. We've got a very personal experience, which is really the philosophy of the brand. Thank you, Linda. We'll play that interview in a couple of few First, let me tell you about a new addition we have on the site. We have a new member area on menswear style as menswear style.co.uk simply click the Member Area button on the top right of the homepage and you'll be taken to our discounts and loyalty website. This is where you will see exclusive discounts and privileges from hundreds of your favourite High Street brands within fashion lifestyle beauty and more. We currently have 20% of it New Balance 15% off at Hawes and Curtis that's good 10% of that tm loan and 50% off at Cornerstone Wow. I'm gonna head there now. You can use these discounts both online and in store helping you to save over 2000 pounds per year so get on that elsewhere. We're on the social just type in menswear style in your smartphone there and we'll come up also if you want to get in touch with the show. Maybe you want to be a guest and talk about your brand. That is info at menswear. style.co.uk Okay. There is that interview with Linda Pilkington creator and founder Amman, Jane. It's my great pleasure to introduce creator and founder Linda Pilkington of Oman, Jane to the podcast. How are we doing today, Linda? I'm ready. Well, thank you very much. How about you? Oh, I'm excellent. A little bit under the weather. But who cares about me? That's not about me. Linda, thanks so much for taking time out to speak to us today. It's my pleasure. What I'd really like for you to do is just give us a thumbnail sketch of your story. And tell us a bit about yourself where you grew up, where you studied, etc. And, and how Allman Jane came to be. And well, I'm from Cheshire. And my parents live in the middle of nowhere, no cinemas or shops, we had one post office, two pubs of a church. So we had to entertain ourselves. So that's when I really got into craftsmanship. So most birthdays or Christmas as I used to get a great big sort of craft work set of you know how to how to make scented candles, how to grow plants, how to make chocolates, and I was rather fond of it. I was quite good at it. And ultimately, I used to think to myself, and I've got all these lovely things I've made, what am I going to do with them all. So I suppose there was a bit of an entrepreneurial streak in me and I was very keen on selling them. My sisters used to make things too, but I think there was nice as mine. So I used to go out and knock on the Vickers door and asked me if you wanted to buy my scented candles or, or whatever I've made that weekend. So that started off my passion for craftsmanship. And later on. I went abroad and I was travelling for a number of years. And again, my entrepreneurial bit of me kicked in I had an ice cream parlour in South America. And I also was living on a ranch and i was growing Sawyer. So I've always, you know, tried my hand things when I see something, I think oh, I can do that. So I'm quite positive and quite confident within myself. And then of course, when I got back to England also had to get a proper job. And so I started working with an agro chemical company. And so that went on for a couple of years and then while I was working at this place I bumped into an old friend from my childhood. And he remembered me he was now working for Chanel. And he said Oh, I remember of the you be so nice if you could make a scented candle for my boutique, I'm allowed to burn candles because he was the Fine Jewellery of Chanel. And that's how it all started. So that's how Oman Jane was born. So I started doing that in my, in my spare time at nighttime and I was very keen to to create something from them and I went to the craft shop and I spent about 800 pounds actually investing into something that would you know, cut a dash. And ultimately they did accept it, they liked it, they like the smell, the colour had to be the the shade of Coco Chanel's Chinese screens and have Parisian apartment at the Ritz. And so the the brief was quite particular, which was good because it focused the mind. And then ultimately, they ordered 50 So that was it. So I had my first order, I was still working part time, and then slowly but surely I asked if I could go part time, which they agreed to, as long as I could do as much work in eight hours in four hours, which I did. And then in the afternoons, I was working on my project. And at the time, you know, didn't really have a name but Chanel said to me, if you're gonna write an invoice, you've got to register a company, right. And so so I, you know, I said to my husband, I can't call it Linda Pilkington, what a boring name. Or so he said, Well, you're Linda Jane. And you live at Oman, terrorists securely Oman Jane or Jane Armand. So there you go. That took all of two minutes. Thanks. And yeah, that was it said so then we Ahmed Jain was born I wrote my first invoice and it went on from there, really. And they got my second commission and got my third commission. Then I did a trade show. And I won first prize. And I said to my husband, I really believe I can make a business from this. I'm quite confident so. And then I took a little shopping old Bond Street, which I'm still in today's, but been here for 18 years. And, you know, now we sell all over the world. We've got 200 points of sales, and it's all got rather serious. So now, we've got something that's really quite dynamic on our hands. Yes, certainly. I mean, when I went onto the website, I was wondering how many stores you had. And then it just opened up this entire rabbit hole of different concessions all over Dubai, obviously already in the UK, with Selfridges and Harrods. And you know, it's a real global. Yeah, I'm not even sure it's quite up to date. I mean, it could probably do with an extra 10 points or 15 points added to it. But yeah, so we're quite, we're very well respected for what we do, we've got a good reputation, because we use a very high quantity of oils in the perfumes so we don't do or the toilet, everything is poured at 2530 up to 45%. With if we're allowed to cook, we have rules and regulations. So everything's a puff farm or an extract or an auto farm. We make everything in house. So I have massive studios in Kent. And we you know, we do everything from scratch, though we make the perfume filter, bottle package, and off it goes around the world, to all our beautiful clients. And then I travel a lot. And I go off to these points of sales. And explain about the perfumes the philosophy behind it, why we made it train their staff usually have an equal soiree in the evening to meet their clients. So we're very personable with the with our with our, with our clients and the people we work with. So even though it sounds like we've got 200 retailers, we've got a very close relationship with them all. Yes, and to stay in touch, and we're always ready to support and help at any level. So it's working quite well, actually. And Linda, you did all this. Don't let me put any words in your mouth for you. You did all this from the ground up. And it didn't sound like there was a massive sit down meeting a huge business plan. This is what we're gonna do for five years. These are the forecasts there sounded like there was some real hustle at the beginning and a real belief in the brand. Yeah, absolutely. Right. I've never I every year when I say it must, one must actually have some sort of meeting or sit down and it never happens. So when I took the shop, I saw the shop to left. And I just thought Oh, what a beautiful little retail shop great address on Bond Street, London, Mayfair. And literally, I just did my mathematics from the back of an envelope there. And then and this worked out. Okay, what's the rent? What's the service charge? What's the business rates? How much do I need to sell per day? I'll run it. So I didn't have a wages for the first few years. And I just did it and then I just thought, okay, I've got to sell eight items a day to go even I can do that. I'll take it. And that was that. So yeah, I just like by the seat of my pants, I have to say but it doesn't say it seems to work fine. Well, I mean, I've speaking personally, I've tried to get a few points. off the ground. And there's one project I'm doing right now, I've had some advice about market research going out there. And a friend of mine has said, You've got now to do a blanket page of 250 restaurants where you go out and interview each of the owners and find out exactly what it is that they need for the sport. I'm just reading now. And I know I should be going out and do my due diligence. But I reckon in a year's time, and I've got all of these facts and stats back, the whole landscape could have changed within my industry, I'd probably put you off wasn't once you hear it all, because once you do your due diligence, and you listen to everybody's opinion, and all their stories and all the ups and downs and what can go wrong, you will probably think I've changed my mind. Yeah. And I think it's probably not that not a good thing, necessarily. I think you sound very, very headstrong in this area that you if you see something, you need to go for it and you need to action it rather than just go. Let's all sit down and research this for a couple of years and then pull the trigger on it. But well, exactly. I mean, like even my father said, Well, why the name on chain? I mean, what what made you come up with that name? And who would advise that? And you know, you'd say, Well, I was cooking dinner with my husband. And by the time the dinner was finished, we had the name. Yeah. So I think I think you've you've got a natural instinct and something feels right. I mean, I, I haven't got the same attitude to all aspects of life. I've got the attitude for things that I know and love. So so I can I can I can, you know, dive in and other. You know, I've been asked to talk at different events. But if they give me a subject that I'm not familiar with that I do have to do lots of due diligence and research, then usually my speech is quite not just boring, but it sounds very strange. Whereas if people asked me to go somewhere to give a speech, and it's about something I know and love, I don't even I just make bullet points, and I don't I don't have any paperwork or anything. I just stand there. And off I go. So I think in your case, if it's something you love, and no, and that I think you can just take follow your instinct. Whereas if it's if it's something you're not sure about, then I would I know personally, I when it's something I'm not sure about I run a mile. Yeah. Well, that's it. That's, you've made my mind up for me, Linda, I'm just gonna launch the website tomorrow, and invite everyone to come and see it. Welcome. Thank you. If it all goes down the toilet, I'll blame you. But I digress. Linda, can you tell us a little bit about some of the fragrances in particular, the Armand man, which was the very first fine fragrance to introduce food. So I've literally just come back from Dubai. I had a whole buffet of food as it were kind of fragrance smelling. And it is a very, very strong smell. It's a naturally strong scent. So can you give us a bit of a backdrop? What inspired you to put that in? Yes, well, actually, when the first time I smelt it, which was about 19 years ago, I just thought it was absolutely frightful. And, you know, just I just thought, Oh my God, this bloody stinks. Who the hell wants to wear this. And then and I bet because I my whole philosophy of Oman chain is to look for ingredients not widely used in the perfume industry. So I used to go from these long trips with the hope to come back with groundbreaking ingredients that nobody else was using. And when they came across the food, the food at that point was only ever used in an avatar. So like the Pure Food, or if they would mix it with a Thai rose which is a rose from that neck of the woods. Otherwise it was never made into a fine fragrance, ie a fine fragrances, what you and I were out of the spray that has maybe 20 3040 ingredients. So I had the idea to put the food into a fine fragrance along other ingredients. As it turned out, it was a smash hit big time. And people were literally at the door. I was making I was going at nighttime to my studio to make make the perfume in the morning. I was filtering it. I mean normally I like to keep my perfumes to mature six to eight weeks. And I'd bring it to the shop and anybody as soon as the shop opened if they have any bottles to pick up those 32 k they'll take 32 so I you know it was it was it was great for me. It wasn't like something I'd planned. But everybody was very interested in the EU then and about six months after that. Then if Sala Ron launched the second party and with UHD which was m seven which also went down very well and now foods are confirmed category. Everybody use it. Nearly every fragrance house in the world has an ood perfume. So I'm quite proud of that fact of introducing it into the fine fragrance world. But that was all part of the philosophy. Anyway, so it's something I had to do. But nowadays, you know, so almost woman or my mom, these are two. These are our signature scents are also made with hemlock. Nobody else has a perfume in the world made from hemlock. So the idea is somebody comes into an on chain boutique, and they say, Oh, I like Woody scent, sandalwood, you know, cedar wood, we'd say, well, we have hemlock. So it's all about giving them something different. But also it has to smell really great at the same time, which was, which, which all worked out very well, but the rest of the perfumes, we like to consider them gender free. And this was something from an experience about 15 years ago, with a gentleman in the shop, he was wearing Sam poquito, very floral, frejus and Jasmine's and he put it on and he said that he loved it and wanted to buy a bottle. And I was a bit confused thinking, it's so feminine, and it smells. So floral. But I just thought I can't say this to this gentleman because it would be rude and it's not my job to make him feel uncomfortable. So I sold him the Santa kita. And, and then about a month after that, I have the same experience happened in the department stores. The gentleman firmly said, I bought the tie, you froze from your your your stand inherits. And when I got home, and I was researching your company, I went online, it says that it's a feminine perfume. So I just realised that I'm doing something wrong here. And I apologise I said if you want to take it back, but if you like it, you like the way it smells, and you know what the hell does it matter? And I said, but I I'm going to take your take your lead here, and I'm going to change my website because I think they should all be unisex. But I didn't really like the word unisex because I thought that sounds so 1970s Fidel Sassoon. So I was thinking, so I said to my husband, we've got to come up with something that is unisex, that doesn't sound so daft. And, and then you know, a couple of drinks around the table. So we came up with the term gender free. So I changed my website that week. So this is like 2008 or 2000, something around there and maybe 2007. And I told the guys that they've got to take for the masculine and feminine except for Oman woman and Oman, man. And then and just keep all gender free, which is now very in keeping with today's world in today's world. But back then yeah, I mean, I don't know what the what the climate was back then. But I get the feeling that now it's kind of universally accepted the word free in a band that about no one bats an eyelid. But back then now how much of a game changer was it for you back then? It was a great game changer. Again, it was one of those moments where you're trying to fix a problem. You don't want your clients to be upset, you want them to be happy. And so you change something and then it's great because your sales go up because gentlemen come into the shop, because that's all the person's agenda free. actually selling more. It was it was actually a win win for me, but not deliberately. So just that's how it turned out. So every person that came into the shop, it was a case of like that for their for both. You just smell them. If you like it, you like it, you know, we're not going to pigeonhole into a gender. And that went down very well actually. So with all walks of life, I mean, we're in Mayfair. So of course you know, and of course London is very diverse. You've got all sorts of people Italians, Arabs, Becky, Stan, and you know, you tell them that they completely get it and understand it then they don't. They don't ask for what you know what the hell you're talking about. So it's good. Yeah, I guess but um, I'm just gonna shoot it straight. If you don't mind, Linda from a from a guy's point of view. I think we like to have things indexed so that we can just process it. So like 60s fashion, we know a 60s fashion is 17 more androgynous flares as a as a guy, we just kind of like to pick your word pigeonhole. And that way we can know Well, that's what that is. So I know what I'm getting now. And if it's labelled with women's perfume, it doesn't really matter if I really like it. It doesn't matter if it makes me smell feel really good, because it's got the different tag on it. It kind of messes with my flow, so to speak. It's like yeah, if you see someone in the queue ahead of you wearing pyjamas, you go well, I'd actually don't mind the look, it looks quite cool. But it's so jarring because pyjamas are very personal. It's for your private time, you know, it shouldn't be in this category of me looking at you in the bakery waiting for your Danish. So opening the opening up the playing field and just not giving it a tag entirely is something that you did back then which is feels like everyone should have been doing in the first place. Well, it was just a response. It was when you've got an irate customer. And you know, you want to fix the problem straight away and that doesn't really resolve that was all about really nothing more But, you know, obviously, you know, was in keeping with the way the world was going, which is a good thing. Yes. And yeah, but you know, some, you know, the gentleman stands up and says I want some, what sense of you've got four gentlemen, then we will automatically say, okay, or the fence or for for for both genders However, if you want something quite masculine, and then of course, we will send them down the road of Armand spackling, tentativo, or Susanna woman, man, or it's the kind which is like a cologne. So we will go down that road, if it's a request, like, you know, something for men. And but you know, at the same time, if we're sending up the bottle, you might send some samples with it on other passives that aren't that masculine so we send you some other classes for you to try to see if you like those two and then maybe a month later, we'll say to try the samples and he'll say yes, I actually like this one for this. And you know, it's more floral. So you that is the thing is is you know, you don't have to set food is for men at floors are also for men. Anything Goes now. And out of interest, Linda, what would you say is the best black tie fragrance for men? What kind of notes? I have a discussion with a couple of friends All the time as to what is a really good black tie fragrance? I'd say definitely Oman man, mon tobacco in Tennessee, though, is our best seller. It's very, very sexy. It's like you've got all the tobacco leaf and Amber and leather. So you get the picture. It's great. And, and women absolutely love it. And men absolutely love it. But as far as sophisticated, black tie, I would go for all month, man because you've got the hemlock, the cedar wood, and it's very well made. It cuts a dash and it's a bit abstract, abstract sophisticated. Whereas the monster backhoe is obviously sensual. Yes. And do you ever get because you kind of trajectory is just going one way Do you ever get now offers for collaborations? You know, different companies coming in and saying let's let's have a meeting of the minds and releases sent between us? Oh, yes, yes, we've done we've done that quite a few times? Well, quite? Well, it's not quite the same thing. They might come to us and say we'd like to send it with our name on it. So we say okay, or, you know, we'd like a scented candle in keeping with our philosophy of our hotel. So that's a collaboration. So we're in the was in Singapore raffles, they've just in the world they have. Yeah, and it's beautiful. So we're in all the bathrooms. And I wrote to the purchasing manager last week, and I said to him, would you like to think about having like a Singapore Sling? Because that's where that cocktail was invented at Singapore Sling candle for 2024 to give to your clients at Christmas time. Yeah, no, he was like, wow, yes. Great. You know, send me samples. Wonderful. But I was thinking I don't actually know what a Singapore Sling case like so expensive. It tastes expensive. I can tell you that. Well, I haven't drunk alcohol for a couple of years. So I had the virgin Singapore Sling and the whole idea was that you you have it and then you crack the nuts and bundle nuts on the floor etc. So yeah, you can you can definitely do a concoction of that and then perhaps have some of the nutshells that will go with it. What's a virgin sit what Singapore Sling made for was it gentle? What is it made from? That's a great question. I didn't actually look I did the touristy thing and just ordered one Yeah, well actually I'm on try January's killing me. I had my you're not drinking for two years I do j January and then I do dry September after my summer holidays. And and I then I was vow to cut back on on my drinking lemon. I come off my dry January but I get back into old habits within about a week drinking drinking scares you don't need to you don't need to give that up. No Well I did I do enjoy it but you know it's Christmas time and you know on summer holidays to sort of go for it a bit more than one should Yes, nevermind. Well the just recently the James Bond commercial for the Heineken zero zeros come out. So now a whole new lease of men have gone it's okay to not drink anymore. Yeah, they've they've appealed Yeah, my husband my husband drinks and non alcoholic beer. I'm not sure which one he drinks but he he's trying to do that midweek. So when he gets in from work, and I have a I have a gin and tonic without the gin so I just go slimline tonic. And then I put in two pink peppers because it looks pretty. And because they're nice roads a colour and then I put in three juniper berries because Jen's made from juniper berry. And they'll put a sprig of rosemary, and it looks very fetching. And I think that with ice will enter slightly like the slides. It all looks very good. I mean, when I was perusing your website and just going down a few times a great website, by the way, just thank you if you got if you got about an hour to waste and just find yourself and get lost in your website, because I went into different lifestyle elements, and you know, different cocktail recipes. So it's all on there do recommend that Yeah. Which by the way, oh, but actually this Friday, I'm trying I'm going to do like a bit of an alcohol free, alcohol free drinks, possibilities that might hit the spot and an aromatic soup. Because we're all trying to lose weight in January so we can all have aromatic soup at nighttime. Yeah, no, I look out for that. That's fantastic. Yeah. Linda, could you give us where can people find you say when I get in touch so old bonds. In Mayfair, I'm in 28 old Bond Street in the Royal arcade. And I'm also in Selfridges, London Harrods London fortnum. Mason's in London, in Manchester, in Selfridges in Birmingham Selfridges. We've got this very cute little boutique in Knutsford called pop, which is a wonderful little boutique, we supply them. And I think that's about it in the UK. And then of course, we're online. Yeah, excellent. book. I mean, they were small, but big. We, in the grand scheme of things to have 200 points of sales is considered small. But for me, I don't think I would ever consider more than 400 in the whole world, because I want to have a relationship with with all the retailers. And I want to train the staff, so they understand that philosophy. So you can't do that if you've got several thousand all over the world when you can, but you'd have to have teams of people going out. But I prefer to prefer the personal touch. So sometimes I go on the road. And I start off in Milan, and they go to Russia. And then I go to the chancellor, then to Verona so I do a little a new town each day in Italy. And it's very pleasant. It's very nice. The trains are nice, have some nice pasta. And then I find the local pastor in each village. And then I always ask the local ladies how you cook it and what's the source and they write it down. And on a Saturday, we cook that that pastor from that village for for the children, and for good fun. Well, you and my girlfriend would just hit it off with that. Yeah. Yeah, whereas I would just be eating the past blissfully unaware of how it got on my plate. I think I've already proved myself with the Singapore Sling talk. So how many cats have you got? So we've got two blue Russian cats and a newly acquired cockapoo who is gone. She's getting beaten about pillar to post by the matriarch. Wow. So I've got two mongrel cats. I've got Teddy and Freddy, two brothers from the cat home that keep all the nature at bay in my house and they're fantastic. And lovely. Yeah, they're great pussycats this a bit overweight at the moment. But nevermind just their winter coats. Well, they need to do dry January as well. Right. So they wanted the machine. The ginger one. He's so greedy. He eats everything inside. So we have that same problem. One of them's quite overweight, the other is deeply emaciated. So we have to separately Do you have Instagram accounts for your cats? Because my girlfriend likes to do that with her cats. Yeah, to be perfectly honest. I my goddaughter. That's our Instagram for Oman, Jane. And she's more up to date than me. She's like 28 and she's got her finger on the pulse. And, you know, I say, what about this? This this? She goes, No. Nobody does that. So I think I'm behind all the time. I'm not really I'm not I don't have Facebook. I mean, I've never even seen Facebook in my life. Can you believe that? Well, I've never been on Facebook. My dad's been on Facebook and he's 95. But um, I've I've never been on Facebook or Instagram or any of that. But my my goddaughter shows it all to me and shows me, I give her the copy. And then she's sorted out. And then she says that's good. That's rubbish. That's good. nobody's interested in that. And then she posts it. It always looks lovely. That's fascinating. I mean, that is very unique in today's climate as well. Digital Marketing, getting your name out, etc. You've Yeah, to call for you to call for it. That's what it is. So people can find you on Mon jane.com online and old bonds three if you're in town do drop in the store is beautiful. I've been going around online looking at the various pictures and when I'm next in town I'll certainly drop in and pay a visit. Well if anybody wants to have a perfume portrait they could just turn up the boutique has had like to come in and then it can sit down have a glass of champagne. And then they can learn about all the perfumes and relaxed and you know, you could have more of a consultation doesn't cost anything you just come in and learn about perfumes and have an experience. Sounds fantastic. Linda, thanks so much for your time. Oh, thank you, Peters. pleasure to talk to you. Yes and, and best of luck getting the cats in order with your business adventure. Thank you. Thank you make sure it happens. I'm going to ask you on December the 31st. Your email will be first on the newsletter. Thanks a lot. Okay. Thank you. Take care. Bye bye. Bye bye. Linda Pilkington there what a sweetheart and just nice grounded humble, you know some aspirational qualities there. I think we can all take on board. So lovely talking to you, Linda. I will certainly drop by next time I'm in town some wholesome food. If it's good enough for Bryan Ferry, it's good enough for me, as my granddad would always say so. Again, thank you. Thank you The listener for making it this far. Crikey. You can check out the show notes over at menswear style Koto, UK, and until next time, remember, it's only fashion people and you're never fully dressed without a smile.

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