Aug 15, 2018

The men’s fashion company that’s part apparel, part big data

The interior of Alton Lane's latest showroom located in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City. Courtesy of Alton Lane

For Alton Lane CEO Colin Hunter, the way to disrupt retail is to get the data to make it ultra-personal.

Subscription box services may be the big apparel movement right now, but tech and data are allowing at least one company to go in a very different direction: custom tailoring. Colin Hunter is the CEO and co-founder of high-end men’s fashion company Alton Lane, and his goal is to make that retail experience personal — like, really personal. His company uses body scanners to get your body measurements in a matter of seconds, which are then sent to fabric makers who construct garments to order (which, of course, is not cheap). Also, the company’s showrooms have bartenders on duty to serve drinks. Hunter tells us why his company’s brand of retail could be the future, and how customer data could change the role of retail as we know it.