S04.E12: Swim By Chuck Handy

[Sarah D. Bunting]

Quote

A family-run swimwear company in Florida struggles to connect with consumers and keeps marketing outdated designs.

[Primetimer]

And other questions about the midseason premiere.

View the full article

[Amarsir]

Well that had less family drama than I expected, which is a good thing. Even the suspense over how big of a fuck up was the son (Charlie?) wasn't really that bad. And as a result there was a lot of focus on business improvements, which I think is what we all tune in for.

Marcus doesn't have an assistant, OK. But he has a partner now. Is she going to show up at all? Perhaps in a follow-up episode, though we don't seem to get those anymore.

[Nightengail]

Sorry, wrong forum.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Nightengail

[BabyVegas]

I really respect Marcus' business acumen. Lord knows he knows what he's doing. But I hated the new name for the company. I don't know if he focus grouped it or what, but it just seemed so basic and blah. And the son just seemed useless, like they were giving him a job in the family business because he couldn't hold it together. I don't know, I just got a weird vibe from him. I really liked the daughter, though. She clearly knew her business and had some good ideas. On another note, I really wanted that geometric printed bathing suit.

[cooksdelight]

The focus group on the bathing suits was done for TV, obviously. Focus group people are NEVER seated in the same room with the business owner, I've been in quite a few. It tempers your response and leaves you less honest than you'd be if you were in an anonymous setting. And poor Dad... took him a while to come around to the new patterns. LOL, I could see him roaming the women's swimsuit section at stores for ideas. 

The daughter should be running the company. Get rid of Charlie-Know-It-All. 

[Dmc306]

For some reason, the son looked super familiar..

I'm not a fan of the name change, why couldn't they've just used the Mom or daughter's name? 

Am I the only one that found it a little weird that they were more or less able to do a 180 in such a sort time period? To go from just swimsuits to complete lines.

Otherwise, super excited this show is back :)

[cooksdelight]

7 minutes ago, Dmc306 said:

Am I the only one that found it a little weird that they were more or less able to do a 180 in such a sort time period?

No, I was amazed. But then I remembered this show puts a lot of info into an hour, and it probably took longer than just a few weeks. 

Here's an update on what has happened after the show. This website is great at finding out who's still around and who sank.

http://www.theprofitupdates.com/2017/06/the-profit-swim-by-chuck-handy-siloett.html

[Dmc306]

6 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

No, I was amazed. But then I remembered this show puts a lot of info into an hour, and it probably took longer than just a few weeks. 

Here's an update on what has happened after the show. This website is great at finding out who's still around and who sank.

http://www.theprofitupdates.com/2017/06/the-profit-swim-by-chuck-handy-siloett.html

Thank you for the link! I always love reading the blogs that do updates, especially the Bar Rescue ones. Off to check that out.

I was amazed at it as well, I think they would have been better off from the start had the daughter actually been more involved with business and design etc to begin with.

 

ETA: Thank you for the link! The son is familiar because he was on VH1's Dating Naked, so glad they posted that on there.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Dmc306

[ae2]

"With their focus on plus sizes, I see a GIANT opportunity."

[ae2]

The focus groups that this show portrays are always a little hinky, but this one may be the hinkiest of them all. 

None of the women in the group seemed to fit within the plus size demographic the swimsuits target. They were all considerably smaller than the models.

"I always buy my swimsuits separately instead of as sets." That is something a real focus group participant might say. (And something you would already have the quantitative data to back up anyway.) "You would make more money if you sold these pieces separately" is something a marketing or business person says.

Then Marcus's fashion director guided them to all agree that you should not buy swimsuits (and spanx) if attached to a male's name.

I wonder if what we see is just made for TV and they do real focus groups we don't see, or if Marcus' idea of a focus group is a guided discussion to convince the business owner to do things the way he wants them done.

(Oh, it turns out they're not really as committed to the plus size market as the episode shows. It's just one part of their product line, so pretty much like every other brand that makes multiple sizes?)

Terrible, terrible new business name. And I feel like we missed the middle part of the episode where everything actually changed and improved.

[LisainCali]

I have to chime in here about a couple of things. I believe the reason they moved back to NJ is due to proximity to NY. Presumably a short drive to the garment district to check on things, such as pattern making, design, fabric, etc. Plus very competitive pricing. To the point that swimwear can be worn year round in Miami, well it can be worn year round in San Diego, too, but there is no garment district there either. For fun, I Googled 'Garment District San Diego' and the first result was a mall, then a couple of used clothing stores. Sigh.....

And Charlie...yet another egomaniacal, narcissistic son who brings less than nothing to the party, but is convinced he is actually running the company. I wonder if Marcus discussed the real problems of Charlie with the parents? Marcus did loudly pronounce that he would have NO problem firing Charlie.

[seacliffsal]

The son, Charlie, represented to me the idea that he wanted to be in charge but without putting in the time and work required to be in charge.  I was blown away by the fact that he hired two assistants to help him.  He seemed full of excuses and really immature.  However, the reason for that was shown when the mom would intervene whenever Marcus started asking a 'hard' question.  She had not allowed Charlie to experience failure in order to grow.

[cooksdelight]

I am surprised Marcus and his crack team of ad people didn't use the name "Handy" in the swimsuit company name. Not what it was, but Handysuits, or use it as a tagline "Handy Whenever You're Ready" "Handy On The Go" for the accessories. Something....his name was just there waiting to be played upon.  (I am not a copywriter, obviously, but you get the idea).

[seacliffsal]

So, I tried googling the Siloett suits and every single time google redirected me to silhouette suits which is a real name of a swim wear company.  So, not a great name for the company if people aren't going to be able to find it.  I wonder who Marcus had do the market research on that name because they really missed an already existing competitor.

[Amarsir]

22 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

So, I tried googling the Siloett suits and every single time google redirected me to silhouette suits which is a real name of a swim wear company.  So, not a great name for the company if people aren't going to be able to find it.  I wonder who Marcus had do the market research on that name because they really missed an already existing competitor.

https://shopsiloett.com/

Time might fix that, as Google needs time and links (like the one I just inadvertently created) to realize that people do actually want that word instead of autocorrecting it.  However, if "Silhouette Suits" is an actual brand name and not just a descriptive term, this does sound like a strong trademark case for "brand confusion". I don't think he wants an expensive lawsuit, even if his pockets are no doubt deeper than the plaintiff's.

[cooksdelight]

I emailed him my suggestion about the name Handy being used in the branding somehow. We'll see if he gets in trouble for that name and he might take me up on my idea. LOL

Seriously, first thing you do when you want to create a name for a business is Google search to see if any others exist. I saw where a Shark Tank guy got in trouble for using the name Esso for his watches. He's too young to remember Exxon having that name and they still own it.

[seacliffsal]

I got to the right website and looked around.  I like many of the choices that they have.  However, I think they're too expensive.  The swimsuits run about $150 each which just seems too high.

[cooksdelight]

That price is Marcus' influence. He complained they weren't charging enough and now I guess he's happy.

[Kiss my mutt]

I was starting to wonder if Chuck the III had special needs but I guess he's just a special snowflake. 

That guy is a tool. 

[sugarbaker design]

On 6/7/2017 at 1:26 AM, BabyVegas said:

And the son just seemed useless, like they were giving him a job in the family business because he couldn't hold it together. I don't know, I just got a weird vibe from him.

 

10 hours ago, Kiss my mutt said:

I was starting to wonder if Chuck the III had special needs

Same here.  There had to be a little bit of mental retardation going on there.

[cooksdelight]

I think the son is ADHD, really bad. Give him a dozen fidget spinners!

[BabyVegas]

44 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

I think the son is ADHD, really bad. Give him a dozen fidget spinners!

I don't know about that. I have ADHD and I deal with it by learning coping strategies and taking meds. I'd be more than willing to bet money, though, that the problem was that the son was an entitled little brat who the mother never kicked out of the nest and she's still taking care of him. It's entirely possible that there is some medical intervening cause, but not being a doctor I couldn't even begin to say. I'm basing my theory on the mother's reaction to her son not effortlessly succeeding.

18 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

I got to the right website and looked around.  I like many of the choices that they have.  However, I think they're too expensive.  The swimsuits run about $150 each which just seems too high.

That price is definitely high for the general swimsuit market, but depending on the quality of the fabric and the design construction, I don't think it's totally out of line. Miraclesuit, which is a brand that advertises that their suits will make you look one size smaller, is in the $170-180 range. I'm just guessing here, but I imagine that part of the reason that Marcus found this company such a potentially lucrative investment was because options are much more limited for plus size women and so companies can charge more for their items. Didn't they say it would cost something like $18 to make the swimsuit? I might be doing my math wrong, but at $150 you're looking at margins in the mid 70s and I believe Marcus said that he would want about a 70% margin on a swimsuit. I think he increased the price because they were being made in America and the old price reflected being made overseas.

[LennieBriscoe]

cook's delight, How about: "When you're going to the beach, grab something HANDY!" :-) Yep, also not crazy about "Sil O Ett."

Daughter got the brains and drive in that family.

[cooksdelight]

My better half hadn't seen it yet so we watched it tonight, me for the second time. I didn't say a word about my ideas, and he said "Wow, you'd think they'd use the name Handy somewhere, since that lady didn't want it to sound like a man was selling swimwear. I could think of some dirty taglines..." LOL

[ClareWalks]

Have a commercial with models wearing the suits saying "When people ask about my style, I say...I'm a Handy-woman."

[Kiss my mutt]

Or do a take-off of The Candy Man called Handy-man. 

Who can take a swimsuit.....

[Gregg247]

Charley III didn't bother me with his immaturity until his mother casually mentioned that he was in his mid 30s.  Mid 30s?!?  I thought he was a kid just out of school.  He really DOES need to start growing up fast.  He failed in every challenge Marcus gave him, and had excuses for everything.  My favorite was when he complained about having to live at home, and the "circus" going on all the time, and Marcus gave his a ridiculous look and said, "You're complaining you couldn't do your work because your parents were making too much noise?" LOL

I'm sure leaving the beach and all his friends so he could move back home with Mom and Dad was a bummer for the kid.  Oh well, now he's got his little sister to do all the work, so he can just chill out with "his boyz" at the Manhattan nightspots.

[shksabelle]

Clearly III is Mommy's very special precious snowflake who never had any consequences for anything his whole life. 

Grow up or starve, punkin'.