Growth Capital: The trendsetter making sure young men will pass the pub test

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Oliver Tezcan, right, sells clothing by Made In Chelsea's Oliver Proudlock, left, on his Idle Man site

Jamie Dunkley

17 March 2015

Imagine you’re a bloke at the pub and your best friend is looking you up and down. “Nice clobber, mate,” he says and you nod your head in appreciation.

You weren’t sure whether a red bomber jacket, black skinny jeans and ankle high plimsolls were the right look for a night in the Swan With Two Necks, but now you're reassured.

The night is young and you're pleased to see you are getting attention from elsewhere in the room.

That is the kind of test that Oliver Tezcan, founder of fashion website , believes most 18-to-34-year-olds want to pass on a night out.

He says the modern man wants to be fashionable and stand out from the crowd but is still wary of the reaction he may get from friends.

“The aim of The Idle Man is to help men pass what we call ‘the pub test’. Men using our brand can kit out their wardrobe and look sufficiently good that they won’t get the mickey taken out of them by their mates when they are down the pub.

“If a man passes that, then the chances are women, or other men, will like his wardrobe, too.”

The pub test has proved to be a successful formula for 35-year-old Tezcan and his team, who launched the venture last year.

It has already attracted the attention of private-equity investors and is poised to expand outside the UK, having built up a following among young, fashion-conscious British men.

But things weren’t always so clear-cut for the former public schoolboy.

“I went to Westminster School and there was a lot of pressure on me to get a ‘proper’ job, so I ended up going to Leeds University to study economics but when I got there, I realised that I preferred shopping to number-crunching and decided to go into fashion.”

After graduating, Tezcan joined River Island as a buyer before moving to the burgeoning fashion website As Seen On Screen, later rebranded as Asos, where he was responsible for building its menswear business from scratch into a £200 million-a-year business.

Eight years later, he was ready to go it alone.

“During my time at Asos, I realised that the menswear market was growing at a faster rate than womenswear, albeit from a lower base, with people like David Beckham inspiring men to go out and shop.

“The online market was dominated by womenswear businesses that do a bit of menswear, such as Asos and Boohoo, and the traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Urban Outfitters and River Island. There was no online clothing website wholly dedicated to young men.”

Tezcan took the plunge and left his high-flying job at Asos to launch The Idle Man and instantly attracted investment.

The venture was backed by angel investors met through family contacts as well as private-equity firm Foresight Group, who he was introduced to through a friend.

Having raised £1.1 million, the company is now on course for first-year turnover of £2.2 million after a strong first few months.

“We now stock 50 leading brands, from Levis to Timberland, and also sell clothing, shoes, accessories and other things men love like trainers, sunglasses and bikes,” Tezcan adds.

“We also have our own creations under The Idle Man name, presently T-shirts, hats and belts, but we will expand this range as the brand grows.”

So what next for the The Idle Man, whose board includes finance director Amanda Minshull-Beech, part of Amazon’s launch team in the UK, and chairman Simon Guild, MTV’s former European boss.

The company has built a following on social media and sells clothing by Made in Chelsea’s Oliver Proudlock.

Its next funding round, in which it hopes to raise over £1 million through Foresight and crowd-funding platform Crowdcube, is open to investors for another 25 days.

“My advice to budding entrepreneurs is to take your time when launching a venture. We built our website before we had any customers and spent a lot of money before we ever really had things sorted like logistics.

“If I could do it again I’d probably start on a smaller scale, learn my lessons early on and take it from there.”

IDLE MAN

Founded: 2012

Staff: 6 (full-time)

Turnover: £325,000 (launched in September): this year forecast to be £2.2 million

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Growth Capital: The trendsetter making sure young men will pass the pub test

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IDLE MAN