Our interviewee this week is Jesse Bride, CEO of Steelos – the online shopping destination for cool guys. As their mission, the company aims to “bridge the gap between high fashion, contemporary, and street wear brands at an obtainable price”.

I met with Jesse at the company’s headquarters to learn more about the Steelos brand and the man behind the business.  The result was a great, honest conversation about the struggles of working in the fashion business, life in NY, and, of course, the great business project behind Steelos. Enjoy!

 

Tell us about Steelos:

It’s all curated by the team and myself, everything is in house, from the writers to the photography; articles to the editing; to the shipping and receiving. This is a cool part of our story. There are a million guys out there, who want to dress like Kanye West, but they can’t afford the one thousand dollar Balmain pants plus a pair of Jordan’s; they can, however, afford the Jordan’s.  We can offer them the Jordan’s. And we want to give that feeling, that look, and, of course, a place where they can shop easily.

It’s interesting to see how styling for men has evolved over the years. Men are no longer afraid to be stylish. How do you apply these changes into what you bring to Steelos?

Yes it has. You were either preppy, or ghetto, now all of those lines are blurred. Everything is kind of overlapping now. One day I can wear a polo shirt and boat shoes and go to Italy. The next I can be in Jordan’s and leather pants. And I think a lot of guys are like that these days. I want to wear a suit, and later that day I want to go to 1oak, get bottle service, and have fun. I want cool clothes, and I don’t know where to get them. What should I do? At Steelos we want to give you a chance to go to a place where you can buy a suit and a tie and sneakers. You can buy accessories, you can buy all those overlapping pieces, and we will also show you how to do it. Like I said, the lines are all blurred now. And like you said, people are not afraid to be stylish right now. They are not afraid of that social judgment.

Steelos is a NY brand and company before anything else. How do you feel your website can translate and support the real NY vibe you love so much?

NY, the tri-state area is really a special place, there are a lot of new, cool things out here, new vendors coming out of Brooklyn, for example. We want to support those brands; we want to be an incubator for other new emerging brands because we have the facilities, the access, the network to people and to the manufacturing. It spreads like that [snaps fingers]. It is all about scratching backs and helping the brands I believe in and the companies who are doing the right things and collaborate with them; work with them side by side.

There are some very interesting elements to your e-commerce. Tell me a little bit about special collaborations you have going on at Steelos.

We have a collaboration with Timothy Roquemore, one of the brands we have on our website. It’s for a couple of shoes that I have designed. They are Steelos’ products. They are coming hand –made from Italy from a Louis Vuitton and Lanvin factory. You know, they have a little bit of branding on them with our logo on the back of the shoe. So the unique thing about Steelos is that we are going to be providing some very special items.

A big partner of ours here, Jahangir and Bride, is one of the private labels we have. The cashmere line they started is very interesting and at a great price-point. That’s another company that you will be seeing on the website. They will be carrying special products exclusive to Steelos and that are only available on this website. And the cashmere is price point driven from 200-400 dollars instead of 700-800 dollars. And it is the same quality, plus I am designing with the same style of sweaters I absolutely love and offering them for a fair price.

You have great ideas and projects for Steelos being developed. Can you talk a little bit about some of the things that are going to be implemented to attract customers and differentiate Steelos from its competitors?

We are going to have a “Steelos mystery box” where you can get a membership and receive a box of products. Clients will fill an interactive survey that is being developed by us and basically, this is how it works: Which one of these guys are you? Which one of these shirts do you like? You click on it. Which one of these shoes would you wear on the weekend? We can understand what kind of person you are and what is your style based on your answers. And set up a great little package from Steelos that you can receive once a month. It can be a new piece of bathing suit or a pair of denim, because I know you haven’t bought it in a while. All of the sudden: “Great, I can’t wait to get my next box!” Everyone loves getting something in the mail. It makes it super user friendly.

Also, the customer needs to just feel something besides an answering machine or a website that is cold. We want to make it human. It’s really about building a brand and its people. I think if you can understand that, then you can understand the service. And I really want to emphasize: the service aspect is pivotal.

You have this amazing retail background experience. When did you think it was time to make this transition? How did you end up in retail and when did you feel it was time to move on from that?

That’s a great question. I was actually paying for college by working in retail. I walked into a store in a mall when I was 17. I said I would like to work here and they [Brooks Brothers] gave me a chance.  Brooks Brothers is a great company, if not the first, it’s one of the oldest clothing companies in America. A lot of industry history was being talked to me and a lot of information was being taught. I feel like it’s important to know where you come from and to know where you are going. I was basically getting promoted and suddenly I had fallen in love with this clothing thing. So, I literally dropped out after two years of college, I took a promotion, and moved down to White Plains, NY to run one of the Brooks Brothers stores. Moved out there without knowing one person and then I got recruited to Greenwich, Connecticut to work for the Mitchell family. That’s how I met Ralph Lauren, and he then invited me to come to NY to manage the women’s business at the mansion on Madison Ave. From there on, I just kind of kept getting recruited. Spent 4 years at Prada running their suiting business; from there I went to Fendi, where I started their men business and helped with their design level and management level. I left Fendi and got recruited to Bottega Veneta.

You also had a styling business, right?

Previously, before going to Bottega, I started my own styling business from clients who wanted to work with me outside. I started working for myself through the styling business and had all these amazing clients. And then the economy crashed and people were no longer spending 300 dollars an hour to get my services. The economy situation really hit my business. I crashed. And at that time, Gucci Group was saying, “Hey, we are investing in this new boutique for men at Bottega, the first one in the US, second one in the world to Shanghai, we heard about you on Madison and we would love if you could run the business there”.  And that’s what I did, and that’s how I got back into retail again.

I had been in the business for 10 years, I knew what I was going to get and I didn’t want to climb the corporate ladder. So, I wanted to take the chance and here we are with Steelos and now because of that, new brands and new opportunities are emerging. Someone who has the ability to create is also willing to take a chance.  So I think that is kind of the long story short.

I think a lot of people who are starting in or outside of the fashion business underestimate the importance of the retail experience if you are really serious about making a career in fashion. How do you feel about it?

Yes, and retail people also make more money than corporate people.  And it is true what you said, you cannot understand the business if you don’t understand what is really going on through clients’ feedback. Understanding the industry, the customers, and the opportunities that are there are essential. We have a different perspective, that’s why something like this can happen. If I just watched from a microscope from the top floor, I never would have known who our customer would have been.

Now, on a personal level…

I think everyone who lives in NY becomes, at some point, a “tourist guide”. How do you feel about that, and where do you like to take your friends when they are visiting?

When I have friends visiting me and my wife (she’s from Morocco), they come here and they do the tourist destinations and we are like: “Guys, come on!” So we like to take them to Acme Restaurant, those greats places New Yorkers love. My favorite restaurants are Bottega de Vino, The Mark, Café Mogador, Gari Sushi, Mercer Kitchen, and Artichoke Pizza in the Meatpacking. And at the end, they want to feel like someone who lives in the city and they want the scoop on those things and secrets that we love.

We want to know more about you, after all it all reflects on the Steelos style. Where do you like to go? What do you do when you can actually get some time off?

Sure. Nature is definitely the getaway. I come from the suburbs and the rural area, so I love to hike and play sports, camping, and woodsy things. I haven’t been able to do it in a long time cause we’ve been so busy. I am aslo all about going to lounges; A60 rooftop at the Thompson Hotel where you can sit and relax with some people. More quiet, sophisticated environments. And nature, like I said. If I can get to the beach or jump on my bike and hit Riverside Park, West Side Highway as the sun goes down, it really refreshes me.

I totally get you.. I always say, if I disappear one day and someone wants to find me, there is a big chance that’s where I will be [West Side Highway]! Lol.

LOL! Exactly!  Sometimes I even get myself really deep into Central Park where you can’t hear or see the city. Even 20 minutes of that is a getaway. Obviously, I am 29 years old, and I love going out to dance on a rooftop, and I love PhD brunches, all the fun, youthful stuff that comes with this lifestyle, and Steelos is a lifestyle. There is this new generation. We are making things happen and I am all about the fast-paced life.  But I also need to have some peaceful time alone, with nature. It gives me all the energy I need.

 

Make sure you check: www.steelos.com

 

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