Q&A WITH NEIL DOVETON, HEAD OF 36MAN.COM

The people that brought us 36boutiques will soon be launching 36man.com, an online store for men that promises to be on par with the best in the world. This is a first for South Africa. Former Men's Health fashion director Neil Doveton is the man charged with the task of leading this brand new and exciting venture that I, for one, am very excited about. As part of our initiative to familiarise you with the roleplayers in South African menswear, we bring you this Q&A with the man himself.

Briefly, what is 36man all about and when are you going live?

ThirtySixMan is an exciting new online retail and style destination for men, bringing together carefully curated on-trend items across categories such as apparel, accessories, shoes, homeware and grooming. ThirtySixMan also offers a convenient shopping experience with free deliveries and returns. ThirtySixMan will be launching this summer. I urge men to go to our pre launch micro-site and sign-up. This will ensure they will be of the first to know once we go live. They can also stand a chance to win The New iPad 3 to make shopping online at ThirtySixMan that much easier.

What are some of the brands that will be stocked by the online store?

ThirtySixMan will offer the style and fashion-conscious man an assortment of brands such as Levi's, Puma, Wrangler, Diesel Footwear Hurley, RVKA, Nixon and a whole load of our terrific local designers including Csquared, Adriaan Kuiters and Craig Port's new exclusive collection.

MODEL CHARGES DOWN THE RAMP IN CRAIG PORT AT THE RECENT
MERCEDES BENZ FASHION WEEK- CAPE TOWN 
(PIC: SIMON DEINER/SDR PHOTO)

When you look at international online fashion retail portals, over and above the retail aspect there's also an emphasis on editorial content. Can we expect the same from 36man and what type of content will this be?

Yes and no - we do not consider our site a magazine, we are primarily etail. However we will do editorial look-books of how to create a wardrobe, whether one's taste is functional or fabulous! We will certainly be guiding men on how to do this using the ThirtySiXMan product content and credible style advice.

You once told City Press that there hasn't been an apetite for designer menswear in South Africa. Do you feel that this has changed?

I don't recall saying this - I may have said it was poor but this would have been some time ago. I am frequently impressed and excited about the way South African men are taking their personal presentation as seriously as our international counterparts.I am confident that we will see great things happening in the south African menswear arena. Incoming international brands and online shopping sites are bring trends right to our doorstep and making fashion and style more accessible to everyone more than ever before.

Is there an appetite for local designer menswear? 
We wouldn't be investing so largely in it, if this were not the case! I am very proud to be part of an organisation that believes so resolutely in establishing our local designers by offering them a platform to on which to sell and commercialise their talents without the small-business-crushing of traditional bricks and mortar retail. This is a very exciting era for South African designers. I urge more to consider developing menswear collections.