Terence To is the VP of Sales and Marketing for CON.STRUCT, one of five brands belonging to parent company AW Chang Corporation. After beginning his career in retail with Party City and Macy’s, he transitioned to the wholesale side of the business, working first in product development for a tailored clothing manufacturer before joining AW Chang.
Blending the different perspectives between buying and product has allowed him to connect with retail accounts and effectively work towards the common goal of delivering quality product at a great value to the end consumer.
The To Story
My father spent his career overseeing production for sweater manufacturers. Growing up, we always ate dinner together as a family. Usually, he would ask about school and my mother and I would ask him about work. Normal, mundane stuff. Little did I know that through all those conversations, I was learning about my future industry.
I listened intently to how my father would handle certain challenges at work. Production delays, sourcing issues, costing limitations, difficulties with customers. I admired all the amazing traits that my dad demonstrated – his calmness under pressure, his quick thinking and ingenuity, his positive outlook and consideration for others. While I may never have said outright, “I want to work in retail because that’s what Dad does,” all those nights at the dinner table together definitely played a significant role in where I am today.
I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have had an amazing role model to learn from, and I am even more lucky to be able to call him, “Dad.” It has been very gratifying being able to “talk shop” with him now that I ended up in the same field that he worked in for 40+ years, and I continue to draw from his perspective and gain new insights.
What was the genesis for CON.STRUCT?
CON.STRUCT was created in 2016 as an ode to iconic and timeless staples. Describing the brand in two words: “modern prep.” We’ve taken traditional patterns and colors and reinterpreted them in a modern and playful way.
Combining visually bright and eye-catching designs with performance fabrics and functionality, we pride ourselves on creating high quality pieces at accessible price points.
What differentiates the product line from your competitors?
In addition to all the performance features that customers have come to expect – 4-way stretch, moisture wicking, antimicrobial, UV protection, our entire golf collection utilizes recycled fabrics. We are also fully vertical, from fabric to production to distribution.
We own and operate our own mill, which is powered by renewable energy provided by 1,550 solar panels. Our factories have a Gold certification from WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accreditation Production), the world’s largest independent certification program for the apparel sector.
How and when did the interest in getting involved with golf apparel take place?
As a company, we have been in the sportswear business for almost 15 years. During that time, we have done a lot of fabric and garment R&D, with key focuses on performance and comfort.
As golf apparel has evolved, these have become important features that customers have grown to expect, so expanding into the golf space was a natural next step for our sportswear collection.
The surge in popularity that golf has experienced the last couple years, especially among younger consumers, was the final push that led to this launch for us.
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Who is your customer and how are you seeking to expand your visibility in building your overall awareness to others?
Our customer is the person who wants to look fashionable and relevant without sacrificing comfort.
We’re constantly exploring partnerships, trade show and social media exposures, etc. to get in front of the customer and educate them about what sets us apart.
In terms of approximate percentages – what’s the projected breakdown of your efforts via online sales, brick and mortar retail outlets and green grass shops?
We strive for a strong balance between digital and brick & mortar sales. Both serve a very important purpose and you cannot have one without the other in today’s omnichannel environment. Our goal is at least a 30% online penetration.
Many companies tout the importance of customer service. Define the term and the approach you follow as a company.
Ensuring the customer is happy is always our top priority. We want them to feel comfortable throughout each step of their purchase journey. As a rule of thumb, no contact email goes unanswered for over 1 business day. For immediate responses, we have a dedicated team for our chat box — real people only, no chat bots!
For better communication, we have introduced fit and size guides across all our products. To provide quick and easy support, we added a Help & FAQ header navigation on our Website.
Our support team is always collaborative and looking for ways to improve our process.
We believe customer service is about putting people first, so we aim to create an experience that is intimate, friendly, and tailored to each customer’s specific needs.
What specific steps do you as a company take to encourage customer feedback and what role will such information play in your future efforts?
A feedback form is generated after every customer support interaction. This helps our experience team review and improve our process.
Beyond that, we use a tagging system to group customer feedback into actionable items, including product size suggestions, new product development, and website user experience changes.
A number of apparel companies rely upon endorsement from key golf tour professionals. Is anything being planned on this front and do such endorsements help build sales and awareness?
While there is no doubt that endorsements do help play a role in promoting brand awareness, we are still in the process of evaluating the best endorsement partnerships for us to pursue.
Best advice you ever received is what and who was it from?
There have been many attributions to this saying, but the adage, “Do something you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” has always been one that has resonated with me.
The apparel industry has its challenges, just like any other, but the wonderful people and amazing product keep me excited every day.
The biggest challenges facing the company – short and long run is what and what steps are you taking on both fronts?
In the short term, the biggest challenge is obviously all the uncertainty with the economy as well as any continued supply chain impacts related to COVID. Whether it be trim, fabric, manufacturing, or shipping, there is still quite a bit of unpredictability involved with trying to plan what will happen in the next 12-18 months.
Unfortunately, there is no simple solution, but the best way to mitigate at least some of the uncertainty is just to work a little earlier. Since we are fully vertical, we are fortunate that there are more steps in the supply chain that we do have some control over.
In the long run, a major challenge will be how to stay relevant and continue to stand out amidst a crowded brand environment. We’ll need to continue listening to our customers, incorporating their feedback and leaning on our design and manufacturing.
Our strength has always been our speed and agility, which will only become increasingly important as the industry evolves more and more quickly.
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