A DTC shoe brand steps its ecommerce business into Amazon stores

Before Dee Murthy and Andres Izquieta even graduated from college they founded the Five Four Clothing brand. And before they began to sell online, they spent a few years hitting up trade shows, traveling the country, and finally in 2006 got into major fashion retailers.

Then the 2008 recession hit.

Dee and Andres found themselves sitting on mounds of unsold merchandise. Knowing menswear was scarce in malls, they took a risk and opened a few stores, but discovered it’s a tough ride without a brand story and no foot traffic. So in 2012 they gave the ecommerce business a shot and moved to sell online. They created Menlo Club, now an umbrella company operating direct-to-consumer brands including Five Four, Oshenta, and Grand AC, each taking on a different facet of men’s fashion.

Now exclusively an online seller, and operating primarily with a DTC subscription model, the team added shoes to the roster with New Republic. Dee says, “The most comfortable shoes in the world, in our opinion, are ugly. And the most stylish shoes in the world are uncomfortable. So we have this thesis that bridging those together can really make us a powerhouse in men’s footwear.”

New Republic launched on Amazon.com at the beginning of 2019. They were initially reluctant to build an online store with Amazon for fear of cannibalizing what they’d already created with Menlo. A friend of Dee’s—a former Amazon employee—convinced him they were looking at it all wrong. It wasn’t about taking away what they’d built; it was about capitalizing on an alliance that would add to it. At the time, Dee felt that men’s fashion was grossly underserved, just as it had been in the malls, and could see the opportunity for change with Amazon.

Plus, if they wanted to continue growing, why not sell things online with one of the best sites for selling? “Amazon is going to open up and unlock an enormous amount of value for fashion brands,” says Dee.