Henrico-based Collared Greens is 'restructuring' and holding a total inventory closeout sale, but says it is not closing its store | Local

Henrico-based Collared Greens is ‘restructuring’ and holding a total inventory closeout sale, but says it is not closing its store | Local

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The owners of Henrico County-based Collared Greens menswear brand have hit the pause button but have no immediate plans to close the company’s store in the Short Pump Town Center, a spokeswoman said.

The company, which specializes in American-made ties, shirts and other products, announced late Wednesday that it was restructuring and holding an inventory closeout sale at its store and online.

“The retail industry is itself undergoing a huge change, with the fact that e-commerce is on the rise and the change in the basic retail structure,” said Julie Antrim, company spokeswoman and wife of Mason Antrim, the company’s CEO and one of its co-founders.

“We are kind of scaling back and deciding which model to focus on. Do we go straight e-commerce? Do we stay in stores on the wholesale side, that sort of thing. Do we go back to just being a small brand that focuses on one item? Top down, we are taking a look at how we are doing things, how we are selling things, where we are selling things.”

Her husband said in a statement Wednesday: “We don’t know what the future holds for Collared Greens, but we hope everyone will stay tuned.”

The company’s store in Short Pump opened at the regular time on Thursday, and the store’s shelves were stocked with bow ties, regular ties, dress shirts, T-shirts and other merchandise.

Collared Greens was founded in 2009 by a group of Hampden-Sydney College graduates, including Mason Antrim, who is a Richmond native.

The company moved its headquarters in 2014 from High Point, N.C., to a 5,000-square-foot combination office/warehouse facility in western Henrico County. Its products are American-made and sold online and at retailers across the country.

It also operated a flagship store, initially at 5707 Grove Ave., but relocated that store in October to the Short Pump Town Center.

“We have no current plans of closing it,” Julie Antrim said, referring to the store.

“There is no end date. We are hoping to keep it open as long as we are going through this process. Right now we are selling off our inventory both through our e-commerce web site and in the store until we decide what we are going to focus on next. So while we have product to sell and are in that transition mode, the store will stay open,” she said.

Collared Greens has merchandise on order, but the company is not planning to make any additional orders until its owners decide how they will operate, she said.

Sales have not declined, but production costs were rising, she said.

“Being American made is our No. 1 priority and it’s going to stay our No. 1 priority, but unfortunately its a more expensive way of producing clothing. The more we make, the higher the costs are, and we didn’t want to continually have to past that cost off to our customers. So if we continue to add to to three new products each season, the costs are going to go up,” Antrim said.

Retail researcher Frank Badillo of Henrico County-based MacroSavvy LLC said competing against inexpensive foreign imports is tough, especially in casual clothing lines.

“If you can build a brand that really stands for American-made quality and that consumers will pay extra to buy, then you have a chance,” he said. “Ironically given the current environment where we have these tariff trade war battles going on, some of these American-made enterprises may actually have a better chance going forward.”

Collared Greens has six full-time employees and several part time employees. No one has been laid off and there have not been any changes in the company leadership, she said.

“The original founders are still involved. They are on the board. It’s a board-driven company,” Antrim said.

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