Let's Talk Duluth

I invited a new friend to join me at Bodi Cafe early last Sunday for a work/chat meet up over coffee. When she arrived she was wearing the CUTEST overalls I had ever seen! This was our second meet up since we met and without thinking about it I told her to “Take them off!” They are mine now! Thank fully she understood the joke. 

It wasn’t just me who noticed. The place was pretty packed that day, many eyes were on her and at least two other patrons commented how “Adorable” they were. They were burnt orange with little fly agaric (red mushrooms with white spots) on them, like you would see in Mario Bros or the Fungus Festival here in Albany, OR. I guess you could say they were fly. The Women’s Heirloom Gardening Bib Overalls are light weight but seem very durable. My friend has curves, like me and I was so impressed with how flattering they were on her. 

What further intrigued me about this product was another encounter, that very next day. I was in the bathroom washing my hands and these colorful overalls came bouncy up to the sink. They were a pastel violet color with multi colored moths on them. The milder purple of the bib made the vivid pinks, greens and yellows dance and the moths seemed to shimmer. I was so quick to comment on her overalls that I failed to notice the unicorn adorning her head. 

It struck me as odd that I should notice them first but that’s what aesthetically pleasing products do; they jump right out at you. She too mentioned the company name, Duluth Trading Co. Both these women said this with a certain amount of pride. If word of mouth is gold this company seems on the pulse so I dug through the internet to see what made these customers so proud and loyal. 

First, I had to make sure that I had the right company. I had forgotten the name but had remembered what the tag looked like. I was pretty sure it started with a D. I hadn't heard from my friend in a few days so I did a search. Duluth was at the top of the list but I was still unsure because the website has some issues. I was relieved to find that my lewd jokes hadn't scared off my new friend and also to learn that, yes, this was the right company. 

My first impression of the website is exactly how David Meerman Scott explains in his book, The New Rules of Marketing, "A website either grabs you and looks good or it's crap. There's no middle ground." I was sadly not grabbed, not even a little brush by. It looks like they used the same website template as the bargain bin. This could be strategic to make it as "mom and pop" looking as possible but to me it looks a little suspect. The clothes, models, and poses look good but if you try to zoom in to see quality, or to check the tag to see if it’s the right company, the image quickly becomes pixelated. The size, color, and inseam buttons are huge. It feels like they are overcompensating with images to avoid having real content. The mobile app version of this was especially rough.

When I scroll down there’s a section with photos of several women. At first I didn’t understand what this was and had to go back for a third look to read #showusyourbibs. I appreciate a good #momlife tag as much as the next person but it would have been lovely for this to be a little more clear for my art brain that has a hard time reading words when they aren't spaced or when the shape is not what it normally is. A short tagline, such as "We asked you to send in your profile” or “Random links out of this webpage," would have been nice. It was a bit abrupt, I expected to see photos of overalls in the wild, on these women but instead I was taken to social media. Perhaps just a few photos of them would have sufficed, so I’m not scrolling through strangers' socials just to find a glimps of overall. Maybe include a link in case I’d like to learn more about flowers, chickens, or farming? I was thinking “I’m here for overalls why I'm now forced to doom scroll Instagram! Is there no escape?!?” 

Commencing digression now.. 

In a google search I learned that reviews of the company are very polarized due to the high, durable quality of their products being juxtaposed against "significant frustration regarding online customer service and shipping."

Looking at the website I might have guessed that this would be the case. I would also venture a guess that this is a company going through growing pains. They are working to keep up with demand, so they allow their outside appearance to lilt a bit while they try to catch up with supply. Many companies are guilty of this. Why should we focus on marketing or our appearance when things are going well and we can't even fill our current orders?"

The New Rules suggest that this isn’t a great strategy because even showing the messy growth process makes your customers feel safer then leaving your website looking like you let your highschooler whip up a wordpress site and put a big 50% off red ribbon at the top. I don’t claim to know any better. I'm well aware of what Steven Pressfield says about criticism and art,"the critic hates that which he would have done himself if only he had the guts." (The War of Art, most amazing book for motivation in the creative spear)

At least my site has some personality and smoothness to it. It's hard to be subjective but I will tell you that the customer can see exactly what they are getting with high-resolution, non-blurry, zoomable views. It’s likely people will try to steal my work, if they they ever found me but at least you know what you’re getting, what the products really look like close up.

All this to say, I guess word of mouth is still king, especially when you can see the products in person—how they move and feel. I am sincerely still looking into buying a Women’s Heirloom Gardening Bib Overall. The solid colored ones are priced almost to $100 and the cute patterns are priced around $120. Currently, there are only two cute patterns and both are wild west themed... my least favorite theme after being in Montana way too long where every art gallery and boutique has horsies, moosies, and bison. I'll wait for the spring line to drop and pray I get the right size and don’t have to deal with customer service.