Inez Scheper about her business in the niche market

When Inez Scheper lost her job in 2009, there was room to fulfill her entrepreneurial dream: opening a fashion store for tall people. She started an online shop and occasionally invited her customers to her attic to try things on. This contact with customers showed that there was a great need for a physical sales location. Scheper therefore rented space in a shopping center in Apeldoorn several times, where she opened pop-up stores, until she decided to operate a brick-and-mortar store permanently in 2011.

Pretty Tall got a permanent store in the De Eglantier shopping center in Apeldoorn and sold clothes for tall women. “When the business was running for a few years, women from all over the Netherlands, but also from Belgium, Germany and France, found their way to Pretty Tall. Most tall women also brought their tall husbands into the business. They sat at the coffee table, read a book and drank coffee.” Until the space next to the store became available in 2014 and offered the opportunity to expand the store to include a men’s segment. The store also received a new name – House of Tall – and caters to the entire family. “An average family spends around four to five hours with us. It’s a trip that’s guaranteed to be a success for every member of the family, as they’ll find clothes that actually fit them.” House of Tall also had a store in Hoofddorp, but had to close it after a fire caused irreparable damage to their neighbor’s home the after-effects of the corona crisis weighed on the results.

House of Tall has existed for almost 15 years and, in addition to being a fashion store, is also a community for tall men and women. “Many tall people, especially young women, don’t think it’s nice to be tall. They are often insecure. The result: They walk hunched over and assume the wrong posture.” House of Tall encourages tall people to show off, walk upright and, for example, wear nice heels. “It’s not for nothing that our motto is ‘Proud to be Tall’.”

Running a fashion business for tall people offers both opportunities and challenges, the latter mainly occurring in the area of ​​shopping. FashionUnited spoke to Scheper about her strategy and creative entrepreneur mentality.

House of Tall: Opportunities and challenges when purchasing

House of Tall is located in one of Apeldoorn’s largest shopping centers and sells around 45 brands – 15 for men, around 30 for women – in its 370 square meter store. Scheper explains that the men’s range is significantly smaller due to the low supply. “We see that men’s fashion brands are increasingly removing the longer sizes from their collections.” She points to the changing fashion landscape as a reason: “Everyone is now concentrating on the core business, and extra long isn’t interesting enough.”

This poses challenges for Scheper. “I once had to go a season without a jacket brand, but it also happens regularly that certain trousers are no longer available in lengths 38 and 40.” The range for women is more extensive. House of Tall carries a range of brands that produce products in tall sizes and sells brands whose garments run long. “There are some Danish brands that are bigger. I’m happy about that.”

Scheper says purchasing is one of the biggest challenges she faces. As she mentioned, brands are shortening their collections, meaning longer sizes are often no longer available. In addition, according to the entrepreneur, there is no brand that specifically focuses on tall people. This sometimes causes frustration. “It’s no longer about looking at what’s nice for the business, but about what’s available.” She sees that there are men’s brands that specialize in plus sizes and often add a “tall collection.” In her opinion this is a good mix, but does not always offer a solution. “The danger is that a kind of collaboration emerges between taller and taller people. The ‘Tall Collection’ often contains sizes M to 6XL, while tall people are often narrower. They often require less width and more length.”

Due to the limited supply, Scheper has to work with what she has. “As a retailer, you want to be able to offer a complete look and a complete collection. If there’s only one sweatshirt or shirt with the right sleeve length, I’m forced to buy it, regardless of whether it fits the style of House of Tall.” Scheper would like to see more trendy brands for boys. “Something like Jack & Jones, for example,” she says. “I see a gap in the market for brands here.”

“Reordering is a utopia for me.”

In addition, the reorder is a utopia for Scheper. She has to pre-order everything and cannot readjust during the season. “That makes it very difficult. You buy a little more than half a year in advance and then have to hope that it arrives. How does Scheper deal with it? “Shop very carefully and not sell twenty times or have too much of an item and then it doesn’t sell well.” She can laugh about it, but emphasizes that it is a very challenging type of entrepreneurship. “Not being able to respond to the season is the biggest problem I have experienced in 15 years of purchasing.”

This sometimes leads to an oversupply of inventory. “We solve this by organizing a pop-up store in the north or south of the Netherlands two to three times a year,” says Scheper. “The temporary store will then open for around two weeks at the start of the new season. We’re taking the new collection with us, but we’re also setting up an outlet corner. This way I can get rid of some of my old inventory again.”

House of Tall wants to grow and is looking for brands for tall people

House of Tall ended last season well. The fashion retailer recorded increasing sales on all fronts [Umsatz des Geschäfts, des Onlineshops und des Pop-up-Stores, Anm. d. Red.]says Scheper. “Sales for men also increased by more than 20 percent.” This was mainly due to higher sales of jeans and shirts with sleeve length 7, of which the fashion retailer was able to purchase more goods in the winter. Sweatshirts and sweaters sold less well. This was mainly due to late deliveries in the season, she says.

Overall, the largest sales are achieved in the women’s segment. She prefers not to give specific sales figures. “Our women-men ratio is 80-20. Of course, the larger range of women’s products plays a very important role.” But Scheper also sees that inclusivity in the fashion world plays a larger role for women than for men. “This influences the brands’ collections.”

The entrepreneur is increasingly finding beautiful women’s brands to buy from, but doesn’t always reach the quantities needed to place an order. Your creative entrepreneurial spirit will be put to the test. “Nowadays I go shopping for some brands together with my competitors,” she laughs. “We’ll arrange an appointment together. Then we have to see if we can come to an agreement and place a joint order to achieve the required quantities.” It’s not ideal, but it works. “You cannot sell these large quantities alone. You have to make a lot of compromises, but ultimately you depend on each other to make it work together because no shopping means an empty store.”

Scheper dreams of a shopping experience where she can choose from what is on offer. “It would be a relief for me to be able to shop all brands in longer sizes. A simple example: I would really like to shop PME Legend for men. This brand offers the right lengths, but unfortunately the brand already has enough points of sale near Apeldoorn. PME Legend is really popular, you see the brand everywhere. Just because we’re a little different than other retailers doesn’t mean we can’t sell trendy brands like that. I hope that will change in the future.”

How does Scheper see the coming shopping season? “I go in with a cautious, open mind. We want to grow, but then the offer has to be there. I’m primarily looking for trendy men’s brands that can also dress tall, slim boys aged 12-14.” The entrepreneur quickly thinks of brands that offer straight jeans and wide-legs or cargo pants, for example. Labels with trendy shirts and sweatshirts are also more than welcome.