In the year This tropical kitsch brand, which started selling men’s silk Hawaiian shirts in 1992 and branched out into places as far-flung as home furnishings and restaurants, is now found everywhere along the ocean, from Florida to California to New Jersey.
During the pandemic, Tommy Bahama’s sales are picking up “from a return to leisure and vacation travel and the migration of more people to warmer climates,” Oxford Industries’ Thomas Caldeco said on an earnings call Thursday.
Tommy Bahama does not make its chairs and beach accessories. They are made by Shelter Logic Group, an outdoor and beach products manufacturer, which also makes the RIO brand of beach chairs and other lines of sheds, tents and camping equipment.
In return, Tommy Bahama licenses the name and design of the beachwear and receives royalties from retail sales. This licensing strategy increases Tommy Bahama’s consumer brand exposure without incurring production and advertising costs.
The beach chairs themselves are an “incredibly powerful marketing tool,” Yruma says.
“Better to be lucky than good.”
There is no public market share data on beach chairs, but Rob Silinski, president of ShelterLogic Group, estimates that Tommy Bahama controls 80% of the market for chairs over $30.
It’s an unexpected success story for Tommy Bahama.
The man who launched the chairs in 2009 never thought customers would be buying them two decades after the company started.
“It’s better to be lucky than good,” said Doug Wood, then the brand’s president and now CEO. “I had no idea it would turn out like this.”
Tommy Bahama was struggling at the time.
“They were looking to create a design that evokes sunsets and clothing, and they decided to use the name of an island close to the mainland United States,” Emfield says.
“Hawaii was hit and killed,” he said. And I liked the sound of the two words together, so they came up with “Tommy Bahama”.
The founders had recently left the company, and the country was suffering from the Great Depression, which dragged down sales of Tommy Bahama.
“We were a silk based company mostly known for flowers. camping shirts for men “CEO Wood said, “We had some swimwear in the line. No one thought of us as a beach brand. We were more apparel than that.”
So when a Tommy Bahama executive proposed working with SimpleLogic to sell licensed chairs at Costco, Wood never thought it would work.
But the brand needed cash, and Costco was immediately offering a $250,000 guarantee, so Wood reluctantly agreed. “Get up,” he said. “It continues to sell at an incredible price.”
After success at Costco, Tommy Bahama expanded distribution to other chains such as Amazon and Walmart. Now Tommy Bahama releases a new chair every season and sends an email blast to subscribers when it launches.
The brand doesn’t break even on sales, but Tommy Bahama sells up to two million chairs and 700,000 umbrellas a year, Galanti added.
The most popular product is the $89 “Wavy Marlin Deluxe” reclining navy blue aluminum chair with built-in cooler, padded backpack and neck rest. Costco, Amazon and other chains sell more basic versions for around $40.
In recent years, ShelterLogic has expanded the Tommy Bahama line into children’s seats and high-rises that allow seniors to easily get out of their seats.
Due to the popularity of the chairs, Tommy Bahama has developed an entirely new business around beach gear, and has recently branched out into women’s swimwear, coolers and t-shirts.
“It’s allowed us to build businesses that we didn’t have,” Wood said.
