Hil Davis, Co-Founder of direct selling company J.Hilburn, tells his story in the February 2013 issue of Inc. magazine. Five short years ago, Davis’s wife provided the inspiration for what has become the largest seller of custom shirts in the world. In 2012, J.Hilburn reported revenue up over 100 percent versus the prior year at approximately $35 million, a salesforce of about 2,000-strong, and a salesforce annual retention rate of 87 percent.
Davis and Co-Founder Veeral Rathod both worked in investment banking before launching J.Hilburn in 2007. The article relates Davis’ not-always-smooth transition from analyzing the numbers as an equity researcher to generating the numbers at the helm of his own start-up.
In addition to its trademark custom shirts—Esquire named J.Hilburn best custom shirtmaker last year—the company has expanded its offerings to include ready-to-wear casual clothes, accessories and outerwear. When J.Hilburn style consultants gathered for their 2012 Annual Conference, the brand unveiled its latest foray into custom formalwear.
The conference also saw the launch of the J.Hilburn Style Kit, an iPad app that harnesses the power of data to offer style consultants a more efficient and personalized approach to direct selling. Among other things, the app provides measurements and purchase history for every past customer, as well as real-time inventory information on ready-to-wear stock.
With the direct selling model, J. Hilburn has brought its unique luxury branding and ambitious digital strategy into markets where few high-fashion retailers have gone before.
Read the full Inc. story here.
