Don’t call it a homecoming, because they’ve been here for years. But, the best things, done the right way, take time.
So, perhaps it is only natural that it took nearly 15 years of building and making for Richter Goods, a San Antonio-based producer of some of the best Western shirts around, to open its first proper storefront. And right here in the city, where the company has always made all its products.
Opened on Nov. 1, the retail space at 2102 McCullough Avenue, represents an exciting new chapter in a refreshing story that began back in 2011, when company co-owner Mario Guajardo decided to bet on his dream.
It was then that Guajardo left his work in the corporate fashion world, where he’d worked for Lacoste and American Eagle, to start a company that would focus on small batch items made in San Antonio.
Even so, it took years of trial and error before the fledgling business was really making the shirts it truly wanted to make, Guajardo and co-owner Brontë Treat told the Current.
Perhaps even more of a labor of love — emphasis on labor — was the business side of things. It isn’t easy at all, it turns out, to build vertical integration and to do all the jobs of a manufacturer while also designing and selling the product.
“I think that there are a lot of formulas out there to build a perfect business plan, but every time I have built a business plan, I have thrown it in the trash, literally,” Guajardo said, chuckling. “You realize at some point that you have to have that structure, but nothing substitutes for consistency or really relentlessness, to be honest with you.”
Despite early trials, Richter Goods hit its stride around five years ago, tapping into its owners’ own relentlessness, consistency and creativity.
The company now employs a team of a dozen sewists that, Guajardo notes, represent a proud San Antonio tradition of excellence in both tailoring and manufacturing.
Richter Goods has well received at trade shows in fashion hubs such as New York City and Paris, and it’s collaborated with popular Nashville brand Imogene and Willie. The business has also stocked its products in more than 30 of the most discerning men’s shops, all while steadily growing sales through its website.
The organic and homegrown formula appears to be working, in other words.
‘So proud’
Style-wise, Treat summed up the philosophy behind the brand’s understated and clean Western polish, saying “every man is the main character of his own story and our clothes should be a part of that, not take over.”
A little more than a month past the opening of the storefront, Guajardo and Treat said they have been humbled and pleasantly surprised with the amount of love and foot traffic they have received.
“People have been telling us, ‘We are so proud to have this in San Antonio,’” Treat said, “which is great because that’s exactly how we feel.”
“As we grow as a company, our authenticity and our vision are going to stay, because we’re really dedicated to being a San Antonio business that is owned and operated by San Antonians,” Guajardo added.
All product-based ventures have their creative aspect, but many allow the homogenizing and — let’s be real — crappifying demands of their ledger sheet to subvert their initial creativity, artistry and spirit.
Richter Goods has managed to make a thriving business, with products beloved by fashion industry leaders and honky-tonkers alike, by doing the exact opposite.
In centering place and community, the brand is thoughtfully integrating an authentic and singular spirit into both form and function. The designs are timeless yet vital, tough yet beautiful, sharp yet easy-going — just like the city where they’re made.
Organic growth
While e-commerce data suggest San Antonio isn’t likely to become the leading purchaser of Richter Goods’ products, Guajardo and Treat know that being anchored here distinguishes the brand and lifts up the city they love. Plus, they were wise enough to open this store at a point when the pressure to move tons of merchandise through it is minimal.
The pair plans to continue growing the business at an organic rate, avoiding temptation to accelerate at the expense of the quality and thoughtfulness of the product.
“We are product people, putting all of our attention on how good our product can be and knowing that success is going to be built on that; not through a story we are telling with a marketing budget, but through the stories our customers tell,” Treat explained.
“If you make a product that is real, it’s real. And, if you perfect that product over the years, you cannot fake that,” Guajardo added.
So, the two plan to keep going to trade shows, building relationships and making high-quality shirts in small batches with their team of San Antonio sewists.
And, when the time comes to open the next Richter Goods store — New York is a possibility, among a select few other places for possible small-scale expansion — you can bet your boots that, as ever, they’ll be taking the Alamo City with them, not leaving it behind.
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