the behind-the-counter man

The Star
11
fashion
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 27 2011
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FASHION FILE
SKIRTING
AROUND THE
OFFICE IS THE
WAY TO GO
LYNN DAVIDSON
“I’m a behind-the-counter man,”
says Grant Ravenscroft, founder
and owner of Croft & Co, an
irresistible shop in Parkview –
mainly for men – where you can
smoke Cuban cigars and drink
freshly ground coffee while fitting
a pair of Bill’s Khakis, writes
Heather Dugmore
HOT CAKES: Grant Ravenscroft, inset, knows what his customers want – that’s why his Croft & Co stock sells so well.
PICTURES: TYRONE ARTHUR
THE BEHIND-THE-COUNTER MAN
RANT Ravenscroft is no ordinary
behind-the-counter man. Let’s
face it, how many behind-thecounter men do you know who have just
returned from a week’s trip to the US to
select a couple of items for Croft & Co’s
heritage range?
Whether it’s clothing, cigars or face
balms, Croft & Co only sells heritage
brands, and the man behind the counter
is testament to this. He appears to be
effortlessly casual, but look closely and
you will notice that he is sporting classic
white Jack Purcell takkies, a Reyn
Spooner shirt with its hallmark floralcome-tribal Hawaiian design and a pair
of khaki shorts from Bill’s Khakis.
The thing about Ravenscroft is that he
knows the story behind every item in his
store. Ask him about Bill’s Khakis and
he’ll tell you about Bill of Bill’s Khakis
whom he went to see in Pennsylvania.
“They mill and sew the khaki fabric
they use for their shorts and longs at
Bill’s factory in Reading,” he explains.
“He got into the business in the 1980s
because he felt this American heritage
item was dying out, and initially sold his
khakis from the boot of his car.
“Thirty years later his khakis are
recognised as a heritage brand. We all
know how popular khakis or chinos are
now, and Bill was one of the drivers of
this back-to-heritage trend.”
What got Ravenscroft into this business are the “made good” stories behind
heritage brands. “Most heritage brands
start out as family businesses where
great pride is taken in whatever product
they are making,” he explains, citing
G
Swaine Adeney Brigg in the UK as an
example. Swaine and Adeney were two
different saddle-making families from
1750, while Brigg produced handmade
umbrellas. They joined forces and added
other items, such as handmade leather
luggage, to their luxury range.
“I recently visited their factory in
Cambridge and I had the pleasure of
watching 18 guys making everything by
hand,” says Ravenscroft, who carries
several of their products, including their
umbrellas, which sold extremely well
this past year with all the rains Joburg
had. No ordinary umbrellas, these are
classics, with a touch of fun.
The outside of the umbrella is black
while the inside features a map of London or a flock of pigeons.
It is this kind of uniqueness and
attention to detail that Croft & Co customers are buying, at a price of course.
“There is a big move worldwide
towards heritage brands,” says Ravenscroft, who attributes this to the durability of heritage. “The world is changing so
fast and people don’t have a sense of continuity or security, which we all need.
“Heritage brands respond to this
need: they have been around for a while
and they are not just going to disappear
tomorrow.”
Which is why Ravenscroft named his
business Croft & Co after his family
name.
Ravenscroft is here to stay. He tried
leaving South Africa in 2001 when he
moved to Australia, but he did not like
being away from home, and returned in
2002. “When you get there you realise
how far away you are from everyone and
everything you know. There’s no bumping into familiar faces and friends and I
really missed Joburg and the relationships you build with people here.
“I realised I had made a mistake and
came home,” says Ravenscroft, who had
owned and managed a stylish coffee shop
named Biscotti in Greenside before he
left, and was one of the pioneers of the
suburb’s thriving restaurant society.
On his return, he set his sights on
Tyrone Avenue in the “village” of
Parkview. Here, he and a business partner turned the old bakery on the corner
into a restaurant named Scusi, which
opened in 2003 and established itself as
one of the “who’s who” meeting and eating places in the northern suburbs.
No stranger to the food game, he’s
been in it since the age of 20 when he
opened his first bakery and cafe in Pretoria, where he grew up.
Two years after opening Scusi, Ravenscroft opened Croft & Co right next door
to Scusi. It took off and many of the diners became Croft & Co clients.
“They’d come to eat and shop,” he
explains. “I’d give them the keys to Croft
& Co and they’d go and select what they
wanted, and write it down for me so that
I knew what to charge to their account.”
Three years ago he sold his interest in
Scusi to his partner to concentrate on
Croft & Co. He runs his shop like a
restaurateur and his customers are his
friends. Whether they’re buying or not,
they frequently pop in for a cup of coffee
or a glass of wine and a Cuban cigar at
the shop. Out the back is a “yard” with a
deck and tables and chairs where they
shoot the breeze.
Cuban cigars are his biggest seller,
accounting for 40 percent of his sales.
“There is a real serious bunch of
guys who smoke and they spend a lot of
money with us on cigars. We sell some
Hondurans and Nicaraguans, but we
mainly sell Cubans, which are still recognised as the Rolls Royce of cigars.
“There’s no problem getting them
because, unlike the US, South Africa has
a good relationship with Cuba,” he
smiles.
Good relationships are the make of all
good businesses. “There are millions of
courses about this, but it’s been the basis
of business since trading began. If people like you they are going to buy from
you,” Ravenscroft explains.
At one stage he decided to expand
Croft & Co and opened two other shops in
Joburg. “It was a mistake, because I
could not be in all three at once and my
customers want that personal relationship. They’d come into the Parkview
shop and if I wasn’t here they’d leave and
say they’d come back when I returned.
“So I closed down the other two shops.
You have to work out what works and
what doesn’t work,” says Ravenscroft,
who has the knack of working out what
works on his shelves, judging by the
movement of his ranges.
“I listen to what my customers want.
For example, on this New York trip, I
bought handbags for my woman customers from Kate Spade and bags for the
men from Jack Spade. I’d always carried
Jack Spade until several years ago when
my woman customers asked me to carry
Kate Spade,” says Ravenscroft, who has
some beautiful items for women, including a new Tuscan leather handbag range
he’s bringing in for Christmas called
Gruber & Whale. The designers are two
South African women who worked for
Giorgio Armani and Vivienne Westwood
before starting their own business and
returning to Cape Town.
Ravenscroft spends a lot of time
researching new items during his buying
trips, as well as on the internet and in
leading magazines like the Japanese
Free & Easy and the legendary Vanity
Fair. “The Japanese are big into brands
and heritage products, but items from
Japan at this level are unbelievably
costly. Even Japanese denim is too expensive at R5 000 for a pair of jeans,” he says.
With his expansive knowledge of
retail and what is trendy in the world, his
customers often pop in to ask him where
to stay or go when they are in New York,
or wherever else he’s been. On his latest
trip he stayed at The Jane – a quirky
hotel in the meatpacking district, built in
1908 for men returning from sea, where
all the rooms are like cabins on a boat.
“Over the years it became a drug den
and prostitute hangout until the meatpacking district became trendy and The
Jane was restored,” he explains.
Want to hear more? That’s it for today,
but head for a cup of freshly ground coffee or a Cuban at Croft & Co, and the
behind-the-counter man will tell you all.
● Croft & Co, 66 Tyrone Avenue, Parkview,
phone 011 646 3634 or Grant Ravenscroft on
084 840 1649
THE TROUSER suit may be the uniform of
choice for the power-dressing career woman.
But she’d be better off in a skirt, if the latest UK research is to be believed.
Skirts give a better first impression and
are more likely to lead to success in the workplace, researchers found.
Women were considered more confident
and more likely to earn a higher salary when
wearing a skirt instead of trousers.
Professor Karen Pine, who co-led the study
at the University of Hertfordshire, said the
findings contradicted previous research
which suggested that women should dress
more like men to succeed in the workplace.
When 300 people were asked to give “snap
judgements” of images of women in either
trouser suits or skirts, they favoured those in
skirts. They were asked to rate the women in
eight images on five different criteria: confidence, success, trustworthiness, salary and
flexibility.
The skirt and trouser suits were both navy
and made from the same fabric, and all facial
features were removed by pixellation. Scientists found that after just three seconds, the
participants made up their mind and rated
the women in the skirts more positively than
those in the trouser suits.
Pine said: “First impressions are formed
rapidly and are often highly accurate. After
seeing a face for just one second, people make
judgements about another’s personal and
occupational attributes.
“Women generally have a wider choice of
dress style for work than men, but still have
to maintain an identity that balances professionalism with attractiveness.
“The skirt suit may achieve that balance
without appearing provocative. What we wear
speaks volumes in just a few seconds. Dressing to impress really is worthwhile and could
even be the key to success.
“People are judged on their overall head-totoe appearance and the fundamental role that dress plays in
creating a positive first
impression cannot be underestimated,” she said.
But she warned: “Be careful about the plunging neckline or micro-skirt
though…
other
research
shows
provocative clothing is viewed as
indicative of low
professional status.”
Yves
Saint
Laurent invented
the trouser suit in
the
1960s
by
reworking
the
men’s tuxedo.
Women
had
been
wearing
trousers since the
1920s, but never
in the office.
His invention of
Le Smoking tuxedo
suit
transformed
women’s wear and was
the perfect garment for
the 1970s woman who
went out to work.
Trouser suits were
championed by Hollywood actresses Greta
Garbo,
Katharine
Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich. –
Daily Mail
SLIM FIT: Good
design, like
Proenza Schouler,
should be
available at
good prices.
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