“The best of both worlds”. Here’s how Pierre-Henri Deren defines McAlson, the Belgian men’s underwear brand he manages, founded by his father in 1997. A family-ran business, from the designs to the advertising campaigns where its members all strike the pose proudly. But also in its approach to production and sales, for which the brand surrounds itself with a trusted and loyal ecosystem, always at a human scale. We sat with Pierre-Henri Deren to hear all about it.

Why “The best of both worlds” ?

Because we were among the firsts, if not the first, to add a suspender to the American boxer brief, to combine elegance and comfort. We also do swimwear and t-shirts, but American brief is our core business.

What is your positioning ?

As a small brand that doesn’t focus on marketing too much, our strategy is to enter all the beautiful shops and reach an audience that is sensitive to quality products. We are very active in Europe and a bit in the United States too. We only work with quality fabrics, Portuguese or Italian prints and we manufacture in Morocco, with a partner who dedicates an entire team to our products. This allows us to build a long-term relationship and to maintain a real consistency in quality, that is aligned with our DNA.

Is this your first time on the Exposed space ?

We came a long time ago, this year we are back for the first time. Out goal is to position the brand on the French lingerie scene and to gain visibility. We did a bit of scouting beforehand but the idea is mostly to get a sense of the traffic, of who attends Who’s Next, and of course to seize new opportunities that, I am sure, will arise.

How do you feel about the market at the moment ?

We’re in a high / mid-high positioning that continues to stand out, compared to the medium segment that has struggled a bit more recently. I’d rather have less volume but a good margin than the opposite, because this allows us to remain fairly protected from ups and downs. This positioning also means working twice as much to gain new clients, but once they are there, they’ll stay with us for life.

This also means building a relationship of trust with your resellers.

Of course. Our customers specifically come to their shops to find McAlson products so it’s vital that they understand our issues and our approach, and that they have good knowledge of the product. This also requires a bit of education on how to present the product properly, but at the end of the day it’s all about this family thing : stable, transparent and pragmatic relationships remain the key to our success. And Curve Paris at Who’s Next is the place to strengthen these relationships.