Island Company brings brand to Vegas
Spencer Antle once wowed people with his television commercials. Now the former award-winning Hollywood director is selling the public his own brand as a retail entrepreneur — one who also offers a lesson in perseverance.
Antle is the founder and creative director of Island Company, a beachwear retail outlet that's marking its first Christmas season in Las Vegas. Earlier this year, the company opened stores at the Fashion Show mall and Grand Canal Shoppes at the Palazzo, the sixth and seventh stores the chain has at resort and tourist locales. The company generates $12 million a year in sales.
It's a big career change for Antle, 46, whose mainstream commercials are visible on YouTube using comedy to get people to travel on Southwest Airlines or to drink Bud Light. He even filmed a comedic commercial for former Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan.
Antle quit his job as a television commercial director to sell bikinis out of the trunk of his car to boutique shops. The inspiration came in 2002 when Antle couldn't find a bikini for his girlfriend before they went on a trip. He decided to design one, which eventually launched his business.
"She thought I was insane, which I was, because it was hard," Antle said.
Antle, who has no background as a designer, said he made it up as he went along. That doesn't mean, however, that he didn't have the experience and expertise to launch his brand of bikinis. He said he only needed to draw upon his career up to that point
"The good thing about being a film director is you deal with costume designers all the time," Antle said. "You have creative decisions about everything whether you're blowing up buildings or dealing with motorcycle stunts or helicopters."
Antle said he poured his life savings into his venture that developed 13 bikinis. He went store to store to persuade shop owners to buy his collection. What started with a few stores buying his wares grew to several hundred across the country, he said.
"Our first (fashion) trade show was MAGIC in Las Vegas," Antle said. "We didn't know anything about terms or how to sell to people the product or how they receive it. We we're just winging it.
"We would fly to California and rent a car drive around to 80 stores and end up with three accounts. We would visit Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket (in Massachusetts) and go to trade shows. In Florida (where we lived), we were constantly in our car. That's how it started. It's been a lot of hard work to be successful."
Everything went swimmingly with the bikini wear in the beginning — the business had been doubling every year since 2003, Antle said. When the economy soured in 2008 and the stock market tanked in 2009, the company became a victim of the Great Recession, he said. Sales slowed because store owners "freaked out" and stopped buying products.
"I had to get the product out of the warehouse and the only way to do that was open our own store so we could be in control of that," Antle said. "There was a small, little store in Palm Beach, (Florida) and I signed a lease and had it open within three days using the props and pieces and elements that we had from our trade-show booth.
"All of a sudden we had a store. Six months later we opened a store in Nantucket. That's the way it started and saved the company."
The other three stores are in Martha's Vineyard; Naples, Fla.; and Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. An eighth store is under construction at the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The store design fits the tropical, adventure and exotic themes, with the Palazzo store featuring a white Greek beach house atmosphere and the Fashion Show store designed with a Thailand theme, he said.
"There's a lot of tourists in Las Vegas, and we do well with tourists," Antle said. "It's pretty crazy in Vegas, and I wasn't prepared for how crazy the crowds are."
Since he started selling bikinis out of his car, Antle has evolved from his original concept of women's swimwear to include other forms of beachwear, saying his brand is a counterpoint to Tommy Bahama and Lily Pulitzer. His stores have dresses, T-shirts, linen shirts, wedding resort attire, footwear, eyewear and sun care. There are even candles, belts and other accessories because Antle said it was difficult to focus a business on bikini sales only.
There's tropical wear for daytime and nighttime and for men and women.
"There are a lot of jet-setters and quiet billionaires — the kind of guys who don't want to wear logos," Antle said. "It's for people who are affluent travelers. They aren't looking for a cheap deal at the mall. They want something that's high quality. They buy from us at a resort in the Caribbean and buy something from us in Nantucket."
Antle said a men's linen shirt sells for about $135, while dresses range from $180 to $350. There are other stores that sell for higher prices, but the Island Company isn't part of the cost-cutting trend, he said.
"J.Crew is almost a discounter these days," Antle said. "We have stayed firm with prices and quality. People who buy from us aren't looking for deals. They aren't looking to shop the outlets."
Antle said he's looking to add other product lines and expand to other resort locales. In the past two years, Island Company has also expanded its collection to include beach sheets and beach towels, tees, tumblers, coasters, iPhone cases, and luggage tags.
His company is considered one of the fastest growing, privately owned companies in the country. It's been named to the Inc. 5000 for six consecutive years.
In addition to curating the music, film projections and décor in the seven stores, Antle has shared his life, and brand's, mantra with customers through commercials for Island Company. He's won the "Best of Broadcast" ADDY award twice.
"I'm not selling a brand that I created because I thought it was trendy," Antle said. "I'm branding my life."
