Replies to post #6 on Duluth Holdings (DLTH)

[bar1080]

I'm an expert on this subject in several ways. I've long been a shareholder in uniform rental company Cintas [CTAS} and some other firms like that.

Wrangler is owned by highly successful VFC (VFC: NYSE} too, as is jeans company, Lee. VFC is best known lately for its North Face line.

Though the brand name isn't well known to the public, VFC's Red Kap division is a powerful force and is often distributed by uniform rental operations that include Cintas, Unifirst, Aramark and many, many more. http://www.redkap.com/

Understand that demand for high end outdoor work apparel mainly comes from the northern tier or two of states where months of frigid weather require layers of insulated (or electric) apparel and costly boots.

I wouldn't expect Duluth Trading to be successful opening stores in the southern 2/3 of the US, especially with the warm winters we've had lately.

[bar1080]

A little illusion boosts DLTH's customer satisfaction numbers.

Last night I scanned articles about DLTH and see that much is made of their sky high customer satisfaction numbers, which might be illusory. It's well known that consumers tend to love recent purchases and think less of them as time goes on, and quality problems arise. Consumer Reports Magazine cautions readers about that. Tesla, I think, benefits from that illusion.

A new rapidly growing e-commerce seller benefits especially if they dedicate efforts to shipping lightning fast in a way that's unsustainable in the future. They can fill warehouses to the rafters with inventory and hire more employees in the shipping department. They can also lavish customer-pleasing free Next-Day shipping and no-questions-asked returns. (I don't know whether DLTH's actually done that)

Notice DLTH's deluge of costly national TV advertising before the IPO? Among other benefits, that bust may have served to juice DLTH's percentage of brand new -- and highly satisfied -- customers. How well does DLTH apparel hold up long-term? Not many customers know yet.