In 2018, founder and CEO Chris Gove started his menswear brand, Percival, the way many new founders do: with venture capital funding. Raising two rounds, in 2018 and 2021, totaling nearly $4 million, the British brand got off the ground, started selling DTC and garnered several high-profile fans including Ryan Reynolds and Tom Holland. It reached profitability and grew its revenue from $11 million in 2022 to $15 million in 2023.
But now, as the brand plans to go global, with a particular focus on expanding in the U.S., Gove doesn’t want to go back to VCs to raise cash. Instead, he’s asking Percival’s customers to help invest in the brand’s future. As part of a crowdfunding campaign that went live on Thursday morning, Percival customers can invest cash into the brand through a campaign on the crowdfunding website Crowdcube. As a result, they’ll receive perks, some of which will last for a lifetime.
Among motivators for the move, Gove cited bad experiences with some of the investors he’s recently spoken with. For example, some balked at the DTC model, even though it “makes perfect sense” for the brand, Gove said. He also pointed to Percival’s reputation for transparency. Percival has a WhatsApp group chat for a few dozen of its most loyal customers, where they can speak directly to Gove who solicits feedback from them on everything from product design to marketing campaigns to the possibility of doing this crowdfunding project.
“I wouldn’t have done it if it got a bad reaction,” Gove said. “I would have gone for more institutional money. But since we got such a good reaction from our community, and with the economy the way it is, we decided to let the customers who got us to where we are today own a piece of it.”
The investment works like this: A £10 investment gets you personal updates directly from Gove, while investing anywhere up to £1,000 gets you an unlimited 20% discount for a period of six months to a lifetime. Tiers beyond that offer perks like free personal shopping appointments, early access to new collections, invitations to private events, free repairs and access to higher tiers of Percival’s loyalty program, which comes with its own perks and an invitation to the private WhatsApp group. At the highest tier, for people who invest over £20,000, you join a special advisory board of the company, gain free and custom-made products, get invites to quarterly dinners and gain exclusive direct access to the company’s executive team.
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The money raised from the crowdfunding will primarily go to marketing and customer acquisition efforts, Gove said. Those efforts have significantly grown in the last few years for the brand, as acquisition has become a top challenge for brand marketers. The brand’s marketing leans into the power of celebrity influence, which has been a valuable asset for Percival in its first few years. In addition, the brand aims to capitalize on a new presence in the wholesale channel.
The brand has always been DTC, but as it prepares to expand into the U.S. market, which already makes up 28% of its sales, it’s partnering with Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue to get in front of more American customers. Percival will launch in both department stores next month. Gove said Percival’s launch at an Irish department store last year led to a 140% increase in visits to the website from Ireland.
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“I was turned off by wholesale when we first started,” Gove said. “It didn’t seem right for growing the business. But for launching into a new region, it’s really good to have a physical presence even though we’re still 90% DTC. We consider it to be part of our marketing strategy right alongside growing our community and influencing through celebrities.”
