Mack Weldon, a basics clothing brand that leverages technology in as many ways as possible, has today raised $4 million in Series A funding from RiverPark Ventures, Bridge Investments and Lyrical Partners. The company had previously raised $1.9 million, bringing total funding to $5.9 million.
Mack Weldon is a basics brand for men that offers socks, underwear and undershirts that are high quality and affordable. Mack Weldon’s high performance line, Silver, is the first ready-to-wear clothing that is made with X-Static XT2 Silver technology blended into the fabric. Some high-performance athletic clothing also uses Silver blend fabric, which doesn’t store sweat like Dri-Fit, but rather kills the bacteria immediately. This ensures that a Mack Weldon silver shirt will never, ever smell.
But beyond the actual fabric, Mack Weldon’s distribution center is organized entirely by robotic technology, so that the warehouse itself is organized by product demand. The products in the highest demand are kept in pallets near the front of the warehouse, while the ones that are purchased less frequently are stored in the back. In a single instance, it only saves the company a few seconds, but in the grand scheme of things this certainly makes the business more efficient.
As it stands now, Mack Weldon ships more than 25k units each month, with more than 6,000 orders coming in each month. Founder Brian Berger told TechCrunch than the return rate is less than 3 percent with a 40 percent re-order rate within six months of a purchase.
Berger says that a big part of the problem is that the department store experience for a man buying underwear can be overwhelming at best and frustrating at worst. Unless there is an ingrained pattern and habit of going to the same brand, getting the same size, and being on your way, trying to sift through all those brands and products can be really confusing.
Mack Weldon hopes that it can eliminate that struggle altogether by not marking up anything that’s sold in store, and offering a direct-to-consumer option through the website. Once you get comfortable with Mack Weldon, you never have to go back to the department store ever again, as the brand remembers your order history and makes re-upping easy and painless.
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