Houndstooth Clothing Co. Web Review

Houndstooth Clothing Co.

www.houndstooth.com

Houndstooth Clothing Co.’s ability to sell sharp-looking, sports-cut clothing without a lot of overhead is continued at www.houndstooth.com. The company, which specializes in selling its apparel from portable kiosks in malls and shopping centers, has operated its Web site for four years and upgraded it several times including this fall.

Our reviewers liked the site, which has become increasingly user friendly, almost as much as they like Houndstooth’s clothes. In fact, there were only two negatives.

The most serious problem was that we couldn’t figure out how to contact the company online. There’s no place at www.houndstooth.com to e-mail the company or its site administrator, Arkansas.net. What if we were a new vendor with really inexpensive thread or a fraternity that wanted to special-order 250 slightly altered shirts?

The other thing we noticed is that the site does not contain anywhere near all of Houndtooth’s apparel. We know, because we’re fans of the White River line and would love to tell out-of-state family members how to buy us more.

Missed opportunities in retail mean missed revenue. But executives at Houndstooth told us their arrangement with Arkansas.net allowed for only so many pages. They did say that in the last two years, the company had shipped merchandise to 39 states and 13 countries and that the online business was breaking even.

One reviewer had this observation: “I really like the clean look and easy navigation of the site. Very Walker Creative. Nothing too flashy to try to ignore.”

Another reviewer said: “The site is well-designed, clean and easy to navigate. There’s not very many of their products on there, though. They have a million more T-shirts, hats, etc … and not just college gear.”

A simple sports-related game might increase the site’s stickiness, and the addition of more merchandise certainly wouldn’t hurt.

We’re glad to see that www.houndstooth.com is now making the company’s clothes available worldwide, and a tour of the site’s shopping cart proved quick, safe and easy.