Shoes from Cre8tive Recreation
I selected Wolfgang for an interview because of how impressed I am with their clothing selection. I must admit I was blown away when I stopped by Wolfgang during Christmas and I discovered they carry ALIFE and Cre8tive Recreation sneakers. I am a self professed sneaker head having collected over 20 pairs of tennis shoes. My favorite is brand is Nike, but when I saw a local company carrying an boutique brand like Alife from NYC, in my city. In Jacksonville. Wow, I was impressed. I picked up a pair for myself for Christmas and now I want to let everyone in the city know, there is a place to buy cutting edge clothing from the best and emerging labels in fashion right here in Jacksonville.
I spoke with Matthew Turner, the buyer for Wolfgang, and asked him a few questions about the store and the labels they carry.
1. What is Wolfgang and how is it different from Satu?
Wolfgang is a concept boutique that wishes to push the boundaries of Jacksonville’s fashion repertoire. We bring brands from Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Canada, and Portugal, as well as many designers from the United States. To our customers, we want Wolfgang to be a fun and relaxing place to shop. We have cats running around, great music, vintage motorcycles and a friendly and knowledgeable staff that resists pressure-sales and encourages customer satisfaction. We have recently eliminated the Satu name and made both the women’s and men’s store Wolfgang. We have a women’s side to the store (formerly Satu) that is an extension of the Wolfgang objective.
2. Your store is very unique in terms of the labels you carry and you have an especially hot, for this city anyway, shoe selection. Since you are the buyer for Wolfgang, where do you get your inspiration?
I do a good bit of traveling and explore a lot during my travels. I’ve found a few gems that we carry in our store just by checking out smaller boutiques tucked away in cool cities. As an example, Cheap Monday, an amazing cutting-edge denim and clothing line from Sweden that retails at $65, I found at an amazing store in Luzern, Switzerland. The brand had just began to sell to the United States in a few exclusive stores in major cities, so I brought them to Wolfgang.
The sneaker concept was an idea that I had from spending time in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The sneaker craze was in full effect and the kids were wearing some crazy crazy shoes on their feet! There wasn’t any stores doing lux sneakers in Jacksonville, and few wearing them, so I picked my two favorites, ALIFEnyc and Creative Recreation, and brought them in.
Some people look at me like I’m crazy when they see them, but the people who do know, like yourself, are thrilled when they come in and see them! That’s where I get my satisfaction from as a buyer. I try not to be afraid to test the limits of fashion in Jacksonville, which can be great sometimes, and fully rewarding, but detrimental at other times… not everything sticks with the populus! You never know unless you try, though.
3. What makes your store unique?
I feel that a number of things make Wolfgang unique. The women’s is unique in that most of the brands that we carry are new to Jacksonville, which, as I said earlier, I love bringing new ideas to our city. Our prices are usually what women say is the best aspect of the store. Our average price-point is $40-$50 for women, which can’t be found at most women’s specialty boutiques in Jacksonville. A woman can come in and find amazing clothes that make them look great, and they don’t have to break the bank to afford it.
I try to mold Wolfgang into ‘the perfect balance’ of men’s clothing and accessories. We carry anything from European tailored suits to hip-hop culture t-shirts to high-fashion streetwear to basics that anyone can pull off. I feel that it is the most unique place for a guy to shop in the city. I love it when someone from a major city like New York or LA or Chicago comes in and goes, “This reminds me of back home!” I guess that means we’re doing something right!
One aspect of Wolfgang that is crucial to it’s atmosphere is our music selection. I am a music junkie, so I have meticulously constructed a playlist that is around 8 or 9 days long of the most interesting, listener friendly music I can find. It goes everywhere! In any given day, you can hear music from Gil Scott-Heron to Dolly Parton to the Beastie Boys to Aphex Twin to My Bloody Valentine to The Kinks to Handsome Boy Modelling School to Pavement to cLOUDDEAD to David Axelrod to DJ Shadow to RATT! Its crazy, but I love it. I mean, if I’m going to spend 8 hours a day in a place for the majority of my week, the place better have a great soundtrack!
It’s great when people say, “who is this playing?” They always end up with a written sheet with the band, the song, and 10 other groups that sound like them! Let us not forget the kitties also. GG and Compton are possibly the coolest cats ever. They own this place!
4. What is your best seller right now?
For women, there’s not really one brand that stands out — most of them have an exceptional performance. There’s also seasonal differences. Burn’n'Violet from London, does really well in Spring, but not so much in Fall. Gentle Fawn does better in the Fall. Cheap Monday has been our best selling denim brand hands down, though, for women. I was thrilled to get the response that we did from that brand. I think the $65 price is the kicker.
For men, our best selling brands are 4You Scandanavia, Topless California t-shirts and a new line from San Francisco called Free Gold Watch. These guys make 80′s hip-hop culture tees that are AWESOME!! They are all less than $40 and have been selling like bananas every time they come into the store. Its crazy. Diesel always does well, too. It’s just such a strong brand that has had so much influence on streetwear in the past 28 years.
5. Any events coming up?
We are starting our New Year’s sale, which will offer our customers up to 60% off of all sorts of items in the store. We’ll be sending an email to the people on our email list with the details. If anyone wishes to be on our email list, feel free to email us at wolfgang1038[at]gmail.com
Our Spring collection this year is going to be bananas! We’ve got new lines like Boxfresh from the UK, Caste from the US, Obey, Subscript, and others coming in, as well as amazing new stuff from Rxmance, Topless, Diesel, Gentle Fawn, Hobo, Creative Recreation, and on and on and on. I’m thrilled about spring!
Also, we are remodeling the exterior of the storefront. There will be some changes to the interior as well, so I’m excited to see how everything turns out. (At this time, the exterior is complete) Besides that, we plan to take it easy for the first couple of months!
6. Anything else you’d like readers to know about Wolfgang
When people go out of their way to come and shop with us, it really means a lot to us. The majority of our customers are return customers that have been satisfied with their experience here. We buy very limited quantity of our brands, so people don’t feel that they will see someone wearing the same outfit. Our customers are wonderful and we try to maintain a friendly and approachable relationship with them as much as possible. We work ridiculously hard at keeping this place fresh and fun for people. We’re still here having fun and selling great clothes because people like you, Joey, appreciate it. I can’t say thank you enough. Happy New Year!
tags: jacksonville, wolfgang, 5points, riverside
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Adam Beaugh
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joeymarchy
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Adam Beaugh
