In past issues of this newsletter we've covered "the SILIBI strategy" for scaling fashion brands on Meta.
This strategy works for any category where aesthetics are the main selling point, but there are a few nuances for men's apparel and footwear that I'm going to cover today.
Before we get into it, I want to thank this week's sponsor: Layers. Layers is the AI search, visual discovery, and merchandising platform built only for Shopify Plus.
Fashion brands like Rainbow Shops, Gorjana, and Negative Underwear use it to turn their search bar and collection pages into revenue, without synonym spreadsheets or manual merchandising.
Click here to book a demo–my readers get 15% off their first 3 months.
SILIBI stands for "see it, like it, buy it"–this describes the Facebook & Instagram fashion shopper's customer journey. Here's how it happens:
An individual shifts into the shopping mood–maybe they need clothing for a specific event (wedding, vacation, new job), maybe the seasons are changing, or maybe they're just bored of their current wardrobe.
They start scrolling through IG or Facebook, they see an ad, the product in the ad aligns with what they're looking for (or they just like it a lot), they click through, the details check out, and they buy it.
That's it. No "problem, agitation, solution" direct response-style advertising.
Because the truth is, you can't argue with taste. You can't use slick copywriting to convince someone they love barrel leg jeans when they've decided that silhouette is ugly.
The standard SILIBI ad creative strategy is to just...show the product. It's a bit more involved than that–I go into it in detail in my Facebook Ads For Fashion Brands course.
But the average male shopper's needs, context and psychology are different from the average female shopper, so there are some tweaks you'll need to make to "standard SILIBI" to convert men at higher rates.
"Scroll Stopping" Product Is Still The Key
"Scroll Stopping" products have eye-catching attributes: bright colors, high contrast patterns, metallics, sequins, beaded embellishment, etc.
These products tend to perform better in ads because they...stop the scroll more effectively than something like a plain white tee shirt. Additionally–the "perceived value" is communicated visually.
The "scroll stopping" rule holds true for men's product, but men are less likely to wear a sequined or bright orange garment, so menswear lines are simply less likely to contain any scroll-stopping product.
If you're a men's brand that wants to use Meta as your go to market channel, you must plan some scroll stoppers into your assortment.
If you launch with a line of plain, neutral basics and you don't have any major functional differentiators, your ads won't scale.
The mens brands that get around this lean heavily into functional differentiators and direct response storytelling.
Untuckit sells shirts that are short enough to wear...untucked. The Perfect Jean sells the most comfortable, stretchy, flexible jeans. True Classic sells durable tees that are cut to flatter men with bellies.
None of these brands are afraid to state their value prop directly, or use (sometimes crude) humor to make their point. If you want to take a more elevated, traditional fashion approach, you need scroll stoppers.
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You nailed the scroll-stopping ad, but what if a weak conversion rate is holding you back from scale?
Site search and collection page sorting are critical features for fashion brands–if your visitors can't find what they need, they're going to bounce.
But Shopify's native search and sorting features are–not going to mince words here–terrible. They're not robust enough to deliver accurate, fast results for brands with larger product catalogs and a wide size range.
Layers solves that problem, and it's a lot more affordable than you might assume if you've talked to "enterprise" search apps in the past–up to 40% less than legacy solutions.
Layers delivers accurate and blazing fast search results, robust collection filtering with accurate sizing availability, and even visual discovery: a shopper uploads a photo and gets the exact item or the closest match.
They also let you–the operator–merchandise by what actually matters: sort collections by margin, sell-through, newness, or 7-day revenue. These sorts are updated daily–no spreadsheet grunt work, no tech tickets.
Rainbow Shops saw a 30% increase in conversion rate after switching. Across customers, Layers drives +13% conversion rate and +14% revenue per visitor, with average order value held steady.
Layers is offering my readers 15% off their first 3 months. Click here to book a demo.
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Texture Matters More
This is just an observation after working with a few men's brands...guys geek out more over fabric texture. Herringbone tweed, waffle knit tees, corduroy...if your products have texture, show it off in your ads and speak to it directly (see the next section).
A texture ad is less likely to scale for a women's brand unless you're emphasizing softness and comfort for loungewear.
You Have To Make It Obvious
The average female shopper has a running list of: products that are appropriate/inappropriate for different scenarios, styles that are/are not flattering on her body, brands that fit/do not fit her body type, niche occasions that require garments with specific functional details, trends she wants to try/would never try, etc.
The average male shopper is like...there are holes in my pants, I need new pants, I like my old pants but I can't remember where I got them.
Effective men's ads still feature a single garment, but they tend to be more copy-heavy than women's ads.
Women see a garment and insert it into the context of their lifestyle, men (on average) need you to connect the dots for them.
If standard "see it, like it, buy it" ads don't get the results you want, try headline variations that do each of the following:
- Literally spell out the garment name–"the classic chino"
- Feature the key use case–"perfect for travel"
- Call out key features/friction points–"wrinkle resistant"
- Call out comfort features–fabric & construction details that make the garment easier to wear
3 In 1 Shampoo/Conditioner/Bodywash
The subsegment of the male apparel and footwear market that is "into fashion" is a lot smaller than the comparable segment of the women's market.
A lot of guys just want one pair of paints or one style of shirt that they can plug and play into almost any situation–working out, lounging on the couch, going on a date, etc.
That doesn't mean that they'll put on the shirt, take a 10 mile run, plop down on the couch to watch a few hours of TV, and then head out to happy hour without changing.
But they don't want to be bothered thinking about "is this the right shirt for this event?" or "is my 'date' shirt clean?"
If you have styles that span multiple use cases, talk about that.