Boom times have returned for the cuff link, but not just for a banker’s discrete gold disk or silk knot. Or even a salesman’s novelty links with a favorite sport, hobby, or animal. No, we’re talking links for the rap and hip-hop generation: links that don’t mean a thing, if they ain’t got that bling.
For close to seven years, cufflinksdepot.com, has been catering to this growing demographic of customers who are as interested in displays of personality and puckishness as power and prestige. The Web-based direct marketer offers more than a thousand different kinds of cuff links, adding and retiring a few styles every day.
Who buys and who wears cuff links? According to Brett Prebble, cufflinksdepot’s resident cuff link guru and connoisseur, everyone and anyone. The customers range from 18 years old on up, and are as likely to be women as men.
“A lot of corporate women wear cuff links,” he said, adding that women tend to favor links that are smaller than men’s links. Cuff links women favor also tend to have a bolder use of color and more detailed handiwork.
Prebble also noted seasonal trends in cuff links. Christmas and the wedding seasons create spikes in sales of monogrammed engraved cuff links. Sports seasons create spikes in thematic links.
“The Yankees are hot this time of year,” Prebble laughed. The Superbowl, he said, boosts sales of NFL-related cuff links.
Although Prebble declined to release any sales figures, he did note that the typical order was for two to three pairs of cuff links. Prices range from less than $50 to more than $250 for a pair, with approximately half the links offered costing $100 or less. Shipping is free for domestic orders over $100.
“It’s common to buy a couple of pair of cuff links from a contemporary designer and then add a third pair that has more whimsy, makes more of a statement,” he explained.
Popular contemporary designers include Robert Charles, whose links typically cost $69 a pair, and David Donahue, whose Rectangular Mosaic Cuff Links ($125) is one of cufflinksdepot’s most popular styles.
Customers find cufflinksdepot through press coverage, word of mouth or various Internet search engines. He described New York and California as good markets domestically. Asia, he added, was becoming a better market.
While a majority of cufflinksdepot’s sales are to repeat customers, there is no customer relationship management program in place. Prebble explains that no emails are sent out to tell customers about new items or specials. Instead the company relies on customers to return to the site on their own.
What keeps the customers coming back is customer service. Orders, even special orders like engraving, can usually be filled within 24 hours.
Other special orders do take longer. One customer wanted a set of 190 pairs of cuff links, each pair with the flag of one of the 190 recognized countries around the world.
However, Prebble believes the oddest special order cufflinksdepot ever received was from a man who wanted cuff links made with his wisdom teeth.
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