Matthew: St Johns was founded in 1946, so this year marks the 80th Anniversary of the brand. Congratulations on this milestone! This definitely puts St Johns into heritage brand territory. Please share a bit about the history of St Johns.
Rhys: In 1946, at the end of the World War II, Capt. John Webb, a US Navy Officer stationed at the submarine base Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, conceived of a men’s aftershave derived from the local Bay Rum digestive. Historically, bay rum, blended by local chemists with real island rum, was used for any number of maladies based on the medicinal properties of the bay tree leaf’s oil. It also has a rich, warm aroma which Capt. Webb blended with local spices and herbs like cloves, cinnamon, and eucalyptus and created the Classic Bay Rum Cologne we know today. With that one product he founded the St Johns business in the US Virgin Islands. He was also motivated to find a way to stay in the Caribbean versus returning home to the frigid north of Minnesota.
St Johns, United States Virgin Islands
Matthew: You and I meet up for breakfast regularly, so I have had the opportunity to get to know you. I know that you received your MBA from Duke University, have played polo, and reside in Connecticut. Please tell us more about your background and your journey to St Johns.
Duke University
Rhys: Well I’ve been to a number of schools but was fortunate to have graduated from Michigan and Duke. I have played some polo and I love to fox hunt, which sounds terribly snooty but I love horses and they are both great and challenging equestrian sports. More importantly it is a common interest I share with my daughter, and horses have created many wonderful personal experiences for us.
I landed at St Johns by happenstance and a bit of good fortune but as a result of my past work with men’s brands and some turnaround experience. I started in a training program at Saks Fifth Avenue in Palo Alto which was a great education in understanding retail dynamics and consumer behavior. While it was great training it did not pay much and I fondly refer to that time as my “Indentured Servitude” period. I had to sell my car and rode my 10 speed to the store everyday – which was not really a cool look back then. Eventually I moved over to the wholesale side and ran business units for Champion and Swiss Army brands. At some point a friend in private equity asked me to advise on prospective acquisitions and also restructure one of their portfolio brands. That ultimately led me to St Johns.
St Johns had recently been saved by three brothers who knew the brand growing up, having spent lots of vacations in the Islands as kids and who wanted to see it live on. The business at that point had been owned by Mr. Woodhouse, who, as he got older, could not keep up with the changing nature of men’s grooming and the requirement to evolve the brand. The brother’s family office stepped in, purchased the enterprise, and began the process of rebuilding the business and brand. Shortly thereafter they asked me to join them.
Relaunching a brand is always a difficult exercise. We had a few internal issues to sort out and then two serious existential issues.
St Johns is a USVI company and the entire operation was operated at Warehouse #1Havensight at the port of St Thomas. It is an exciting place to be but a very difficult place to operate a business like ours; transportation on & off island, customs, duties, fulfillment, distribution are all made more cumbersome by government regulations and island time mentality. As we planned to move our warehouse and distribution operation to the mainland and were in the initial phase of execution, came the first big threat to the business – a Category 4 Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria. We had huge, mahogany storm doors on our building which we secured shut and sandbagged the day before the island evacuation so we felt pretty good about the security of our operation. The first hurricane ripped part of the roof off and separated two corners of the building from one another. Most of the island had been impacted including total devastation of the Home Depot and the denuding of all of the palm trees (our source for fronds to weave our bottles). The second hurricane arrived 5 days later, sat on top of the island for 24 hours and dumped rain. Our well protected sandbagged building with no roof filled up like an aquarium. It sat there for two weeks until the tower at the airport was operational, and I arrived back on island. When we opened the doors, the water flowed out in a wave. Our company Ford Explorer suffered a broken window from an errant piece of lumber and it had 100 gallons of water in it. It was immediately clear that we suffered a total loss.
So we scrambled; we mixed Bay Rum on the mainland, had bottles printed with a colorful “weave” design, and used a portion of those sales to benefit relief efforts in the island. Our customers all responded positively.
It took almost a year for the fronds to grow back, reorganize our island artisan weavers, and stabilize production.
Then came Covid. You don’t need to smell good if you’re sitting on a zoom call in your boxer shorts.
But we used that time to update our branding, design new labels, create a branded box for each fragrance, and develop new fragrances. From that period we began a concerted movement to continue introduction of younger, more contemporary, more sophisticated fragrances resulting in Vetiver, Madras, Caneel, and now Three Saints.
What I learned from navigating these catastrophic events is that the St Johns brand is strong, resilient, enduring and fortunate to have a bond with its customers that is unbreakable. There are few brands that enjoy that relationship and support from their customers.
That special bond and the introduction of our newer scents have fueled growth and attracted a younger, professional, well-groomed guy.
I also learned that I had great business partners.
Matthew: When it comes to clothing, there is clearly a longstanding tradition which has come to be known as Ivy Style. The hallmarks of this tradition are classic, timeless looks that never go out of style. Is this also true for fragrances? What makes a fragrance an “Ivy Style” fragrance?
Rhys: That is absolutely true of some fragrances. St Johns is the quintessential example of an Ivy Style fragrance, particularly Bay Rum. I think what makes a fragrance Ivy Style is the same thing that makes certain brands or items “Ivy Style.” Classic; rooted in a time and place that is significant and that it has remained the same, virtually unchanged and true to its origin over time. Timeless; it has to be strong and stable enough to transition and flow from generation to generation. This will become true for our newer scents like Caneel, Madras and Vetiver. I think the Ivy Style attitude is reflective across our entire palette.
I see St Johns like a J. Press Shaggy Dog sweater or a flap pocket OCBD. It’s not a fashion item although it can certainly be fashionable. It works dressed up under a sport coat and flannel slacks or with jeans and suede loafers. You look good, you smell great and you feel like Steve McQueen.
There may be other fragrances that fit this bill, but I can’t think of which ones they might be. (I say sardonically)
Matthew: For years, St Johns has featured the tagline “Unapologetically Masculine.” Please tell us how this came about. What is the conception of masculinity that St Johns embraces?
Rhys: I came to this one day as I was describing the scent and attitude of St Johns to someone who was new to the brand. Thinking about our scent signatures in comparison to the men’s fragrance world at large and considering the pressure that some brands feel to be all things to all people (and not offend anyone) I realized that we needed to say what and who we are and have always been – a guy’s brand. So, we embraced that and were not afraid to declare it. So “Unapologetically Masculine” came to be. Some of my colleagues were concerned that we would offend or alienate certain folks but it is not intended to offend or divide. Rather it describes our brand’s attitude. What I learned from old and new customers was that they appreciated the clear vision and that it succinctly described our scents and point of view. That’s not to say that you have to be masculine to appreciate St Johns. Our newer fragrances are “female friendly” yet still masculine. What I mean by that is that women like these scents and will buy them for their boyfriends or husbands (or both) because they are pleasant to her and will appeal to her guy. This is important because women are the predominate purchasers of fragrance across all categories.
Fortuitously, we do have a couple scents that women will buy for themselves. Most notably 77 and Vetiver. Three Saints may fall into that category as well.
Matthew: The latest fragrance from St Johns is Three Saints. I enjoy wearing it and my wife loves it. What is the story behind the name and how do you think this new product compliments others in your line?
Rhys: Glad to hear that your wife enjoys Three Saints. She is clearly a women of great taste and you are well advised to keep wearing it!
Three Saints – St John, St Thomas, and St Croix. We developed this in honor of our Virgin Island heritage and in the spirit of those islands as we enter our 80th year there. The scent is very surf, sun and sand. It has notes of Calone, Absinthe, Basil, a touch of lavender, Tonka and as always a hint of citrus.
Three Saints fits nicely into the scent palette at the opposite end from Bay Rum. It has certain notes that are consistent with our newer fragrances yet distinctive in the surf and mint scents. Like the others it clearly has an island vibe.
It has been an immediate hit and we sold out of our first small batch before we added it to our website. There is more on the way.
Matthew: My wife keeps asking me – when is the women’s fragrance Coral going to be available? Can you tell us more about that product?
Rhys: Coral. Yes Coral. I get more calls about this fragrance than any other. Pre hurricanes we had 3 or 4 scents for women that were only available in the Caribbean. They were not available online or on the mainland. Post hurricanes we stopped blending the women’s line along with several other old (in attitude) men’s fragrances. I was focused on rebuilding our core men’s line and expanding from there. Then the calls started with demands that Coral be brought back. So, we did and it slowly caught on. We ran through our inventory and thought that would be it. Then the calls started coming again. So, we now have a planned larger run. Bottles are being woven in the islands and the fragrance formulated. So, we will have it back in stock but it will be a month or so from now. You will be the first to hear Matthew, I promise.
Matthew: I have seen St Johns at The Andover Shop and J. Press, as well as specialty shops in Connecticut (Lattice House in Southport) and Rhode Island (Michael Hayes in Newport). Where else are your products available?
Matthew: That’s quite an impressive list. I am heading to San Francisco for a conference this week. I will have to check out Cable Car Clothiers.
Is there anything else about St Johns that you would like to share with Ivy Style readers?
Rhys: Only to say that I am excited that we have been discovered by a new, younger guy who appreciates the classic scents, the iconic weave and the brands narrative. These younger guys who are embracing the authenticity of the brand will be the guys who carry us another 80 years.
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