Focus On... Men’s Gifts

With Father’s Day homing into view on June 20, men’s gifts are currently top of the gift buying agenda for dads of all ages and stages, to include stepdads, grandads, godfathers and fatherin-laws. But, of course, men’s gifts aren’t just for Father’s Day. There are a plenty of reasons to buy gifts for men throughout the year, with gift suppliers offering a myriad of post pandemic, innovative ideas to inspire gift retailers.

Father’s Day is the next gift giving ‘occasion’ on the calendar, and while it may not normally be the big, celebrated affair that Mother’s Day is, it’s the first event of the year that non-essential retailers are able to make the most of in their stores. And with people wanting to show how much they love and appreciate the special men in their lives, it’s bound to be ‘the Daddy’. Plus, of course, it’s not the only occasion to buy male gifts for - birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, ‘just because’ and ‘thinking of you’ gifts are all reasons to shop. With the second half of the year hopefully seeing everyone getting out and about again, suppliers are tapping into the trends that will be evolving post pandemic.

“As we ease out of lockdown we can see 2021 being a year of excitement and outdoor activities with friends and family, something we've all been craving for over a year now,” says Gift Republic’s designer Isaac Michael. “A few of the outdoor men’s gifts we've brought out this season include our Tiger tees, helping guys everywhere to up their golf game by teeing off with a pro. In addition, our gin and wine sized workouts are a great way to help to get rid of a lockdown body. We also have some new scratch posters that will really help to make the most of post lockdown freedom - 100 Things To Do In The UK, 100 Things To Do With Dad and 100 Things to Do with Mum - which are filled with activities for summer.”

Also looking at men’s gifts that reflect the great outdoors, or as gifts for a car obsessed friend, is Puckator. “This summer we will all be anticipating the end of lockdown, and to most people, the Volkswagen Camper Van means sun, sea and camping, which are the cornerstones of the products in this range,” explains designer Laura Billingham. Categories span homeware and drinkware, to include re-usable mugs and a picnic set,

as well as kitchen and clothing accessories, with all items available in four brightly coloured themes: T1 Camper Bus Red and Blue, Summer Love and Surf Adventure.

Following long periods of lockdown, sentiment continues to trend heavily in all sectors of giftware, including men’s gifts, says Joe Davies. “At a time when most of us have spent more time than usual with family, traditional games and pastimes like Scrabble and jigsaws have seen a huge spike in popularity,” comments buyer Mary Caputo.

Top: Volkswagen Camper Van giftware from Puckator. Centre: Scrabble and jigsaw photo frames from Joe Davies. Above right: Mad Man from Widdop And Co. Left: Gift Republic’s wine-sized workouts.

“With this in mind, we have developed a range of wooden jigsaw sentiment products to sit alongside our successful Scrabble sentiment collection, featuring photo frames, coasters and single and double table plaques all with that all important message.” In addition, with the emphasis on exercise, a brand new range from Joe Davies is Chaps Stuff, a collection of humorous men’s gifts that include water bottles, glasses and travel mugs.

Taking a practical view, Widdop And Co’s creative director Stephen Illingworth points out that this year, the big trend in men’s giftware is the transition from ornamental to more functional gifts.

“It’s why our men’s giftware brand, Harvey

Makin, continues to grow. This year, we’ve added an exciting range to our brand, Mad

Man, featuring everything from practical tech gifts to handy gadgets.” Stephen adds that with the focus also switching to more thoughtful keepsake gifts, items that can be personalised are also in the limelight.” With a range of classic, modern and stylish gifts to choose from, such as engravable flasks and cufflinks, the Harvey Makin collection also makes great memorabilia for special occasions such as Father’s Day.”

PMC’s marketing manager Kristina Ruffell concurs. “We have seen a huge rise in the amount of gifts with sentiment across all categories, with personalised gifts the ideal way to create a gift with a special message to those closest to us. Sentiment is a trend that therefore continues to feature predominately in our Father’s Day range for 2021, alongside a personal, quirky and ‘tongue in cheek’ theme that consumers are looking for.”

Of course, traditional gifts for men remain extremely popular.

“We believe in traditional themed gifts that have a practical use,” says Lesser & Pavey’s managing director Julian Hunt. “Both men and women have hobbies, something which is as strong today as it has always been. As such, our new range captures the love of flying, railway, motor sports and vehicles, with

photographic images featuring on fine china mugs, matching trays, coasters and table mats.”

Staying with themed gifts, music speaks all languages. “During the last year, one of the things we’ve learned is that there has been a move towards more expensive gifts being purchased,” says David Gee, managing director of The Music Gifts Company which specialises in gifts for music lovers as well as gifts for men. “This has been most apparent with our new range of Italian leather items which has been a great success, even though, as yet, we have not been able to show it all to the trade. Perhaps the higher priced items have attracted more interest as people have not been able to spend money elsewhere, such as dining out or going on holiday, or that people are happy to spend more on a unique item, either as a gift or self-purchase.”

For gift retailers, with Father’s Day the first opportunity since the current lockdown to bang the drum about a special occasion, both in store as well as online, making the most of men’s gifts will be an opportunity to really shout about what’s new and different this year, with post-lockdown trends aplenty!

Out And About

Walking stick specialists Classic Canes highlight that there has been a renewed interest in the natural world, tying in with buying gifts for men. “When the country first went into lockdown, we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves selling more hiking staffs and trekking poles as people appreciated them on their permitted exercise,” explains managing director Charlotte Gillan. “And with more rambles, we are seeing increased demand not only for hiking staffs, but also all for products linked to animals and particularly the British countryside. Our British Owls folding cane, which features the five native owls of Britain, and our British songbirds print cane are popular examples, as are canes with animal handles such as hares and ducks. They make ideal Father’s Day gifts, being both unusual and practical.”

Right: Classic Canes’ British Owls folding cane. Above: PMC’s Father’s Day range. Below left: Among the new ranges for enthusiasts and collectors from Lesser & Pavey. Below right: Part of the Italian Leather Goods collection, which is hand crafted and exclusive to Music Gifts in the UK.

WHAT’S NEW

Progressive Gifts & Home highlights some of the latest gift products to be showcased this month

Lockdown Locks? Problem Solved Hot Tomato continues to expand its hair accessory category, offering some gorgeous and practical solutions for ‘lockdown locks’. Be it Alice bands, clips, clamps or ties and ribbons, Hot Tomato have it covered problem solving at its prettiest! Hot Tomato T:01225 422188 E: alex@hot-tom.com W:www.hot-tom.com Just Saying Collection Sentiment gifts will continue to be important to cheer people up after such a tough year and with this in mind, Joe Davies has developed lots of sentiment gifts for this season. The Just Saying Collection is a brand-new range of brightly coloured ceramic gifts with heartfelt sentiment messages. The range includes, mugs, hanging hearts, coasters, trinkets and glasses. They all make ideal gifts for any family member, or friend. Joe Davies T:0161 9756300 E: sales@joedavies.co.uk W:www.joedavies.co.uk

Sunny Diffuser Scents Ashleigh & Burwood has expanded its popular collection, The Scented Home, designed to make every house a home with beautifully evocative UK-made fragrances. This season sees the introduction of three new fragrances, energising Sicilian Lemon already a bestseller in its lamp fragrance collection, light and fresh Honeysuckle Blooms and sweetly floral White Peach and Lily; all available as 150ml diffusers and fragrance refills. Ashleigh & Burwood T:01932 267060 E: info@ashleigh-burwood.co.uk W:www.ashleigh-burwood.co.uk

Scented Candles & Greetings Cards Set Fresh for 2021 Crumble & Core has launched a collection of candles with a twist. It has created a range of boxed scented candles and greetings cards. Each of the five extensively researched candle fragrances are available in two sizes – a white glass 9cl votive or 20cl candle. Beautifully boxed they feature one of the gorgeous watercolour artwork designs on them with a matching greeting card enclosed, making a perfect card and gift in one with all occasions covered. Crumble & Core T:01825 841412 E: crumbleandcore@gmail.com W:www.crumbleandcore.com Fragrance in the home is a very personal affair Lesser & Pavey conducted an online poll to find out what makes fragrance products so popular. Key results included the lounge coming out on top as the main room to use home fragrance products and over 85% of participants indicating they use home fragrance all through the year. This may be why Lesser & Pavey has seen such increases in sales across all its home fragrance ranges. Lesser & Pavey T: 01322 279225 E: sales@leonardo.co.uk W:www.leonardo.co.uk