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Spotlight On... Men’s Gifts
Man
Appeal
“Men’s gifts are the holy grail of giftware,” states Thomas O’Brien, managing director of Boxer Gifts. “Get it right and you’ve solved the age-old dilemma of what to buy the ‘man who has everything’. Blokes often quite selfishly - either don’t want anything at all, or have just gone and bought it themselves!” His advice is to have something a man never knew he wanted such as a manly apron, with beer and chilli sauce pockets. “Always be different to the large chains and have a quirky suggestion such as a trowel with a handy bottle opener, which will quench his thirst while toiling in the garden,” he suggests. “’You should’ve seen what they had in there!’ will be the greatest accolade of the ‘mundane slaying’ gift retailer.” For something really different, Lesser & Pavey is offering a wide choice of men’s gifts this year to include Steampunk, which has a big following, and is loosely based on a combination of Victorian fashion and the steam engine era. “Our Steampunk
What do you buy the man who has everything? The answer, something he didn’t know that he wanted! With Father’s Day the next big gifting event, dads, grandads, and stepdads will be among those in the minds of gift givers as they strive to find that special something.
Fantasy is a brand new range featuring Steampunk-inspired sculptures with a bronze, metal and gold finish effect,” explains managing director Julian Hunt. (Included is a fish, a whale, a hat, various skulls, a nautilus shell, a Chopper motorbike, a cyborg/human book end and a machinerybased set of bookends). Another of the company’s newly launched ranges in men’s gifting is Legends and Dreams, based on the rise in popularity of TV shows such as Game of Thrones, and dragons flying in Harry Potter, which has led to an increase in mystical gifting. “The range offers dragon studies and also ‘backflow incense burners’ for the man in touch with the mystical and fantasy genre,” adds Julian. Other giftware aimed at men includes the company’s Classic Sports and Hobbies range featuring mugs, fine china travel mugs and notebooks. “It features quirky, somewhat suggestive catchphrases, in a wide number of sports and hobbies, making a great gift for men with a sense of humour!” Julian highlights. Top right: The latest men’s gifts from Gisela Graham. Above left: Boxer Gifts’ Dude With The Food men’s apron. Above right: Gift Republic’s money clip multi-tool. Below: Lesser & Pavey’s new Steampunk range.
Gisela Graham’s sales director Piers Croke says that successful gifts for men are either gimmicks or stylishly useful. “We’ve taken the latter route, keeping it simple and at the £3-£10 retail level, with items suitable as birthday add-ons or un-birthday gifts. They include small travel cases, which are handy for cufflinks or headphones, as well as notebooks and specs cases in faux leather.” Adds Piers: “Manly colour is a criterion, so we’ve recently added fashionable mustard, petrol blue and dove grey which have all been fast-movers.” With a love of the outdoors continuing to be a big trend, Gift Republic recently launched an AU multitool range. “The first two products in the range are the money clip multi-tool and the 15-in-1 survival kit which are currently available on our website, with Progressive Gifts & Home Worldwide
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