As a child growing up in Germany, Gael Stirler was exposed to the country’s rich medieval and Renaissance history. As an adult, she is exposing others to the clothing, weapons, and accessories of those eras through her catalog and store, Chivalry Sports.
Stirler started out in 1992 selling items such as hats, jewelry, and games at medieval and Renaissance festivals throughout the United States, creating an eight-page flier in 1992. The flier first mailed to members of The Society for Creative Anachronism and to other names that Stirler collected at festivals. Stirler has expanded the business to include a Website (1995), a store near the company’s offices in Tucson, AZ (1996), and a small wholesale division (1999). The Web has introduced a new crop of international buyers from Japan, Sweden, Australia, and the U.K., among other countries. The office/warehouse has grown out of its original 3,000-sq.-ft. facility a 8,000-sq.-ft.-space.
But perhaps the biggest change to Stirler’s business is the number of catalog editions produced a year. In the beginning, she put out four editions annually. In 1995, Stirler cut back to two. Last year she decided to mail only one catalog a year. Stirler says that the resulting slight drop in response is offset by savings in producing only one book. Still, “we always mail to Web buyers because we know that combined channel sales account for 20% of the company’s sales and we are at the point where we are trying to build a brand.”
To leverage itself as the authority on the days of yore — and to encourage customers to hang on to the catalog throughout the year — Chivalry Sports yields some selling space to editorial about movies and books with a link to medieval and Renaissance culture. (In fact, the catalog’s tagline is “Renaissance catalog magazine.”) The cataloger also uses medieval/Renaissance aficionados as models and as phone reps.
“I think it’s nice when callers can have a dialogue with a CSR who has not only seen the items but modeled some of them,” Stirler says, “so if they have a fit question they can be assured that they get an honest answer.”
The company’s niche is in vogue these days, thanks to recent movies such as A Knight’s Tale. Some may say that chivalry is dead, this catalog is bent on assisting in its renaissance.
Based in: Tucson, AZ
Founded: 1992
URL: www.renstore.com
Annual catalog sales: $2.2 million
Annual circulation: 250,000
House file: 130,000 two-year buyers
Number of editions a year: one
Number of pages: 64
Target audience: Renaissance enthusiasts, ages 26-55
Competitor: Museum Replicas