Gender gap is narrowing, and women’s brands are starting to make money for men

As gender norms shift, ‘women’s brands’ are going after a new demo: men.
随着性别常规的转变，“女性品牌”正瞄准新的客户群体：男性。
When designers Monica Zwirner and Lucy Wallace Eustice launched their women’s handbag startup, MZ Wallace, in 2000, they spent a lot of time pondering what they should call their new brand.
2000年设计师莫妮卡·兹维尔纳和露西·华莱士·尤斯蒂斯在创办她们自己的女士手提包公司MZ Wallace时，花了很多时间考虑新品牌的名字。
They considered following the path of many other American designers—Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Rebecca Minkoff—and simply using their own names. But they were worried that approach would make their brand sound overly feminine, something they wanted to avoid.
她们曾考虑效仿其他美国设计师，如Kate Spade（凯特·丝蓓）、Tory Burch（托里·伯奇）、Rebecca Minkoff（丽贝卡·明科夫），用自己的名字为品牌命名。但她们担心这种做法会让她们的品牌听起来过于女性化，而这是他们想避免的。
“Neither of us has a particularly feminine sensibility,” Zwirner says. “We think of ourselves first as a design company, and we think really good design isn’t gender-specific. We wanted to leave open the possibility of making men’s products in the future.”
“我们俩都没有特别的女性敏感性，”兹维尔纳说道。“我们认为，我们首先是一家设计公司，而真正好的设计是不分性别的。我们想保留未来生产男士产品的可能性。”
So they settled on a name they thought would read as gender-neutral: MZ Wallace. All of this forethought has paid off: Now, the brand launches its first men’s product line, officially called the Bleecker Collection, which includes duffels, messenger bags, and backpacks, and comes in black and blue camo.
于是她们选了一个自认为比较中性的名字：MZ Wallace。其先见之明得到了回报：如今该品牌推出了第一款男士系列产品，其正式名称为Bleecker系列，该系列产品里有蓝黑迷彩色的露营用品、邮差包和背包。
And unlike some of the brand’s counterparts, who have had to create entirely new brands for male customers (Kate Spade launched Jack Spade, and Rebecca Minkoff launched Uri Minkoff), MZ Wallace now sells both men and women’s products under the same brand.
不像同行中的其他品牌，MZ Wallace如今在同一个品牌下销售男士和女士产品，而其他品牌则不得不为男性顾客创立全新的品牌，例如，Kate Spade推出了Jack Spade（杰克·丝蓓），Rebecca Minkoff推出了Uri Minkoff（乌里·明科夫）。
Transitioning from a women’s brand to a unisex brand can be a smart business move, one that potentially doubles the size of your market. But it’s also tricky, thanks to deeply entrenched gender norms.
从女性品牌转变为男女通用品牌或许是一项明智的商业举措，因为这可能会使你的市场规模扩大一倍。但由于根深蒂固的性别常规，这也会很棘手。
While women tend to be comfortable buying and using products marketed to men, men have been historically less comfortable buying products marketed to women. MZ Wallace is among a very small group of brands (including shoemaker Malone Souliers, which is debuting its men’s line this fall, and Lululemon, which expanded into menswear in 2016) taking the bold step of asking men to shop with a brand previously associated with women.
虽然女性愿意购买并使用针对男性的产品，但男性一向不太愿意购买针对女性的产品。为数不多的几个品牌大胆地邀请男士购买曾针对女性的品牌的产品，这其中就包括MZ Wallace，此外还有鞋业制造商Malone Souliers，该公司于今年秋季推出其男士系列产品，而Lululemon（露露柠檬）品牌已于2016年推出其男装产品。
Their efforts show how society may be changing—but also how fraught gender dynamics can be.
他们的尝试说明了社会可能在发生的变化，但同时也表明了性别动态或许很令人担忧。