What Happens When Digital Brands Have to Cut Back on Marketing

Proper Cloth is preparing to dust off its pandemic playbook.

The online menswear brand had temporarily cut its marketing spend by 40 percent early in the pandemic, when demand for its custom dress shirts and suits plummeted. Advertising ramped back up again as offices gradually reopened; by last year, the budget for promotions was back to the pre-pandemic level of around $4 million.

But with more economic turbulence forecasted for the year ahead,…