We are not very big guys and had searched everywhere for shirts that were well cut and well constructed. Every time we put a shirt on we felt like we were setting sail. It was not until we were finishing school at Babson College, writing business plans and thinking about what to do in the real world, did the idea of mixing entrepreneurship and custom shirts dawn on us. Our inspiration was Barrett’s father who had been bringing back gorgeous custom shirts fashioned in sharp, eye catching patterns from Hong Kong for a number of years. The more we looked into it, the more we realized the need for a company that properly combines clean web-design, an intuitive shopping experience, and quality-oriented tailoring.
Being young and naive, we immediately thought that we should go to Hong Kong and source manufacturing. We purchased plane tickets and haphazardly started the adventure. With home base established on our friend’s couch (thanks again Casey), we spent a week wandering wide-eyed and sweaty through an impossibly vertical city inhabited by seven million people. Luckily, one of our handful of contacts worked out and we had successfully sourced manufacturing, or so we thought. After returning home, we quickly realized the difficulties of communicating with people that are charging through the day while we are sound asleep. We then thought, what if something goes wrong? What if the client doesn’t get what they want? How are we going to fix the error if it is a 17 hour plane ride away? We contemplated the positives and negatives of overseas manufacturing for many weeks as we spoke with advisers and professors.
We decided we were going to bring our manufacturing home. Fortune had it that we were introduced to some fantastic small factories that are still making custom shirts here in the United States. After visiting the factories, we were pleased to see the amount of care and craftsmanship each person put into producing a shirt. From creating an individual pattern to shipping the finished shirt, there are over sixty pairs of hands and five points of inspection throughout the sewing process that contribute to the final garment. More importantly, our friends at the factory are genuinely excited about our company and have bent over backwards helping us to make this dream a reality.
We are incredibly proud of what we do. It is able to be said with full confidence that these are some of the finest shirts in the world.
detail of contrast stitching around triple stacked mother of pearl buttons.
detail of contrast fabric gusset
interior cuff contrast fabrics
samples of spring fabric collection
Dude, Sayer’s shirt looks money in those photos…