Are men's suit brands, designers, tailors and retailers competitors or partners ?

Interview with Martin Yordanov - business consultant and owner of the most modern factory for
men's made-to-measure suits in Europe - Richmart

You have an interesting statement about competitors and partners in the men's suit industry, can you share it with our readers?

- It is a fact that 90% of men do not wear suits. And all men's suit brands, designers, tailors and retailers are focused to attract the other 10% to become their customers. But let us think what would happen if 50% of men start to wear suits? Then there would be enough customers for all companies on the market. That's why I think everyone working in the men's suit market should unite so that we all together show men the advantages of wearing quality suits and expand the market of men's suits.

This is a good idea. But how do you think this can happen?

- In my opinion men's suit brands have many ways to do that. I can tell you what the Men's Fashion Cluster does in this direction. Richmart is a member of the cluster and supports all its initiatives. The aim of the cluster is to unite the fashion designers, brands, tailors and retailers of suits from Europe and USA and together to create conferences, seminars, design contests, etc., at which to provide professional knowledge about the men's suit and the new trends in the men's suit business - made-to-measure and made-to-order. The Men's Fashion Cluster also opens joint showrooms in big cities across Europe and USA, where to present through the whole year the collections of its members.

If designers, brands, tailors and retailers are actually partners, who is then the competition?

- The competition are all other industries. People have a fixed amount of money and they spend for example 5% of them for clothes. We all need to convince them that they should spend 10% of their budget for quality clothes. Men should understand that wool is the best fabric for men's suits because it breaths and that suits from wool fabrics are very comfortable and suitable to be worn through the whole year. And since the best producers of wool fabrics are in Europe, this project will support the European industry and will save workplaces.

But don't you think it is still difficult to fight the process of de-formalization? Men move away from traditional culture and values generally and don't care so much about their clothes.

- Yes, that's why we all should unite to stop this trend. And here comes the role of women, who like men from the 60s - the real gentlemen with good behavior and wearing stylish suits. We are not against the casual wear - jeans and a stylish suit jacket is still a very good combination.

What about the prices? Aren't men's suits from wool fabrics still too expensive?

- No, I can say that we have a solution to that. RICHMART developed a production line for made-to-measure suits using the principle of Henry Ford in his car production line and achieved a luxury product at very competitive prices - 100% European production with 100% European materials. So everyone, willing to support the European production and sell quality suits is welcome to contact us and join our network of partners.