Dean Manev: We support fashion designers to develop their men’s suits brand

Dean Manev is the Trade Director of the Men’s Fashion Cluster, organizer of the Men’s Style project. The project offers support to fashion designers for developing their men’s suits brand. The cluster works in collaboration with one of the biggest factories for production of men’s suits in Europe - Richmart.

• Mr. Manev, you told me that a part of the support for the designers is a free training and production practice that you provide to them. What does it include?

We want to teach designers how to create and market their own brand for men’s suits. The training includes knowledge about the men’s suit and the rules that they should follow when they design their men’s suits collections. We show them how to take measures for custom garments including jackets and pants, how to recognize and correct problems with finished garments. The training also includes fabric knowledge. We also talk about business and marketing and how they can start a successful menswear business.

• Is this training really free?

Yes, as long as the designers come to the factory in Ruse, Bulgaria, the training is free of charge for them and without any contracts and obligations.

• Who can have this training? What are your requirements?

We invite all fashion designers from Europe and USA to visit the factory and get the training. There are no requirements for previous experience in men’s fashion. We want to inspire fashion designers to start creating menswear brands, because the trends show that men’s fashion is on the rise.

• You also offer the most talented designers to create their collections free of charge and get support for marketing and sales. How does that work?

Yes, we select up to 5 designers each month to create 5 models of men’s suits, which will be manufactured free of charge by the factory. Designers can select the fabric and lining for the suits from more than 1000 Italian and English high quality fabrics, available at the factory. After the models are produced, which takes most often not more than 2-3 weeks, we organize a photo shoot, which is also free. We then help the designer market the collection. The Men’s Fashion Cluster participates in 10 international fairs in spring and autumn and every designer can decide on which fair to present his models. The fairs are in Berlin, Salzburg, Copenhagen, New York, Las Vegas, Moscow, Poznan, Paris, Dusseldorf. So, you see that about 1-2 months after the designer created his collection he can start earning money from it - a percentage of the sales made by agents at the trade fairs or online. And if the designer is successful, we will continue our cooperation and he can create more models, to be produced and marketed with our support. The good thing is that we do not restrict designers to create models just for two seasons, they can create their models through the whole year whenever they have inspiration for that.

• This sounds like a great opportunity for the fashion designers. Are there any restriction at the age? Is this opportunity for young fashion designers?

No, we are glad to work with all fashion designers regardless of their age, as long as they live in Europe and USA, because the target are those markets. We also support the designers if they want to open their own atelier. The training that we provide is very helpful for that. It is also a good chance for women's fashion designers to create also their menswear brand.

• Are there any designers that already participate in the project?

Yes, designers from Italy, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, USA, the Netherlands, Austria, Bulgaria and other countries already participate in the project. They really like this opportunity because at school or university they do not get enough knowledge for the real production and marketing, and how to do business. We fill in the gap and help them start their brand.

We also invite women’s fashion designers to start their men’s suits brand. They will see that it is not difficult with our support to create their men’s suits collections, even if they don’t have experience in men’s fashion. Suit tailoring is a very good business and we invite all fashion designers to come and learn more about that. The Richmart factory has a capacity to produce about 1300 men’s suits per day and has modern machines and equipment.

All fashion designers that want to participate in the project can register at mensstyle.org