Trumaker: The new menswear brand revolutionizing the shopping experience and interview with the CEO

Hi lovelies,

The online and in-store shopping experience is constantly changing and evolving. New to scene and changing the shopping game is Trumaker, a new type of menswear brand that bridges retail and e-commerce.

In their words: “Trumaker’s individually tailored fit and carefully crafted design gives an alternative to traditional menswear and bring an entirely new service to the everyday man. 

Utilizing its mobile app, Trumaker sends experienced Outfitters to customers’ homes or offices for 30-minute fittings where they take measurements, gather style preferences and provide tailored wardrobe consultations. Gone are the days where men need to spend hours at the store scouring for the right size or discovering the right fit; the Trumaker experience starts at the beginning, eliminating the dreaded process of shopping that men avoid.

Trumaker is launching sweaters, leather goods and belts. Its current portfolio includes shirts for both work and play,as well as a complete ready-to-wear line of luxury tees, cashmere sweaters and accessories.”

Check out my exclusive interview with their CEO Mark Lovas:

Candy Washington: Hi Mark, what was the inspiration behind Trumaker?

Mark Lovas: After developing the Guideshops for Bonobos, I spent a lot of time evaluating the menswear landscape. I discovered that custom clothes for men are all commoditized and that they targeted a very narrow slice of the market -- Wall Street types who were looking for a convenient alternative to their local tailors. I saw a big opportunity to serve a much larger market by creating an upgrade brand via Outfitters who would go to customers' homes and give them personalized style consultations.

I wanted to create something for men that they may not have had access to before: bespoke tailoring at their doorstep and access to an individualized experience that they can only get at a tailor, but now made more accessible because we come to them. Everything we make as a result of a fitting is built to fit every man's specific body.

CW: What are some of the ways Trumaker is revolutionizing the shopping experience?

ML: Trumaker is revolutionizing shopping through its business, product and experience.

• Business - Many made-to-measure brands are commoditized, using custom to make the brand seem more "complex" but not actually providing much personalization. We are bringing to our customers a truly individualized experience and taking built-to-fit a step further -- eliminating the dreaded process of shopping for men.

• Product - High-quality and carefully designed apparel are our number one priority. Our customized pieces are meticulously constructed in San Francisco with custom fabrics and finishes -- ensuring a perfect fit -- down to the thread.

• Experience - Most men don't know how to shop, don't have time to shop or don't care to shop in general. We utilize our mobile app to send local experienced Outfitters to customers’ homes or offices for 30-minute fittings where they take measurements, gather style preferences and provide tailored wardrobe consultations. The Trumaker experience starts from the beginning; once we have your measurements, everything you buy comes built or sized for you, so you have the benefits of online without worrying about size.
   

CW: What are some of the menswear brands that participate in Trumaker?

ML: No menswear brands participate in Trumaker. We are an independent company that strives to provide the everyday man with carefully crafted, classic but still unique and perfectly fitted shirts. Some have said we are "J. Crew cut for you." Our shirts that may be similarly priced as J. Crew's, but we are an upgrade because we save men the trouble of discovering the right fit or taking a shirt in to get tailored.

CW: Can you tell us more about the mobile app?

ML: Our outfitters use the mobile app to take orders. Technology is #1 for our Outfitters; there is a lot of technology involved in building a shopping platform that can take precise measurements and translate those numbers into a tangible product. What contributes to our company's uniqueness is that we are powered by mobile technology to streamline a process that should be innately simple for the customer -- getting a great fitting shirt.

CW: Anything else you want to share with my readers?

ML: Trumaker's business is going very well. We currently have Outfitters in 10 cities nationwide (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Nashville and New York) and the company is on track to quadruple its sales from last year, growing 20% month over month. We currently offer built-to-fit shirts for both work and play and just recently launched blazers, as well as a complete ready-to-wear line of luxury tees, cashmere sweaters and accessories. We plan to own a greater share of a customer’s closet over time, using our measurement and sizing data to build a smart assortment of ready-to-wear items to complement our built-to-fit offerings.

Business Powered by Good Deed: TWILLORY Changes Charitable Landscape

Hi lovelies,

I was just introduced to Twillory, a new menswear e-tailer brand. They create charitable and philanthropic designs of men’s dress shirts and menswear fashions. Twillory manufactures their own fabric and is reinventing the charitable landscape with their new campaign RE:PURPOSE.

Details on how they give back:
For every Twillory shirt purchased online, with it comes a pre-paid mailer bag for the buyer to send any old dress shirts (gently worn) they no longer want to donate to Career Gear, an organization that provides professional clothing, mentoring, and life-skills to help men in poverty become stronger contributors to their families and communities.

Fashion scoop on the charitable brand:
Twillory has partnered with CareerGear, an organization committed to helping underprivileged men get back on their feet by providing professional clothing, mentoring and life-skills to improve their chances of finding gainful employment.

Twillory Founder, Asher Weinberger comes from a non-profit background, and notes "We thought long and hard about our charitable initiative. We wanted to galvanize our community, and have our customers actively engage in the giving process. It’s one thing when the company donates on your behalf. It’s another when the responsibility is passed along to the purchaser. When two people interact, something good should happen for a third person. That’s what Re:Purpose is all about. It’s so much more meaningful for the Twillory man to pick out an old shirt hanging in the back of his closet that he will never wear again, and know that it is going to a man in need.”

In keeping with that sentiment, Twillory has looked to simplify and streamline the process. Asher remarked, "For as long as we can remember, the status quo has been clothing drop boxes, and we felt that they needed a millennial upgrade. We’ve brought the dropbox to the consumer, along with a pre-paid mailer bag to make it easy. We inspect, launder and repackage donated goods for distribution. We joined forces with CareerGear, a forward thinking charity so that the re-purposed clothing will help the jobless, homeless, and disaster stricken. This is our version of enhanced social responsibility in business."

Partnering with CareerGear was a natural fit. "The RePurpose program is a fantastic alliance. It allows the Twillory customer to literally give the shirt off his back to a Career Gear client who has an upcoming interview, but cannot afford to purchase a new dress shirt. And it keeps clothing out of the landfills. So really, it’s a win - win - win for everyone.” said Gary Field, Founder/Executive Director of CareerGear.

By the end of 2014, Twillory hopes to have at least 2,000 shirts donated via their customers. Armed with a new shirt through Twillory and mentorship via Career Gear, Twillory intends on giving hope to thousands of men in need, while growing the Twillory brand one customer at a time.