The e-commerce sector has been pushing the boundaries of what can be sold online and is threatening physical retailers on all fronts. Some startups like Indochino and Frank & Oak are leading the charge in custom mens clothing and are successfully finding finding customers. The latest addition to this sector is the Canadian company Suitly Apparel based in Guelph. Getting its start in August of 2012 the startup has seen an explosion in sales from the beginning of the year according to the co-founder and CEO Matthew Krizsan.
Krizsan spoke to TechVibes and said that, “It’s been interesting, sales have slowly ramped up since the launch. Considering when you’re launching a new company with two people and other day jobs, we’ve been doing really well. We’ve sold a few hundred suits since we launched. The majority of the orders have come this year and the response from our customers has been great.”
Krizsan is a busy man because of his startup and a family business that deals in land development in the Guelph area. The idea for his online business came from his own slender frame. He had a hard time finding ready made suits that fit properly and were a source of frustration when he attended Ryerson for his MBA. The solution came to him on a trip to Thailand were he found a local tailor that was willing to make alteration to shirts, coats and pants so that they fit him perfectly. He enjoyed the service so much that he actually would send money through paypal to the tailor to make him new clothes and ship them to him in three weeks. After Krizsan saw the progress of Indochino and developed his own business plan and launched his site with the help of his wife and co-founder Carol Mechedjian.
The business plan took a year to create and then several weeks were needed to go back and forth to Thailand and setup the supply chain. Krizsan then roped in Toronto based digital creative agency Playground to create the website and features for online sales. The most interesting concept for the site is its “Perfect Fit Guarantee” which gives customers the chance to get their money back if the delivered product needs alterations. Customers can also order something completely new if they wish.
A 10 minute procedure is used to gain user’s measurements when they first sign up. The site provides instructions and a video to help in the account setup and then offers a customize button when ever users place an order so they do not have to reenter all the measurements every time. The site also has a clever algorithm that prompts users if measurements are not correct.
Suitly says they will compete against bigger competitors by offering higher quality menswear. The co-founder explains that, “We’d done about 50 different test suits and shirts from various suppliers, the quality coming from Thailand was top-notch with the stitching and attention to detail. So we ended up using actually trained tailors rather than assembly line kind of fashion. These are half-hand, half-machine sewn suits, there’s a lot of care and attention to detail that goes into it. It costs us a little more in our margin end but it pays off in the end with the end satisfaction from the consumer.”
Source: TechVibes
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