A Dream Come True | Tiege Hanley VLOG 189 HD

A DREAM COME TRUE | VLOG 189 Check out last week’s vlog where the Tiege Team hit the pavement in New York City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NII2YwemzP0 AARON WILL BE THE FIRST Over the last 5-years, Aaron has been a huge fan of Suitsupply because all of their suits are ‘next level stuff’. He also thinks Suitsupply’s story of entrepreneurship is one of epic proportions. Get this – they have grown globally the last two decades despite no advertising! And now Aaron will be the first person that Suitsupply has ever paid to market their company. This is his dream come true. BACKSTORY Suitsupply was started in 2000 by Fokke de Jong out of his dorm room in Amsterdam. Nish de Gruiter, whom Aaron met recently, knew Fokke from school but went off to Italy for 4-years to learn about the industry. Nish kept in touch with Fokke, and upon returning from Italy, Nish approached Fokke. At this point, Suitsupply had grown to 21 stores, and Nish’s idea was to bring Suitsupply to the United States. Due to his persistence, 45 locations are now open in the United States with 121 stores worldwide. They have never accepted a penny of investment, and all marketing has been word-of-mouth. They’ve been so successful due to being vertically integrated. EXPANSION STRATEGY + NO ADVERTISING Suitsupply has an intriguing strategy for expansion. Their perspective is that suits are a ‘destination’ because shoppers don’t typically impulse buy them. Aligned with this destination theory, their tactic has been acquiring 2nd tier real estate locations for their stores. Aaron provides an example of their 4th floor Chicago location where you must look up or you’ll never locate the store. Keep in mind that Chicago’s Rush & Oak real estate is some of the most expensive in the county-- but the upstairs is ¼ the price. Further, they leverage rent by signing long leases. Their Atlanta location is a great example where they signed a 10-20 year lease in the heart of Buckhead near Lenox so they could make improvements to the ‘craphole’ dry cleaner space. Currently, they are about to open 800 square foot shops in Nordstrom with the goal of making Suitsupply a bigger name. Suitsupply has wanted to be a brand that was built solely on word-of-mouth. They got their ‘big splash’ from an article in the Wall Street Journal where they were selected as the best suit against competitors’ suits that cost thousands of dollars. This truly put them on the map in the United States. WHY AARON FELL IN LOVE When Aaron found Suitsupply 5-years ago, he was amazed that their off-the-rack suit fit him like a glove. Not only that, the store was aesthetically sexy – a ray of colors, textures, fabric, lighting, tile, and sounds. It was an experience that made him feel good. Aaron automatically loved his suit, which no alterations were needed. This was unheard of in the past due to his size. He had been using Modern Tailor at the time, but it didn’t provide a super clean aesthetic like this Suit