Michael Kors' Suit Man
Casual Friday threatened to kill the men’s suit last decade, but the well-tailored vestments that Cary Grant wore have come back into vogue during the past two years. Witness the recent success of The Men’s Wearhouse, the largest publicly owned specialty men’s retailer in the United States. On Aug. 4, the Houston-based company announced its net sales were $730.2 million for the past two quarters and its same-store U.S. sales increased 9.4 percent.
Fashion icon Michael Kors noticed and will roll out the Michael By Michael Kors men’s collection next year. California Apparel News Retail Editor Andrew Asch recently met with Terry Kalish, president of New York–based Michael Kors Tailored Clothing, at Jimmy Au’s For Men 5'8quot; and Under in Glendale, Calif., to talk about suits.
Why is the men’s suit finding popularity again?
A lot has to do with economic conditions. When times aren’t so good, men tend to dress up a little more. I also think men are tired of casual Friday.
Did you think casual Friday was going to kill the suit?
Personally, I didn’t think it was going to kill the suit. I thought it was just another trend.
Something we had to muddle through. But they didn’t know how to dress, how to pull it off properly. All of the sudden, companies said, “Hey, no more sweat pants.”
How will you keep men interested in the suit?
Michael says, “Gimme some details. I want some details.” We’ll do stripes, sleeve lining, stacked buttons; we’ll put in just a bit of luggage [Kors’ signature brown color] to give it a more designery approach.
Tailors hate it, and maybe the suit doesn’t need anything, but we’ll put it in to make that guy realize what he has.
How big will the rollout be?
We’ll roll it out for the Fall season for about 250 stores, maybe more. We’ll have a limited launch. We were supposed to launch it this Spring, but because [Kors] was rolling out his womenswear [then] hellip; Spring 2005 will be the major launch.
