KEEPING IT FRESH
In business for 106 years, Caswells Company Limited refuses to show its age. In fact, the venerable downtown men’s clothing store is at the top of its game.
While many retailers are lamenting the sluggish economy, Caswells’ owner Gord Burgess remains enthusiastic. “Retail for us has stayed fairly strong. Our market has stayed very strong so we’re looking forward to a busy season.”
What’s the secret to Caswells’ enviable success? “We keep changing our product lines a bit every season. We keep bringing in new product lines, new fashions. The stores that stay back and keep doing what they’ve been doing for years, perhaps their customers are getting a bit bored. The idea is to keep showing fresh product and stimulate your customers to get them into the store and want to wear new and fresh items,” says Burgess.
“If you keep going back to the same suppliers then there is a tendency to show the same things. But if you’re always eyeing the market looking for what’s new, you’ll find fresh items to spark your customers’ interest.”
Burgess explores the latest fashion trends by traveling to major buyers’ markets in Toronto, Vancouver, Las Vegas and New York. “Each of those markets shows different categories of clothing. New York tends to be dressier. The market in Las Vegas, which is more west-coast related, tends to be more casual. We’re always looking to find new products, new looks.”
Among the season’s must-haves is a new sport coat, says Burgess. “For 2017, the silhouette is still trim to the body, but the construction of the jacket is softer and lighter. It’s not quite as structured, with softer shoulders. The fabrics are changing continuously. There are some interesting textures and bold checks.”
Look to lapels for one of the biggest updates in men’s suiting. “There are a lot of lapel changes this year. The peak lapel, as opposed to the traditional notch lapel, is very strong. The lapels are widening out just a touch. It’s something we’re seeing in both offthe-rack and in our custom suiting,” says Burgess.
“The other thing that has changed a lot are the patterns in dress shirts. As opposed to just solids, stripes and checks, we’re seeing some more unique patterns and novelty prints in dress shirts. We have dress shirts with butterflies on them, bees on them. Our number one best-seller, which sold out quickly, had ladybugs. The shirt I have on right now has a print with little race cars. The new novelty prints in dress shirts are very strong. They aren’t just being worn as open collar sport shirts, they’re being worn with ties,” says Burgess.
When pairing a tie with a print dress shirt, Burgess offers this advice. “It can be a geometric, as long as the geometric is a slightly different shape than the pattern in the shirt. It can be a tartan, it can be a paisley, even a polka dot. The pattern doesn’t really matter; the size of the pattern matters. You don’t put two geometrics together that are both the same size. You have to stagger the sizes.”
The biggest growth area in Caswells’ business has been in custom suiting, says Burgess. “Since moving three years ago to our new stand-alone location on Second Avenue, our custom business has probably tripled. It’s a trend that’s happening across North America.”
He attributes the surge in custom suiting to men’s increasing interest in fashion trends and the desire for individualized style.
“Custom suiting isn’t just for the hard-to-fit customer. It’s for the man who wants to personalize his look. At one time, it was a segment of the market that was exclusive to business executives, but now custom suiting has gone mainstream,” says Burgess.
“When you do custom, you can do different lapel shapes, button placements, jacket lengths. You can choose your fabric, your lining, buttons and style of top stitching. It’s not that you’re designing everything from scratch, you’re personalizing your garment. It gives the person exclusivity on his look.”
Caswells’ go-to choice for custom attire is Coppleys, a leading Canadian menswear supplier that has remained at the pinnacle of fashion since 1883. “Caswells has had a strong relationship with Coppley for over 75 years,” says Burgess.
Bob Cameron, western Canadian sales manager for Coppley, says that the custom-tailored experience is especially appealing to today’s millennials. “They come in looking for a particular silhouette. Then they get interested by the choices in the different fabrics, buttons, linings and stitching. Where it used to be important to come in and buy a specific brand, now they want their own thing. They’re coming in saying, ‘I don’t care about anybody else; I want this for me.’ Our custom business has gone way up because of that in the last three to five years.”
Coppley is renowned for its outstanding selection of fabrics, as well as its meticulous workmanship. “Customers can select anything they want out of the hundreds of fabrics we provide. We work with the world’s leading fabric mills, such as Scotland’s Holland and Sherry, to obtain the most fashionable and desirable fabrics,” says Cameron.
Not all custom suits are created equal, he points out. “In this business, you need people who know what they’re doing. Herein lies the success of an experienced store like Caswells. It’s one thing to say, here are the fabrics and here are the things you can do, but it’s another thing to get the fit right,” says Cameron.
“It’s not as simple as picking up a measuring tape and writing down the numbers. It’s the interpretation of those numbers that’s going to make the garment right.
“That’s where these guys come into their own. They’re absolutely excellent at it. So with all this choice, all this variety, it’s pretty hard for a guy to not find exactly what he’s looking for.”