Everything
happens for a reason, and when childhood friends Tom Daguanno and Max Schmidt
were out of suit options for Tom’s wedding, they decided to create their own. Once
the suits were on display at the wedding, 1701 Bespoke was born and the rest is
history.
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| Image from 1701 Bespoke |
DGG:
Tell us about yourselves, Max and Tom.
Max
Schmidt: Tom and I have known each other since the third grade. We've been
close our whole lives. My best memories are making movies with Tommy as well as
getting into trouble in the summer times.
DGG:
What's the 1701 Bespoke story?
MS: Well, we started in late 2012; Tom was getting married and he asked
me to be his best man. It was kind of a surreal experience because he was the
first of our group of friends to take this step and I was very excited for him.
I was living in Chicago at the time and I remember standing in my apartment
talking to him about the plans for the wedding; he wanted to do custom suits,
but couldn't find anything that fit the style and price points. So we
researched how small companies were able to make suits, formed a partnership
with a tailoring company and developed the first run of suits for the
wedding.
Just from that wedding, we started getting requests from our friends,
and friends of friends who wanted suits, and it began to snowball until we
opened up the pop-up, where we took flight.
DGG:
Describe your job in 10 words.
MS:
Custom made
suits, shirts, and overcoats delivered with amazing service.
DGG:
What has been your greatest accomplishment since starting 1701 Bespoke?
MS:
Our
greatest accomplishment is building a profitable company that employs people,
and is able to make people happy with their clothes. It's amazing to see the
smile on our customers faces or read about how well their weddings went, or how
confident they feel wearing our suit. It's an amazing feeling to be a part of
that.
DGG:
If you could give budding designers three pieces of advice about starting a
fashion company, what would it be?
MS:
First
advice is to start. If you say you can't design because of X, Y & Z, I'm
sure if you talked to a few people in your life you would find ways around
those excuses to start designing. Don't let excuses get in your way because
you'll always think up an excuse.
The
second piece of advice is to figure out what you want to do and put a plan
together. Some people don't want to run companies, they just want to be
technicians; some people don't want to be technicians, they just want to be the
idea people. Everyone has his or her own preferences. So, I think it's
important to understand what you want to do, and then formulate a plan around
that. There's a great quote out there: if you don't know where you're going, you'll
end up somewhere else.
The
third piece of advice is to listen to Audiobooks & podcasts that help with
business and design on your commute. These are really easy to listen to on your
commute and if you drive to work for 20 minutes one way, then you are spending
40 minutes everyday consuming some content that is going to directly help you
achieve your goals.
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| Image from 1701 Bespoke |
DGG:
Where do you see 1701 Bespoke in the next ten years?
MS:
10 years is
a long time! How about 5: Multiple stores across the United States, doing a lot
of online business, maybe a ready-to-wear line.
DGG:
What's the importance of a well-fitted suit?
MS:
A
well-fitting suit is like a coat of armor; you feel impenetrable because you
know you look great. That translates into other parts of your work life as well
as your personal life. *wink, wink*
DGG:
A lot of people need to wear suits, or at least dress business casual in the
workplace. What's your secret to looking good and standing out in the office?
MS:
The
Pareto's Law of looking good is 80% fit 20% color. The most important thing is
to make sure your clothes fit you right. That immediately makes you stand out
from the majority of folk who seemingly only wear clothes because it's illegal
to be naked. Once you have your clothes fitting well, make sure you pick out
colors that compliment you.
We
spend a lot of time talking with our customers about what type of fabrics will
work best with them and a lot goes into it. The color of your hair, eyes, your
skin tone, your swagger, your profession; all of these things we take into
account when we give fabric recommendations. And if you know a few colors that
work well with you and you have well fitting clothes, you'll soon realize
you're the most fashionable person out of all of your friends.
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| Image from 1701 Bespoke |
DGG:
If you could dress anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
MS:
One of the
cool things about our business is we are able to really get to know our
clients. So, I would love to dress Elon Musk because I think he's a fascinating
individual. I'd love to talk to him and pick his brain. And also, from the
looks of it, his wardrobe needs our help.
DGG:
How do you want to be remembered?
MS:
I want to
be remembered as a loving, caring individual. That's the most important thing.
After that, I'd like to be remembered as someone who chose to follow what they
truly loved in life and was able to share their happiness with everyone else.
DGG:
Describe your style.
MS:
My style is
1920s conservative; high-rise trouser, slim legs, and no break, well fitting
jacket (not painted on by any means), mostly solid suits with subtle patterns.
In the summertime I love linen. In the wintertime I love flannel. I think I
look best in navy, so I usually am wearing dark colors.
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| Image from 1701 Bespoke |
DGG:
How do you take your coffee?
MS:
Intravenously.
DGG:
Paul Smith or Ermenegildo Zegna?
MS:
Zegna
without a doubt. We make a fair amount of suits with Zegna fabric; they're a
pretty amazing company. They design fabric as well as build suits; they're the
ones sewing all the Tom Ford suits. Loro Piana and Zegna are the two companies
I admire most in high-end fashion.
DGG:
Fun/patterned socks or plain socks (to wear with your suit)?
MS:
I
personally do plain socks and let my suit do the talking. I'm sure there are
some people that disagree with me, but I think fun socks are one of the
smallest, easiest steps to take to differentiate you from the work uniform and
it's typically the "entry level" step of becoming stylish. But as you
progress in style to wearing better fitting clothes made with better materials,
then I think fun socks become more of a novelty than style. But it's a personal
choice, and I really don't have strong feelings on it either way.
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