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Yours isn’t the only refrigerator covered in save-the-dates: The post-pandemic wedding boom is real, to the tune of 2.5 million ring exchanges expected to take place in 2022. That’s a 25 percent rise over the pre-COVID-19 annual norm in the United States, and the surge is straining industry suppliers, including suit and tux rental businesses. Which might be why SuitShop—a six-year-old company that mainly sells dapper jackets and pants online but also has three physical showrooms, including one in LoHi—is shipping nearly 500 orders per day and anticipating a 200 percent sales increase over 2021. Co-founder and Denver resident Diana Ganz, however, says the growth can also be attributed to the fact that her brand has leveraged technology, trends, and eco-friendly textiles to bring wedding-party attire into the 21st century.
Something For Everyone
Founded as the Groomsman Suit, the company rebranded to SuitShop in 2021 to reflect its addition of designs for women and children. “Women started coming to us, saying, I don’t want to wear a bridesmaid’s dress anymore,” Ganz says, “or, I want to stand up on the groom’s side and be in a matching suit.” Jackets and pants are sold separately so customers, regardless of gender, can mix and match fits from different lines.
Size Wise
From women’s 00 to 20 (tops and bottoms) and men’s 34 to 64 (jackets; pants run 27 to 54), SuitShop offers one of the largest size ranges on the market. Plus, it’s leveraged more than 100,000 data points on what customers of various heights and weights ordered to create a nine-question fit-finder algorithm on its website that can guess suit sizes with 85 percent accuracy. Creepy? A little. Convenient? Definitely.
Taking Orders
Getting a wedding party to buy its suits and ensure they fit can be, as Ganz puts it, a “goat rodeo.” SuitShop’s group ordering platform aims to ease couples’ anxiety by doing the nagging for them, via reminder emails with links to exactly what to purchase. Each order then arrives at the buyer’s door with a to-do list—“Try On Your Suit”; “Hem Your Pants”—and tips such as not pocketing bulgy cell phones on the big day.
Green Is The New Black
SuitShop is switching all of its pants and jackets to its new Eco Stretch fabric, whose recycled polyester threads are composed of 38 percent plastic bottle waste. It’s cheaper (suit sets start at less than $200) and lighter than wool and less wrinkle-prone than linen. Bonus: The extra elasticity is clutch when it’s time to break out the worm at the reception.
Bang For Your Buck
Renting an ill-fitting tux is likely to cost you at least $150—so you might as well spend a little more to own a jacket-and-pant combo that (unlike a bridesmaid’s dress, no matter how much you shorten it) SuitShop swears you can totally wear again. The company even sends out emails with suggestions on how to, say, pair that blazer with khakis and a sweater for the office.
Pared Down
To ensure the company doesn’t get stuck with an oversupply of blazers in last season’s color of the moment—discarded clothing is a large factor in the fashion industry’s 2.1 billion tons of annual greenhouse gas emissions—SuitShop keeps its offerings minimal and classic. Along with pants, jackets, and vests in fewer than a dozen colors, SuitShop offers white button-up shirts and a handful of black and brown leather shoes and belts. Ties ($15 to $25) come in a rainbow of colors, though, so couples can still match their party’s neckwear to the flowers.