Butterflies in your stomach?
Wondering if custom clothing is an experience you can give to yourself?
COSTS
Costs are the easiest aspect to address.
If we compare the cost of buying the average number of garments with buying fewer better custom-made garments, it’s clear the real issue isn’t affordability.
Americans buy an average of 70 garments per year.
70 x $15 per garment = $1050 per year ….this amount could provide you with about 7 custom-made shirts
70 x $25 per garment = $1750 per year ….this amount could provide you with 1 custom-made suit
70 x $50 per garment = $3500 per year ….this amount provides you with one of my wool jackets or overcoats, or a simpler leather coat
70 x $75 per garment = $5250 per year …this amount provides you with a very complicated leather coat design or an armored motorcycle jacket
VALUE
The second aspect is value.
A custom-made garment lovingly, painstakingly made by a hopefully local-to-you artisan is, almost by definition, built to last much longer than clothes bought off the rack, especially compared with fast fashion.
Your artisan wants you to be happy and satisfied. They want to you to come back, to refer others, to be proud to wear the garments you collaborated on.
This is why all garments I make for you are G U A R A N T E E D F O R L I F E
The more you wear a garment, the less expensive it gets. The price-per-wear drops every time.
A $5000 garment worn just 175 times in a year costs $28.60 per wear for that year.
A $5000 garment worn 175 times per year for 10 years costs $2.86 per wear over that decade.
A quality garment costs more up front, but brings you longer returns over time.
The more you wear a garment, the more it becomes part of your signature style and the less you look like everyone else.
COURAGE
Courage, or actually fear, is the real stumbling block beneath our worries about costs and value.
Buying better and buying less isn’t so much about affordability but more about having the guts to go against the grain. With this approach we are free to opt out of believing buying more stuff equals being more successful.
We must ask ourselves:
Do we have the courage to wear the same garments more often?
Are we prepared to take the time and make the effort to take better care of our investments?
Are we prepared to ignore media pressure around wearing a different outfit almost every day?
Are we prepared to channel our emotional and psychological discomfort into something besides shopping for clothing?
……and the questions might go even deeper:
Do the people I spend time with understand and support my decisions about my appearance, or do they disrespect my choices?
Do I need to bring different people into my life?
Do I need to take better care of myself, including taking more breaks away from media?
Do I need to find a different line of work where there is less emphasis placed on looking a certain way?
Do I need to be more honest with myself about how I use my resources – time, energy, money?
If you’ve read this far, chances are you’re at a tipping point.
Let’s have a no-pressure and playful consultation.