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Founded in 2012 by two 24-year-old graduates with zero fashion experience. A business plan sketched above a humble Sydney cafe. The brand that accidentally disrupted the entire menswear industry.
Robin McGowan and James Wakefield knew exactly what they wanted: a great-fitting, custom made-to-measure suit that didn't break the bank. So, they decided to build it themselves. Now, the founders of InStitchu are bridging the gap between old-world tailoring traditions and the modern digital retail landscape—and they are delivering a masterclass on how absolute naivety can be your greatest competitive advantage.
In this episode of This Could Be So Good, Robin and James sit down with Larry and Steve for a refreshing look at the grit, the grind, and the absurd reality of building a custom menswear brand from scratch.
They strip away the polished corporate facade to reveal the brilliantly unconventional reality behind their success. They detail the delusion of thinking they would be "retired by 30," the disastrous first trip to China where they were picked up in a stretch limo but sent home in a beat-up cab, and how they hired a random university student off WeChat who became their lifelong sourcing agent.
They also open up about growing to double-digit showrooms across Australia, surviving the COVID-19 retail apocalypse, and how they landed a massive partnership with the world's largest manufacturer by pitching them over sandwiches on a park bench.
Timestamps:
00:00 - From a tiny cafe to a menswear empire
01:27 - The naive elevator pitch: "We will be retired by 30"
04:55 - The brutal reality of door-to-door suit sales
08:43 - Surviving the COVID-19 retail apocalypse
12:01 - Why having zero fashion experience was their greatest asset
12:22 - The disastrous first factory tour in China
13:26 - Finding their lifelong sourcing agent on a university campus
16:11 - Larry Emdur on why naivety breeds true innovation
20:44 - The intense pressure of taking on investor money
25:17 - How to co-found a business and actually stay friends
29:22 - Pitching the world's biggest manufacturer over park bench sandwiches
33:29 - Why you don't need a business degree to succeed
41:08 - The ultimate lesson: Perseverance and just going for it
