InStitchu delivers tailor-made and stylish Merino wool suits

Founded by Robin McGowan and James Wakefield in 2012, the company provides customers with the ability to design their own custom, made-to-measure suits and shirts in minutes online or at a showroom.

Utilising world-leading technology and premium fabrics, InStitchu provides custom, tailor-made garments at an affordable price and of impeccable quality.

With quality the key, every wool fabric used by InStitchu has been Woolmark certified as 100 per cent Australian Merino wool.

Mr Wakefield said when selling at an affordable price point, the quality of construction and fabric used was critical and they were always very aware that in the global suit space, Merino wool was the superior choice.

"When we first started we approached Woolmark and asked for an introduction to fabric mills all over the world which we could partner with and buy fabrics from that were Woolmark certified," Mr Wakefield said.

"We wanted to have complete confidence that what we were offering to our customers was 100 per cent Australian Merino wool and a certain quality of fabric.

"To get the Woolmark certification, the construction of the garments also needs to be reviewed by the Woolmark team, so it's an extra tick of approval to instill confidence in our customers that our products meet that criteria of being incredibly high quality."

The attraction to Merino wool was simple - it's a natural fibre which means its versatile, durable, breathable and thermoregulating.

To offer suits at various price points, InStitchu works with three different grades of Merino wool fabrics - super 110s which are durable and elegant, superb for everyday wear, super 120s offering a premium standard, equally suitable for work and special occasions, and super 130s which provide an exquisite standard of wool best suited for special occasions and the finer moments in life.

"There is no real alternative to Merino wool for high quality suiting and that's why you see the top European fabric mills, such as Zegna and Stylbiella, which we source our fabric from, have focused and honed in on Merino wool," Mr Wakefield said.

With his family coming from a sixth-generation sheep business at Spicers Creek in New South Wales, Mr Wakefield was no stranger to Merino value.

For years he was lucky enough to spend his school holidays on the farm with his grandparents, cousins and uncle, who now runs the property.

While a lot of children would find it to be a chore, Mr Wakefield always enjoyed being surrounded by sheep during shearing season and getting to help out anyway he could, even if it meant sweeping the floors.

"It instilled in me an appreciation of the hard work and the craft which goes into creating super fine Merino wool," he said.

"It's not something that happens overnight and there is a reason why Australian Merino wool is so highly regarded.

"It's because of the generations of hard work Australian farmers have put into perfecting their craft and there are entire bloodlines which have been dedicated to creating the best Merino wool."

Starting a business from scratch is difficult at the best of times, but with Mr Wakefield working as a stockbroker and Mr McGowan in property, the pair also had zero experience in fashion or technology.

What they did have was an entrepreneurial nature and desire for the same thing.

Having gone to high school together, they used to spend their lunches brainstorming different business ideas.

They always knew they wanted to start a business and while InStitchu was the first that got off the ground, it certainly wasn't the first idea they had.

Ultimately it wasn't really about the fashion at the time, but instead recognising the business opportunity in the space.

"At the time, technology and e-commerce was a growing category and this business ticked those boxes," Mr Wakefield said.

"For us it was more about the technology angle and being able to build a platform which allowed consumers anywhere in the world to link to high quality factories in Asia to design a custom product.

"Almost everyone told us that it wouldn't work and the Australian consumer would never feel confident to buy a tailor made suit online, so we faced that obstacle from day one and we've been able to prove all of those people wrong."

Those people certainly were wrong and over the past decade InStitchu has gone from an e-commerce website to also having 16 showrooms around Australia, including three in WA at Perth, Karrinyup and Claremont.

While the website is still critically important to the business, especially for regional and international customers who can't make it into a store, the showrooms provide a high-end, luxury experience which is usually only reserved for people able to pay thousands of dollars.

READ MORE:

With two-piece suits starting at $699, customers are able to enjoy a beer, wine or whiskey and work with a style consultant to create a perfect garment in terms of design, fabric and measurements.

Once their measurements are in the system, it's easy to go back and order online.

"Our mantra is affordable luxury - we're focused on delivering a high quality product and high-end service at an affordable price," Mr Wakefield said.

"We just couldn't see why a tailor- made suit should be reserved for people who can afford to spend thousands of dollars.

"We wanted to democratise the tailor-made suit and make the experience affordable to everybody, so they can get the style, size and fit they're after at a price point they can afford."

With a business model focused on affordability, it simply wouldn't work with one or two stores and a decent volume of sales was required to be able to make money at the price point the suits are sold at.

In the first few years, InStitchu focused on quick growth and now that's happened it's an organic effort based on repeat purchases and word of mouth.

But gaining that level of trust from customers took effort and from the beginning the company reached out to a lot of experts in the industry including tailors, retailers and manufacturers all over the world to educate themselves.

When it came down to the manufacturing process and finding the right partner to work with, there was no substitute for going and visiting dozens of factories in China.

Mr Wakefield said it came down to building relationships through face-to-face interactions with the manufacturers which gave them a really helpful head start.

"We were very conscious of not wanting to work with a factory that we hadn't met or seen the working conditions as we wanted to put a big focus on ethics and the sustainable nature of the business from day dot," he said.

"You're not contributing to fast fashion and the environmental impact that comes with that in terms of energy consumption and water usage that goes into milling these fabrics to make thousands of items which only end up in landfill at the end of the season.

"As consumers become far more aware and conscious of sustainable fashion, our business model is ripe for growth."

With a growth mindset always leading the way, the business also launched a dedicated womenswear product line about 12 months ago.

While InStitchu had been selling to women since day one, in terms of the pattern and the more technical elements of constructing a tailor-made suit to fit a women's body, it took a while to perfect.

They worked with the pattern making team to refine that and once they were happy, they pulled the trigger on the specific womenswear line which has been really well received.

Mr Wakefield said in Australia, there wasn't an alternative at their price point which offered fashion-forward tailored suits for women.

"It's not a 1980s corporate power suit, it's more the Camilla and Marc style, a cool blazer which can be worn socially or to the office," he said.

"In particular for female suiting, given the more form fitting style, there is a need for a little bit of stretch.

"Historically, fabric mills had to rely on synthetic materials to get that stretch but that's not the case any more as the mills have really innovated and the technology has expanded so you can still have 100pc Australian Merino wool that does have stretch."