Samuelsohn Celebrates Centennial With New Assortment, Marketing campaign – WWD

It began in 1923 when grasp tailor Lesser Samuelsohn migrated from New York to Canada, the place he put down roots and started manufacturing high-quality males’s fits.

Quick ahead to in the present day, and the corporate Samuelsohn established stays headquartered in Montreal and produces finely crafted menswear that’s carried by greater than 200 retailers in North America. His household continued to be concerned within the enterprise till 2010, when his grandsons bought it to Grano Retail Investments, an funding and advisory firm headed by Stephen Granovsky, who grew to become chief government officer.

Granovsky, who additionally helms the Luxurious Males’s Attire Group, nonetheless operates a manufacturing unit in Montreal, the place it makes hand-tailored full canvas Samuelsohn fits from materials sourced from the best European mills. As a nod to its heritage, the tailors nonetheless sew a purple coronary heart underneath the collar of each jacket, referencing the corporate’s longtime tagline: “We Sew a Little Coronary heart into Each Swimsuit.”

In recent times because the world grew to become extra informal, Samuelsohn expanded past its core of conventional fits to supply more-casual choices similar to go well with separates and luxurious sportswear together with shirts and sweaters. And the manufacturing unit, which employs 500 folks in Montreal, produces for different manufacturers as effectively, together with Paul Stuart.

The scenario bought slightly sticky earlier this 12 months when Luxurious Males’s Attire Group misplaced the longtime license to supply Hickey Freeman to Peerless Clothes. To switch the enterprise, Granovsky launched Heritage Gold, a tailor-made clothes assortment designed by Aliya Morehead, artistic director and senior vp of design and merchandising, which can be being produced within the Samuelsohn manufacturing unit in Montreal.

That line, in addition to the Samuelsohn assortment, might be on show on the Chicago Collective this week, and to have a good time the centennial, Granovsky will host an occasion Monday night time at Gibsons Italia Rooftop Bar. There may even be a birthday celebration in Montreal in September for the corporate’s staff.

“Lower than 5 p.c of corporations make it to their centennial, so this can be a super accomplishment,” Granovsky stated. “A few of our retail clients have reached 100, however it’s not straightforward for high-end producers. So that is extremely particular.”

As a part of the celebration, Samuelsohn has created a particular assortment referred to as Iconics and has tapped actor Chris Noth to be the face of the marketing campaign. Noth, who’s well known as Mr. Large in “Intercourse and the Metropolis,” is maybe a controversial alternative since he was accused of sexual assault by 4 girls in 2021, resulting in his dismissal from his function on “The Equalizer.” He has denied the claims, nevertheless, and was not criminally charged. “The accusations in opposition to me made by people I met years, even many years, in the past are categorically false,” he informed CNN on the time.

Granovsky stated that whereas he was conscious of the allegations, he believes Noth was the appropriate option to entrance the Iconics marketing campaign. The actor donated his price for showing within the marketing campaign and along with Samuelsohn, dedicated to donate as much as $100,000 to Psychological Well being America and the Canadian Psychological Well being Affiliation.

“We thought lengthy and exhausting about it,” Granovsky stated, however the truth that Noth is so dedicated to psychological well being causes sealed the deal. “This isn’t a celebrity-driven model however we had the chance to pair with a star who wished to commit his price to psychological well being, which is particular. And he seems higher in a go well with than anybody I do know.”

However is Granovsky involved that utilizing Noth might alienate some shoppers? “Because the CEO of a big attire firm, I fear about all the pieces,” he stated with amusing, “however I can’t let that sway me. He’s supporting psychological well being and he exhibits off the product very effectively.”

He continued: “We’re at all times been a product-first firm however we wished to construct a marketing campaign as a coming-out get together for Samuelsohn. We’ve at all times been a little bit of an unknown gem. We don’t compete with the Italians or promote to the majors; we give attention to menswear shops the place our publicity is much less, however the clients are extraordinarily loyal. We wished to create a marketing campaign to vary that dynamic so we approached Chris and took on the problem of psychological well being.”

“It’s an honor to associate with an organization that has been in existence and supporting males for 100 years,” Noth stated concerning the partnership. “On common, over 6 million males endure from melancholy per 12 months in the US, and thru this collaboration with Samuelsohn, we goal to lift consciousness, drive constructive change and supply assist.”

Iconics, which was designed by Morehead, will launch this month on the Samuelsohn e-commerce web site and in choose shops. It consists of 10 items impressed by designs from the Nineteen Twenties which have been elevated and modernized to fulfill the wants of in the present day’s shopper via modern design and materials.

“We’re merging the Roaring ’20s with the ideas of recent dressing,” Granovsky stated.

A bigger Iconics assortment might be supplied as a part of Samuelsohn’s “By Design” made-to-measure line throughout choose trunk exhibits in September. Total, made-to-measure represents greater than one-third of the corporate’s gross sales so it continues to be a crucial a part of the enterprise.

It’s already gaining traction. Harry Rosen, Samuelsohn’s largest buyer, has bought objects from the Iconics assortment, Granovsky stated, and several other different unbiased shops have signed on for trunk exhibits.

The road facilities round tailor-made clothes, starting from fits and sport coats to outerwear. Key items embody an unconstructed blouson chore jacket in a Prince of Wales black-and-white verify; a flannel go well with created from Zegna’s recycled Loop wool, and a double-twisted wool journey blazer that Morehead described as a “refined” possibility for day-to-night dressing. Different items embody a heritage jacket with an exaggerated peak lapel in a houndstooth; a traditional chalk-stripe go well with up to date with daring stripes; a double-pleated pant with facet tabs; flannel trousers in a variety of colours; a double-face half-lined wool camel overcoat, and a high-performance go well with in stretch wool.

Costs are in Samuelsohn’s “candy spot,” averaging $1,500 to $2,000 for off-the-rack, and better for made-to-measure.

To advertise the road, Samuelsohn simply relaunched its e-commerce web site and also will promote the road on its social media channels.

Because it seems again on the final 100 years and towards the longer term, Granovsky stated that regardless of the current challenges of making high-end tailor-made clothes in an off-the-cuff world, enterprise is nice. “Our gross sales in 2022 have been the strongest in 25 years,” he stated.

Whereas the lack of the Hickey license was undoubtedly a blow, the Heritage Gold assortment was obtained warmly by retailers and consequently, 80 p.c of gross sales have been retained, he stated. Granovsky additionally managed to switch his dedication to the Hickey Freeman manufacturing unit in Rochester, New York, to Tom James. Granovsky had bought the manufacturing unit from Doug Williams, the one-time chief of Hickey, in 2013, and bought it to an actual property developer final 12 months. He signed a long-term lease with the brand new house owners to retain 77,000 sq. ft for the Hickey Freeman Tailor-made Clothes facility, which was renamed Rochester Tailor-made Clothes. The cope with Tom James was accomplished on the finish of final month.

The shift to give attention to Heritage Gold additionally permits Samuelsohn to higher management its future fairly than being managed by the calls for of a licensee. However discovering workers for its manufacturing unit continues to be a problem.

“Final 12 months, we have been solely in a position to fill 85 p.c of the demand,” he stated, including that “recruiting is difficult” for manufacturing unit staff, however he was in a position to choose up some staff from one other plant that was closing and practice them within the manufacture of tailor-made clothes.

In order he seems towards the subsequent century, Granovsky is upbeat and is raring to embrace Samuelsohn’s previous in addition to its future. “At Samuelsohn, we consider that clothes could be a highly effective technique of self-expression. And when a person seems nice in a go well with, he feels nice too,” he stated.

Within the subsequent 100 years, he envisions a future the place Samuelsohn is “bought worldwide wherever tremendous tailor-made clothes — possibly even girls’s — is bought via each channel possible however all of it produced in Montreal by the grandchildren of our nice artisans.”