We’re excited to introduce you to Bespoke Edge, a custom men’s clothing company building modern suits for today’s grooms. This Colorado company was founded by Ron Wagner, a 40-year veteran of the men’s clothing industry, along with his sons Ryan and Brett. We recently met Ryan at a wedding networking event and were immediately drawn to his great style and passion for what he does. We asked Ryan to share his insights about wedding suits – enjoy!
-How did you get into the world of men’s custom clothing?
Via aerospace engineering! But seriously, my background is engineering. I spent much of my twenties working for a rocket company in Denver. While rewarding, I began to understand that I was more interested in business and clothing. My father and business partner, Ron, has enjoyed a long history in menswear. For much of his career, he worked at an upscale men’s store in Fort Collins. Despite making it through several economic rough patches over the decades, the recession of 2008/2009 was too much, and the shop was forced to close.
After a couple of years trying different careers, I could tell that Ron wasn’t truly utilizing his strengths. My brother and I took him to a brew pub one day and after getting a little beer in him, we slid a pitch across the table. We asked, what if we were to leverage his strengths in menswear, my budding acumen in business and my brother’s expertise in website design to build a custom clothing company for Colorado grooms and businessman alike?
Needless to say, we decided to go for it!
Be-Spoke Custom Suite Details and Pocket Square : Photo by From The Hip Photo
-What do you love about custom clothes?
The nostalgic component has always been what has pulled me to bespoke tailoring. The idea of slowing down and making some conscious decisions on what you’re buying, how it will look and fit, and knowing that this process is something that men have been doing for hundreds of years is pretty cool. There’s also a fun historical component to men’s tailoring. So much about how a suit looks today has a story (e.g. working sleeve button holes were adopted from military field surgeons.)
-You are always dressed so sharply. What are some of your key tips for a man to look his best?
First of all, I think that it’s easy for a lot of guys to think that style is complicated and out of reach for them. But in reality, just following one key rule can boost their style in a huge way. And that is to focus on the fundamentals and do them well. In other words, you don’t need to worry much about matching patterns and colors if you don’t want to. Just wearing a dark blazer that fits you well with a nicely ironed dress shirt can go a long ways.
Then if you want to go a little further, adding a simple pocket square or keeping your shoes shined will quickly seperate you from the pack, and in a thoughtful way.
BeSpoke Groom : Photo By From The Hip Photo
What trends are you seeing in men’s suits and clothing?
So, this is a good question and I want to answer it in two parts.
First, we have been very fortunate to make wedding suits and tuxedos for many grooms over the years. Recently, I’ve been seeing a bit of a departure from the vintage-inspired look to a more dressed up style. That means fewer tweeds and vests and more dark suits and refined fabrics. I think that this is great because a lot of young people have learned a lot about fit and style from the vintage trend and they are now applying what they’ve learned and expressing themselves in a slightly dressier manner. I’m excited to see where our grooms take us in 2018.
Second, for our business clients, who are primarily buying clothing for the office, we’re seeing a lot more suits and sport coats being made in interesting and stylish fabrics. Fun plaids and colors are making their way into the sport coat and jean line up, while grey and navy suiting is being paired with fun dress shirts and contrast collars.
BeSpoke Suite Details and Bold Patterns : Photos By Ashley Kidder Photography
-Who is your clothing perfect for?
Any guy that wishes shopping for clothes could be easier. That’s really what we focus on at BE, is providing an easy and fun experience for our clients. We do this by going to our clients (i.e. we don’t have a physical store) and ensuring that they look and feel good in their custom clothes. It’s important to us that our clients get a great return on their investment.
BeSpoke Custom Suite : Photo By Ashley Kidder Photography
-What makes Bespoke Edge unique in the world of men’s custom clothing?
What helps us to stand apart is our focus on helping our clients build a story around their suit or tuxedo. When you build a custom suit or dress shirt, it’s a process where you can have either as much or as little control as you like over the design. Regardless of how involved you get, you’re going to learn something new. It’s truly our pleasure every time that we can introduce a new client to the world of bespoke suiting, because it’s such a fun experience the first time. For instance, you might learn why men’s jackets have two vents or only one, or what full canvas construction means.
For our wedding clients, the bride and groom are almost always building out the wedding suit together. It’s really fun for us to watch our couples get creative and build out a fun suit or tuxedo. We even add the date of the wedding on the inside of the jacket.
But wedding or no wedding, our clients end up building something special that really means something to them when it’s all said and done.
BeSpoke Custom Suite Details : Photo By Ashley Kidder Photography
-What’s it like for a groom to buy a custom suit?
Our process is pretty simple. First, you would schedule an appointment with us either on our website, or via phone (970-231-4588). Then we will coordinate a convenient time to meet with you (and your bride, for our groom clients) in your home or office. Appointments generally run from one to two hours. We can either do most of the driving and get you set up in something just right, or we can help guide you to finding what it is that you want. This includes selecting fabrics, details, and fun customization features, and of course, getting you all measured up. Over twenty careful measurements will go into the construction of one suit.
And that’s it! In about six weeks or so, we’ll deliver to you your custom suit and ensure that the fit is exactly as you wanted. What’s most important for us is over-delivering on our client’s expectations.
