A cut above the rest

NOTHING makes a man look better than a well-tailored suit. Matthew Jensen and Patrick Johnson are on a mission to get Australian men to dress better.

NOTHING makes a man look better than a well-tailored suit. Matthew Jensen and Patrick Johnson are on a mission to get Australian men to dress better.

Matthew Jensen

WHEN MATTHEW Jensen left the clothing company Herringbone, which he founded in 1997 with partner John Mutton and then sold to German shirtmaker Van Laack last year, he decided to take some time off before embarking on another business venture.

That sabbatical lasted just 10 days. “To tell you the truth, my mind didn’t stop and I pretty much went straight into another brand because I think I have a good understanding of what works in menswear here in Australia,” he says. “I’m passionate about clothing and seeing people walk out of here really feeling great in their clothes, that’s what gives me a buzz.”

Jensen initially called his new menswear business Yensen, a play on the pronunciation of his surname. However, Australian shirtmaker Ganton had a sub brand called Jensen and Matthew Jensen wasn’t prepared to enter into a legal battle over the name.

“I decided I’d much rather create a new brand and move on,” he says. He decided on the name M J Bale to emphasise his family’s connection to wool production in Australia. Jensen grew up in Yass in country NSW, a region regarded as one of the world’s best producers of superfine wool.

The MJ bale brand has a three-tier structure. “In the Australian market you need a level of scale to make a clothing business work,” says Jensen. “If you don’t have scale you’re going to be restricted in terms of what you can do from a design point of view, because the best factories in the world need you to support them in terms of volume. The only way to get volume is to make the product attainable price-wise. Understanding that relationship through my years at Herringbone has really helped me appreciate the nuances in this market.”

The entry point into the MJ Bale brand is what the company calls Classics. “What we are doing in Classics is creating fantastic value shirts, ties and suits – formal tailoring pieces,” says Jensen. The Classics collection is stocked in selected David Jones stores nationally and MJ Bale’s first stand-alone store in Sydney’s Woollahra. An online store, which will sell shirts, ties and accessories, was due to launch at press time. Suits in the Classics collection, which are made from Italian fabric with Japanese expertise and fabricated in China, range from $695 to $749.

After Classics comes Collection, a more fashion-forward range that will include hand-finished suits produced in Japan, which will retail from $1095 to $1695. Then there is a range of semi-custom-tailored suits, which start at $1500. For this range, which will only be available in M J Bale stores, the company will stock six different types of suit styles that can be altered and tweaked to suit the customer. “We can add extra length, extra width and we can arrange fittings with an in-house tailor to get the exact fit for the customer,” says Jensen.

He is also launching what he calls the Bale Project, whereby a bale of wool from either the Yass, Mudgee or Armidale regions will be taken to Biella in Italy after this year’s shearing season and made into 500m of cloth, which translates into 130 suits. “It will be an ongoing project if I can talk the fabric mill in Italy into doing it.”

Right now, Jensen has no interest in branching out into women’s wear. “I’m really enjoying just doing menswear and making that range as comprehensive as possible,” he says. “And, being a man, you can work on that at a much deeper level and think about it more. Men are loyal to sameness season after season, whereas women are more particular and want to see change each season. They are almost two completely different businesses.” mjbale.com

Patrick Johnson

FOR Patrick Johnson, the golden age of menswear was the 1930s and the sort of style epitomised by the Duke of Windsor. “It was just amazing what they wore,” says the Australian-born, London-trained tailor. “I often wonder why everyone wore these great tailored suits back then and now they don’t and I think it all comes down to the salesperson. That role of the salesperson as an educator is missing now and we need to work on that. It’s all about building a relationship with someone.”

Johnson sees that relationship between tailor and client as a very personal one. “I liken it to the relationship you have with your barber,” he says. “I go to my barber and I don’t tell him anything, he just cuts my hair because he knows me and knows what I want because we had that initial chat and I thought I’m comfortable with you. Tailoring is all about getting people comfortable.”

That comfort starts with the initial consultation. “I like to see someone in their office or home because that is when a man is in his zone. If you can get him away from his wife that’s even better because he will actually choose what he wants. I try to make the process of being fitted for a suit as relaxing as possible. I get people talking to me about all sorts of things. I often think: ‘Should you be telling me this?’ ”

Johnson originally set out to become a winemaker and after completing his studies travelled to France to find work. In the process he discovered that he is allergic to sulphur dioxide, an additive used in wine production. So he decided to enrol in a fashion design course at London’s famed Central St Martins College of Art and Design and quickly realised the area of fashion he wanted to work in was tailoring.

While at college, he was apprenticed to renowned tailor Robert Emmett and went on to work for him for six years. During his time with Emmett, who was predominantly a shirtmaker then, Johnson established a suit-tailoring arm of the business, which involved travelling to Italy to source fabrics and establishing a workshop in Naples.

Early last year Johnson returned to Australia to establish Suit Shop. The no-nonsense name was, he says, chosen to reflect his philosophy of providing high-quality tailoring at a value for money price. His aim is to bring the knowledge and expertise he learnt in Europe to bear on our market and to fill a gap he saw in the menswear offerings here. “I was shocked when I came back to Australia to find that real value for money is really lacking. There are incredibly good designers for women’s wear but it’s not the same with menswear.”

Johnson’s suits start at about $1200, depending on fabric choice. An initial consultation can involve taking measurements from 35 different points on the body and  fabric, lining and buttons are all chosen at this time. The suit, which is made in Italy, is delivered five weeks later and any last-minute tweaking is done locally.

Despite not having a shopfront – Johnson has a studio in Sydney’s Paddington and regularly travels to Melbourne and Adelaide to meet with clients – Suit Shop has already established a loyal clientele through word of mouth. His clients range from young men in their first jobs to high-flying bankers and captains of industry. And it’s not just those men who can’t get a suit to fit them that go to him. “It is definitely a fit thing for some of my customers but its also for someone who appreciates the finer workmanship and wants something a little bit personalised.”

Johnson plans to open a Sydney CBD shop to sell ready-to-wear suits. “No matter what your budget is,” he says, “you should be able to get a suit that fits you well.”
suit-shop.com.