Cutting edge

Crime show star Rodger Corser meets Joe Black - and gets fitted up a treat by the "espoke" tailor

Crime show star Rodger Corser meets Joe Black - and gets fitted up a treat by the "espoke" tailor

Television actor Rodger Corser is a confident, good-looking man. But put him in a suit shop and ask him to choose a fabric from a choice of 100 and he’s lost. “My wife says I look good in light blue,” he offers diffidently when asked what he’s looking for in a made-to-measure suit. Corser, Underbelly-cast-member-turned- Rush-star, is interested in dressing well and understands its power. But like most men, he finds the whole business of putting together an appropriate outfit really tricky.

It’s a style challenge taken up by New Zealand suiting manufacturer Cambridge Clothing, with its new Joe Black brand. “Suiting is very important but I think, in the end, what our man is looking for is something that really works when the ensemble is put together. And we want to make that easy for him,” says Joe Macky, managing director of the Auckland-based company and the man who is masterminding its push into retailing through Joe Black’s “espoke” suit services.

Espoke is a play on words, twisting old school bespoke tailoring into a modern formula. Faster and less costly than bespoke, which is fully tailored from a pattern drafted from scratch and costs upwards of $4000, espoke is custom-made from scores of fabric and style options and about 48 pattern adjustments. Because the pattern is created from alterations to an existing “block” or pattern, an espoke suit costs a relatively modest $1075–$1200, depending on the fabric. Macky believes the quality of Joe Black espoke is comparable to a Zegna or Armani off-the-rack suit with a price tag of $2000–$3000. “They’re great products but we want our product to be of that ilk (and) have a price tag that’s affordable,” he says.

The invention of Joe Black the Tailor draws on four generations of expertise in men’s tailoring. Cambridge Clothing was set up by Macky’s great-grandfather (also Joseph Macky) in the 1880s but the brand name goes back to 1867. “We’re an old school company comfortable in playing to the new school rules,” spruiks the sign outside the recently opened flagship store in Melbourne’s Little Collins Street. It’s the second Joe Black store on the street and next year Macky plans to open a shop in Sydney, part of an expansion plan that will see eight stores around the country.

Tie-less, in a grey suit with darker grey shirt and designer stubble, there’s a touch of Pierce Brosnan in Macky’s sartorial style. The softly spoken Aucklander, who joined the family firm at the age of 21 after a period of competitive sailing, says he had a “brain snap” about two years ago when consultant designers told him the company wasn’t drawing the value from its rich background that it could. “We recognised that we have a story to tell; we hadn’t really told it; and we needed a vehicle to allow us to do that. We decided we should tell our story in the invention of the Joe Black brand, with the aim of putting an antipodean imprint on European culture and style.” While espoke is the hero of the story, Macky sees the in-store experience as a vital part of its journey. “We want to be known for espoke, but it’s the customer experience in the store where we want to differentiate ourselves, to make that a unique experience. Customers order their clothing in-store; the website allows them to keep track of it.”

Enter Melbourne-based Corser, not-so-fresh from a farewell party for a Rush crew member the night before. It’s the 35-year-old’s first visit to the flagship store. “I’m finding that there are more occasions, like weddings and official functions, where I need a suit. So my one dark suit for weddings and funerals doesn’t cover it any more,” Corser says. As store manager Stephen Gruer flips through fabric samples of greys and beiges, plains and pinstripes, it’s clear that Corser is confused and lacks confidence in his own taste. With much coaching, he eventually picks a warm grey fabric with pinstripes in fawn and light blue. But choosing the lining is even harder. “I’m blue-green colour blind,” he confesses, allowing himself to be persuaded by a mint green lining with champagne piping, which will be monogrammed with his initials.

Given this evidence, it’s no wonder so many men go shopping for suits with their wives. “If you go out and buy a car, it’s an event for you, you’re excited,” says Cambridge’s master tailor Peter Klempert, who trains Joe Black sales assistants to identify deficiencies in fit and put them right. “But you have to drag a man by the scruff of his neck into a shop to get him to buy a new suit,” he admits. Corser says that’s because men are often in a rush to get the job done, usually before an event or a wedding. “When I was getting married last year,” he explains, “trying to get five guys in one place to buy the same suit made it more of a chore. When women go shopping they take the morning and have lunch afterwards, whereas men try to cram it into a lunchtime or after work. If you’ve got the time, this is a great experience.”

Standing in front of the mirror, Corser is astounded that there are so many specific terms for different parts of the jacket he is wearing as Gruer streamlines the fit to suit his inverted triangle shape. “Getting the suit to fit is a combination of measurements and pins,” explains Gruer. “He’s quite thick through the shoulders and upper arm so I’ve instructed them to increase the back ‘drape’ by 1cm each side. I’ve also pinned the lower back to stop it collapsing on the back seat.”

The figures are then emailed, along with digital photographs of the pinned garment, to the Auckland factory where CAD systems manager David Hull interprets them to create a new pattern using a computer-aided alterations library he developed. “Where the back has been pinned,” Hull says, “we interpret that as the balance in the back was too long, because of Rodger’s erect posture. So we’ve moved the shoulder point to swing the jacket, front and back, to reduce the balance on the back and make it longer on the front.”

Other alterations include shortening the lapel, re-pitching the right sleeve to make it hang better, and putting an extra seam in the back inlay to let the garment out if necessary. “We’ve gone up a size in the trousers to give him more seat area, put in a slimline pocket and taken the waist in,” Hull says.

On the factory floor, the 160 components in Corser’s suit are laser-cut on a computer-guided Gerber cutter. Technical manager Andrew Fairley says there are 140 operations required to create the jacket and 60 for the trousers. The suit is tracked on the factory floor by a barcode. Cambridge Clothing makes up 8000m of fabric a week and has 157 skilled workers of 25 nationalities on the factory floor.

“Globally, the made-to-measure thing is getting massive because people want to be individual,” says Fairley, who hails from Leeds in the UK and learnt the trade at his mother’s trouser factory. “If you buy a standard suit you may as well wear a uniform.” But while personalisation and standing out from the crowd are in, Australian men are still intimidated by the cost and concept of a bespoke tailor. “Australians didn’t grow up with the (London) Savile Row experience; their fathers didn’t take them for their first suit,” says retail manager Luke Cahill, who helped set up the Joe Black brand.

“The traditional idea of a tailor is old school, conservative,” agrees Corser. “You think you’re going to come out looking like your father. I want something sharp, something that expresses a bit of flair.” Three weeks later, wearing his “snug but not tight” suit, with lemon shirt and light blue tie picked out by Gruer, Corser is surprised and delighted with his new look. “This is not a combination I usually go for but it feels great,” he says. “I usually use the advice of my wife or, before I was married, I would stick to basics. I wasn’t very adventurous with colours because that was better than making fashion disasters. I’ve really appreciated getting the advice of specialists.”

The transformative aspect of the Joe Black experience rests with the expertise of the sales assistants, who are trained to understand the man first before dressing him. “You don’t want to put a calm and quiet guy in a loud suit,” Fairley says. “So you need to get to know him and provide the attention to detail that an outfitter can give you.” It’s also about re-educating men in the rules of dressing to help them get the look they want. A common mistake, for example, is wearing a suit jacket with jeans instead of a sports coat.

“We aim to offer distinctive combinations of suit, shirt and tie and it’s about how good it is for someone to be well dressed,” Macky says. “(It’s about appreciating) the difference it makes, and how easy and affordable it is. You don’t have to be dressed in luxury clothes to get that benefit. We’ve always had tailor-made of some description, but (now) we want to connect with customers. We’re interested in treating individuals.

“I would love us to be in a position quite soon where our designers and sales people will understand eye colour and complexion and what combinations are good for them,” Macky adds. “I think there’s a huge area of potential to grow that.”