By Alan Flusser
It’s with a mixture of nostalgia and anticipation that I announce my retirement from the Alan Flusser Custom Shop. As to why now, the prospect of having to deal with the pandemic’s ongoing health risks for another another year was just not something I was comfortable with. Thirty-five years is a pretty respectable warm-up, not to mention there are a few pet projects that I would like to, well, pet.
As some of you already know, I have transferred the business to Jonathan Sigmon, my most loyal and trusted disciple. While I plan to be available for some appointments and consultations as I'm able, Jon is now the business’s primary mover and visionary. Of course, Jon’s immediate challenge will be to shepherd the business through this next patch of economic uncertainty, which he is uniquely qualified to do.
For the past eight years he has managed to soak up those sartorial underpinnings and bedrock principles of proportion, color, and taste that have long-guided our proposal of individualized, yet fashion-transcending clothes. Over these years he has methodically taught himself, under our master tailor’s supervision, how to measure, mark, and fit tailored custom clothing thus freeing him to call on our out-of-state clientele, and conduct in-home fittings or weekend appointments at the client's convenience. The first to arrive and the last to leave, Jon is a tireless worker and a stickler for follow-up and detailed customer service. Along with a modern mindset, he brings a mentor-disciple humility to his mature taste level.
I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you, our loyalists, from the bottom of my heart for not just your support and encouragement throughout the years, but for your cheerleading and dogged brokering of new devotees. In addition, there are some special folk who have come to our rescue more times than they should have; I hope you all know who you are from my having taken the time to remind you. Of all that has been accomplished over these past thirty-five years, it will be the memory of our collaborations that will stay with me forever.
As to what will be our place going forward in the post-COVID world, I’m optimistic about our prospects. Over the past few years we have focused on rejuvenating our aging clientele with a younger generation, and it has been encouraging to see our efforts bearing fruit. At half the price of custom, our advanced Made-to-Measure program affords newer clients access to our custom-tailored eyes, which has become the primary growth driver of the business.
Moreover the internet, dressing down, and now the offsite workplace have reconfigured menswear’s uniform-based dressing and shopping paradigm like never before. The ability to guide men in advancing their dressing style with our level of experience, taste, and intelligence should help to forge new loyalties in the tumult of fashion’s changing warps and wefts. And with Jon leading the next generation of folks through the relevant sartorial gateways in pursuit of a personal and enduring sense of individual style, there is reason for all sides to have hope... and some fun.
With the Warmest of Personal Regards,
Alan Flusser