We recently connected with Karrie & Luis Prado and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Karrie & Luis thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
In the suit industry, we take a unique approach. Instead of operating a traditional brick-and-mortar store, we rent out a suite to offer a more personalized experience. It’s a tailored way of doing business. By stepping away from the conventional retail space, we create a setting that allows us to focus more on our clients’ individual needs and preferences. Unlike traditional suit shops, we don’t carry ready-made inventory. Instead, we have a showroom with our fabric books. By having fabric books instead of inventory, we can offer a much larger selection of unique, high-quality, and luxurious fabrics at a lower cost than your average custom suit shop.
Secondly, we believe in educating our clients throughout the process. Purchasing a custom suit is a significant decision, often for special occasions like weddings. We inform our clients about the benefits of different fabrics, such as wool and lycra, and explain the origins and distinctions of each fabric. Additionally, we guide our clients in choosing customizations based on their height, body shape, style, and preferences.
Lastly, we operate on an appointment-only basis, seeing only one couple at a time in our showroom. Our aim is to provide a personalized and comfortable experience for each client. During each hour-and-a-half consultation, we take the time to understand our clients, showcase our fabrics, assist in selecting customizations, and take body measurements.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
We are Karrie and Luis, the faces behind every suit that leaves our showroom. As a husband and wife team, we run Suit Up. While we both meet with clients and conduct consultations, we each have our specific responsibilities. Karrie manages social media, works with vendors for styled shoots, schedules vendor events. Luis is responsible for communicating with our supplier, managing the finances, and handling marketing. Together, we strive to create a personalized experience for each client while delivering expertly crafted and unique suits.
A year ago, we took over Suit Up, a custom suit business with a specialization in wedding suits. We take pride in helping grooms create the perfect suit for a day they will cherish for years to come. Our goal is to help them infuse their own style and uniqueness into the suit so that it truly reflects their personality.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
If you look us up on Google, you will see that we have 74 5-star reviews. Our reviews and good reputation in the industry are things we take very seriously. The first thing that has helped us build our reputation is selling good quality suits. When it comes to crafting the actual suit, we only use high-quality fabrics. We also don’t believe in taking shortcuts. During the final fitting, when the client tries on the suit for the first time, we inspect each piece of the suit to ensure it fits properly. If we notice something that needs to be altered or taken care of, we address it. We understand that many clients don’t typically wear suits or know how a suit should fit, so it is up to us to ensure that every suit we craft and they wear is not only of good quality but also an amazing fit.
We’ve built a good reputation with other vendors by collaborating with many of them. This year, we have had the pleasure of participating in 7 styled shoots, where we have been able to work with all different types of vendors in the wedding industry. We also attend vendor events to meet and get to know other vendors
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
When Luis and I were first looking to buy a business, we started watching a lot of Cody Sanchez’s educational videos. Her videos offer different financing options and are beneficial for small businesses looking to make a purchase. After we purchased Suit Up, we began listening to Leila and Alex Hormozi’s podcasts and reading their books. They are a couple who have literally grown companies from the ground up and share their struggles with owning a small business, as well as their marketing strategies. Alex is very knowledgeable when it comes to marketing and acquiring clients. “100M Leads” is a very good book for anyone who owns a business and is seeking ideas on how to generate leads.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://suitupcustomclothing.com/
- Instagram: @suitupcustomclothing
Image Credits
Photographer – Becca Photo