Life & Work

Have your Armani designer suit fitted right here in Nairobi

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Fabric laid out on a counter for customers to select their tailored Armani suits. Photo/Mwikali Lati

At a corner, among the rack of suits, jackets, leather belts and shelves of shirts, shoes and hats, an animated conversation between a customer and a well-dressed tailor carries on as they look at fabric swatches; the customer feels fabric after fabric and the tailor quickly volunteers information.

“He flew in from Rome for the made-to-measure service we offer for Armani,” says Aziz Fazal, director of Little Red, as he points at the tailor who has taken over this corner at the Yaya Centre branch.

Little Red started this service three years ago with some of the top global luxury brands; starting with Ermenegildo Zegna, Giorgio Armani and more recently, Brioni. Each designer’s fittings is done at different times of the year, strictly by appointment, as it takes one and half hours per customer.

“We have been doing ready-to-wear for many decades, we felt that we needed to move to the next level. When you have a person who has been wearing ready-to-wear for many years, he is now ready for bespoke tailoring. We have passed that stage and now have to think of the next level in lifestyle. Kenyan men have become very particular now and go for those extra and details,” he says.

Little Red has been offering men and women luxurious global brands for years. In addition to the three mentioned above, the other men’s luxury brands are Salvatore Ferragamo and Hugo Boss.

Different brands

Why have three different sessions of the same service with different brands? It is about the preference and taste, level and status of the customer. The commonality of these brands is that they are detailed according to the lifestyle of a modern and mature entrepreneur, industrialist or banker.

“Armani is for the young entrepreneur who might be on his first job and wants to look good as a lawyer, accountant or businessman. These younger set are fresh in the professional world and want to create that strong image. It is suited more for the younger, modern generation,” says Aziz.

An Armani suit-wearing man is fit and athletic; it goes to show why the brand’s global ambassador is footballer David Beckham. This man is a gym-goer with broad shoulders, a trim waist and wants to show off this shape.

Ermenegildo Zegna is more culture enriched merchandised. It is for someone who is well-established, rather conservative and particular about the type of fabric and cut he wears. However, he is not too concerned about fashion, this brand is about timeless elegance.

“Brioni is the Rolls Royce of suits. It is purely handmade; everything is precision even the button holes are handmade. This brand is targeted at the more traditional businessman/industrialist/banker. Someone who is way ahead and super established like a global diplomat or president. It is traditional, fine and does not follow the fashion of the day,” he says.

Personalised service

This personalised suit making service has been a success because the Kenyan man has become trendier and more fashion-conscious and wants to look good all the time.

From his interactions with his customers, Aziz has discovered that the Kenyan man actually demands and needs extremely defined clothing in superb fabrics with beautiful visual optics, clean definition, cut and simplicity in elegance. And this made-to-measure service is offering just that.

“It is about what you [customer] want. You can pick the fabric, lining, buttons, where you want your name or initials embroidered, where you want your pockets, if you want outer stitching on the collar or shoulder or not. Do you want a leather elbow patch? There are a lot of options. It just depends on how adventurous you are,” says Aziz.

After the fun process of “playing designer”, the customer waits six weeks for his order. As Aziz explains, it normally takes 28 days just to do a jacket as it goes through 14 different processes.

With Zegna and Brioni made-to-measure services coming up in November and September/October respectively, head down to any of the Little Red branches on Kimathi Street and Yaya Centre to book a spot.

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