Pearce Bespoke is helping others look and feel good with a free custom suit fitting experience
By Alyssa Thulmann
It’s more than just a perfectly tailored suit: it’s an experience, a donation, and a platform for people to share their stories. Pearce Bespoke identifies as the first and only modernized mobile tailoring service, providing custom suits in just three to four weeks and a “Perfect Fit Guarantee” that leaves customers looking and feeling good.
This franchise system has grown exponentially in just two and a half years, with 75 locations across the U.S. and a recent expansion into Canada. Accompanying this success is a desire to give back and help others, beginning with their rising charity initiative, For Good Measure.
For Good Measure
For over a year now, Pearce Bespoke has been accepting nominations for the donation of a free suit fitting experience valued at $2,000. Anyone can reach out to the company through its website or social media to nominate someone they know who could benefit from the experience, whether it be a solider, an unemployed father, a straight-A student, a selfless loved one, or anybody else who’s life could be changed by the initiative. “We really look for … either someone that does good things for the community, and it’s our way of saying thank you, or someone that just deserves to catch a break,” says Nathan Pearce, founder and CEO of Pearce Bespoke.
Each month, the brand awards the fitting to a new nominee. With the help of whomever sent in the nomination, the Pearce Bespoke team sets off to surprise the winner, catching them off guard and getting all the surprise and the excitement on camera.
Throughout the fitting, the Pearce Bespoke team takes measurements and helps the nominee curate the suit of their dreams while giving them a platform to tell their story to the world. Nominees can unpack what they’ve gone through, shedding a light on certain hardships or kindnesses, and inspire others with their strength.
We revisit the nominee in Part Two—Pearce Bespoke delivers the garments and viewers join them in seeing the nominee try on the clothes for the first time. “Most of [the] nominees have never experienced custom clothing before, so they’re very excited,” Pearce says. “We get to capture that reaction.”
A third video cuts together the entire experience, garnering more views and attention that spreads the nominee’s story while highlighting the businesses and communities that put forward their name.
So far, ten people have received the free suit fitting experience, and recently For Good Measure has been getting more consistent in doing one each month. “We’ve got some really cool ones that are coming up on the horizon,” shares Pearce.
The people behind (and in) the suits
The For Good Measure campaign came from a desire to give back and help others gain confidence. “I’ve always believed, since founding the company, that custom clothing can make a difference in people’s lives,” says Pearce. “The whole idea came from being bigger than just a for-profit brand and being able to help people.”
A recent nominee was George McLaughlin, “a guy that works at a local casino, always gives back to others, is an integral part of the community, [and] lost everything in a house fire,” shares Pearce. McLaughlin lost almost everything—his clothes, his home, and even his brother’s ashes—but walked out with his life. “We got to hook him up with a $2,500 wardrobe, [hear him] tell his story about the house fire and how he escaped, and then measure him up, get him all new custom clothing. And it was good timing because he had a major award ceremony coming up for his job,” Pearce says.
“We had a high school coach that was homeless for over a year while he was coaching a private school high school basketball team and ended up becoming Coach of the Year,” says Pearce. “People that make a difference, give back to their communities, or deserve to catch a break is the whole point of For Good Measure. And we just donate custom clothing to [them] and give them the floor to tell their story and hopefully make differences in other people’s lives through their stories.”
Sam Primeaux, a man who became paralyzed after a street bike accident tells his story as he’s fitted for a suit. He shares his life since the accident, the hard work and training that’s gone in to developing more mobility in his legs, and his hope to someday open a non-profit or advanced therapy centre.
Videos sharing these stories can be found on Pearce Bespoke’s social media pages, and the company is currently reworking their website to begin launching episodes of For Good Measure there as well. “My hope is, [the] more we tell the story, the more nominations we will get,” Pearce shares. “Our long-term vision for For Good Measure is that our franchisees will eventually be able to participate as well on the local level, so that they can start getting nominations and giving back to all of their local communities.”
National yet local
While Pearce Bespoke plans to grow For Good Measure and give franchisees the opportunity to get involved, they have many other charities and initiatives that the brand and the franchisees support through donations already.
According to Pearce, the brand often donates custom clothing experiences worth up to $5,000 or $6,000 alongside two or three different pieces to live auctions raising money for causes like cancer research, helping youth get on their feet, and more. “Our goal is to help whatever non-profit we possibly can raise as much money as possible,” he says. “The more franchises that we end up growing into and awarding, the more of a reach we can have with our branding,” adds Pearce.
An important charity event for Pearce Bespoke is near their headquarters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, called the Bella Bowman Foundation. The foundation is named after Bella Bowman, the founders’ daughter, whom they lost to cancer. “We donate every year; they’re raising millions of dollars [to support families] through childhood cancer and it’s a big one that’s close to us,” says Pearce. “Donating a couple of custom suit experiences for them is one that we’ll never miss.”
The brand also encourages their franchisees across the U.S. and Canada to give back to their own local charities through live auctions.
Pearce shares that his favourite part of the business is the For Good Measure campaign, “and I think it’s because we’re all put on earth for [a] main reason and that’s to help others … it’s our purpose, and I think if you don’t have a purpose and a mission, then what are you even doing?” He adds, “And for us to be able to live by example—give back, help people that are in need—is by far the most important thing that we can possibly do.”
Pearce Bespoke has franchise locations across the U.S. and recently opened their first centre in Canada, paving way for more opportunities.
“We fit some of the most famous people on Earth. Lots of celebrities, lots of famous athletes: Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Jaden Daniels’ Heisman suit,” says Pearce. “These people can pick from anywhere in the world, and they chose Pearce Bespoke. So it just kind of gives credibility to the brand, the name, and why people should nominate people and get a really cool experience.”
Learn more about franchising with Pearce Bespoke
