Our Bay Area visits last week went very well. Many thanks to our returning customers as well as those who responded to our recent press coverage.
Overseas visits work very well for established bespoke tailors because their heritage generates ongoing coverage, awareness and ultimately new business for them.
Sicilian tailoring is equally talented but far less known. This makes overseas visits far more challenging to successfully organize.
We do not let this deter us, but this means we need to work differently from the typical visiting tailor model.
The main difference is that Sicilian Reserve is a platform for developing artisans from Sicily. As the platform owner, this means I fund the bulk of the visiting tailor’s expenses (e.g. airfare and accommodations). Besides finding customers for each visit, I pay the tailor for his work and ensure that he succeeds.
Equally important, I allow the tailor to keep 100 percent of any sales he originates on his own through these visits. Although the result is a win-win, the benefits are clearly weighted toward the visiting tailor as opposed to the platform owner.
To make all of this possible, we achieve economies of scale by other means. For instance, tailors are encouraged to help each other’s fittings. Last week Claudio Italiano assisted with fittings prepared by Guido Davi. In our next trip later this month, Guido will do the same for Claudio.
Logistically, this makes it far more feasible for me to bring multiple Sicilian tailors to the US, benefiting both tailors and customers.
