When times are tough people dress up more, says Marc A. Streisand, president, owner and operator of Marc Allen Fine Clothiers at 200 South Main St., Providence. “Right now, whatever edge a person can have [at work], they take it.”
For almost 20 years Streisand worked in New York City, where he owned an image-consulting firm and created customized wardrobes for his clients. Starting in the mid-1990s, when the economy was booming and much business was done via the Internet, Streisand saw a definite degeneration in the clothes men wore in the Big Apple.
It probably was because computer communications meant men didn’t have to dress up, he suggested. By 1999, when he said the trend hit bottom, “you’d see the CEOs of gigantic firms wearing khaki, very casual shoes, with everyone looking the same,” he said, “so you couldn’t tell a CEO from a janitor.”
That’s not a trend he would encourage.
Streisand and his chief of staff, Jim Fortier, pride themselves on offering exclusive lines of men’s wear that they say can be found at no other store in the state, along with old-fashioned customer service. “My clients are busy people, they’re extremely successful, and they don’t want to go into a traditional store to buy their clothes because they know they won’t get the service and the quality there,” Streisand said.
Streisand has owned Marc Allen Fine Clothiers since March 2005, after the former owner who was a friend of his was ready to retire. The friend contacted Streisand out of the blue and asked if he would be interested in taking over. Streisand and his wife, Iveth, were new to the state. “We have no ties here,” he said. “I had never even been to Rhode Island.”
After 9/11, New York City changed, with traffic and security so heightened that it would take him close to two hours to make the 26-mile commute into the city every day. “I used to ride the subway with a gas mask” in his backpack, Streisand said. Now, he gets to work from his Pawtucket home in 9 minutes, often riding a scooter.
After taking over the store, he undertook renovations to make the shop more open and airy, with the atmosphere of a men’s club, he said, but a men’s club in which women would feel comfortable because “50 to 60 percent of all men’s clothes are purchased by women.” The vast majority of his goods are made for men, but Streisand said he has created custom pieces for women on occasion.
The store literally carries thousands of fabric samples for custom-made pieces, a specialty of Streisand’s. He and his staff design and make the custom-made clothes on site. Internet sales are not part of Streisand’s business because he feels strongly that fine fabrics must be seen and touched, but he will make house calls. In fact, he encourages home visits so he can better know his clients.
A regular visitor to Manhattan and Italy, Streisand has obtained exclusive Rhode Island rights to several high-end lines, he said, such as Brunello Cucinelli sportswear, Luciano Barbera sportswear, Eton Shirts of Sweden, Mason’s Italian sportswear, Michael Toschi footwear, Mandelli sportswear and outerwear (a New England exclusive, Streisand said). He carries Inhabit, a line of super-soft sweaters created by a Rhode Island School of Design graduate and touted by People magazine as “the sweater of the stars.”
Starting May 16, the store in a promotion with Gladson Ltd. fabric company in New York will offer two handmade suits, two custom shirts and two ties for $3,900, “about half of what it usually costs,” Streisand said. Gladson is the exclusive U.S. distributor of fabrics from such Italian mills as Zegna, E. Thomas and Vitale Barberis.
As for the future of men’s clothing, Streisand said he sees a trend toward “more luxurious goods, with a softer feel to them, that cross the boundaries between work and play so men can get a lot more mileage” out of their wardrobes. Another trend is the move to custom-made pieces. “What we always say here is we give a man the look he wants,” Streisand said, “with the fit he needs.” •
COMPANY PROFILE
Marc Allen Fine Clothiers
OWNER: Marc A. Streisand
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Men’s specialty shop
LOCATION: 200 South Main St., Providence
EMPLOYE
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
