""I'm not trying to sell," he says. "We have a conversation." This laid-back business model depends on a certain type of customer. "I had a hedge-fund guy the other day buy 243 pieces. It was crazy. But I told him, 'I won't sell you your business suits for appointments, because what your tailor makes is fantastic. You need power suits for business. My suits you wear on a weekend or after work, for relaxed dinners with clients. They're cool and casual.'""
""Cool and casual could equally be applied to Benan himself. Born in Germany, he grew up in Istanbul, went to boarding school in Switzerland and, throughout, was obsessed with American film, TV, and music. He harbored hopes of being a filmmaker but moved to Boston and then Milan and enrolled in fashion school. Roles at Marc Jacobs, Pollini, and Trussardi followed, but it was in working for himself that he discovered his own aesthetic: relaxed, somewhat oversized, but with meticulous attention to fit and fabrication.""
A newly opened, chic salon in Milan, backed by Davide De Giglio, provides Umit Benan with an elevated destination where clients can stay, linger and try on clothes. Benan operates a relaxed, conversation-first retail model that attracts a specific clientele, from creatives to C-suite figures, and emphasizes subtly casual yet carefully tailored pieces. He advised a hedge-fund client who bought 243 pieces to keep power suits to the tailor and reserve Benan garments for relaxed dinners and weekends. Born in Germany and raised across Istanbul, Switzerland and Milan, Benan developed an aesthetic of oversized ease with meticulous fit and fabrication.
Read at Elite Traveler
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