Barron Trump’s white glove tailor describes what he really likes

Who knew Barron Trump is a bit of a clothes horse?

Apparently the 18-year-old from New York University knows what he wants when it comes to suits – custom. Ahead of the inauguration, President Donald Trump’s youngest son worked with Bespoke Pearce CEO Nathan Pearce to select a pair of suits, dress skirts and an ultra-dark charcoal cashmere overcoat. The connection with the Baton Rouge-based start-up was one that Barron Trump made through social media influencer and entrepreneur Justin Waller, a Baton Rouge native who is one of Bespoke Pearce’s top clients. After Waller was invited to Mar-a-Lago for a few events, he and Trump started hanging out together, and somewhere along the line, Trump asked him who makes his suit, according to Pearce. “Justin said he was going to introduce me to Barron. Literally a week later I was on a plane down to Mar-a-Lago.” Pearce said.

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The 6’9″ NYU undergraduate has also traveled to Louisiana and prefers to go solo without an entourage of any kind, according to the founder. The couple have gone through all the fabric choices, buttons and linings for his clothes. (His mother Melania was a model.) Briefly, Pearce described Trump as “intelligent,” saying, “He’s this super-smart kid. He’s way beyond his years in terms of experience, knowledge, history. He’s just very fascinating to talk to.”

Recalling how Trump wore a T-shirt emblazoned with “The Expert” years ago, Pearce laughed.

“You know what’s another word I would say (about him)? Hospitable. He’s down to earth, nice as can be and hospitable,” Pearce said, recalling how Trump shook his hand when he met him and thanked him him several times to travel to see him in Palm Beach. Trump offered to show Pearce around Mar-a-Lago and asked him to pick out some items that would be billed to Trump’s account really enjoyed getting to know him over the last year or two,” Pearce said.

Being the type to “keep business as personal” as he can, Pearce said he doesn’t take Trump’s business for granted and wants him to be as happy with his choices as he can be. “I recognize that Barron Trump could choose from tailors all over the world and he chose me and Pearce Bespoke. I’m super grateful and super proud of that,” Pearce said. And to make sure customers are so happy with their products, as they may be, Pearce said his outlook never changes: “Look after your customers. They take care of you. The word gets out. “

High-profile clients like Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Dylan Crews and Heisman Award winner Jayden Daniels have helped spread the word about the five-year-old Bespoke Pearce.

Pearce described Trump’s sense of humor as dry, saying: “He’s funny. But like I said, he’s super sharp. You put him in a room with star businessmen and he’ll hold his own. He can talk to them all day because he is witty, smart and has a dry sense of humor.”

Laughing at the odds of working with Trump, Pearce said, “I tell my franchisors and clothing retailers across the country, ‘Look, I’m nothing special. It’s just a matter of taking care of your customers. You can meeting the right customer at the right time, who loves their clothes and shows them off to the right people.”

But it swings both ways. Pearce explained with a laugh: “If you’ve done your job and you’ve made them happy, they’ll tell the world about you. If you don’t and you drop the ball and forget customer service, they’ll still tell the world about you.”

As a 21-year-old undergraduate at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., Pearce and one of his fraternity brothers started a clothing company called Fraternity Collection with about $2,000 and a fraternity. Within their first year in business, sales were nearly $2 million. A year later, they bought a former LL Bean factory in southern Mississippi, but they had promised in advance to rehire its former cut-and-sew operators. The company became a 100-person company. After an appearance on the business-themed reality show “Shark Tank” in 2009, Pearce secured a $250,000 investment for 20 percent equity in the company from Mark Cuban. That led to distribution in nearly 1,000 stores—most of which were mom-and-pop operations. After Pearce sold his stake to local investors, he helped build a private label company in Bangladesh with partners there, he said, adding that at one point a million shirts a month were being produced for major brands.

Five years ago, Pearce unexpectedly ventured into the suit business after a master tailor convinced him to give it a go. After traveling together and seeing how the tailor would approach lawyers, bankers and politicians in their offices, he was hooked. “He opened his briefcase, showed them the drugs and sold them custom clothes. I thought it was the coolest stuff I’d ever seen – didn’t even know the business existed,” Pearce said.

With franchises covering 50 territories, Pearce Bespoke’s annual sales are expected to exceed $4 million. Franchise owners make “all the profit margins,” according to the founder, who said, “All we do is give them the training, the supply chain, the infrastructure, the business plan and help them recruit.”

The company launched women’s four months ago, including blazers, dresses, trousers, overcoats, raincoats. Women’s sales are expected to increase from 25 percent of the total business to 50 percent by the end of the year, Pearce said. Pearce Bespoke also has B2B partnerships with country clubs, casinos, yacht clubs, universities and NIL athletes. NIL refers to the right of college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness. “If you’re going to dress the entire athletic department at a Division 1 school, women make up at least half of it. You have to be able to take care of them,” he said.

With nearly 50,000 suits expected to be sold by 2025, Pearce aims to have 100 franchise locations in the United States by the end of the year. Negotiations are underway for international distribution, Pearce said. His three-year plan is to have 1,000 locations and annual sales of more than 500,000 suits.

Pearce said: “Our model is basically a mobile bespoke business. We go to people’s houses, co-working spaces. Our mission at Pearce Bespoke is simple to bring convenience to people and build trust. It’s a white glove concierge service. If you buttons break, our dressers come and pick it up and replace it. If you lose 10 pounds, they’ll change it for you and bring it back to you.”

The founder said that potential investors have been knocking on his door, but none of them are related to Trump or his brother-in-law Jared Kushner.

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