Seph Skerritt, a New York entrepreneur, says he has a foolproof way to solve a problem well-known to many New York men—how to find a perfect fitting dress shirt.
Skerritt’s company, Proper Cloth, offers an online interface enabling men to custom create dress shirts based on their desired measurements, style, fit, and fabric.
I know what you’re thinking—so what? You never know something is the perfect fit until you try it on.
Well, yes. Proper Cloth is well aware of that challenge, and has anticipated how to get around that objection. Every first shirt a customer orders can be further customized or returned for free, even if it’s the consumer who picked the wrong sizing.
“It makes every first shirt a test shirt,” he says. “We’re more than happy to lose a little bit on the first shirt to get them satisfied and stoked on the fit.”
Let’s back track. Skerritt says he felt firsthand the pain of trying to find the right business attire while working in the corporate world. “The process was go to the mall, try on stuff, and try to find something you like,” he says. “It’s totally frustrating and annoying, and you end up making a lot of compromises just to get it over with.”
While at MIT Sloan School of Management, Skerritt knew he wanted to start his own company upon graduating, he says. And the inspiration came while he was on an internship in Asia and had his first experience with custom shirt ordering.
“It seemed like the kind of offering that could be very interesting if it was rolled up into a really clean, customer service oriented, e-commerce experience,” he says.
Skerritt started working on the business in April 2008 while still in school, and had the site live that October. Proper Cloth now offers
