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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Orlaith Clinton

Belfast business celebrates 30 years working as a family

A Belfast business is celebrating its 30th birthday this month - marking three decades of dressing Northern Ireland's most famous faces.

Tom Suitor began working in the tailoring world when he was just 15. Starting his first job in John Collier's in Belfast, he soon became hooked on the industry.

After going on to work as a manager in Gentry Men's Fashion, Tom went out on his own in 1992 and opened Suitor's Menswear.

The Suitor name has become a familiar one in the fashion world, both locally in Northern Ireland and across the UK, with well known faces now sporting their clothes.

Read more: Belfast barbers open special sensory room for children

After retirement, Tom's sons William and Chris took over.

Speaking to Belfast Live, Chris said: "Our dad had been in the industry since he moved from Monaghan. His first job was in John Colliers Tailoring in the middle of Belfast when he was 15.

"He then worked as a manager in a company called Gentry from the mid-70s. He went out on his own in 1992 and started Suitors Menswear, which was in Rosemary Street. Back then, the only shop he could get had a 25 year lease. That was very normal back then compared to nowadays.

"Dad was well known and just thought it was time to go out on his own, so opened the business 30 years ago alongside a gentleman called Martin Mooney, who has sadly passed away now. They ran the business really strongly for five years, then my brother came in.

"William joined in 1997 and was 25 at the time. That was the first step of the transition of passing the business on. In the year 2000, dad opened up a shop in Upper Arthur Street, called Lawsuit. He ran the shop there, and then William looked after Suitor Menswear.

"That went well and we built on a reputation of good service and how we treat customers. It was brilliant. They were very proactive and changed a lot when the recession hit. They brought in different brands, and changed things up. In 2011, I came into the business after being in the car industry for ten years."

Tom Suitor retired in 2014 after dealing with poor health - but he still remains the heart and soul of the business, which has since changed names to Suitor Bros.

Working with a small team of five, the brothers have wanted to create a warm atmosphere, where anyone who needs a suit, can come in and feel as comfortable as the last customer.

"We closed both shops in 2016, when our 25 years lease was up," Chris added.

"From there, we decided to have the one shop, here on Upper Arthur Street. It was a good time for us to take over as brothers. This is where we are today and we are still going well and loving every minute of it.

"There's a small team, with me, William, Andrew, Rhys and Sharon. We are a small team but it works really well. We have tried to create, what we call, a very country style, local shop, within the city.

"When customers come in, it is warm and inviting. A lovely atmosphere, where nobody is pressured. We don't jump down people's throats to create a sale, because that isn't our style. It is very rare that you don't have a manager breathing down your neck to push sales, but we don't do that.

"We are laid back, our doors are open and we are there for anyone. We do have a range for all budgets - anyone can come into our shop. We did have a problem where people thought we were too elitist. That is not the case. We dress anyone.

"At the start, we had dressed some celebrities, but the first sports star was Michael Conlan. He had just won the Amateur Word Title, and he needed dressed for RTE. We helped him and as soon as people saw him looking well, it spiralled.

"Carl Frampton was then in touch with us and we now have a brilliant relationship with him. We have dressed Rory Best, Ryan Burnett, Stevie Ferris, Jonathan Rea and the NI Football Team. The two we haven't dressed are Jamie Dornan and Rory McIlroy.

"I will get them at some point. Those two would complete the whole set.

"As we are celebrating 30 years in business, we just have to thank them for their custom over the decades. We wouldn't be here without them."

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