DressMonkey’s size queen experiment concluded with some impressive and some disappointing results. The premise is that we hire a bunch of hot models to walk around New York and measure people… We’ve had this idea on the books since the company’s inception, and I think it delivered on my expectations of completely making the world think that DressMonkey is willing to do some pretty ridiculous but also ballsy things to get you to know about us.

We always wanted to do it, and with me being in New York for the trunk show on November 17th, I thought it was an optimal time to just go for it. We, with the help of a new friend of the monk, Al Shaine, organized a team of promo models to wander up and down Wall St. and other venues, measuring every unsuspecting young professional within eyesight. I met the girls at a Starbucks, where we took over the back table and I held a meeting with 6 hot chicks (including one Xianyi Portfolio). I’m used to getting stares on account of my dashing looks, but I’d never seen so many people looking at me in utter curiosity as I explained to a group of 6 women how to measure a guy for a blazer. I knew it was a good sign.

We divided into two teams, with the first being led by me and the other by Xianyi. I announced that we had a contest whereby the girl with the most measurements taken would win an extra cash prize, with Xianyi and I keeping score. We stayed around Wall St. and started the spectacle. At first the girls were completely weirded out, and rightfully so as a few guys tried to hit on them right off the bat. Eventually, they learned to deflect such shameless propositions and get the guys to stand stationary in the 35 degree cold to be told how far their belly had expanded since their gym membership conveniently “expired.” Some girls were into it right from the beginning, others it seemed had already decided they weren’t going to win and gave up in their heads. Though it was cold, we persisted and got about 30-40%of people who were approached to get measured. The girls then would give them a little card with their measurements on it, as well as a fabric swatch book and tape measure.

Eventually the cold became unbearable, and we moved indoors to some food exhibition on the advice of a good friend Jeremy Hurewitz. Apparently it was an indoor pavilion with lots of young professionals on their lunch break. Score. We showed up and the girls went to town, measuring every guy in sight. Some girls seemed to remember the term “target customer,” others did not as I caught what looked like a homeless bag man being treated to the thrill of his lifetime by one of our hot blondes.

After about an hour in the food exhibition, we got kicked out and our time was up with the girls. In all the day was a pretty good success, though it was apparent that we needed to only hire the “right” girls, as I noticed some slacking from the “wrong” ones. One, who had mentally given up a while ago actually started taking pictures of the other girls while they were measuring. As I shot her a dirty look, as if to say “What the fuck!? Am I paying you to take pictures?,“ she had the balls to tell me “You know I’m not a good photographer.” No shit, seems like your not good at too much else either, like doing what I’m paying you for!

Aside from that, the day went well and I think we will try it again, with the right girls. We’ll also need to do it when its not so cold, it was a tough proposition to guys to take off their jackets in the middle of gusty downtown.

Entrepreneurial lesson learned? Try anything to promote your products, no matter how outrageous it may seem, because you’ll always learn something from it.

DressMonkey Nation is evolving, thanks largely to the overwhelming (and much appreciated) enthusiasm and support from our customers.

Check out the positive press we've has received this week!

DressMonkey: Featured Company (12/08/07) on The Bowtie Report!

DressMonkey has a great online store and will tailor in accordance to your needs. Great alternative for those whose bodies aren't shaped like models', i.e. most people!

AcquireMag.com gives DressMonkey its style stamp of approval!

From Summer friendly linens to classic tweeds or premium wools, they'll have ou covered for just about any occasion. [$135-$195]

Another day, another blazer. Jessica, our new me, and I woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to head out to the factory and inspect the latest surge of orders for the holiday season. We dashed onto a train jammed pack with the usual chickens and ducks on their first and last commute to the eventual dinner table somewhere in the Chinese interior.

After our long and smelly train ride, we arrived in JiaXing as we always do, and headed straight for the factory, which is a 5 min cab ride from the train station. We measured and checked every single blazer as usual, and as our volumes were especially large this time, we took our sweet time to do it. Our factory is getting pretty automatic, and I am loving it. A few oversights here and there are always going to happen, and that’s why we check the hell out of these things. But in general, they are pretty spot on.

We send all of our orders automatically from the website. So basically what happens is when you order, our back end faxes those orders to the factory and our guys start working on it immediately. The system automatically translates all of your design choices into Chinese, and all your measurements into centimeters, placing them on an order sheet which finds its way around the factory as the blazer gets made. Pretty cool huh? I designed the system and built it for a few hundred bucks, gotta love the Chinese graduate students…

So as we were testing, I noticed that some of you are getting REALLY creative and some of the designs are quite astonishing in their subtle sleekness. While I was looking closer at one of them, I bent down behind one of our lovely workers and literally came close to certain chaos. The worker was sewing a button on by hand, and reached back far with every thread pulled through. I was looking at an especially cool design and she cocked back, needle in hand, literally dodging my eye by 4 milimeters. Thankfully I had taken yet another closer look at some stitching when she did this because had I been in my original position, I’d probably be on a plane back to America right now to see an eye specialist to remove the needle in my eye, and a psychiatrist to help me deal with the fact that every kid’s worst fear had just occurred, to me. As I shuddered at how close I had just came with certain disturbia, the factory workers erupted with laughter around me, their dream had come true, a white kid couldn’t hack it in the factory and it was overtly obvious. I have a habit of stubbing my toe, I can’t even imagine the kind of injuries I’d have if I had to do some sort of physical labor…I’ll stick to the gym.

After a few deep breaths and a lot of orders perfectly reflecting their order list, I got on the bus back to Shanghai and that’s where I’m writing this now. Another day at the factory, another dumb move by me, and a lot of happy customers on the way!

We have just partnered with our favorite hand-printed cotton friends over at Nankeen to bring you the long anticipated Nankeen lined DressMonkey blazer just in time for the holidays. Many of Nankeen's customers have been asking about this and we're happy to finally announce its arrival.

DressMonkey and Nankeen bring a new style of camel hair blazer made with real leather buttons, Nankeen's distinctive cotton print lining, and hand picked edges, a truly unique and classy blazer if we've ever seen one (and we've seen quite a few).

Now is a great opportunity to purchase one for yourself or give the gift of Nankeen and DressMonkey this holiday season. You have the option of selecting the Nankeen lining on any of our blazers, or select the specially designed Nankeen Camel Hair Blazer (photo attached)

Here's how to order:

- Go to our Fabric Collections page

- Select your favorite fabric. When customizing your jacket select "start from scratch," customize anything you want and select "Nankeen Lining" under the Lining drop down.

OR

- Go to our Previous Designs page
- Scroll down to select the "Camelhair with Nankeen Lining." This is the jacket we specifically designed to go with our lining.

Since this is a custom gift and our elves are already working at full capacity, you will receive this gift after Christmas. Therefore, if you order by Dec 20, Nankeen will send the recipient–in time for Christmas–a gift card stating they should be expecting their blazer in a few weeks. Click here to shop around for that perfect matching scarf to go with your Camel Hair!

Enjoy, pass this along, and happy holidays from Nankeen and DressMonkey!

Custom Men's Clothing Company Blazing a New Trail in China

From The Branded Male

Paris-based men's fashion journalist Mark Tungate interviews Coley Dale, co-founder of Shanghai, China-based DressMonkey (www.dressmonkey.com) about his company that offers high-quality custom-made men's blazers online at a fraction of the price for off-the-rack products in most stores.

Read entire story, click here.