Why Suit Businesses Must Expand Their Product Lineup to Keep Growing in 2026 and Beyond

If you're running a suit business and your product lineup is still primarily focused on suits, you're building on increasingly unstable ground.

Some might disagree with this, and that's fine. But I often have to ask my clients a critical question: Are you trying to build a brand, an image of something you have in your mind, or are you actually trying to build a profitable business that allows you to build the brand later on?

Because if your answer is the latter, you need to expand your product offerings. Not eventually. Now.

Here's why.

Reason 1: Dress Code Requirements Are Fundamentally Changing

Even before COVID, we were seeing a global trend toward more casual workplace attire. After COVID, that trend didn't just continue—it skyrocketed.

Now that people have returned to offices, suits have shifted from a requirement to a nice-to-have. There are more work-from-home days. More flexibility in what's considered "professional." And even in industries that traditionally required suits daily, the frequency has dropped.

I hear this constantly from colleagues, friends, and people at networking events: "Oh no, we don't wear those anymore." Or "I only have to wear a suit once a week now, sometimes, once a month."

Our clients are noticing the same thing. A growing number of C-level executives who previously wore suits every workday now only wear them for specific client meetings, boardroom presentations, or shareholder meetings.

The return rate for clients who need suits is diminishing. They still need suits, just far less frequently than before.

And if we look at the overall volume of the potential market of people who need suits regularly, that's shrinking too. Which means your potential to sell suits is diminishing over time.

If you only sell suits, your potential revenue ceiling is getting lower every year.

To sustain and grow your business, you need to continue the relationship with your clients over time by offering garment solutions, not where you want them to be, but where they actually are.

Reason 2: Customer Acquisition Costs Are Rising (And Won't Stop)

If you're already doing, or considering some form of paid marketing, whether offline or online, you're probably familiar with the term customer acquisition cost (CAC). That's how much it costs you as a business to acquire one new customer.

If you've been advertising for the last few years, you've likely noticed something alarming: that cost keeps rising.

Based on our research, managing advertising for suit businesses and industry-wide trend reports, CAC is increasing roughly 10-20% every year.

Let's say you built a business model where someone buys a €3,000 suit from you, and it cost you €200 to acquire them a few years ago. Today, leaving all backend the same, that same customer might cost you €400. In a few years, €600 or more.

That eats directly into your profit margin. And it pushes you closer to the scary point of actually selling suits at a loss.

If you've established any form of reliance on paid customer acquisition channels, you'll eventually end up in a position where your revenue stream just dries up because the math no longer works.

No marketer, not even the best ones, can promise you miracles. In the past, we were known for offering guarantees on paid ads, for the last 2 years thats not the case anymore. We can still deliver best in industry performance when it comes to the generation of new customers, but for the part of incoming clients now, after the audit best we can do is slow the rising cost and buy them time to get familiar with other customer generation strategies.

But here's what smart, growing businesses are actually doing and what we keep preaching to our clients if they want to remain competitive in paid advertising: instead of trying to make a profit on the first sale, evaluate profitability based on the average lifetime value of a client.

Now, if you're spending €500 to acquire a customer and they buy a €2,000 suit, you don't view that as a loss or breakeven. You value that cost compared to the lifetime value of the client, which might be €5,000 to €15,000 if you're really good at selling and following up, can deliver on what you promise, and have expanded your product lineup.

Expanding your product range is the easiest way to increase lifetime value.

A person only needs so many suits. But if you can go deeper into their wardrobe, offering coats, overshirts, chinos, shorts, knitwear, accessories, shoes, and other garments, you can serve that client for the next decade.

And when you do that, you can stop worrying about rising acquisition costs. You'll still have a very healthy profit margin protecting you for at least the upcoming decade, because you're not relying on one €2,000 suit purchase to justify a €500 acquisition cost. You're building a relationship that generates €10,000+ over time and keep growing your client list to the point that generating new customers won't be a survival strategy.

Reason 3: The New Generation of Wealthy Clients Rarely Start With Suits

The next generation of high-income clients, entrepreneurs, investors, and young executives rarely begin their careers wearing suits.

Having more casual options available as a first purchase point just makes it easier to get that customer in the door in the first place. Then you can guide them through your customer journey and eventually move them toward purchasing a suit when the time is right.

But here's the bonus: casual garments get worn more frequently. They're seen by others more often. They're worn to different events, posted on social media, and noticed in more contexts.

That increases the surface area for referrals. Every time someone asks, "Where'd you get that coat?" or "Who made those shoes?" you get another opportunity for word-of-mouth growth.

If you only sell suits, you're limiting how often your work is seen and talked about.

The Bottom Line

If you're not expanding your product lineup, both in terms of garment categories and price points, you're doing yourself a massive disservice.

Profit growth in the custom suit industry in 2026 means:

Expanding into new garment categories: Coats, chinos, overshirts, knitwear, accessories, shoes, etc. Go deeper into your clients' wardrobes.

Offering a wider range of price points: Whether that's more affordable fabric options (if it aligns with your brand) or adding higher-end luxury options for those who are happy to spend on them. Give clients a range that matches where they are financially and what they need at different points in their lives.

Adding cross-sells and upsells: Make it easy for clients to say yes to more than just one purchase. (services, bundle offers, exclusive high-end fragrances/toiletries, accessories, shoe care kits, etc)

The businesses in the suit industry thriving in 2026 and beyond won't be the ones clinging to suits alone. They'll be the ones who recognize that their clients' needs are evolving and evolve with them.

Want to figure out how to expand your product lineup reasonably and safely without disrupting your cash flow too much and achieving the highest possible ROI?

We work exclusively with suit businesses. With over a decade of experience and €24M+ managed in advertising specifically for the suit industry, we've helped tailors grow their revenue through strategic product expansion and multiple customer acquisition channels, and are confident we can do the same for you.

Schedule a free discovery session where we'll figure out if we're the right fit to help you grow your business this year and beyond here: https://calendly.com/sartorialdigital/discovery-call To your success,

Andrew