Business
TREND
ON THE RISE
One benefit
of pop-ups:
neighborhood
improvement.
Pop-Up Culture Temporary
shops can have lasting effects, on
more than just business owners.
BY STACY COWLEY
W
HEN TOM DAGUANNO and
Max Schmidt launched their
custom menswear business
last year, they expected it to remain a virtual
one. Customers would visit the website-
1701Bespoke.com-to book an appointment for
a fitting at their home or office, and Daguanno
and Schmidt would use the measurements to
create a wardrobe of suits and fine garments
for them. It was a truly minimalist venture:
No inventory, no office space.
Until a client suggested that Detroit, where
1701 Bespoke is based, could really use a highend menswear store. What if he helped the two
48 SPIRIT JULY 2014
find a vacant storefront where they could open
up temporarily to test the market?
"He knew someone at a local real estate firm
that had this amazing empty space right in
the heart of downtown," Schmidt recalls. "We
opened on October 21, and within 24 hours we
were booked solid for two weeks."
The shop they had planned to run for six
days instead lasted three months, and it
changed the company's trajectory. Daguanno
and Schmidt began hunting for a permanent
brick-and-mortar location-and in the process
became part of a growing wave of business
CONTINUED ON PAGE 50
PHOTOGRAPHY BY FREDRIK BRODÉN
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spirit Magazine - July 2014