Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Taylor.
Hi Richard, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My journey into custom clothing started in 2014 when I launched Harrison Blake Apparel. I didn’t come from a traditional fashion background, and I didn’t have a large amount of capital or an established network in the industry. I learned the business by doing it—building relationships with manufacturers, learning fabrics and measurements, figuring out pricing, working directly with clients, and making plenty of mistakes along the way.
Over time, Harrison Blake grew from an idea into an established custom clothing business. I’ve had the opportunity to work with clients across the country, dress professional athletes and executives, and have our work featured in publications including GQ, Esquire and Brides.
But one of the biggest things I learned along the way was just how difficult it can be to figure out how to enter this industry. There really wasn’t a clear roadmap when I started. Much of what I learned took years of trial and error.
That realization eventually led me to create the Custom Clothier Academy. I wanted to take what had taken me years to learn and give aspiring clothiers a much clearer path—from understanding the business and working with clients to measuring, selling, pricing and navigating manufacturing.
Today, I still operate Harrison Blake Apparel, but a growing part of my focus is education and helping other entrepreneurs build their own businesses in the custom clothing industry. In many ways, the Academy has become the next chapter of the journey that started with Harrison Blake more than a decade ago.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Like most entrepreneurs, I’ve experienced plenty of trial and error along the way.
One of the biggest challenges early on was simply figuring out the custom clothing industry. There wasn’t a blueprint. I had to learn how to find reliable manufacturing partners, understand fabrics and construction, take accurate measurements, price my products, attract clients and, most importantly, build enough confidence to actually sell what I was offering.
There were mistakes, relationships with manufacturers that didn’t work out, orders that didn’t go exactly as planned and lessons that sometimes cost me both time and money. I also had to learn that being good at custom clothing and being good at running a business are two very different things.
But those experiences ultimately became some of my greatest assets. Every mistake taught me something, and over more than a decade I developed systems and relationships that made the business much easier to navigate.
That’s actually a big part of why I created the Custom Clothier Academy. I realized that someone entering this industry today shouldn’t necessarily have to spend years figuring out everything I had to figure out on my own. If I can help someone avoid some of those mistakes, shorten their learning curve and start their business with better information and support, then those struggles ended up serving a much bigger purpose.
As you know, we’re big fans of Custom Clothier Academy. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The Custom Clothier Academy was created to help aspiring entrepreneurs learn how to start and grow a custom clothing business without having to spend years trying to figure out the industry on their own.
What makes the Academy different is that it was built from real-world experience. I’ve operated Harrison Blake Apparel since 2014, so what I teach isn’t based simply on theory. It comes from more than a decade of actually working with clients, taking measurements, selling custom garments, developing manufacturing relationships, solving problems and building a brand in this industry.
Through the Academy, we focus on both sides of becoming a successful custom clothier. There is the technical side—understanding measurements, fabrics, garment construction, manufacturing and the ordering process—but there is also the business side: finding clients, pricing your services, selling with confidence, presenting yourself professionally and building a brand people trust.
I think that combination is one of the things that sets us apart. You can learn how to measure someone for a suit, but that alone doesn’t create a successful business. You also have to know how to get someone sitting across the table from you, communicate your value and confidently ask them to invest in what you’re offering.
What I’m most proud of is that we’ve been able to take knowledge that traditionally can be difficult to access and make the industry more approachable for someone who has the ambition to build a business but may not know where to begin.
Ultimately, the Custom Clothier Academy is about shortening the learning curve. I spent years developing relationships, making mistakes and learning how this industry works. Our goal is to give the next generation of custom clothiers a clearer path, practical training and access to resources that can help them turn an interest in menswear and custom clothing into a legitimate business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.CustomClothierAcademy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearlapelpins/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZsIU2hAUrUIfoY6gzQHHag
