Schottenstein Remains Hands-On

By Helen Coster, Forbes

Malcolm Jenkins, All-Pro cornerback for the New Orleans Saints, can afford to dress exactly how he wants. But rather than wear head-to-toe Armani, he buys his suits from Astor & Black, a bespoke clothing company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Three times a year Astor & Black’s 27-year-old founder, David Schottenstein, flies to New Orleans and meets Jenkins at his home for measurements. “I like to pick out my own stuff, and David knows what I like,” says Jenkins, who owns 30 Astor & Black pieces, including suits, sport coats and sweaters. “It’s a lot easier than going to a store and dealing with a new person every time.”

Schottenstein’s pitch: quality custom-fit suits, delivered conveniently and at a discount. The message clicks, and not just with young professionals with modest clothing budgets. In the last six years Astor & Black has grown to $21 million in annual revenue.

An average Astor & Black suit costs $895, one-fourth the price of a made-to-measure Zegna. The suits come in thousands of fabrics and colors, are constructed from scratch by tailors in China, Hong Kong and the U.S., and arrive in four to six weeks.

Schottenstein’s discount strategy traces back to his grandfather Leon, the eldest of four brothers who founded Schottenstein Stores, the eventual parent company of discounters Filene’s Basement and DSW.

By age 16 David (who had transferred to boarding school in Venice, Italy after Columbus Torah Academy “asked him to leave” because of disciplinary issues) was planning his own fashion play, one without all the bricks and mortar. He launched the business at age 20, using $75,000 he had made selling cigars and day trading in high school.

Schottenstein relies on a fleet of 92 haberdashers, who travel to homes, offices and country clubs in 35 states and five countries to do fittings. He prefers hard-core sales types, like pharmaceutical reps and insurance agents. All are unsalaried and work on commission.

First-year recruits earn $40,000 to $75,000, while top performers bring in $300,000 or more. Last year’s “rookie of the year” generated $500,000 in sales setting up booths at bar association and chamber of commerce meetings. “People who work in a retail environment are not for this business,” says Schottenstein. “They get used to people coming to them.”

Last year Schottenstein and company President Christian Boehm created a 25-page aptitude test for prospective hires. It asks applicants whether they agree or disagree with statements like “It is difficult for you to play a game ‘just for the fun of it.'” High scorers get invited to “Astor & Black University”–a four-day-long, unpaid sales boot camp in Columbus, where Boehm and others lecture on measuring, customer service and style.

By the end of 2012 Schottenstein hopes to have 200 haberdashers working around the world, himself included.

“I could have taken the position that I’m not going to go around on my hands and knees and measure people’s inseams,” he says. “And I thought, If that’s what it’s going to take to get the business started, I’m going to do it.”