Meet Chris Moncrease | Bespoke Tailor & Investor
We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Moncrease and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Chris, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I’ve always worn suits growing up and one day while I was folding clothes I thought that it would be a good idea to have my own brand, however everybody has a shirt brand, but a suit brand would be unique and not only just any suit, but a suit that’s perfect for you. Now I had my struggles to find the perfect suits growing up. I seen how it was difficult to find something to fit you properly (having an athletic body), and also liking the design, so being into the arts growing up, I explored how to make suits. Now, exploring how to make suits, took me into a culture that I never thought existed, and that was the bespoke culture. It’s a small group of individuals that really take their time and effort into putting handmade details into luxury goods including suits. These details overall create a bespoke garment. The bespoke industry can definitely be lucrative. In my research, I’ve found that some viewed it as just business, yet others viewed it as creating art… building masterpieces! I fell in love with it then. This culture is mainly found in Italy, London, parts of France, and each area has their own style. It’s rare to find bespoke tailors in America, and f you do, most of the time they don’t create on their own originality. Therefore I wanted to bring this art to California and I wanted to give it its own Californian style, so that’s when Moncrease Bespoke began.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
If Art is self-expression, I would say the main thing that separates my art from others, is me. You get me throughout the process. You get my skill, you get my consultation, get my vision, you get my work ethic, you get my personality, you get my style…you get me. A big thing that is a part of me is that you get exactly what you want because that is the struggle that I had growing up wearing suits…it was always missing something.
I’m always excited to create something. I’m always proud to be able to take people on the journey with me. If you ever view my Instagram, I have storie highlights on my page, and you can see the whole process and the whole journey of creating something. It’s a fun process, and I like other people to experience it with me.
I got to where I am today professionally by actually taking leaps of faith. I remember one day I was driving down the 10 freeway and happened to look up and I seen a building that said Sewing Arts Center and I thought about it, and overtime I actually drove there and went inside to inquire about classes. I took a class there, and took a class at Moods Fabric, did an apprenticeship with no formal fashion design or sewing schooling. Reached out to tailors, asked for help, messed up and failed a lot but it only made me better. Now, none of this would have happened if I didn’t just jump into it.
The two things that I’ve learned thus far is that when you set your mind on a goal, just go towards that goal. Anything else is potentially a distraction. The second thing that I learned is that when you take losses, they’re not really losses, they are really lessons that you’re learning because when you mess up, you know that you don’t wanna mess up again, so the next time you run into that situation, you’re only gonna be better.
What the world needs to know about Moncrease Bespoke is that it’s so much more than a suit.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Here in SoCal you want to go to the Beaches, but I spend most of my free time at restaurants especially after six the restaurants and bars from Beverly Hills to Manhattan Beach. There are a plethora of restaurants and beaches to go to…it’s Los Angeles. My top two favorites for now are Tao in Beverly Hills and Joeys Manhattan Beach.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Emani Moncrease is someone that has supported me since the beginning. None of this would even be possible if she didn’t encourage me day in and day out!
Ian Macmillan is a dope bespoke tailor from Canada that spent so much time on twitch really teaching us inspiring tailors how to do things at a time when there really wasn’t much information out there on how to create bespoke garments. It was never a dull moment with Ian…great personality and a good friend!
Lee Marsh is also a dope bespoke tailor, from London, he really helped me better my sleeve game. If you know, you know sleeves can be one of the hardest things on a jacket. Lee tightened up my skills…unfortunately I’m still not perfect yet! One day I’ll get there Lee!
The Kalenga Family allowed me to start practicing the creative process on their kitchen table.
Derek Truluck for helping me to physically see what it takes to be a business owner.
And last but not least, Jehovah has made all this possible!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moncrease.bespoke?igsh=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moncreasebespoke?mibextid=kFxxJD
Nominate Someone: ShoutoutSouthCarolina is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
