Revisited! SEWT (Suits Especially for Women Tailored) Expands Bespoke Business to Toronto

Revisited! SEWT (Suits Especially for Women Tailored) Expands Bespoke Business to Toronto

When women support women, great things happen! Luan Tolosa, founder and CEO of SEWT (Suits Especially for Women Tailored), has not been idle over the past few months, instead, she strategized and implemented a Canada-wide expansion of her bespoke women’s suiting brand. SEWT was already operating bicoastally with Luan and her team regularly visiting Toronto and it was inevitable that an announcement such as this, was forthcoming.

SEWT, Luan Tolosa, Nicole Bach, Helen Siwak, EcoLuxLuv, Bespoke, Toronto Expansion, Vancouver, BC, Vancity, YVR
Bespoke Businesswoman: Luan Tolosa (SEWT) and Oksana Ringsma (Nicole Bach) in Vancouver | IG: @sewtofficial

By combining efforts with Toronto’s Nicole Bach, SEWT is staying strong in its mission to bring suiting and a variety of additional initiatives – that both align themselves with – to their clients, with hopes to make some real changes in the retail landscape.

Luan and Oksana Ringsma (co-founder of Nicole Bach) strongly believe in the power of lifting others up in order to create an impact, in choosing collaboration over competition and adjusting the mindset of how business should be done.

Read more about this story in ‘Better Together,’ a blog post by Luan announcing the expansion of SEWT, an exploration of how the two brands will work together to continue to provide women tailored, stylish, and high-quality garments for the workplace.

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FOLIO.YVR ISSUE #7: SEWT IS SUITS ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN TAILORED, December 2019

SEWT, Luan Tolosa, Nicole Bach, Helen Siwak, EcoLuxLuv, Bespoke, Toronto Expansion, Vancouver, BC, Vancity, YVR

In Vancouver, SEWT is changing the way that women shop for suits while building a community of women eager to grow in their professional careers. The brand’s name stands for Suits Especially for Women Tailored and boasts a wide range of custom options, including full suits, skirts, blazers, pants, vests, and outerwear. Since being founded in 2018, the brand has seen growth in Vancouver and is gaining a presence in Toronto with regular events.

The idea for SEWT first came to founder Luan Tolosa during her MBA studies at Queen’s University’s Smith School of Business. After realizing that, although she and her classmates had grown personally since their undergraduate years, their wardrobes had not. Looking for a way to create suits for women that reflected their personalities and promoted confidence, she opened a showroom in the heart of Vancouver’s False Creek Flats, a neighbourhood gaining a reputation for galleries and tech companies.

SEWT, Luan Tolosa, Nicole Bach, Helen Siwak, EcoLuxLuv, Bespoke, Toronto Expansion, Vancouver, BC, Vancity, YVR

When asked why she chose the city known for its relaxed athleisure wardrobe over the bustling corporate scene of Toronto, Tolosa remarks that it wasn’t a difficult decision.

“Vancouver is home,” she said. “A lot of people say that Toronto is a bigger market for us (and really, what industry isn’t Toronto a bigger market for?), but the reason why we started SEWT was that there was a gap for suiting especially for womxn in Vancouver.” She aspires to have a physical presence in any major city where this need exists.

Tolosa comes to her profession honestly. Growing up in Winnipeg with a mother who worked as a seamstress, she was exposed to the garment industry from a young age. This experience led her to learn to design clothing, which her mother helped her sew. After working in commercial real estate, she was drawn back to the business idea conceived while studying for a Certificate in Social Impact during her MBA degree.

At the core of SEWT’s values is the belief in slow fashion, producing sustainable materials on a made-to-order basis, and donating or reusing any returns. “Our ideal client is a womxn who values a personalized experience, knows she wants something unique to her and wants to customize their wardrobe to reflect,” Tolosa says. This ensures that garments will be worn well into the future and allows the wearer to show their personality through the cut, fabric selection, and customizations.

One trend is evident from SEWT’s styles on display in their look book; the ever-dependable relaxed smile on the faces of women wearing smart blazers, pencil skirts and the recently released Rogue Suit, which features a distinctive twist on the double-breasted jacket, named for the designer who crafted it for her thesis collection at Kwantlen Polytechnic’s Wilson School of Design.

This shows that SEWT is all about making quality clothing that is accessible and nonchalant. Dressing up is not seen as something that forces the customer to be anything but themselves, and this approachable brand of fashion marketing sets them apart in the industry. “Our mission at SEWT is to be part of the stories of the womxn who inspire us,” remarks Tolosa. “We were born out of a simple idea – we wear suits too.”

[Original story was written by Coleman Pete for Folio.YVR Luxury Lifestyle Magazine]

Author Profile

Helen Siwak - EcoFriendly Lifestyle Consultant
Helen Siwak - EcoFriendly Lifestyle Consultant
Helen Siwak is the founder of EcoLuxLuv Marketing & Communications Inc and publisher of Folio.YVR Luxury Lifestyle Magazine and digital women's lifestyle magazine EcoLuxLifestyle.co. She is a prolific content creator, consultant, and marketing and media strategist within the ecoluxury lifestyle niche. Post-pandemic, she has worked with many small to mid-sized plant-based/vegan brands to build their digital foundations and strategize content creation and business development. Helen is the west coast correspondent to Canada’s top-read industry magazine Retail-Insider, holds a vast freelance portfolio, and consults with many of the world’s luxury heritage brands. Always seeking new opportunities and challenges, you can email her at helen@ecoluxluv.com.
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