• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii

3

Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii

3

Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
men's wearhouse

Men’s Wearhouse has a plan to make Joseph Abboud a $1 billion brand

Phil Wahba
By
Phil Wahba
Phil Wahba
Senior Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
Phil Wahba
By
Phil Wahba
Phil Wahba
Senior Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 14, 2015, 10:15 AM ET
Joseph Abboud flagship
Joseph Abboud flagshipCourtesy of Men's Wearhouse
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Nearly two years after Men’s Wearhouse (MW) bought the Joseph Abboud brand for a song, the company has opened the designer label’s first ever flagship store with a view to reviving the brand and tapping a more upscale part of the men’s suits market.

The Joseph Abboud store, on Manhattan’s upscale Madison Avenue, is a 4,300 square-foot emporium meant to evoke London’s Savile Row, with its elegant stores offering bespoke men’s suits. The store showcases Abboud’s entire collection, including clothes made with Italian fabric and linen suits. Some of the fancier touches include an iron staircase leading up to the part of the store men can order custom clothing, and hand-blown chandeliers.

While the average suit costs $290 at a Men’s Wearhouse store, and $225 at Jos. A. Bank, a rival retailer Men’s Wearhouse bought last year for $2 billion, the big push the company is giving the Joseph Abboud line is meant to give it a horse in the race of the $600-$800 suit in the aspirational luxury market. That part of the market is growing faster than the mid- and lower tiers, and is less exposed to the ups and downs of the job market.

“That’s where this brand is positioned, and why it adds so much to the company,” Chief Executive Doug Ewert told Fortune during a tour of the store. “Existing customers are trading up to it and new customers are coming to us now to get it, and so it brings a whole new demographic to our brands.”

Last year, the nearly dormant Joseph Abboud brand rang in sales of $230 million, but Ewert sees potential for the label to eventually be a billion-dollar brand, including international licenses, if Men’s Wearhouse executes its plan well. On top of already being available at 700 Men’s Wearhouse stores and 150 Moore’s stores in Canada, the Abboud brand will be debut at 600 Jos. A. Bank locations later this year, marking a major return of a brand that not so long ago was a fixture at chains as Nordstrom (JWN) and Dillard’s (DDS).

Men’s Wearhouse’s namesake stores saw comparable sales rise 3.9% last year, while at Jos. A. Bank they fell 2.5%. After years of a heavily promotional strategy, Jos. A. Bank in particular could use a bit of a high touch to rehabilitate any cachet it had. (Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank will carry different elements of Abboud’s collections.)

The Abboud brand itself had lost some luster since its namesake designer parted ways with his JA Holding company a year after it was sold to private-equity firm J.W. Childs Associates for $73 million in 2004. Some flops included the JOE Joseph Abboud clothing, a sports line for young men, that Macy’s (M) dropped after three years in 2009.

In 2013, Abboud who had joined Men’s Wearhouse as chief creative director a year earlier, was reunited with his namesake brand, thanks to Men’s Wearhouse’s $97.5 million acquisition of the house he created. “We have now restored the DNA of the Joseph Abboud brand, by re-engaging him with it,” Ewert said. “It’s a designer brand with a living, breathing designer associated with it, designing the menswear- that’s unique out there, with the revolving doors you see at a lot of brands.”

Still, while the Joseph Abboud brand was wandering in the fashion desert, the competition hasn’t gotten any easier. The relaunched brand is going head to head with such popular lines as J.Crew’s hugely popular Ludlow collection, Hart Schaffner Marx and even German fashion brand Hugo Boss.

And that is major part of the rationale to open a flagship store on one of the most expensive retail strips in the world: to lend the brand an aura of elegance and luxury and restore some of that luster.

“This is to expand its brand recognition, awareness, and support the overall brand so it’s not seen as essentially a private label line at Men’s Wearhouse,” said Ewert. To further re-enforce that high-touch component, the company will be adding custom shirts later this year. The ability to offer custom clothing is also a key component of its strategy to reach younger men, many of whom associate Men’s Wearhouse with a previous generation.

“One of things we’re going to be able to do is to democratize the custom experience by bringing it to the middle market,” Ewert said. And hopefully for Ewert, get his traditional customer to trade up.

About the Author
Phil Wahba
By Phil WahbaSenior Writer
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Phil Wahba is a senior writer at Fortune primarily focused on leadership coverage, with a prior focus on retail.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Luxury

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
2 days ago
Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii
Success
Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 2, 2026
17 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
20 hours ago
Americans are escaping the U.S. for New Zealand where house prices have hit a new low—but only wealthy Americans with $3 million spare can invest
Success
Americans are escaping the U.S. for New Zealand where house prices have hit a new low—but only wealthy Americans with $3 million spare can invest
By Emma BurleighJuly 2, 2026
19 hours ago
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
Success
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 2, 2026
1 day ago
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
Law
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
16 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.