Gunnar Churchwell / Tom Jamesdiscussed

Eddie's closing pick, which turned into the call's longest open debate. Churchwell sells custom suits out of Tom James's New York shop (a ~60-year-old clothier, not a storefront retailer) by walking up to strangers on the street with a camera -- no fear, and apparently very effective: he's won an internal award for the business he's driven, and a friend of Eddie's has tried to hire him away four times. He's built a real following (138,000 Instagram, Eddie estimates ~75% New York-based) among young finance guys who don't know how to dress. The group debated whether formal suit-buying is structurally compressing post-COVID (per Megan and Caroline, most finance guys now own exactly one suit for the one in-person meeting a year) or whether that just means the opportunity is narrower but still real, especially against existing 'easy'/convenience players (Mizzen+Main, State and Liberty, Collars & Co.) that already own the no-effort end of the market. Sam's own anecdote -- he personally owns many suits, including two tuxedos -- was offered as a data point that the high end of the category is alive, just concentrated.