Suit Walk’s Ripple Effect
What was the market like before Suit Walk was launched? What has changed since the event launch until now?
在Suit Walk發起前的市場樣貌是如何？在活動後直到現在，有哪些地方改變了？
Image Credit: @josephlu_lu
A Dichotomous Market Before Suit Walk
Before “Suit Walk” was launched, the circulation of suit/menswear information in Taiwan was quite limited. Although there were a handful style bloggers at the time, only a few who could share their knowledge about suits/menswear in depth. In the meantime, a menswear forum called "Gentry Gentry Style" was formed (similar to the Style Forum). However, the topics mainly focused on various brands of leather shoes (such as Gaziano & Girling , John Lobb, Trickers, etc.), rather than suits/overall menswear.
在Suit Walk活動發起前，台灣的西服資訊流通相當有限。雖然當時已經有一些穿搭部落客，但能深入分享西裝知識的卻寥寥無幾。當時，台灣還存在另一個紳士風尚論壇，名為"Gentry紳士風尚"，類似Style Forum，但主題主要聚焦在各品牌皮鞋（如Gaziano & Girling、John Lobb、Trickers等），而非西裝。
Custom-made suit market at that time can be mainly divided into two categories: on the one hand, traditional custom-made shops, where the masters have decades of experience and exquisite craftsmanship, whose main service targets are among the political and business circles; on the other hand, there are traditional tailor-made shops that cater to weddings and ceremonies. Mainstream stores provide ready-made suits and modification services, while customization is dominated by MTM. From international brand’s perspective, only E.Zegna introduced Su Misura service for customized services.
當時的訂製西裝店家主要可分為兩大類：一方面是傳統的訂製店家，師傅擁有數十年的經驗和精湛手藝，主要服務對象以政商界為主；另一方面是以應對結婚市場為主的店家，提供成衣西裝和修改服務，而訂製則以MTM為主流。國際品牌的訂製服務當時僅有E.Zegna引進Su Misura服務。
Image Credit: @gwc_tw
A Developing Market with Suit Walk’s Platform
As the number of Suit Walk participants increases, the event has gradually become a platform for many stores to showcase their finished products and style features. In addition, it has also increased the popularity of the customization suit industry in Taiwan. For instance, the event has driven custom-made stores that were relatively conservative in the past to proactively connect with the market to adopt trend and create innovations. The customer base for custom-made services has also gradually expanded.
隨著Suit Walk參與人數的增加，活動逐漸成為許多店家展示成品和風格特色的平台，也提高了訂製產業在台灣的知名度。這驅使過去相對保守的訂製店家開始接觸市場，進行更多改變和創新，訂製服務的接觸客群也逐漸擴大。
Imag Credit: @theanthology_tw
From United Arrows to Oak Room
In 2014, as the Japanese selection store United Arrows set up its first physical store in Taiwan and became the first stop of the first Suit Walk event, Taiwan's menswear circle experienced significant changes. By 2015, Taiwan welcomed its first local selection store Oak Room, focusing on men's leather shoes, leather accessories, etc. It also became the final stop of the second Suit Walk event. Since then, many overseas stores have come to Taiwan to hold Trunk Shows to showcase their products.
2014年，隨著日系選貨店United Arrows在台灣設立首家實體店，成為第一屆Suit Walk活動的首個停靠站，台灣的紳裝圈經歷顯著的變革。接著在2015年，台灣迎來第一家本土選品店 Oakroom，主打紳士皮鞋、皮件配件等，同時也成為第二屆Suit Walk活動的最終站點。從此開始許多海外店家開始來台舉辦Trunk Show展示產品。
Image Credit: www.oakroom.com.tw
Craftsmanship Reborn with New Generation
Nowadays, as the Taiwan market progresses and matures, more stores have begun to go overseas, holding overseas trunk shows or participating in international exhibitions such as Pitti Uomo. All these effort help introduce a more diverse product range to Taiwan. On the other hand, many younger generations have begun to study abroad, to learn the craft of making suits and handmade leather shoes. Later one, these new generation of craftsmen/women have returned to Taiwan in recent years to open their own studios.
如今，隨著台灣市場的進步與逐漸成熟，更多店家開始走向海外，舉辦海外訂製會或參與Pitti等國際展覽，將更多元的產品引進台灣。台灣在世界紳裝圈逐漸嶄露頭角，許多年輕一代更開始前赴海外學習，包括製作西裝和手工皮鞋，並在近年回國開設自己的工作室。
In current days, Taiwan's technology industry is well-known, which produces the world's major high-end semiconductor chips. What you may not know is that Taiwan was once the world's second largest exporter of footwear products. We will further discuss Taiwan's shoemaking industry in the next article.
各位讀者想必都清楚台灣的科技產業聞名遐邇，台灣生產了世界主要的高階半導體晶片。大家可能不知道的是過去台灣也曾是全球第二大鞋類產品的出口國，關於台灣的製鞋產業，我們將於下一篇跟大家進一步討論。