Threading The Needle... The Green Way

UAE homegrown bespoke luxury menswear brand Benjamin Siggers is putting the focus squarely on sustainable fashion

- Varun Godinho

“FASHION IS THE SECOND MOST polluting industry in the world,” says Matthew Benjamin, one half of UAE homegrown sustainable bespoke tailoring firm Benjamin Siggers.

“There are other brands that follow the sustainable model – Everlane, Outerknown, Reformation and Patagonia – but there’s none on the men’s formal luxury side.”

That’s the gaping fashion hole that Matthew and his business partner James Siggers decided to plug by starting up Benjamin Siggers in late 2017, headquartered out of Dubai.

They met each other while both were working at Tom James – the largest custom clothing company in the world. Benjamin was deputed by Tom James to Dubai back in 2012 to set up the Middle East office.

“We knew from sales in the region that we had done in the five years [from 20122017] that there was a bespoke menswear market of at least $1m a year. We also knew that being sustainable was the only way to build a business for the future,” says Benjamin, explaining why he parted from his former employer and started up his own venture along with his colleague, James Siggers.

But what exactly do they mean by the term ‘sustainable clothing’? Siggers says, “It means using ethical factories that treat people fairly, taking into consideration the environmental and social impact our wardrobes have, eliminating toxic chemicals from the raw materials processed and delivering products that not only make people look and feel good, but actually does good too.”

Outlining those lofty goals is easy, achieving them not so much. But Benjamin and Siggers had a plan in place to that end. They began by focusing on the materials and the manufacturing process.

Benjamin Siggers tailors mainly bespoke suits, shirts and ties – all of which are handmade in Italy. The suits are made near Pisa, shirts just outside Naples, and ties in Como.