E19: YMI Talking to Edwing Joseph from Edwing Joseph & Sons

Edwing Joseph knows a thing or two about looking good and in Episode 19, Jimi tries to extract as much of that knowledge as he can.

Based in Bethlehem, Edwing Joseph & Sons is THE purveyor of custom and bespoke suits in the area. They have outfitted everyone from TV stars, to NFL athletes, to musicians. 

Edwing's story starts in Haiti where his dad was a master tailor and taught him the love of the craft. It continues to today here he gets to watch his own children fall in love with the art of tailoring. 

For more info on YMI insurance visit our website at ymiagency.com

Or give us a call at 610-868-8762 to see how we can better protect your business and family.

Transcript

1:00:00

person that I don't look to sell, not looking at selling anything to anyone. I'm looking to help people, anyone made it help change someone's life to make them feel better, the clothes can fit better. Um, I was, you know, if I can give a tip, if I can tell you how I can do something. And I like being positive and I like to, you know, to, to post quote out there, to motivate everyone. And if someone needs me, they're going to come and find me. Right. Um, so I always, always post things, not to, not to say, Hey, come see me. I got the best suits in the Valley, which I do. I'm just joking. All right, I am here with another episode of Why Am I Talking? And I am super excited about this one. I've had a lot of cool guests on before, but I would say it's safe to assume none of them have nearly the style or the fashion sense of my current guest. Edwing Joseph is the proprietor and tailor at Edwing Joseph and Sons. It is an incredible tailoring and custom suit business in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. And he's an all around great guy who I've gotten to know over the past couple months. And I'm super excited to have you on here. Edwing, thank you for coming on. Hey Jimi, thank you so much, happy to be here. Absolutely, so let's start with the business. I mean, tell me how you got started. Well, I got started, I'm from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and my father's a custom tailor. So it's watching him make custom clothing for his clients coming in and how excited they were to create the clothes with him and come back to a masterpiece and put it on, that's what excites me. So I'm living through that today where I make a piece of clothing for a client. Every time I make it and I see how it fits, I get that butterfly, I'm like, hey, this looks like this guy looks good. That's how it all started. And let's dive into that a little bit because I've seen the content you put out there, I've talked to you before. And it is, you said, I think the word masterpiece. You take this as an art form, it's more than just creating a product. You're creating a piece of art. Is that sort of how you approach it? Yes, yes, so someone will come to me, you have a vision, and you say, hey, I have this vision of this blue suit. And then we'll take it, we'll add lining inside of the suit, buttons, the lapels, we'll take your vision and turn it into a beautiful masterpiece that you can wear. And also, it's just how you want it and then we'll make it fit like a glove. Yeah, and you just said a whole bunch of things, to me, it's a blue suit, right? And I like the color light blue, let me get a light blue suit. But there's more to it than that, I always forget that. So you're saying down to the buttons, down to everything, you're custom making that? Yes, custom making it, we'll put your name inside of your suit. You get to choose the stitch, you get to choose the button, you get to choose the lining, the lapel, the vents in the back of the suit, the pockets in the suit, the front pockets, the pockets in the front. So all that, you get to decide of how you get the waistband, like every piece of that suit is gonna be your, you know, the way you want it to be, the way you want it to fit you. And I got my name in it? Yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. You get your name in it, and now also, in the back of the collar, you can put any phrase that you want, you can put- Oh, get out. Jimi loves birds, you know, whatever you wanna put in, you can do it. What are some of the best, like have you had any really creative ones or ones that stand out that people have put in there? You know, I got one of them that, you know, I got a few where people will put the wife's name, or they will put, you know, love people, love God, love people. But you know, pay me in the back. Whenever you flip it, you'll see exactly like the personality of someone now, what they want, what they like, a phrase they like, things like that. Does the one you're wearing right now have a phrase in it? I don't, I was about to go grab one. I was like, "Man, I wish I had one right here." It's like, "I'm just grabbing it right here." For weddings, what we do, we put the initials of the groom, the initials of the bride, and when in between, it'll be the date that they're getting married. Oh, that's... So, if you flip it, it'll be right in the back of the door. Yeah. And then when you flip it, you don't really see it until you flip it up. That's great. So, I bet you do a lot of weddings. I didn't even think about that till right now. Are weddings some of your biggest business? Yes, yes. But starting since June... Yeah....till October, we're all packed with weddings, custom suits for a lot of wedding alterations, everything. And do you just do the men? I guess... Is it just men's clothing that you do, or do you do a little bit of everything? So, I specialize in just men clothing. We do have a seamstress that works with us that will do the women piece of things. So, women, there's a lot of layers in the dresses that will take a lot of time. I'd rather just focus on the suits in the men's clothes. Do you get involved with the bachelor party at all? I could see starting it off getting fitted or something like that, and then going out to Bethlehem afterwards. So, I'll tell you one thing that we do. Like, I don't really have... So, client will come in and say, "Hey, I have all these guys, seven guys." So, I give them two options. Like, either first option, you can do a party and they can come here. Get out. Right? And then we can do a siding party. Or some clients have pools and barbecues. I'm like, "You can do a party at your house. I'll show up at your house and do the sizing for each single person and then leave. It'll take me about an hour, then I'm gone." And they love that. So, we've been doing that a lot this year and last year. Where I just show up at someone's house and just do measurements. And then the people can still have them. You know, they eat barbecue and have fun and do whatever they want. And after that, they go out in town. I feel like I should switch jobs with you. I like the idea of that. That's much more interesting. So, tell me, I mean, you're watching your dad. When did it click with you that that was what you wanted to do? When it clicked on me. So, really, I wanted to be a law enforcement officer. Like, yes, I wanted to... Oh, hold on. That's a little different than tailoring suits. Right? Okay. So, I'll tell you, I want to tell my father, right? Watching him, doing everything. I'm like, "Man, I really want to be like him, bro." But when I moved here to the US and I started seeing different jobs, different things, I was like, "Man, I would love to be a law enforcement officer." So, my vision was to be in law enforcement. And I went to the academy and everything. And I did a whole bunch of different things to go to the next level. And right when I was about to go full time and something hit me, I was like,"I saw this guy wearing a suit." And I'm like, "That suit looks sharp." And that feeling that I got was a feeling of seeing a nice car, seeing your favorite, eating ice cream. Something that you love so much, it was like, "Wow, that guy looks sharp." And that day, I was like, "That day..." I'll never forget that day, it was in 2014. I said, "I'm going to open a custom suit shop." And I started doing it little by little to open the shop up till now. But before I was doing it, it was a little hot. Yeah. Wow. Did you stop that guy? I feel like you should find that guy and tell him that he inspired you to do this. Actually, no, I didn't stop that guy. You know, about now, I'm going to go back 2008. Right after I graduated high school, I went to go meet small business specialists. And I said, "Hey, I came up in a custom clothing shop and doing this." My father had it in Haiti, and that's what I want to do here. And he told me, "There's too much competition, and I will never make it here." Get out. So they kind of shut me down. So eight years, I didn't even think about this. I was doing it little by little. And I was like, "Forget it me, it will never work." But when I saw that guy wearing that suit, that's everything. So I started doing it and partnering with other tailors and help them in the shop. And little by little, that's how I started. Wow. That's a very cool story. And so what made you leave Haiti and come to the United States? And when did you do that? Well, I believe I was nine years old. We were on the way to the airport. We were on the way to the airport to pick up my aunt. We picked up my aunt on the way home, and we got pulled over at my dump point. So it was me and my sister, my aunt, my dad, my brother in the back seat. We all had guns in the head. I remember that day, my brother and sister in the back, I'm like, "Hey, please don't kill us, don't shoot us." I give them my Walkman, give them my shoes. They took some luggage. And I remember vividly, the guy, my mom was about to take the chain off, and they just grabbed the chain off her neck and just threw it away. They just put away, they just grabbed it and then kept it. My dad at the time, thinking that one guy that could save me, he was the guy that was like, "Oh man, we're going to die today." We're going to... I'm like, "Dad." Like, me, I'm back there like, "We're going to be okay dad, dad's got us." Wow. But no, that ain't happening. Then they let us go, then we wound up in the mountainside of Haiti, and we just stayed there for weeks. We didn't come to our house, our main house in Port-au-Prince. But then I started having fear that I didn't want to be there anymore. But I used to come here for... I used to come to the US for vacation. And I told my parents, "When I come back to the US the next year, or this year, I'm going to rip my passport as soon as the plane landed so I don't ever go back to Haiti." Wow. One year, there's a plane. And then they told me, "Hey, you're going to stay with your aunt here, and you're not going back to Haiti." It was the worst feeling of my life. It was. Yeah, I'm sure. That is crazy. And then you kept a part of... I mean, you're growing up by following in your dad's footsteps and kind of coming full circle. And talk about the name of the business, because I think that really brings it all full circle, right? It's not just Edwing Joseph. Talk a little bit about the name. So not formally, right? I'll tell you the first name I had. The first name was Gagout, G for gentlemen, A for attire, and Gout is for taste and French. So gentlemen, that's why the company is in Haiti. Okay. When I was company here, my father was helping me. It was just me. Everyone thought that he was the one doing everything. So I just kept the name, kept the name. And finally, one year, one of my friends said to me, "Hey, I don't think it's a good idea to have your son's kids around in your business." And I was like, "What do you mean?" That's how I learned a lot from my father. But it says he told me that. And I didn't like how he said it. Then I'm like, "You know what? I'm going to change the company name to Edwing Joseph and Sons." So no one could ever tell me that I can't move my kids to the business. But really it kind of worked out well because I'm Edwin, right? When people think my father's Edwin and I'm the son. But when I tell them the story, I'm like,"No, really my father made custom suit. It should have been Edgar Joseph and Sons, but I'm the first one here in the US making it. So hopefully my kids can take over and keep it going." And do they show any interest? I mean, you have a wonderful family and I see them in the shop sometimes. Are they excited when they go in and get to watch dad work or are they like my kids and they go, "I never want to be an insurance agent." Oh man, my little one, my five-year-old, he'll come in and say that, "I'm going to make a suit today." So he has a little machine, he'll get some fabric and he just acts like he's making a suit. It's got to be the best feeling in the world. It's got to be the best feeling in the world. Yes. I'm like, "Say that again. I got recorder you. I recorded this." That's cool. And talk about balancing. I struggle with this, right? You're a family man. I'm a family man, but we're both businessmen and finding the time to spend with the family and run the business. How do you make it work? Oh man, it is. Man, it is. But if I'm still working on balancing this part here, the time that I think I'm having right is the time that I work for it. So it's the years, years go by and I'm still working on seeing how I can balance it to make it better for my life. What brought you to the Valley originally? So I came to the Valley. It was a good friend of mine that actually called me and said, "Hey, you have a suit shop in Vernon, New Jersey. Why don't you just come work for me and help me with the t-shirt company?" And I came over to PA and check out the t-shirt company and to manage the t-shirt company to help them bring sales, and we did that. And that's how I met one of my good friends, Matt, and we built the t-shirt company to make about 15,000 plus a week. And every building, and after a little while, the t-shirt company went down, went downhill. So my company in Jersey was going down because I was more focused here than there. And it actually shut down, shut it down, and I had to start fresh in the Valley, knocking down on doors, having one little room. It was basically a whole reset of my life again. That's how I came to the Valley. That's great. And then since you've been here, I mean, you've done a lot. You've really made a name for yourself. I mean, I've seen you... Were you in Lehigh Valley style? Did I make that up? Yes. I've seen you there. You were at VentureX. Talk to me about your experiences in the Valley and how you've been able to make a name for yourself here. So quickly. Well, you're bringing back some pain. Well, so when I was in Easton and I actually print out flyers to... I went to everywhere. I went to Easton Bethlehem, out of town. I got flyers to every law firm, every account. Wherever I feel like someone wears a suit, I pass out flyers. No one did. Which is okay. So I decided, you know, at that time I was in... And then I moved to Allentown and Airport Grove. And I was from there from one of my friends. Lehigh Valley Printing. I was in the room back then. And we... That's how I met Terry from Bay And he got a suit from me. and from there, Terry's like "hey, I'm going to open a a new location in Easton. You should definitely check it out, come see it, let me know what you think." Easton in Bethlehem. And I saw VentureX when it was nothing. Wow. And I... And a vision is, hey, you should be here. It's gonna be plenty of business owners. And I'm like, all right. And I was one of the first persons to be in VentureX. And when the clients come in, talking about Bethlehem now, when they come in, they felt that New York style of life. So luxurious in there and well, they come straight to my office and then they can, they can choose what they want, what they like. That was a great opportunity being there that helped me scale my business so much that I was able to be here in this part of the... To actually rent my own location now in Bethlehem. And Easton was great. And now I can't wait to see where Allentown's gonna be. Yeah, that's very cool. And I mean, VentureX is... It's very cool what he does there, right? I mean, I can't imagine what it was like for you having a Taylor business in there, but you have all these people hustling and bustling coming in and out. I'm imagining that was a great place for you to start to build up that business. Yes, it was. It was. And someone needed a button real quick. I was there. Someone needed this. I was there. When my client shows up, they're offering water, wine, anything they wanted while they wait for me. Right there, that's the key point of stocks. So you're taking care of it when they come up. Then they're calling me and saying, "Hey, your client's here." I missed that part. It was amazing. So I try, I work hard in keeping the same exact example of VentureX and having it. I was about to say that. I've been to your shop and you've definitely taken some of that. You have drinks there. You make it feel like a nice environment to do things. Yes. Where do new clients come from for you? Like that's something we always work on here. Like how do you get new business? What is it like for you? I mean, where did they come from? So 100% word of mouth. Really? 100% word of mouth. And then I didn't know this until someone told me about Google. And by a client leaving me a Google review, it means being a business. And I paid zero dollars for advertisement and all of the clients were word of mouth, and Google. That's it. Google, I mean, we see it all the time. Google is crazy important in what we do and trying to get yourself there. Do you request the reviews? Like are you going out and saying, hey, if you had a good experience, would you mind leaving us a review? In the beginning, people just leave reviews until one of my friends, Matt, he's like, hey, people leaving your reviews put you in the bottom right. You know, you're right under the ad. So you're number one. Someone's search coming suit. You're number one. So it's like if someone has a great experience, they love it, which they all do. I hope they'll just leave me a review right away. There's a review and I'll ask my, would you mind leaving me a review? And then they'll leave a review and then that review will help bring. I was like, if you had a problem, if I, if I had an issue, I want you to put that in there to let people know exactly what happened. So it's not like positive, like, hey, it's great. Say, Hey, you know, this happened. This happened, but I was able to make you happen for you. You know, I want to tell them the truth. Yeah. And you mentioned custom suits. I mean, what do you do? Is it, is it just the suits? Are you doing tailoring at all? I know with Terry, you made him custom shoes, right? He, he was very excited. He showed me that he's like, you've got to see these. So what, what do you do? So main focus is custom clothing. So we make custom shirts, custom trousers, suits, shirt. Um, sorry, I'm on Xavier right now. Custom trousers, custom top coats. Uh, so that the client would like, we'll make it and then shoes. Yes. That's an extra accessories. Um, this one company kept calling me and it's on me. They want to work for me. So I had them made me a pair of shoes and I fell in love. So ever since then I started offering that to all my clients. Currently I'm working on custom jeans and they're making custom jeans for me right now. And once I get this custom jeans, I like them. We're going to start offering them as well. And they made straight from Milan, Italy, and the other ones made from Spain. The shoes made. Wow. What, what goes into a pair of custom jeans as someone who has pretty much zero fashion knowledge at all. A pair of jeans is a pair of jeans. So tell me like, what makes your jeans, uh, these custom jeans even better? So everyone feels like this is a good question. Sorry. So everyone, even with clothing in general, right? Everyone feels like when they put something on, it fits well. Right. Unless you have that body of the mannequin that they made it for the pattern. Um, so the jeans that was almost always longer or shorter, so we can make it the right perfect length, you know, the way it seats around your waist will be better. Um, then you get to choose the pocket, the lining, the, not the, not the lining, the pocket, the stitching. And we get to put your initials in the back of your, of your trouser, That's like all I need. I must be a very vain person. You say that I'm so excited to get my initials and things. Yeah. You get your initials. I wish I had some custom examples. I'll show it to you when you come in, but everything, the stitch, you can choose the color of the stitch. So you can get a zipper or you can get button in the front of. Um, and then inside of your jeans says your name, like you'll say custom jeans for Jim, so everything is. And then you can choose the fade on the jeans, the different colors. Um, but to wash your jeans, you have to bring them to the dry cleaners. That's very cool. Yeah. All right. You've sold me. I'm interested now. Uh, and just while we were talking, I Googled you by the way, you know, you have 87 Google reviews and a 5.0. Man. We, we have a 4.9. I was so proud of that. You got a 5.0. That is awesome. And like you said, I mean, that's not you just like always asking for people. That's people going and leaving those reviews and you're at a 5.0. So well done. That's very cool. Work hard for that. So anytime a client is not happy with some or we're late for delivery, I make sure that if I have to fly out the country, I'm fine out the country. Sure. They're happy. I had one time. True story. Um, this person's getting married on a Saturday and fabric was stuck in Alaska. That of storm in Alaska from London. So for three days, this fabric was stuck and I couldn't get it. I was ready to fly to Alaska, get the fabric, and come back. Um, but when they got told me it's in a container, I can't get it. And I was like, all right, I guess I have to wait then. Wow. So I have to ask this question. If you could give someone with no sense of style, like myself, one piece of advice, like what would it be? How do I step up my game to be more stylish? I was, um, basically what I was saying about the custom jeans, right? So first thing is get your, get your suit tailored and have it tailored. Cause if you're not, if you're, if it's not tailored, you get, um, the dress shirts, your suits, your clothes, tailoring, that's number one. Um, every man should have a suit in their closet. A Navy would be preferable. Um, so match it with any color you want. White, blue, lavender, anything that you want, you can match it with. That Navy will work well with it. Um, that's, that's the, that's one piece of value I'll give, like, go see a tailor and make sure that everything fits properly. And you're right. You can have a nice suit off the rack, but unless it really fits you, it's not living to its full potential. Yes. I seen suits. I'm bad. I, I'll be zooming in and pictures on Facebook and I'm like, man, where did it go? Who sold them that suit? I just want to, hey, come in. I want to help you. How many, how many suits do you own? Oh, at least, uh, I'm gonna try to lie to you a little bit, like 50. Oh my God. How do you, how do you pick? How do you pick? Do you have a favorite one that you, you go to? How do you pick of all of those? Oh, I have some favorites. Um, I try not to wear them all the time. Since now I'm gaining, thank you, COVID. Um, I can't wear most of my suits the most, so I have to make some new suits. But blues are my colors. I love blues. Um, I'll never wear black because of the lint. I don't like the lint on my suits, which is horrible. Um, but blues, grays. Um, I have like a few sets that I love so much and I just keep going. And then sometimes the time I go to the back and get somethin different. Yeah. That's great. Uh, all right. I got one more question before we start winding down here. Um, and that is your content game is so good, right? I see you post on LinkedIn. I see you on Instagram, Facebook. Like the business really turns out great content. How, how, how do you do it? And what advice would you give to struggling content creators to, to get their game at your level? Uh, one thing I do is I, you know, every person that I don't look to sell, not looking at selling anything to anyone. I'm looking to help people, anyone made it help change someone's life to make them feel better, the clothes can fit better. Um, I was, you know, if I can give a tip, if I can tell you how I can do something. And I like being positive and I like to, you know, to, to post quote out there, to motivate everyone. And if someone needs me, they're going to come and find me. Right. Um, so I always, always post things, not to, not to say, Hey, come see me. I got the best suits in the Valley, which I do. I'm just joking. There are plenty custom making suits out here that I'll, you know, I know them and they're amazing, but it's just, it's just, that's it. Just be out there, be authentic, be yourself. And I work hard and posting on LinkedIn every Monday. And I work hard and post on Instagram. I basically, the Instagram is how I feel of the day. So if I'm wearing a suit and I look good based on how I'm wearing it. That's what I'm posting. And that's something that it took me a while to realize I'm a very, I guess, in your face sort of person, and I will try to do it over and over and over and over again, and I realized it's less about telling people, Hey, look how awesome I am. Um, and it's much more about getting people to come and when they need you, they will come to you. It's not forcing them to come. It's being there when they're ready for you. Yes. And that's one of the reason why I do not have business cards. No, really people ask me, Hey, do you have a business card? no, I don't have to have the business card for three years. Why? Why don't you have a business card? I'm like, if you need me, yeah, my number. Yeah. And you can call me. That's great. That's, that's great. And it's a different way of thinking than most people have and it separates you. All right. So this is going to work extra well. Uh, we do a segment. Our sponsor is notch modern kitchen and bar. Um, they, uh, do this special cocktail where basically you tell them how you're feeling and what kind of alcohol you like, and they get this custom cocktail for you. And so we like to kick things up a notch here. Um, and so Edwin Joseph, you know, has made, let's say he's made the perfect suit. He's made his masterpiece and now he wants to celebrate with a drink. What's he reaching for? What is that drink? How's he kicking it up a notch? I am a very boring person. I am that Stella. Just give me a Stella beer. It's funny. That is hands down. The most common answer is a beer. Uh, I, I, I do this whole prelude and I talk all about the cocktails and everyone's like, I just want an IPA or a beer. Um, and Stella is great. Stella, Stella's like a celebratory beer, I feel like. So that's an excellent choice for this. I was just, um, it coming and just refreshing and I'm perfect. Anything else you want to say before we wrap this up? Uh, Hey, to anyone that's looking to look sharp and feel good in their clothing, make sure to contact me and yeah, you got one of the best insruance agents right here in the valley. Well, we will definitely end it on that note. That works for me. Edwin, uh, you are awesome. Thank you so much for coming on. I really enjoyed this and you're right. I mean, your suits are the best in the Valley, so hit him up if you need them. Thank you, Edwin. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me in this podcast. All right. See ya. So thank you. Bye.