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Oxford Industries Buys Strong Suit Clothing of Little Rock

2 min read

Strong Suit Clothing, a men’s apparel company based in Little Rock, has been acquired by publicly traded Oxford Industries Inc. of Atlanta. 

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Oxford Industries owns brands including Tommy Bahama, Lilly Pulitzer and Southern Tide.

Clothing designer and Strong Suit founder Jamie Davidson said he’s “thrilled” that the company was acquired “by such a quality company that has the value sets that they do and the skills set that they do.” 

Still, he said the sale, to him, was “premature.”

“Little Rock is in a very dire position, in that there are no real startups in Little Rock,” Davidson said. “There’s nobody that’s been able to raise even the limited amount of money that we’ve raised, and we’ve raised $1.4 million. 

“We should have been able to raise enough money to have not sold this company yet. We should have sold this company three or four years down the road.”

Strong Suit Clothing, launched in 2013 and incorporated in 2014, designs and makes clothing for men — suits, blazers, vests, tuxedos, trousers, shirts and ties. It uses fine fabrics and canvas construction to put men in suits at “an attainable price point,” $600. 

Davidson has a long history as a clothing designer and entrepreneur. He was one of the founders of clothing manufacturer Normandy & Monroe and later founded Tre Vero, a clothing and accessories label sold in Dillard’s Inc. of Little Rock. Both companies have closed, but both companies saw success, with Barneys and Neiman Marcus carrying the Normandy & Monroe line.

Strong Suit is sold in dozens of high-end retailers around the country, stores like the landmark Boyds in Philadelphia and Beecroft & Bull, a men’s specialty store with three locations in Virginia. Nordstrom is also carrying the Strong Suit line online and in select stores.

Davidson said Strong Suit fits into Oxford’s manufacturing business, and its marketing approach also complements the new owner. 

“I think that they have acquired our company, one, because they own a suit manufacturing facility down in Mexico which we have used to make our suits for the last year and a half,” he said. 

In the short term, the sale won’t affect how his company is operated, Davidson said. He said Oxford will offer the cash and infrastructure Strong Suit needs to build an e-commerce business and market its products to a broader customer base.

Oxford’s resources will help the brand grow in numerous ways and might allow it to hire more employees, he added, though probably not in Arkansas, where Strong Suit will retain its headquarters.

Davidson said he started the company three years ago because he believes modern retail is behind in how they get and keep millennial customers.

“Retailers in general do not understand why they are losing customers, and they simultaneously do not understand how to get new customers, and I think our brand is a piece of that puzzle,” Davidson said. “I think our growth showed that.”

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