147 – The Ensign, the Made In USA menswear hub

The Ensign is an e-commerce platform showcasing American luxury menswear: https://theensign.us/

Co-founders Luis Morales and Jason Wagg have backgrounds defined by work for premiere labels like Tom Ford and Ralph Lauren. In this interview they discuss the state of American menswear design and domestic garment manufacturing, and the company they are running to amplify and ride its resurgence.

“We really waned to highlight and create awareness in America on the design talent that is here, but also the fact that it’s resolating on a global level, and that was always our goal. We wanted to take the concept of Neo-American Luxury to the global consumer.” – Luis Morales
“It wasn’t surprising that so many Japanese retailers were very invested, and were very interested in designers that we wanted to work with that were based here in America. What was very surprising is how little American retail support they had. We understood the first part of it, but the second part was really– it really reaffirmed that what our idea was, and what we felt our motivations were, were in the right direction.” – Luis Morales
“One of the exciting things about menswear right now, is that guys don’t have that uniform anymore. We don’t have to wear suits and ties, and sometimes it’s great to wear a suit and tie, but now it’s a more special thing. Now when you wear a suit and tie you want it to look right. You want it to be for a certain occasion, and you are able to distinguish yourself in a way that you weren’t able to before, because everybody was wearing a suit and tie.” – Jason Wagg
“Every single one of our designers is a passion project for us, because we believe in them. Our business is to take an investment in them, a lot of times emotionally, and we want to communicate that to other people, and we want them to get excited about it too.” –  Jason Wagg