For custom suit maker Daniel Friedman, life changed with an email from Rae Tutera.
“At the time, Rae had this popular transmasculine blog called The Handsome Butch,” Friedman remembers. “I was the founder of a bespoke suiting company called Bindle and Keep… And Rae’s question was this: Why not use my expertise as a tailor to create suits for female bodies? For LGBTQ bodies? And could we stop calling them men’s suits?”
The idea was simple: What we wear is a uniform; it’s armor. So, when it doesn’t fit — doesn’t match how we feel inside — life feels off kilter.
“Unfortunately, the current retail landscape excludes LGBTQ communities,” Tutera explains. “There are men’s sections and women’s sections. I used to feel like I was trespassing in every shop… Nothing fit. The salespeople didn’t know what to do with me; other shoppers didn’t want to rub elbows.”
For millions of people, it doesn’t matter whether that friction is real or perceived — it’s still felt. And, so, Tutera pressed Bindle & Keep to erase the issue completely by creating custom clothing for underserved communities. Since 2012, they’ve made thousands of suits for LGBTQ clients. Every piece is custom fit with only one question in mind: How do you want to feel when you wear it?