Conversations with Dean Ellis

Hi Dean, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My mother was a seamstress and after many years of watching and learning, I began making pieces for myself only. During this time a friend of mine & I partnered together and started a styling firm, working for Toronto’s elite clientele, television personalities and magazines. It was while working on a shoot I had a horrible experience pulling from a local custom/ bespoke suit store; while pulling, I was in awe of the amazing textiles, finished pieces and I asked many questions, one being . “what if I wanted to purchase ..?” And before I could finish, one of the owners pretty much let me know that custom clothing was ONLY for a certain type of man, with a certain career and net worth. Crushed, I remembered saying to myself that one day I would open my own custom clothier, allowing regular men the opportunity to share in the custom suit experience.

Years later, with the passing of my mother, located in one of her Bibles left behind, were notes of her wishes that at least one of her children might had picked up her skills and how also how much she always wanted her own business. Immediately I left the dream of becoming a lawyer and launched ELLIS ESQ full-time…

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Both in business & in life the question is not was the road was smooth or  were there obstacles?  (because that goes without saying) but more so how do you deal with them?  The next question might be… If the possibility of ease was available, what would you achieve?

Along the way, ELLIS ESQ has encountered many roadblocks, struggles and obstacles,  each have helped us with our success and more so our character. Our road was especially rough in the beginning days, as a law student with no business acumen & a huge dream, I had to learn a lot about business and even more so about myself.

Things such as
– Lack of resources
– Raising Capital
– Remaining Current
– Scalability
– Lack of business acumen
– Understanding of self-worth
– Understanding of our products worth (both time to create & the actual product / service itself)
The list can go on and on…. Lol

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

You should know that: