Fourth generation family business Louis Copeland & Sons’ purchase of its Wicklow Street store building gives it greater control of its destiny.
You can tell that a legacy of dressing Irish men well for almost 100 years drapes quite comfortably on the shoulders of both Louis Copeland Jr and Louis Copeland Sr as they talk about the business’s ambitions.
This sense of destiny is especially strong following the family business’s decision to acquire the freehold of the Wicklow Street property where one of its stores currently trades with the support of Bank of Ireland.
“You’re only as good as your last sale. You have to please the customer, you have to keep up with the trends. That’s what’s important”
Copeland Jr points out that in a changing world of men’s fashion, good taste will always matter and customers rely on the custodians of the business for their skills and judgement in these sartorial matters.
Owning the building frees the business up from the vagaries of the property rental market and will enable it to invest in offering new services and experiences to its many loyal customers and the generations who will follow, whether it’s getting kitted out for a wedding suit or opting for something more casual.
The fabric of endurance
Louis Copeland Jr and Louis Copeland Sr
The business owes its origins to Hyman Coplan, a tailor who was originally from Lithuania and who travelled across Europe, arriving in Ireland in the early 1900s to practice his skills.
Today Louis Copeland operates five stores in Dublin, one in Cork, one in Galway and its online store.
“My great -grandfather was a tailor and it was his son Louis who really started with a small tailoring workshop on Capel Street. The business itself would be just over 90 years old at this stage. We functioned as a small store on Capel Street up until the late 1980s when we moved into a former bank building. My dad, Louis Copeland Sr, took the chance and bought the building.”
Gradually the business grew to include stores on Pembroke Street, Wicklow Street, Galway and Dundrum and Cork. “We now operate six physical stores, the website as well as a Gant franchise store in Dundrum.”
Louis Jr has, like his father before him, been working in the building since he was 13 years old. The family enterprise was all-encompassing. “We used to close the shop on a Sunday but my dad would have worked every single day and most nights too. He’d leave early in the morning and when he’d get back in the evening he’d be still working on orders. He’d often drop in deliveries to customers on his way home. It was just second nature to all of us that the people we worked with and our customers were a priority. It wouldn’t have been uncommon for us to be sitting at home and the phone would ring and it would be customer looking for a black tie for a funeral or needs to organise a suit for a wedding. That ethos carries through to today even in the digital age where if a customer asked a question on the chat on our website, it could be me or the web store’s manager who will be answering, not a chatbot.
“Our ethos is to make sure the customer is happy and looked after. My dad would always say, ‘we don’t get it right all the time, but we will go to great lengths to make sure somebody’s looked after.’ It is the fact that we care that translates into that loyalty that customers have for us.”
Staying on top of trends
As we speak, Louis Jr and his dad Louis Sr have just returned from the influential Pitti Uomo menswear in Florence. They spend quite a lot of time visiting suppliers and attending trade shows to stay on top of the trends.
While the pandemic and the proliferation of remote and hybrid working has certainly led to more relaxed casual dress styles, Louis Jr notes a growing appreciation for more classical and formal dress styles as a kind of counter balance.
“We never sit on our laurels in any aspect of our business. We focus on dealing with the best suppliers. For example, Canali would be regarded as one of the best manufacturers of suits in the world. We try to work with brands where the quality is foremost. We were recently in Sweden to meet Stenströms. one of our biggest suppliers of shirts. We try to work with those brands who are experts and specialists at what they are doing.”
At 75 years of age, Louis Copeland Sr remains fully involved in the business and according to Louis Jr, is often in the shop seven days a week when he’s in Dublin. “He just loves it. He’s been working in the business for more than 60 years and is showing no interest in stopping. Often when people call into the stores they are hoping to see my dad.
“When I was a kid he took an interest in joining a golf club. And I waited in the car while he went into join. And I think that was the last time he was ever up in the golf club. He’s just really happy in the shop.”
Louis Sr recalls: “I went to technical school and began working in a factory and kind of fell into the business and eventually ended up running it. Louis Jr more or less runs the business today. I’m 75 years of age but don’t feel it. I’m in work every day alright.”
The key to the endurance of the family menswear business, Copeland Sr says, is trust. “I think for every business, it is all about trust. You have to give good value and good quality at a good price and follow up with good after-service. We’ve been around a long time and we don’t get it right all the time, but we always try to get it right. I think of the staff that we have here, some of them have been here 30 to 40 years. We don’t have a big turnover of staff. When they join they tend to stay.”
Staying on top of clothing trends while maintaining judgement, he says is integral. “You’ve got to adapt and move with the times. Right up until the pandemic more men wore suits with a shirt and tie. But since the pandemic, not so much but I feel that is coming back. These things go in circles. Trousers, for example, sometimes the trend is to go wider and other times they come in. Fashions change all the time. Ties are coming back because people actually like dressing up.
The pandemic was a challenging time for owners of physical stores and the Louis Copeland website was a godsend for the business during that time. “We learned a lot during that time about how to deal with customers online and it’s continued to grow since the pandemic,” says Louis Jr. “We are constantly trying to improve it, particularly in terms of photography and providing customer service. We do use some aspects of AI, for example dealing with requests around gift cards. But for more exacting questions it will be myself or a colleague and we’d be getting back to people often on Sunday evenings in response to queries.
“We try to translate our ethos of customer care in-store onto the e-commerce experience and we use the website for managing appointments, where they can choose the store they want to go to and the person they would like to deal with. The website is very important to how we function as a business.”
Customer-first ethos
The customer’s experience is at the heart of what has made Louis Copeland & Sons survive as a business for four generations. It is the reason why customers come back again and again, trusting in the clothes they have bought and the advice they gained.
And looking to the future Louis Jr plans to use the Wicklow Street premises to build in experiences around life-events, such as a specific area for the fitting out for wedding suits for friends and family.
He says acquiring the Wicklow Street building gives Louis Copeland & Sons more control over its destiny.
“Dealing with Pat Purcell and his team at Bank of Ireland was great. We’ve had many mixed experiences dealing with banks in the past, but just like how we care about our customers we found working with Pat and the team very easy. The entire experience was great because buying the building on Wicklow Street was a very big deal for us.
“We had been in the building since the 1980s through all kinds of ups and downs and it was particularly tough during Covid. Just like how we own our Capel Street building, it made sense for us to buy the Wicklow Street building. We had missed out on it the last time it was up for sale but we had to seize the opportunity this time.”
“Bank of Ireland is delighted to support Louis Copeland in their strategic acquisition of the Wicklow St premises,” said Pat Purcell from Bank of Ireland’s Business Origination Team. “It is great to support such a well-known, family owned brand, with a great reputation for its quality clothing, and customer experience.
“It is a privilege to partner with the renowned team in Louis Copeland & Sons,” added Bank of Ireland’s head of Retail Sector Owen Clifford. “In Bank of Ireland, we recognise the importance of Irish retailers in generating employment/sustaining vibrant communities and will continue to proactively engage with this pivotal sector nationwide.”
In conclusion, Louis Sr says the key to the future of the business is remaining relevant in terms of style but keeping the customer’s experience at the heart what Louis Copeland & Sons is all about. “You’re only as good as your last sale. You have to please the customer, you have to keep up with the trends. That’s what’s important.”
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