About Us
SUAVE OWL is a multi-award winning, independent, menswear retailer. It's a bit of a mouthful, but it's concise.
Our story began in 2017 when co-founders, Anthony and Jessica, were planning their own wedding. In searching for wedding suits, Tony came across a few hurdles. He wanted something a little different to traditional groom's wear and he is quite a bit bigger than your average man. One of these issues alone would make it difficult, but both together made it near impossible to walk into a shop and try on something that he liked.
At the time, Tony was a Regional Manager within the lift industry having previously served as a Royal Engineer for the British Army. Jessica was a Registered Adult Nurse working for the NHS. Both pondering career changes, they realised during their own wedding suit search that there would be many others in a similar situation and together decided to embark upon a challenge.
On 15th September 2017, SUAVE OWL opened in the small town of Keynsham, Bristol. It was a mere 108 square foot with a tiny section of suits, shirts, shoes, and accessories. Our growth was slow but organic. With mostly word of mouth and social media, a great reputation was built.
SUAVE OWL was very much a destination shop in Keynsham but after introducing casual wear and starting our own brand, our co-founders realised that we had more to offer to a wider clientele. During the second national lockdown in 2020, we relocated to Milsom Street in the beautiful city of Bath. The current shop is almost ten times the size, with a vast collection of men's clothing, accessories and gifts, both formal and casual.
"It's so easy to feel disheartened when industry measurements do not fit into real life. We want men of all shapes and sizes to know that they can come to us and that we will have their back." - Owners Anthony and Jessica have created the establishment from a place of experience, with the aim of alleviating hardship from others.
How did the name come about?
We get asked this a lot!
Our main product when starting out was suits. Tony and Jessica wanted something descriptive of sophistication, but with a masculine tone. After much deliberation they settled on 'suave', but that wasn't enough, it was just a word.
At the time, they had a very chatty 18 month old and his 'word of the week' was owl. He was saying it so often; he obviously liked the sound. They played with the idea and the more they said it, the more they liked it.
The brand.
When the first shop opened, Tony and Jessica quickly noticed that so many men were having trouble with shirts. There was always something not right, so they designed their own to better fit the real men who were visiting. Our shirts were so fantastically received that the SUAVE OWL brand has since expanded to t-shirts and polo shirts too, with much more on the horizon.
Our own brand clothing is amongst our best-selling products and we have plans to get them to you, wherever you are!