Ministry of Supply (clothing)

Ministry Apparel
Private
Industry Fashion
Founded Boston, Massachusetts, United States (2011 (2011))
Headquarters Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Key people
  • Aman Advani Co-Founder,
  • Gihan Amarasiriwardena Co-Founder,
  • Kit Hickey Co-Founder,
  • Kevin Rustagi, Co-Founder
Products Clothing and business attire
Brands
  • Apollo
  • Aviator
  • Aero
  • Atlas
  • Aeon
  • ATMOS
Website ministry.co

Ministry of Supply is a Boston-based high performance business wear men's fashion brand launched in 2012 and founded by former Massachusetts Institute of Technology students using some of the same temperature regulating material as NASA astronauts in their clothing.[1]

The company currently sells the majority of their clothing online and currently has brick and mortar retail locations in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, and Bethesda.[1]

History

Ministry of Supply was started by Aman Advani, Kit Hickey, Kevin Rustagi, and Gihan Amarasiriwardena, with the intention of creating technologically advanced office apparel.

Kit, Gihan, Kevin, and Aman met as students at MIT, where they quickly realized they shared a vision for everyday clothing that could be as capable as their athletic gear. Aman and Gihan had been sewing prototypes for years, and Kevin and Kit’s drive to innovate customer experience was unstoppable. The group joined forces in 2012 and introduced their first performance dress shirt. The Apollo Kickstarter campaign set the record for most-funded fashion project at the time, and gave way to the full line of garments that continues to evolve for optimal comfort and capability.

After a year of product development and small-scale sales in the spring of 2012, the company decided to conduct a Kickstarter campaign to fund the creation of a synthetic knit-blend dress shirt with heat and moisture management, odor control, and offered a full range of motion.[2] The campaign raised over $400,000[3] and became the largest amount raised for a fashion product at the time on a Kickstarter project.

In June 2013, the company again went to Kickstarter for a campaign to raise funds to produce a high performance dress sock.[4][5] This campaign raised more than $200,000 for the start up company.

The Ministry of Supply display at the Boston Marathon Expo in April 2015.

In late September 2013, the company raised $1.1 million in seed round financing from VegasTechFund, SK Ventures, and Red Sox pitcher Craig Breslow.[6] The $50,000 investment from Breslow came after his fiancée bought one of the shirts as a birthday present and he wore the shirt while traveling on the road with the team.[7]

In November 2013, the company opened their first pop-up store in Manhattan selling dress shirts, socks, and chino pants.

In January 2014, the company received $3.8 million in venture funding from undisclosed investors.[8]

In June 2014, the second pop-up store opened on Newbury Street in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood.[9]

Design

The Ministry of Supply’s goal is to uses new materials, aerospace, robotic engineering, and thermal analysis to create a new category in the design of better-fitting men’s business attire.[10] The company seeks limited beta testing through customer input and feedback with when designing their clothing. Early customers are integrated into the development and design process by inviting them to be part of the research into the final product.[11]

Company name

The company is named after the Ministry of Supply, a British government department that was formed in 1939 to coordinate the supply of equipment to all three branches of the armed forces during World War II.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 Castellanos, Sara (2014-06-04). "High-tech menswear startup Ministry of Supply to launch pop-up store on Newbury Street". Boston Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
  2. ↑ Alspach, Kyle (2012-07-09). "Ministry of Supply breaks Kickstarter fashion record with $300K+ raised". Boston Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
  3. ↑ "Ministry of Supply: The Future of Dress Shirts.". Retrieved 2014-09-02.
  4. ↑ Robehmed, Natalie (2013-07-08). "I Wore These Socks For A Week And They Don't Smell". Forbes. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
  5. ↑ "ATLAS: Performance Professional Comes to Socks". Retrieved 2014-09-02.
  6. ↑ Empson, Rip (2013-09-26). "After Kickstarter Success, Ministry of Supply Lands $1.1M To Expand Its Tech-Savvy Men's Line". TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
  7. ↑ Martin, Claire (2013-05-28). "Rolling Up Their Sleeves, as a Team". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
  8. ↑ "Ministry of Supply Receives $3,812,271 New Round". 2014-01-14. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
  9. ↑ Milnes, Hilary (2014-06-03). "Ministry of Supply is Bringing Their NASA-Inspired Menswear to a Newbury Street Pop-Up". BostInno. Streetwise Media. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
  10. ↑ Luna, Taryn (2013-05-04). "MIT student start-ups have their eyes on fashion". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  11. ↑ Castellanos, Sara (2014-06-25). "MIT-born Ministry of Supply asks customers to help with design of new products". Boston Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
  12. ↑ Kirsner, Scott (2012-07-29). "High-tech dress shirts being developed by Ministry of Supply". The Boston Globe. BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
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