Paul Fredrick Opens Second Store, Tests US-Made $2,000 Suits at 40

Paul Fredrick will open its second brick-and-mortar store at Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., later this week, pairing the rollout with a limited-run 40th-anniversary collection made entirely in the United States and priced several times above its core line — including a $2,000 Donegal suit that has become a bestseller since the collection launched at the end of September.

The moves mark a channel and price-point expansion for a business that remains predominantly online. Paul Fredrick traces its roots to 1951, when Lenny Abrams founded Fleetwood Shirt Co., a Pennsylvania private-label dress shirt manufacturer. His son-in-law, Paul Sacher, launched the direct-to-consumer Paul Fredrick brand — his first and middle names — in 1986. The company is now majority owned by ClearLight Partners, a private equity firm based in Newport Beach, Calif., and has broadened from dress shirts into suits, sport coats, trousers, knitwear, outerwear, shoes and accessories.

Who runs the business?

Erica Lee, formerly of FullBeauty, joined as chief executive officer in June 2024. Her leadership team includes chief marketing officer Jordan Hauser, also a FullBeauty and Macy's veteran, and chief merchandising officer Stephan Detwiler, whose background spans Brooks Brothers, Michael Kors and Coach.

Core pricing stays moderate: three shirts retail for $199, most suits sell for $698, a wool-blend bomber costs $399 and a navy leather version $799. The brand offers more than 50 sizes in three shirt fits — classic, tailored and slim — plus tailoring across a wide fabric range.

How does the anniversary collection test the ceiling?

The anniversary line shifts production to three domestic factories: Rochester Tailored Clothing in New York for suits and sport coats, Gitman Bros. in Tennessee for shirts, and Brown & Church in North Carolina for neckwear. Fabrics include Donegal wools, awning stripes, statement plaids and houndstooths. Dress shirts use natural cotton, assembled from 25 pieces in more than 50 individual steps, with hand-set collars and cuffs and seams at 18 stitches per inch. Ties are silk or silk blends, slip-stitched and hand-finished.

Pricing runs well above the core assortment: a hopsack or Donegal blazer retails at $1,500, trousers at $500, Bengal stripe or houndstooth dress shirts at $350 and ties at $200. Hauser said the collection draws on the 1920s — "not the Gilded Age version, but for the working class."

Lee said the company is "very happy with the response" and surprised by the buyer mix. "We didn't know how many people would buy it because it's a much higher price point. But we've been thrilled to see that it's a mix of new customers and longtime customers," she said. She noted longtime customers placing a $350 shirt or $200 tie in the same basket as a shirt on sale for $69. The $2,000 Donegal suit leads sales, followed by a plaid jacket and a blue striped shirt with a white club collar. The collection sells online and at Garden State Plaza.

Why two stores, and why Florida first?

The first store opened last year at the Town Center at Boca Raton in Florida. Lee said Florida came first because "we have a strong customer base there. And there was a space available that made economic sense for us." The store performs well financially, she said, but its larger value is operational learning: "Retail is an important channel, so we want to learn as much as we can while going slowly enough to be responsible."

Hauser said the company wanted to "get our model right" in a smaller market before entering a costlier New York City suburb. "It's a good learning for us to try new formats and different things before we push scale into much more expensive urban locations," he said.

The formats differ. Boca Raton skews "much more lifestyle" beyond dress shirts. Garden State Plaza will foreground dress shirts with shoppable cubbies organized by size, tailored clothing at the rear, four fitting rooms and a seating area. Lee said the intent is clearer category merchandising: "We sell a lot of tailored and other categories in Boca, but in Garden State Plaza, we wanted to show more category merchandising."

Dress shirts generate roughly half of overall sales; knitwear and tailored clothing over-index in physical locations. The company also ran a nine-month pop-up in Washington, D.C., last year.

Lee called physical retail "an important part of our future" but confirmed no concrete plans for additional units. "We're in learning mode, and while we're very excited about stores, we want to be responsible because they can be very costly if you go too quickly. So we're going one at a time," she said. Further store decisions will follow the Garden State Plaza read.