Rowing Blazers CFO Grant Simm Exits to Launch Badinage

Grant Simm, chief financial officer of Aimé Leon Dore and Rowing Blazers, launches his own luxury label, Badinage, on Tuesday, opening with 11 hand-knit sweaters priced from $1,750 to $2,250 and financed entirely from his own pocket.

The debut range comprises five cardigans at $2,250 retail and six crewnecks at $1,750, all hand-knit in India. Custom options carry 30-to-90-day lead times depending on the request, and command higher prices. Simm confirms the venture is completely self-funded. "It's all on the line," he said. "But I've been thinking about this for 13 years and I feel the world and the consumer is ready for it."

Why leave two of menswear's fastest-growing brands?

Simm spent years building the finance function behind two of contemporary menswear's most visible names. He frames the departure as personal, not commercial.

"My experience with Aimé and Rowing Blazers was incredible, but it wasn't my journey," he said. "They are someone else's brands."

He says he considered launching his own label for more than a decade before committing. Rowing Blazers did not respond to requests for its plans for a successor to Simm, leaving an open question on the finance leadership at a brand in rapid expansion.

What sets the product and the supply chain apart?

The sweaters rest on a yarn development cycle of one and a half years. The blend combines cashmere, silk and brushtail possum, a nocturnal marsupial from Australia and New Zealand whose hollow hairs trap air as an insulator. Simm says the result looks heavy but wears light and does not scratch.

Because every piece is hand-knit, each garment differs slightly. "There's character and imperfections," Simm said.

The sourcing model is deliberately artisan-scale. Two additional makers supply made-to-order accessories sold through the same site:

• Belts at $625 from Artemis Quibble, a New York atelier run by husband-and-wife team Jason Ross and Natasha Chekoudjian, who also work with leading designers and luxury brands. The belts are hand-painted with hand-forged buckles.
• Knives at $1,250 from Mae Knives of Oceanside, Calif., a studio known for chef's knives. Owner DJ Brelje shapes each blade and faux ivory handle from scratch, then passes the piece to Andrew the Kid, a tattoo artist at Hideaway Workshop, who carves traditional coastal scenes onto it. Knives can also be customized.

How does the brand sell without click-to-buy?

Badinage will sell online but without a buy button. Customers send an email, and Simm or his wife answers before accepting any order. The name itself — Badinage, meaning witty chitchat — reflects the model.

"We want to create a relationship with the customer," Simm said. "Everything is handmade and hand-knit and the pieces are something you'll keep and wear for the next 20 years and then pass on to your kids."

The direct correspondence also lets the founders explain fabric details and traditional techniques before purchase, positioning service as part of the product at price points far above mainstream knitwear.

What does this signal for the market?

Simm acknowledges the sweater market is crowded. His differentiation argument is craftsmanship and provenance rather than speed or technology, an explicit counter-positioning to the industry's velocity race. "I wanted to create better product," he said. "I'm really into vintage and antiques and I believe that it's more about the story you create, not just the clothes."

For sourcing professionals, the launch is a data point on small-batch, multi-year product development and direct-email distribution replacing transactional e-commerce. Whether a self-funded, made-to-order model sustains at these price points will test demand for slow production in a fast market.