Shine OnThese suits take the ugly Christmas sweater to the next level
Your next holiday party is about to get a lot uglier.
We’ve all heard of the ugly Christmas sweater, but U.K.-based brand OppoSuits is taking things to the next level by transforming the ugly Christmas sweater into a suit – and they’re flying off shelves.
The Christmas suits come in three patterns: the Nordic-inspired Rudolph, the snowman/reindeer/tree/everything Christmaster and the self-explanatory Treemendous. There are a few other festive options including the Starring suit, as well as as a full green and full red option.
“Once we created the designs we kind of realized ‘Wow, this is actually something that takes the ugly Christmas sweater thing to a whole new level,’ and that’s what everyone is saying about them now,” says Jelle van der Zwet, co-founder/director of OppoSuits.
This is just the second year the company has produced the holiday suits. Last year, the suits sold out, and so they cranked up production for the 2014 season – but thanks to viral attention online and North American distribution, the suits are sold out (or nearly so) on multiple websites.
Van der Zwet says it’s the competitive spirit around the ugly holiday sweater that’s made their suits such a success.
“When it comes to Christmas, you can get really ugly and really horrible patterns that, because they are so bad, are so good,” he says. “That’s the beauty of it – the worst ones are the best ones.”
While their ugly Christmas sweater suits are what’s taken the Internet by storm, it’s not how the company got its start.
The idea actually came out of a backpacking trip to Vietnam that van der Zwet took with friends (and now business partners).
“There’s a town called Hoian, where all the tailors are based,” he explains. “We were strolling around the markets where lots of different fabrics were being offered – fabrics meant for curtains and bedsheets and things like that. Some of them were pretty horrific – leopard print, flowers, and that sort of thing.”
“It was there we came up with the idea that it would be so much fun to have a full suit made out of that fabric,” he continues. “I think it took them over an hour to realize we wanted a suit rather than bedsheets, but they got it in the end, and the next day we turned up in our suits and the amount of attention we were getting was just at a different level. That was the light-bulb moment.”
In 2012, they produced 2,000 orange suits for Dutch fans to wear while cheering for the European Championship of Soccer in Europe. The 2,000 suits sold out in 10 days. Two years later, OppoSuits has dozens of designs including St. Patrick’s Day, country flags and of course, the holiday designs.
At a price point of about $110 CDN (£59.95- £64.95,) they’re not cheap – but van der Zwet says the unique mix between a costume and fashion makes it worth it.
“We’re certainly not 100 per cent fashion, but at the same time, the suits are of a very high quality and slim, modern cut,” he says. “Which means that yes, the patterns are ridiculous, but the base of the product is actually very good quality – so you may look ridiculous, but at the same time, kind of stylish.”
And with suits already available to pre-order for 2015, it seems like people are more than willing to shell out the dough to be the best/worst dressed at the office holiday party.
Would you wear an ugly holiday suit?
