Photograph by Melissa Alexander
Little Five Points seems the absolute wrong place to launch a suiting company, but not to Matt Lambert. He’s brought a bit of punk-rock flair to high-tailored menswear with his newly debuted brand, Factor’s, based on Moreland Avenue.
A Sid Mashburn veteran (he was Sid’s fifth employee), Lambert branched out on his own in late 2020—also seemingly the absolute wrong time to launch a suiting company. But Lambert doesn’t believe these garments should be reserved for work and special occasions.
Having divided his career between fine men’s clothing and playing in rock bands (currently, All the Saints and Night Cleaner), he really doesn’t see a distinction between wearing a suit to work and wearing one to perform at 529.
“I’m coming from a classical suiting background, but my vision is to create a silhouette that is not the norm in today’s market. My influences always tend to lean toward the noisier and weirder side,” he adds. That means elongated pocket flaps, elongated lapels, dramatic vents, and looser fits, to give the wearer that little bit of swagger. “There is an element of drama in the design of a Factor’s garment,” he says. “All of those details are meant to exude a certain attitude.”
Photograph by Melissa Alexander
That doesn’t mean sloppy. Lambert has decades of experience in tailored clothing, and all Factor’s pieces are handcrafted domestically, according to customers’ measurements (jackets start at $2,350, suits from $3,000). But a bespoke tailor he’s not. Clients buy into the world he’s created, offering suiting, sportswear, and select retail partners, such as Ben Davis and George Cox, the inventor of the original creeper platform shoe.
Factor’s is a unisex collection, meant to be worn every day however you see fit. Lambert and his wife actually wore the same suit—tailored to perfection, naturally—to the same wedding. She wore it with a mesh shirt and black bra; he wore it with a silk shirt and bow tie.
Last November, Lambert launched wholesale with global online retailer SSENSE, bringing Factor’s to style-obsessed cities like Berlin and Mexico City, where he hopes to cultivate an international following.
“Be a little tacky and a little weird,” he says. “If you want to take a Factor’s Harris Tweed jacket and put it over our ivory mesh shirt—please. You’ve spent money on both of those items; you should wear them.”
This article appears in our March 2022 issue.
