Five years after it launched its online store and two years after it opened its first retail location in Boston, Ministry — a high-tech clothing company — opened the doors last week to its first Midwest location at 900 N. Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago.
The company, which designs clothing resistant to wrinkles, sweat stains, stretching and prevents general discomfort, was founded five years ago by three students who met at MIT. Combining technology and fashion, the two are calling their particular brand of clothing "performance professional" — a unique blend of athletic wear and office wear — according to chief design officer and co-founder Gihan Amarasiriwardena.
"When you think about what we wear to work, it's like a uniform," he said. "It’s meant to help us perform better during that day. We wanted to evoke the same concepts [as athletic wear]. "
In 2012, the two MIT graduates launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $30,000, but ended up raising $430,000, according to Amarasiriwardena. Since then, they've raised almost $8.5 million from investors such as Japanese soccer player Keisuke Honda, who plays for AC Milan.
So what makes their clothing high-tech?
Amarasiriwardena explained that one of the methods they use to prevent odor requires blending recycled polyester with spent coffee grounds that have gone through a washing process. The coffee grounds then act as a sponge for odor molecules, absorbing odors so that the wearer feels fresh.
There's also phase change material, he said, which is used in some of the dress shirts. Simply put, phase change material is a wax that melts and freezes right at your skin temperature so that if you enter a cold office after getting off a hot train, the heat that it previously absorbed is released heat back to you.
However, Ministry's clothing isn't exactly cheap. Men's dress shirts sell for $95, women's for $85, according to Amarasiriwardena. The new "Structure Your Day" pants for women cost $140.
Amarasiriwardena said that even the store space is meant to be a break from the "traditional retail" experience. With a work table, mini fridge and seats for anyone to use, the store is set up as more of a workshop than a place to shop.
Ultimately, the Ministry team combined their engineering and tech backgrounds with professional fashion designers to create a sleek, fashion-forward look with the functionality of athletic wear.
"At the 12th hour, or the 15th hour of the day, you want something that's going to allow you to go that extra mile," he said.
Take a look inside the store below:
