In 1953, Peter Balani set out to master the art of custom tailoring, traveling the globe and building relationships with top European fabric mills. In 1961, he officially founded BALANI Custom Clothiers — today under the leadership of his son, Sonny Balani, BALANI has expanded to 14 cities nationwide, including Denver, providing top-tier custom garments and customer service.
Their five star rating attests to that.
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Though BALANI has been established in Denver since 2018, in May 2024 they opened a new 4,000-square-foot showroom in Cherry Creek to meet the increased demand for handmade, quality garments and Master Clothier, Yaneev Benami is at the forefront.
Benami has been in the industry for 15 plus years and with the company for seven upholding the BALANI mission of establishing and maintaining customer relationships with excellent customer service. It’s how throughout the many decades since its initial opening in 1961, they’re able to keep their impeccable reputation.
“Styles and trends have changed over the years but our commitment to quality products and great customer service has not shifted,” Benami said. “We’re pretty true to that when maintaining the integrity of our brand — we’re working with second even third generations of family members and clients and were highly referral based, we’re a relationship-driven company.”
Their custom suit process is unlike a typical men’s clothing brand. Rather than purchasing a suit off the rack, they provide an in depth custom experience taking over 30 measurements and creating hand drawn and hand cut patterns using only the highest quality fabrics.
“Where we really differentiate ourselves is going to be in the fit in the fabric that we carry and the finish or the construction of our garments,” Benami said. “Most of what’s out there these days is what we call made to measure, we’re going to be more of a full custom or true custom experience.”
The custom experience begins either scheduling an appointment online or through a phone call. Then, guests will start with a new client consultation where they’ll go into BALANI and answer a series of questions, building out a profile. Questions range from style of fits preferred to understanding their needs and wants when it comes to suiting and how they like it to fit. Then, the fabric selection process begins really highlighting the quality BALANI prides itself on.
“We go through the fabric selection process….a lot of people enjoy that,” Benami said. “We help narrow down that selection for them and show them what pieces would be best.”
From there, clients proceed with the design of the garment where BALANI guides them through everything head to toe focusing on key details like lapels, pockets, buttons, linings and more. This is the time where measurements are taken and then sent out. Six to eight weeks later, clients will attend a fitting finalizing and accessorizing their final look.
As one of the Master Clothiers part of BALANI, Benami can design, measure, consult, produce, fit and produce a garment at a very high level. This title comes with years of experience through what Benami describes as an “apprentice program in many ways.” This means that all BALANI garments are created with nothing but the finest of qualities.
It’s why it comes as no surprise that business owners, attorneys, doctors and athletes across the U.S. including Broncos and Avalanche players gravitate towards the high end experience.
“A lot of athletes like privacy and they come to shop with us because they trust us,” Benami said. “We actually treat them like every other client which I think is something that they appreciate, we give them the same experience. Often they have difficult-to-fit bodies — they’re super tall big and muscular so they come to us because we specialize in those garments.”
In addition to custom suits, BALANI also offers sports coats, outerwear, shoes, casual menswear and tuxedos — all made with their exceptional fabrics. They also recently released their fall, winter line.
“We are always getting new fabrics, new collections seasonally — our fall line we’re seeing a lot of really bold greens,” Benami said. “Historically we’ve seen forestry green but now we’re seeing sages in a sophisticated range of hues. Greens are becoming the new blue in a mans closet.”
Their new line promises to make a lasting impression, ensuring each guest leaves with confidence and grace. Plus, with their quality of work guests understand they’ll be leaving with a high end, long lasting masterpiece.
“Our collection is vast but probably the biggest fabric collection for sure in the state of Colorado — I always say if you can dream it up we can make it and if we dont have it, chances are it doesn’t exist,” Benami said.
Shop Cherry Creek’s BALANI location at 301 University Blvd, Denver, CO 80206.
All photos courtesy of BALANI Custom Clothiers.