David’s Bridal is boosting menswear, partnering with tuxedo rental platform Generation Tux

David’s Bridal, as its name implies, is still centered on the bride; the company says that 90% of U.S. brides interact with David’s Bridal in some way, whether perusing its social media accounts or coming in to buy a dress. But the company is hoping to make this process “more seamless” by also offering outfits for grooms and groomsmen at the same point of purchase, its president, Elina Vilk, told Modern Retail. In this way, David’s Bridal hopes to create “one less thing” for brides to do, she said.

Members of the wedding party “are using the same colors and the same aesthetic, but when you make those decisions [on outfits] separately, it’s harder,” Vilk explained.

David’s Bridal will carry mannequins of three to five styles of Generation Tux products in stores. The rest of the 20-odd styles can be viewed online, via iPads in the store. Brides can pick out corresponding colors of bridesmaids’ dresses and groomsmen’s outfits, and grooms and groomsmen can order their tuxes and suits online using various tools, including fit algorithms and virtual stylists. Everyone gets their pieces shipped to them 14 days before the wedding, and there’s a tracker to show who in the wedding party has gotten their tux or suit and who still needs to get one.

This digital system helps David’s Bridal act as a one-stop shop for the entire wedding party, without having to carry extra inventory in store. It’s also a reflection of “how men want to shop,” Vilk said. “Women will buy their dresses six months in advance,” she said. Meanwhile, men will get their outfits “a month before, two weeks before,” she said. “Chasing after the groomsmen, that’s a big pain point.” But a digital checklist and online tracker can give the couple peace of mind, she added.

This isn’t David’s Bridal’s first go-around with menswear. In the spring, it launched an online collaboration with Perry Ellis and Cubavera, and it’s also partnered with The Black Tux on rentals. In 2007, David’s Bridal made Men’s Wearhouse its official tuxedo partner. (This deal lasted about a decade.) But the deals David’s Bridal is making this year — both with Perry Ellis and with Generation Tux — allow customers to buy or rent outfits directly through David’s Bridal.

Michael Prendergast, a managing director in Alvarez & Marsal’s consumer and retail group, told Modern Retail that it make sense for David’s Bridal to expand more into menswear. “Their execution barrier to success is very low, as they’re already doing a lot of wedding planning,” he said. “To plug the grooms in, and the groomsmen parties, seems like a natural opportunity for them.”

“Based on the casualization of the workforce, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had conversations with men about, ‘I need a suit, but I don’t know where to get it,'” Prendergast said. “It’s very hard to find a suit that’s not very expensive or made to measure, so I think this is terrific.” However, he added, “The thing that I’m not sold on yet is the entirely digital experience, based on the idiosyncrasies of fit and fabric.”

David’s Bridal joins other bride- and bridesmaid-focused retailers jumping into the menswear space. In March, Birdy Grey started carrying its first suits and tuxedos. It did so, its executives told Modern Retail, in hopes of achieving double-digit growth in the year to come. Revelry, another bridesmaid dress brand, launched suits in December 2024.

For David’s Bridal, expanding into menswear is just one part of its plan to own the wedding category. The company is looking to become “a content machine” by publishing videos through Love Stories TV, which David’s Bridal acquired in 2024 as part of its retail media network, Vilk said. David’s Bridal is also developing wedding-planning tools and building its Diamond loyalty program, which it launched in 2020 and expanded to prom-going teens in 2024.

Competitive deals are central to David’s Bridal’s growth strategy, too. Its partnership with Generation Tux includes an offer of “buy five suits, get the groom’s free,” and Diamond loyalty members — of which there are now 3 million — can get 20% off their suits or tuxes. Rental suits and tuxes at Generation Tux start at $159.

David’s Bridal hasn’t always had an easy walk down the aisle. In 2012, it was acquired by the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in a deal valued at $1.05 billion. However, after years of racking up debt, David’s Bridal then declared bankruptcy twice in the span of five years — once in 2018 and once in 2023. A few months after its second bankruptcy, David’s Bridal was brought back from the brink by Cion Investment Corp.

Today, Vilk hopes that investing more in menswear can help David’s Bridal and its partner brands gain access to millions of additional customers. If the company can represent 90% of grooms in America, too, that will be “an amazing thing,” she said.