Hello, I’m John Ballay, CEO and Co-Founder of Knot Standard. Through innovative technology, enhanced personalization, an unparalleled level of customer service, and the hard work of our team, Knot Standard works tirelessly to reinvent the custom menswear experience across the United States at our 10 cutting edge stores. 

Like all businesses throughout New York City and the world, we were immediately affected when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. As the situation slowly took shape in our city, we knew that Knot Standard had an opportunity to help by using our supply chain and highly engaged national Stylist team– and I was incredibly proud of how quickly we went into action in multiple ways.

In early April, we immediately scaled up and launched Masks for Medicine, an initiative to supply crucial masks to hospitals throughout New York City and our local communities. As a menswear brand, we have many ties to partners, supply chains, and facilities throughout the world. When it became apparent that the city and entire country were facing a shortage of PPE for healthcare workers, we had a unique ability to source and expedite large quantities of masks. Throughout the first few months, we were able to source and distribute over 10,000 masks to our local hospitals, including Mount Sinai and Montefiore Medical Center in NYC.

The second part of this push to aid the New York City community, and other cities throughout the country, was our Community Coalition, an extremely creative and unique internal idea from our Marketing team to start a joint venture of shared gift cards. This effort helped flow immediate dollars to local restaurants using our Marketing platform. 

Through the Community Coalition, our internal teams reached out to dozens of restaurants and hospitality groups based in New York City, Dallas, LA, and beyond, to create a coalition of businesses supporting each other, during one of the toughest challenges we’ve faced. By partnering with our local businesses and offering our clients a “buy now, redeem later” model to support Knot Standard and local businesses with gift cards and digital vouchers, we were able to raise $55,000. 

Finally, we have our Brands X Better initiative–a collective commitment on the part of mindful direct-to-consumer brands to do better in the world and our communities. As one of the first ten brands to join, the ultimate coalition raised over $3MM to fight COVID across the United States. 

While this time has been hard for all, I am proud of what our team at Knot Standard has done to help the community during a time of need. As Corporate Members of Madison Square Park Conservancy, and personally as a member of the Conservancy’s Associate Board, the Park has played a huge role in our company’s culture. As a business in the neighborhood for many years, I know for the first few years we took the Park for granted. Learning through a company book club read of Danny Meyer’s “Setting The Table,” we decided to make up for lost time and get involved. Our corporate team volunteers each year to help Madison Square Park’s staff paint benches, plant trees, and assist in maintaining one of the most iconic greenspaces we have in this incredible city. 

Thanks for reading our story. We look forward to meeting you all either in the Park or at Knot Standard soon. And, we’d love to chat, share more on our initiatives and hear what you all have been up to as well. After all, community is what keeps us together.