Many men prefer to simplify the process of buying clothing, and when they find a store that fits their style, they stick with it. Albert Iannantuono of Welland, Ont., was no exception. "Since I was a kid," he says, "I always went to one store, wanting to look good."

That store was Blake's Menswear, a 40-year-old business now owned by Gord Blake, who bought it from his father. But Mr. Iannantuono, who had built a marketing communications company and then an e-commerce consulting company, thought Mr. Blake should sell menswear online, the ultimate easy way to purchase.

Mr. Blake always demurred - until about 18 months ago when Mr. Iannantuono came to him with a written proposal. "He said, 'you really think this would work?'" recalls Mr. Iannantuono. "I said, 'yes', and he said 'good, put your money where your mouth is and we'll do it together.'"

Mr. Iannantuono, 38, and Mr. Blake, who is in his fifties, formed a 50-50 partnership in JustMensWear.com, an online menswear shop that's taking the expertise of a local haberdashery and launching it on the World Wide Web.

The virtual store combines its own "JustMensWear" and name brand products with a full repertoire of online promotions and services - special deals to targeted customers, an "e-zine" full of updates and product advisories, an electronic lay-away capability that lets customers electronically store their selections for later payment, and free delivery on orders of $100 or more.

"We've tried to keep the store and the e-commerce site separate," explains Mr. Iannantuono, in part because an e-commerce site requires a more universal brand identity. They have also tried to grow the business on solid foundations, testing secure servers and payment gateways for a year and promoting only in Toronto and southwestern Ontario before the official site launch in December.

With reliable systems in place, they anticipate steady growth in US sales. "We've played it very carefully," says Mr. Iannantuono. "If there's too much business and you can't handle it, those US customers will go away and never return, so we're trying to build slowly but surely."

The two partners have also fine-tuned their pitch to US customers who want to shop in Canada using US dollars. At first, they offered a currency conversion button so that any price could be converted to US dollars, but many US visitors ignored it and left. When the site was altered to allow them to view the entire site in US dollars by clicking just one button, however, they stayed.

JustMensWear has also painstakingly programmed the site to display a tariff warning if a US buyer chooses a product for which a tariff applies. It's a complicated proposition, because tariffs do not apply to some clothing made with imported cloth, for instance, that is manufactured into a garment in Canada.

"US sales are the ultimate goal because of the US dollar," says Mr. Iannantuono, "and the value proposition is high. Marketing will be more expensive, but we're using our Canadian experiments to minimize the risk. We want to be sure the message is right and that it's timed right."