Buying a Suit in Tokyo - Page 2

Not speaking Japanese will be a bit of an obstacle. One problem I see is that people at the larger, very full service department stores such as Takashimaya and Men's Isetan, are more likely to be able to provide someone to you who speaks English. Unfortunately, the suits at those places are more likely to be expensive and outside of your budget.

I would recommend you visit the Suit Company. I believe that the largest location in Tokyo is in Ueno/Ameyoko, but there are locations in many many other neighborhoods. The staff at the Suit Company tend to be women in their late teens and early twenties. This means that they will be more likely to speak some English. The suits at the Suit Company are also more likely to be within your budget.

Bic

Why the heck do you want to get a suit tailored in Japan? It's the most expensive country in the world and if you just take a short flight over to Beijing, or even Seoul, you could get double or triple the quality for the money. Maybe high-end Japanese tailors are renowned or something, but I got one done at Azabu Tailor (advertises as classic 40's/50's style suits) and I am not very happy with it. Granted it was only 36,000 yen, but still, I went to a couple of their offices and neither of the tailors seemed very interested in getting it done right for me, despite the fact that they didn't appear to have any other customers. They measured repeatedly and yet the suit still ended up being way too small for me... I mean come on, that's like the most cliche mistake an Asian tailor could make on a westerner- azabu's suits only seemed meant for scrawny hunched-over salary men. Maybe it's japanese style or something, but I can't even lean over and put my elbows on a table and rest my chin on my hands without the coat feeling like it's going to tear. Anyway, Azabu has higher-end suits as well in your price range, I suggest you stay away from them. Insult to injury, 4 weeks after I got my suit I went to beijing and some friends got some suits for like 100$ that looked much better than mine (though admittedly they might fall apart come winter To Azabu's credit, the suit is more classic/british looking than anything i could have expected to get tailored in the US for that price.

Take a look at my reply, regarding the suit store in Nakano sunshine/broadway mall excellent place for those on a budget. You won't get 2 decent suits and an odd jacket at the big dept stores in your price range. The language barrier is not a problem the staff will bring you some things approximately your size, just try them on and decide for yourself. Not being able to understand the sales pitch is a good thing.

For $750 you'll be hard pressed to fill all your requirements, a cheap suit from P.S.F. Aoyama, etc or even the Nakano store above might look good for a while, but if you are wearing it more than once a week it definitely won't last 5 years. Had uncountable numbers of these suits over the last 8 years and any significant wear will have them looking like rags in a year or so.

If I were you I'd have a look at the wizard of aahs, you should be able to get 2 quite nice looking and reasonably well made suits and an odd jacket within your budget, that with proper care will last 5 years. Also do a thorough search of this sight and AAAC you'll find a lot of advice about buying suits.

That's a bit of a myth, some things are expensive here and perhaps the country as a whole may be expensive, but even Tokyo is not as expensive as London and I assume some other cities like N.Y. however I agree it's certainly not the place to get tailored suits.

Thank you for the quick replies! A few things - I don't wear suits very often. Somewhere around five to ten times a year, currently. Also, the main reason I was asking is because the lady who showing us around had mentioned that during first week of July in Tokyo there are a lot of sales. Finally, I'm don't have my heart set on this. If you recommend I hold off and shop elsewhere, I'll gladly do so. Also, I'll check out the Wizard of Aahs.

Hmmm, I don't know what lady you are dealing with specifically, but Japanese people are enthralled by their "sales" and usually it just means an overpriced item is now slightly less overpriced. Just my personal opinion, since my japanese gf is always getting excited by sales this sales that, but it usually just boils down to the collectivist hype of peasants rather than real money-saving. Yea, the japanese always seem to talk about how a certain week of the year is "the" week to do some specific thing ...ugh, it's irritating, but i love japan. If you have time i would look into flying over to seoul or beijing... i'm sure there's lots of scams but if you're in the 2k range, it's probably pretty safegurarded at that level.

I'm not in the 2k, but the OP is =)

Is Azabu tailor really that cheap? 36,000 for a MTM suit? I was thinking of having some pants made abroad and sending over my measurements but maybe Azabu can help me out.

A couple of posts here have been pretty critical of clothing choices and prices in Japan, so I thought that I'd stick my oar in again. In all seriousness, whilst I'd never travel to Tokyo specifically to get a suit, it is a great place to go clothes shopping. Certainly, you can pay a fortune for top-of-the-line clothing, but there are many, many places that sell well-made suits that are well-cut and reasonably well-made for good money. For the price of a poorly-cut suit from Mens Wearhouse, you can get a classic suit that will look damned good, in some very interesting fabrics, whether they be nailhead, chalkstripe, glen plaid, or PoW check with a blue or red overcheck. Particularly if you take a smaller size, Japan will have plenty of good pickings. As I suggested to the original poster above, see if can get hold of some Japanese clothing magazines like Mens Ex, Leon, Uomo or some others. Whilst they are in Japanese, a lot of them will have a smattering of English, particularly in the title of articles, so that you can get an idea as to what they are about. Also, it's a great way to see where particular clothes are sold at particular price points. In my experience, Japanese sales are genuine sales - stores provide deep discounts on quality goods. When I was in Japan in January, the Brooks Brothers store in Ginza was selling Italian-made Golden Fleece suits (described as "fully hand-made") for Y65000, or at 50% of the normal price. They were astonishingly well-made - hand-stitched buttonholes, hand-stitched lapels and chestpieces (the pad-stitching in the back of the lapels was almost enough to make me cry). Pick up one or two of those on sale and you could feel very pleased indeed.

Most American's concept of Japan has not left the 80's. Nowaday Japan/Tokyo is very affordable, and in many cases cheaper than comparable cities.

I've found that too. I've gotten great deals on beautiful stuff during the annual sales.

japanese people have a very strange method of purchasing: similary to lay by. You buy an very expensive, boutique piece of clothing, and you pay it off in installments. At least this is what happened 20 years ago in japan. dunno if it still is in fashion.

I just want to say thanks for the post about going shopping in Nagano. I'm staying in Roppongi and didn't want to go shopping around here, as I heard places like Ginza are very expensive.

 

I took the train to Nakano and found the exact store mentioned in one of the first posts. They had some bargains at around 9,000 - 25,000 yen. However, I felt the quality was a little off, so I went around to Aoki and found a sale of 2 suites for 40,000 yen, and bought those. I will see how they hold up over time. I don't often wear suites so I hope they'll last a few years at least. The brand is Intimage, which I've never heard of before. Each one came with 2 pairs of pants.

 

At any rate, I appreciate the advice.

Your welcome, hope you enjoy the suits.