WW Chan London Order Tour May 14-17

Hi folks, the second WW Chan London trip is confirmed for:


May 14th - 17th, Friday to Monday

London Hilton Green Park
Half Moon Street, Mayfair
London W1J

Map - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=hilton...6&z=17&iwloc=A


To make an appointment, please e-mail or fax the shop in Hong Kong:

E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: (852) 2368-2194

Appointments can be booked via e-mail/fax until May 13. Patrick Chu, the HK general manager and head cutter, will start accepting appointment bookings himself from May 14 onwards and can be reached at the hotel at 0207 629 7522. The appointment hours are 9 AM - 6 PM.

Pricing starts at USD 1,200 for a two piece suit using VBC cloth. Fabric bunches from all the major mills (Harrisons, Holland and Sherry, Scabal, etc) are represented but if you have a particular bunch that you would like to see, let them know in advance and they will try and get a hold of it for you. Garments are finished and delivered in approximately three months.

Unrelated to the London tour, but could someone explain to me how ordering on the tour works.

As I understand it, you order, they send the basted the suit to you by courier, you take the basted suit with you when they next come on tour, and thereafter the suit is mailed to you finished.

Is that correct ? If so, it means there is only one basted fitting, right ?

Thanks for your responses

exactly. It looks like this:

1st appointment- select fabric, get fitted
receive the basted suit in the mail
2nd appointment- basted fitting, make necessary adjustments
a few weeks later you receive it in the mail.

is it true bespoke? maybe not, but my first suit was just about perfect. communication was excellent- I had a few tweaks to make and then needed my suit done early, and both times they answered my emails immediately. I'll use them again next time they come to DC.

^^ Thanks.

How would true bespoke be different from this ? Multiple fittings ? 1 basted and as many as required forward (?) fittings.

For my knowledge, can someone tell how many fittings does A & S do ? I am not sure but I thought they like to do a forward (?) fitting straightaway i.e. no basted fitting

it depends on where it is and how many visits they plan to do to that city etc.

yfyf, are you going to be around when patrick comes to london this time?

While brittain is right, I am going to elaborate a little. I'm acting as a mouthpiece for Chan in this thread and what I say reflects their current methods for London.

The typical order process for the London tour is:

1. You contact Chan and book an appointment. If you are a new customer, you will be asked to bring one of your own jackets which you consider "your favourite" or "a good fit".

2. Show up at the appointment and you will be able to browse the fabric bunches. Patrick and co. will be on hand to give you some advice about what might be a suitable fabric for your particular needs.

3. Specify the style and features that you are looking for, i.e. single or double breasted, straight or hacking pockets, soft shoulder or standard shoulder, etc.

4. Patrick will measure you up. The Chan measuring system is a proprietary system that dates back to the original founder of WW Chan about 70 years ago and has been subsequently improved upon over the years by his son Peter Chan and Patrick Chu with special tweaks for tour use.

The measuring system for the tour is extremely extensive and also includes slipping on one of Chan's "measuring jackets" to get an idea of certain features of the body that might not be easily captured in numerical measurements alone. Photos are taken of you in the measuring jacket for later reference. Your "favourite jacket" is also observed and measured to give Chan some idea of the sort of fit you like, i.e. loose, tight, etc. It should be noted that the "favourite jacket" is not copied in any way whatsoever.

The reason why the measuring system needs to be so detailed is because Chan strives to make complete, finished and well fitting garments without intermediate fittings. This is also the reason why Patrick Chu himself goes on tour and does the measurements. Patrick, as the head cutter, is extremely familiar with the formulae and calculations that derive your measurements into your paper pattern and this gives everybody a much better chance of getting it right first time.

5. Leave a credit card number. The full amount will be charged to your credit card once the cloth has been ordered. I know this may disturb or upset some people but unfortunately this is their procedure.

6. Patrick returns to Hong Kong, the cloth is ordered, a pattern is made for you based on the measurements, and the cloth is then cut and tailored according to your pattern. Your completed suit will be sent to you three to four months later.

--

If you were to request a fitting on tour as some people do, then this is what would happen:

6. You need to request a fitting while you are putting in the order. The cost of a basted fitting is now $150 (it has risen slightly from previous years) and it includes the cost of the basted garment being shipped to you. However, it will be your responsibility to ship the garment back to Chan in Hong Kong after the basted garment has been fitted.

Rather than receiving a completed suit, you will receive a basted garment. This is a garment that has been cut according to your pattern and then stitched together with basting thread which temporarily holds the garment together. Next time Patrick is on tour, make an appointment with him and bring the basted garment so that he can see what adjustments might need to be made.

There are pros and cons to this approach.

Pros:

1. You get to have a fitting which may result in a better fitting garment. (which can be a big Pro)

Cons:

1. You have to pay an extra $150.
2. You have to ship it back to Chan at your expense.
3. You will have to wait a lot longer. Firstly, you have to wait until you see Patrick next time he is on tour to get fitted in your basted garment. Then after the basted garment goes back to Chan, you will have to wait for them to finish it before you receive your completed garment. Given that the London tour occurs around every six months, you will be looking at a total of about eight months from start to completion. The US customers have it better in that Chan passes through every four months instead.

There is an alternative to having a basted garment mailed to you and that is: to go directly to the shop in Hong Kong during the intermediate stages. It's perfectly fine to put in your order on tour and be fit later in Hong Kong. Fittings at the shop incur no charges, just let Chan know in advance you are coming.

It is worth noting that there is no difference in the quality of workmanship and product whether you go to the Hong Kong store or not, it is still the same Chan workshop making the garment. The benefit of going to Hong Kong is you can have fittings which may result in a better fitting garment.

Originally Posted by fox81

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it depends on where it is and how many visits they plan to do to that city etc.

yfyf, are you going to be around when patrick comes to london this time?

I may be there but my schedule is still a bit up in the air. Do stop by if you can just to say hello, it's always great to see the final garment on a customer and its a helpful reference if there are any adjustments necessary on future orders.

yfyf, thanks for the detailed answer. It clarifies most of my questions.

As I understand it is 1200 USD is the price for a 2 pc in standard VBC cloth plus an extra 150 USD fo a basted fitting. Is the price the same in case the order is placed at the HK shop.

Would you be having an idea how much extra is charged for some popular fabrics say a Minnis fresco or a Harrisons flannel or any other fabric that you might be knowing.

Originally Posted by aj_del

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yfyf, thanks for the detailed answer. It clarifies most of my questions.

As I understand it is 1200 USD is the price for a 2 pc in standard VBC cloth plus an extra 150 USD fo a basted fitting. Is the price the same in case the order is placed at the HK shop.

Would you be having an idea how much extra is charged for some popular fabrics say a Minnis fresco or a Harrisons flannel or any other fabric that you might be knowing.

The pricing is the same as in the HK store. Pricing is actually all denominated in HKD it's just since USD is pegged to HKD, you can use the two interchangeably.

Minnis Fresco - USD 1,334, the price is the same for all weights from 8oz to 14oz
Harrisons Flannel - USD 1,374 for 340 gms and USD 1,510 for 400 gms

^^ Thanks

What are your thought on this.

I am thinking of going to Cairns for around 10 days in June and would like to get 2 DB suits made from Chan. I was thinking of stopping in HK both on my way to Cairns and on the way back as well.

On my way there I was hoping to meet Patrick and give measurements and on my way back have a fitting. In an ideal situation I would be mailed my suits to India in due course.

So, I am wondering

1. Is a single fitting enough for my first experience with Chan.

2. If it is enough is 10 days enough for Chan to do a fitting. I shall of course choose a cloth from his collection as 10 days would surely not be enough to get a cloth from a book and then get the suit ready for fitting.

If the whole thing is doable I shall contact Patrick to set it up AND sell a holiday in Cairns to my wife

cool, do you have a pricelist or something? that would be good to post.

Originally Posted by fox81

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cool, do you have a pricelist or something? that would be good to post.

Unfortunately there isn't an easy-to-understand unified price list. In fact, pricing is a bit of a nightmare because the prices often fluctuate depending on GBP-USD exchange rates, the whims of the distributors and the pricing of the manufacturers. On top of that, pricing can vary quite significantly for say the lightweight version of one fabric vs the heavyweight version of another so it's not even like you can wave your hand at a book and say "it's all USD 1,500" because a single book can be comprised of fabrics of different weights and compositions.

Originally Posted by yfyf

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Which one of you bastards has that orange plaid sportcoat in his possession?

Originally Posted by TRINI

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Which one of you bastards has that orange plaid sportcoat in his possession?

Is too loud,hurts my eyes. I need to try Chan sometime,get me some summer suits.
Have you used your MBT?

Originally Posted by forex

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Have you used your MBT?

Not yet for anything bespoke. I have him busy de-shouldering my sportcoats.

I should go in and get measured up soon though.