Y. William Yu Inc. Tailor: Friend wants to know pros/cons/any good?

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Which shop is he considering? I have experience with the HK shop (which do tours of the US).

Originally Posted by whoopee

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Which shop is he considering? I have experience with the HK shop (which do tours of the US).

He's getting the Chicago tour.
Doesn't want to pay more than 1k for a suit, so no desposfor him..

Workmanship is typical for high-end HK shops. However, I would prefer Chan. The only two clear reasons I can think of to go with Yu over Chan is that Yu have Lesser cloth and have a shop in NYC that will handle alterations (so they don't need to be sent/taken back to Asia).

The only decent cloth you can get from Chan these days for under $1000 is Vitale Barberis, and maybe not even that. I haven't kept up with their pricing. Yu is at least a bit cheaper, maybe more. The reason I am unsure is that when I ordered my suit in HK, prices were suggested to me for certain cloths. They were different from what a friend was quoted and also oddly priced in comaprison with other cloths. I pointed this out and got a significant discount, putting the suit (made out of Lesser cloth) well in your friend's price range. Another time they quoted a friend one price for some cloth only to raise it 50% when he actually ordered it. Perhaps they have more standard pricing on the US tour, but if not, your friend would be at a disadvantage if he is not prepared or somewhat knowledgeable about cloths.

The fitter isn't very good at all. Nice guy, just seemed pretty clueless to me. The resulting product reflected that. The styling is bland - typical American - and I don't think the style quotient is there to do something more interesting.

Originally Posted by whoopee

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...I don't think the style quotient is there to do something more interesting...



Well said...we all know it is there and is essential for making of good bespoke clothing. But how do we measure it?

Somebody on these fora--was it you, whoopee?--stated in response to a post I made naming Yu as one of the better HK tailors that based on his experience with the firm he could not recommend Yu. Prior to that I had heard Yu named along with the usual biggies--Chan, Ah-Man-Hing-Cheong and H.Baroman--and the lesser-known Gordon Yao as being among the best of HK tailors.

Does Yu sell the Lesser fabric direct to buyers, or do you have to be in the trade? It would be great to source Lesser wholesale, or at minimal markup, to have made up by another tailor.

JLib, I believe I made that post. The workmanship is good, which leads me to believe that given a better cutter and fitter, the result could be comparable with the others. The HK shop does more cloth distributing business than tailoring these days, and some of the more senior members of the firm have moved to Shanghai and New York.

masterfred, Yu, at least in HK, will sell Lesser cloth direct. Don't know if the NYC shop will do so. The prices you will pay (not necessarily what they say at first) are not much less than ordering direct from Lesser plus shipping and possibly duties, assuming you live outside distribution areas. It may be less of a hassle, since Lesser only accept payment through telegraphic transfer, but despite that, you can get the cloth quicker.

Also, their books are pretty depleted. More so than I've seen in other tailors' shops. Not sure why.

What do they charge for a 2/3 piece db suit in New York?