Graham Browne Bespoke Tailor - My First Suit - Page 4

"Quite good compared to my cheap suits!" !!!!!! It should look and feel considerably better than your cheap suits my friend . Over a grand for a suit is real money for a suit. I have a few suits that are well over the grand and they certainly feel/look better than my "cheap suits!"

Dont show him this thread thats just going to upset and annoy him. Try and get your money back though or a remake. The suit in total fairness is appalling in terms of fit I cant imagine an off the rack fitting worse.

what happened with this buddy?   did GB resolve this for you either by fixing or a replacement?

 

dandy.

Any updates if Russell from Graham Browne remedied this?

My interest in this thread is the same interest I have in the Indochino thread - it's like standing around gawking at the aftermath of a car crash.

 

I find this thread disquieting for a number of reasons:

1. The preference for MTM / bespoke by the newbie suit buyer
2. Tailor allowed OP to walk out of the door with said suit
3. Fit and the need for self-measurement

 

I'm always interested in the reasons for why someone wishes to go down the MTM / bespoke path in terms of what factors did they evaluate to arrive at their decision. Was the decision based primarily on fit? Do they actually know their own measurements through measuring themselves and/or their existing suits or garments? Do they want specific fabric, construction or tailoring (styling) choices? The whole skinny suit and lapel fashion forward trend springs to mind. What level of experience and knowledge do they have?

 

The fact that the OP posted the following on his blog tells me everything that we need to know: "At first glance it looks and fits great but please feel free to comment". The use of "great" as an adjective, whether someone is buying or selling a garment, a laptop / tablet, sound system, car, et al, informs us that the buyer is unable to articulate exactly what it is that they wish to buy. Thus, they are unable to satisfactorily determine whether what they have bought meets their requirements and is of the right quality.

 

I find this disquieting because someone may think that they require MTM / bespoke, yet their reasons for choosing this particular path, may be the wrong ones when OTR may be perfectly suitable. Especially given their lack of experience and knowledge.

 

I also get the impression - rightly or wrongly - from the OP that a big influence in his decision making was the kudos in going MTM / bespoke because of his reference to being new to bespoke tailoring, paid £1,100 for the suit and commented, "Personally I fell the suit is quite good compared to my other cheap suits but I have no experience in tailored suits so I respect your views and will push Russel for my money back.". Fabric, maybe. Fit, absolutely not!

 

This leads to how well the client can articulate and communicate their requirements to the tailor. It's perfectly obvious that the OP is unable to articulate their requirements or possesses the body of knowledge to even evaluate the basics if they believe the suit in questions "looks and fits great" (!) and "personally I feel the suit is quite good compared to my other cheap suits". Again, I believe the price factor was the big evaluator here i.e. it costs much more so should automatically be superior, irrespective of other factors.

 

There is a paucity of information to allow us to determine exactly what was communicated. For all we know, the OP may well have provided instructions that he wanted to achieve a David Byrne look circa early 80s. We do not know what advice the OP received and was ignored. Also, by his own admission, the OP had no knowledge or understanding of timescales: "I thought it usually takes about 6-8 weeks for a suit", and more tellingly, "I think I was in a rush to get the suit as I had been waiting more than 10 weeks so was a bit fed up of it taking so long".

 

While I do chime in with the general assessment that the tailor should never have allowed that suit to leave the shop, I think it may be a little unfair to heap criticism on the tailoring without understanding the full story. I initially was horrified when I first saw the pictures, but after reading the thread and the OPs blog, it slowly dawned on me that perhaps the end result is less to do with the actual quality of the tailoring, then the OPs failure to express exactly what he wants. That said, I would never walk out of a shop with an OTR suit that fitted that poorly (thank in benefit to SF).

 

Leading to the SF101 and perhaps the need to re-empahsize the importance of fit and the need to take accurate self-measurements before buying an OTR suit. Let alone going down the MTM / bespoke path.

 

The most damaging aspect would be to GB's reputation based upon the posted images, which may not be representative of the tailor's true work, and more an expression (or not) of the client. The ideal solution, based upon the initial consultation, would have been to refuse the OPs custom. But how many tailors are financially in the position to be able to pick and choose business?

I respectfully disagree with certain points being made:

Yes, it'd be beneficial if the client knows what he/she wants and is able to articulate it, but I disagree that just because the client is unable to clearly articulate what he wants, wool should be pulled over his eyes, and offered something clearly substandard.

Please bear in mind that we are not discussing about stylistic treatments (1 button, peak lapels etc) here. We are talking about the fundamentals of a reasonably fitting suit. Surely, a client doesn't need to tell the tailor (who arguably should be far more knowledgeable about his product than the client) how to ensure that a suit fits well? To argue so is analogous to a customer telling a Michelin-starred chef how much salt to add to his dish. Or going to Huntsman or Rubinacci and telling the cutters how to do their job.

Ensuring that a suit fits well (with/without the client's direction) is the very fundamentals of tailoring. If you can't do that without being directed, the tailor/cutter should go back and re-take tailoring 101. Or a course in ethics. It seems that OP doesn't have a clear opinion on what he wants, hence, it is clearly arguable that Russel would have carte blanche over the process, and thus, should have been able to deliver a well-cut suit without resistance. He did not, and screwed it up big-time. The pictures below are evidence of substandard fitting.

It'd also do well not to forget that not everybody reads up as much on tailoring at styleforum posters, and it cannot be reasonably assumed that everybody who goes to a tailor without adequate knowledge is shown the door looking like his suit has been thrift-ed from Oxfam for 1100 pounds.

Bloody hell guys, there is no real judgement until someone post his successful attempts from GB, they do make plenty of nice suits for client with great fit. It is really unfair to magnify the unfortunate case, where I am sure the big names will also have done the similar mistake, just for some reason they don't post their bad experience.

According to Manton's post a while ago, Anderson and Sheppard refused to acknowledge that the fit of his suit was a little off, so I actually agree that big houses do make mistakes, and that they can be obstinate.

But, I think the key difference is that the mistakes at the more reputable houses are usually small, and usually problems that fussy people like us notice

I don't deny that GB can cut a reasonable suit if directed, I just feel sorry for this poor fella who didn't know better, and paid 1100 pounds for this crap because Russell (or whoever the cutter is) didn't think it was worth his while to address the most basic problems of fit, all because this fella is ill-knowledgeable because he depended on the professional for input.

It's like paying $300 to a doctor for a medical check-up, and because you don't know better, the doctor doesn't bother to do his job properly and screws you over by doing slip-shot work. In this case, the issue is not about the competency of the doctor, but rather, an issue with his ethos and ethical standards.
Edited by bboysdontcryy - 11/5/12 at 3:30pm

That is bespoke? Honestly that looks terrible. Like Hickey Freeman OTR

 

Edit: looking again and this is seriously a crime against humanity. Look how the sleeves lay... you need to light this on fire, wrap it around a brick and throw it through their window. 

Yep, I do feel sorry for the chap who receives such a unfortunate outcome, I will be bloody angry and demand for a remark in the shop, before the final payment is made.
BTW, do you think the negligent of making a SB jacket from a DB order counts as a big mistake? At least the customer thinks so when I was a shop boy in SR