tailors in seoul korea? - Page 23

Funny - same could've been said of you after all your years of "advertising" for Gordon Yao on these forums, no?

Shame that a beneficial, informative post is met by an accusation from someone who can't seem to tell the difference between spam and a legit post.

Do your research and use your judgement before making accusations.

Why, thank you, Sweep .

Edited by koreaderivative - 2/4/12 at 7:58pm

+1 on comment regarding GBR

I checked out steady state's website but it wasn't all the great (you'd think she'd have plenty of photos of her work, but no), so I hunted it down pics through the Korea search engine naver.

Here they are. Scroll down to the post of 2011/10/24 titled Light Blue Shirt. There's also a pink one below it, and many more further down and the subsequent pages. If I find anything else I'll post. Prices for imported fabric are listed at 288,000 won which is approx. $260, but I'm sure it varies, and shirts on other pages range from approx 100,000 to 310,000 won. Her shop is in my old neighborhood of Hannam-dong, which is about a 10-minute walk from the Itaewon fire brigade.

I may give it a look. Note: I gave up on Korean "craftsmanship" long ago because it doesn't really exist, except for a few eccentric potters and flatware makers. Much of the tailored clothing is/was aimed at the tourist trade, customers who typically shopped at JCPenny. The tailor provided what the ignorant customer wanted, and the customer didn't even bother looking at the crooked seam. Since they were for the most part forbidden to travel overseas until '88 Koreans themselves really didn't know a good tailor from a bad one until much later. Good to see reports of progress.

Here's a map.

Edited by curzon - 2/5/12 at 5:18am

Curzon, I know how you feel about giving up on Korean Craftmanship. I think Steady-State was opened not too long ago, so not alot of pictures. Just sharing my find with the community. As for Add911_11, Really? Have some class man.  

You're right about it being recently opened, which usually doesn't bode well. Based on the photos I found it appears to be a good find, m8. So that's a good head's up from ya. As I said, I may visit. I gave up visiting tailors in Korea and haven't seen anything until steady state that caused me to rethink this, so trust me that I think there's something good going on there. When I visit the 'ville it's just for a few kilos of mutton and a punch up, so now I have to work her shop in. Parking is always a hassle in Hannam-dong too. Bloody hell, I'll have to park up by the Holiday Hotel and walk. Jeez, the things I do for the SF community.

Anyway, since you know Ms. Ahn tell her to post her work on her main website. How hard can that be?

SF... where people demand so much, yet pay so little. sigh

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

It's Korea, dude. It's all about the Cheap Charlie.

You of course are free to (over)pay as you see fit.

Gents, wondering if you could help me.

 

I'm heading back to the UK for a very formal wedding in April and need a full morning suit making.

 

I'm hoping to pay Itaewon rather than City Hall prices, but also expect most of the tailors in this city have little-to-no experience of cutting a morning coat and spongebag trousers, let alone a double brested waistcoat.

 

Any ideas/suggestions where I should head?

 

Thanks,

 

James.

James,

 

I'm sorry to say this, but it will be EXTREMELY difficult, especially if you plan to pay Itaewon prices, and in such a short period of time. Korean tailors have no experience making morning suits, and best case scenario, even if you show them pictures, exact measurements, etc., the exact "cut" of the suit will not be what you will be expecting, especially assuming that you would prefer an English silhouette. Also, the basting material that Korean tailors use is very cheap, and they dont pay attention to the construction of the canvas as much as they should, which is a shame. Arm holes are never cut right, and just that great feel of the suit wrapping your body is always off.

 

Personally, if I had no choice based on time constraints, and you really want to get a MTM done in Korea, I would ATTEMPT to visit either SEGI tailor, Lansmere, and/or a new tailor boutique called Mono Gallery (the reason I list Mono is that they actually know stuff on textiles and canvas materials.) , all of them in Chungdam. Maybe Sartoria Min in Coex. Be expected to pay a premium more than expected, and also bare in mind that these "tailors" attempt to cut very close to the Neopolitan fashion. I dont know how that will work with Morning Attire, but just thinking about the Eton / Godfather / Kimchi fusion just sounds horrible.

 

I think the best bet is search on Ebay UK to see if you can find a second hand Savile Row if you are lucky, or just go off the rack, OR rent one when you get to the UK. If its over 1 Million KRW, its just not worth it. Due to the amount of fabric and the labor, I would expect that they would hustle you to approx. that price range BEST case scenario, with sandpaper fabric.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

Edited by koreaderivative - 3/8/12 at 12:27am

Thanks for your reply Koreaderivative, it's exactly what I was fearing yet expecting to hear.

 

I'm prepared to spend the money required but seemingly it's going to be extremely difficult to get this done in Korea, regardless of timeframe. I'll try to visit the guys you mention tomorrow to see if anyone, out of pure luck, has experience in making a morning suit from dressing kin-of-chaebol for overpriced Banyan Tree weddings.

 

Regardless, I think an off-the-peg suit purchased in the UK that I can then subsquiently have taken in is going to be my only solution. Rental won't work as I'm planing to fly directly back to Seoul on the Sunday morning after the wedding.

 

Thanks again for your guidance, will let you know how I get on.

 

Thanks for the info on Steady State, I'm going to have to make a reservation and take a look someday.

Does anyone know if Sartoria Min is still around? I've heard good things about him. Where do prices start for a suit? I've had a couple of suits made from Segi and while they're great, I'm looking for a more affordable alternative. Thanks much.

He's still around. I'm going to pick up a suit from him this weekend. I can't recall prices since I provide my own fabric (usually English fabrics that he doesn't carry). Maybe around 2M won for a two piece? Not sure how that compares to Segi, I stopped shopping for tailors a long time ago.

That's pretty comparable to Segi prices then. Thanks anyway.