dukeaw
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2013
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To those that saw my original inquiry about ordering a mtm suit from alibaba... I followed through with it.
My thought process: I've never had a good experience with local mtm shops. They just put on a trial suit, thought everything looked good. They'd made a few small tweaks. The suit would arrive and still be all sorts of messed up. It wouldnt fit over my larger thighs, or they'd mess up shoulder slope somehow, or the armholes would be way too big. I'd be out a ton of money and have a suit I was unhappy with. I was bored in lockdown and decided to try and skip those middlemen and see what I could do working direct with a factory.
And yeah, I could buy off the rack. I have a pretty normal body... but where's the fun in that?
The process is as follows:
I reached out to them by email through alibaba. I took extensive measurements of my body according to their guide. The english in it was not very good, but good enough to follow... Ok... my girlfriend took the measurements... and she made fun of me the whole time
I submitted my body measurements and in return they sent me several options for how it could fit: slim, slim-regular, and regular, amongst other options. I chose something similar to their slim fit but modifying it based on how I knew my other suits fit.
They had style books for jackets, trousers, shirts, vest, overcoats, etc that were each 50-100 pages long. They have every option under the sun. And if they dont have it in the book I can explain it to them and they can try and do it. I'm not getting that complex with this order.
They have a wide selection of in house fabrics that i chose from. I chose a grey super 120 fabric of unknown provenance.
I also had a shirt made of their house fabric and chinos of their house fabric that came from a british mill that I hadnt heard of.
They made me a fused suit, a shirt, and cotton chinos. I had the suit trousers at a higher rise, and the chinos at a mid rise.
All in the trial suit was $212, the shirt was $55 and the chinos were $99. All plus some shipping cost. Plus cooking a nice dinner for my girlfriend. Not a bad deal to limit sunk cost.
I will be doing CMT with dugdale merchant fleece for my main order. I will continue to use their house fabric for a shirt, since its not bad. I'm not sure i like their chino fabric b/c it has stretch. But I'm going to order some linen pants for this summer and likely use Spence Bryson for CMT.
Their CMT offers several levels. Fused, Half canvas, full canvas, semi-handmade, and fully handmade. I wont exactly say the prices just yet, but they are incredibly reasonable compared to even buying off the rack and needing to get tailored. And their handmade suits are incredibly affordable compared to what I can get through anyone in the USA. Thats the real reason I'm doing this.
They will be able to procure the fabric for me from several merchants, such as Dugdale and Holland and Sherry. I'm going to inquire still about Bateman Ogden. They also have access to VBC, Dormeuil, Scabal, and several others. But I dont have easy access to their books.
The trial suit, shirt and chinos arrived today.
It has some fit issues that I'm still working out with them.
See attached imgur link for some of my pics. I sent them back for any alteration recommendations from their tailors. I'll update this thread as this unfolds.
My thought process: I've never had a good experience with local mtm shops. They just put on a trial suit, thought everything looked good. They'd made a few small tweaks. The suit would arrive and still be all sorts of messed up. It wouldnt fit over my larger thighs, or they'd mess up shoulder slope somehow, or the armholes would be way too big. I'd be out a ton of money and have a suit I was unhappy with. I was bored in lockdown and decided to try and skip those middlemen and see what I could do working direct with a factory.
And yeah, I could buy off the rack. I have a pretty normal body... but where's the fun in that?
The process is as follows:
I reached out to them by email through alibaba. I took extensive measurements of my body according to their guide. The english in it was not very good, but good enough to follow... Ok... my girlfriend took the measurements... and she made fun of me the whole time
I submitted my body measurements and in return they sent me several options for how it could fit: slim, slim-regular, and regular, amongst other options. I chose something similar to their slim fit but modifying it based on how I knew my other suits fit.
They had style books for jackets, trousers, shirts, vest, overcoats, etc that were each 50-100 pages long. They have every option under the sun. And if they dont have it in the book I can explain it to them and they can try and do it. I'm not getting that complex with this order.
They have a wide selection of in house fabrics that i chose from. I chose a grey super 120 fabric of unknown provenance.
I also had a shirt made of their house fabric and chinos of their house fabric that came from a british mill that I hadnt heard of.
They made me a fused suit, a shirt, and cotton chinos. I had the suit trousers at a higher rise, and the chinos at a mid rise.
All in the trial suit was $212, the shirt was $55 and the chinos were $99. All plus some shipping cost. Plus cooking a nice dinner for my girlfriend. Not a bad deal to limit sunk cost.
I will be doing CMT with dugdale merchant fleece for my main order. I will continue to use their house fabric for a shirt, since its not bad. I'm not sure i like their chino fabric b/c it has stretch. But I'm going to order some linen pants for this summer and likely use Spence Bryson for CMT.
Their CMT offers several levels. Fused, Half canvas, full canvas, semi-handmade, and fully handmade. I wont exactly say the prices just yet, but they are incredibly reasonable compared to even buying off the rack and needing to get tailored. And their handmade suits are incredibly affordable compared to what I can get through anyone in the USA. Thats the real reason I'm doing this.
They will be able to procure the fabric for me from several merchants, such as Dugdale and Holland and Sherry. I'm going to inquire still about Bateman Ogden. They also have access to VBC, Dormeuil, Scabal, and several others. But I dont have easy access to their books.
The trial suit, shirt and chinos arrived today.
It has some fit issues that I'm still working out with them.
See attached imgur link for some of my pics. I sent them back for any alteration recommendations from their tailors. I'll update this thread as this unfolds.
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