CEGO shirts

[newyorker]

Very nice shirts newyorker--love that pink one.

Thanks. I'm wearing Carl's pink shirt now, with sleeves rolled up, plus my Brooks Bros navy chinos, Dunhill tan belt and Polo RL burnished tan oxford shoes. Heading to Chinatown with friends on a bright Sunday afternoon. Life is good.

 

[Shirtmaven]

That red shirt looked really sharp if I say so myself. The buttons were really nice. Dyed red MOP.That was 1 100/2 from italy. The ppale pin shirt was a 100% cotton linen weave also from Italy. The Blue stripe was 100/2 from japan. The whole concept of MTM/Bespoke is all very confusing to most people. To clarify my process of making shirts for customers. I have two ways of producing shirts. I work with Skip gambert for my opening price point shirt. These start at $85 for a basic 50/1 pima cotton. I have worked with him for over 20 years. He produces an excellent and well made garment. I have learned to manipulate and adjust his patterns and process to get what I want in 2-3 weeks. Measurements are taken. All the things are taken into consideration from your shoulder slope to how large your watch is. I find out how you want the shirt to fit.  Fabric is chosen and details are discussed. I have a book of fabrics that are stocked in NJ and I also have an office full of interesting fabric. I am not going to sell you a 50/1 broadcloth if you are used to 140/2. You will not be happy. I recently sold a  cotton/poly shirt to a customer who was used to better. He wanted the pattern of the shirt. I advised him and he was fine with it. The workroom then inputs all of my specs into the computer and a paper marker is produced. The shirts are then cut by hand with a short knife. Patterns are not matched yoke to sleeve or sleeve placket to sleeve. Only on really large patterns will you notice if this does not happen. The workroom does a great job of lining up fronts. This is done via a chain stitch machine. The side seams are single needle closed. The shirts come through with a nice looking plastic button. A pearl button can be requested at an additional charge. I am not fond of the MOP button that they use. I find it a little small. I will sometimes change buttons for my MOP. My only complaint is the use of white thread on certain shirts where I would prefer an off-white or tan colored thread. There are certain shirts I will not sell from their line because I am not pleased with the look of the white thread. All in all it is an excellent shirt. I also have 6 tailors who work for me. One upstairs shares space with an alteration tailor. The others work from their homes. Two are these quite old Chinese brothers. Their work is amazing. Their English isn't. We speak in shirt since I do not speak chinese. One is an Albanian woman who trained in Italy. One is an older Carribean fellow, another is Dominican and the most recent tailor is from Venenzuela. HE worked for many years in Miami for Bertini. These tailors work on more demanding and difficult work that SKip Gambert could not handle. All work in different fashions. Some create paper patterns, others just chalk in measurements on the fabric. My job is to figure out which one will give me what I want for my customers. These shirts start at $125.These can sometime be turned around in a day if the need is there. New yorker's work was made by one of these tailors. He is a rather difficult fit. He has very square narrow shoulders. his head posture is a bit forward. He first came to me to fix some nicely made but Ill fitting Jantzen shirts. I was quite pleased with the fit on his shirts. In either situation, I prefer to start slowly. One or two shirts. The last thing I want to do is start fixing collars on 1/2 doz. shirts. I don't make much money on single shirts. I prefer tobuild confidence and get it right then over sell. Is this custom,MTM, bespoke? Who cares. The shirts fit. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. [email protected] New Yorker, thanks for posting the photos.. Carl

 

[LA Guy]

Is this custom,MTM, bespoke? Who cares. The shirts fit.

My sentiments exactly. I'm looking for someone like you - upfront and unpretentious about their work, but proud of it. When wedding finances are put in order, there are some rather unusual shirt I'd like to get made, and I may just need to seek you out.

 

[tgfny]

Quote:

Is this custom,MTM, bespoke? Who cares. The shirts fit.
My sentiments exactly. Â I'm looking for someone like you - upfront and unpretentious about their work, but proud of it. Â
I can attest to that. Pleasant person with which to deal and has a no bs attitude. Carl, will try to swing by Wednesday. Have 2 little blondes that need a visit in DC the next couple of days. I won't post pics

 

[ttam]

Carl - Thanks for clarifying your processes.  It would appear you do an excellent shirt at a fair price.  Appreciate the helpful post.

Regards,
Tom

 

[taxgenius]

Originally Posted by Shirtmaven

That red shirt looked really sharp if I say so myself. The buttons were really nice. Dyed red MOP.That was 1 100/2 from italy. The ppale pin shirt was a 100% cotton linen weave also from Italy. The Blue stripe was 100/2 from japan.

The whole concept of MTM/Bespoke is all very confusing to most people.

To clarify my process of making shirts for customers.

I have two ways of producing shirts.

I work with Skip gambert for my opening price point shirt. These start at $85 for a basic 50/1 pima cotton.
I have worked with him for over 20 years. He produces an excellent and well made garment. I have learned to manipulate and adjust his patterns and process to get what I want in 2-3 weeks. Measurements are taken. All the things are taken into consideration from your shoulder slope to how large your watch is. I find out how you want the shirt to fit. *Fabric is chosen and details are discussed. I have a book of fabrics that are stocked in NJ and I also have an office full of interesting fabric. I am not going to sell you a 50/1 broadcloth if you are used to 140/2. You will not be happy. I recently sold a *cotton/poly shirt to a customer who was used to better. He wanted the pattern of the shirt. I advised him and he was fine with it.

The workroom then inputs all of my specs into the computer and a paper marker is produced. The shirts are then cut by hand with a short knife. Patterns are not matched yoke to sleeve or sleeve placket to sleeve. Only on really large patterns will you notice if this does not happen. The workroom does a great job of lining up fronts. This is done via a chain stitch machine. The side seams are single needle closed. The shirts come through with a nice looking plastic button. A pearl button can be requested at an additional charge. I am not fond of the MOP button that they use. I find it a little small. I will sometimes change buttons for my MOP.
My only complaint is the use of white thread on certain shirts where I would prefer an off-white or tan colored thread. There are certain shirts I will not sell from their line because I am not pleased with the look of the white thread.

All in all it is an excellent shirt.

I also have 6 tailors who work for me. One upstairs shares space with an alteration tailor. The others work from their homes. Two are these quite old Chinese brothers. Their work is amazing. Their English isn't. We speak in shirt since I do not speak chinese. One is an Albanian woman who trained in Italy. One is an older Carribean fellow, another is Dominican and the most recent tailor is from Venenzuela. HE worked for many years in Miami for Bertini. These tailors work on more demanding and difficult work that SKip Gambert could not handle. All work in different fashions. Some create paper patterns, others just chalk in measurements on the fabric. My job is to figure out which one will give me what I want for my customers. These shirts start at $125.These can sometime be turned around in a day if the need is there.

New yorker's work was made by one of these tailors. He is a rather difficult fit. He has very square narrow shoulders. his head posture is a bit forward. He first came to me to fix some nicely made but Ill fitting Jantzen shirts. I was quite pleased with the fit on his shirts.

In either situation, I prefer to start slowly. One or two shirts. The last thing I want to do is start fixing collars on 1/2 doz. shirts. I don't make much money on single shirts. I prefer tobuild confidence and get it right then over sell.
Is this custom,MTM, bespoke? Who cares. The shirts fit.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

[email protected]
New Yorker, thanks for posting the photos..

Carl

Carl, what do you charge (apprx) to fix a shirt made by someone else (e.g, RTW)? I am thinking of shortening sleeves and tapering an off the rack shirt that I love, but doesn't fit well.

 

[edmorel]

I guess this is blast from the past week.

Edit: I doubt Carl gets his hands dirty with RTW alteration work, I'd take it to Wilfreds Tailoring which is about a block away from Cego.

 

[romafan]

Originally Posted by edmorel

I guess this is blast from the past week.

Edit: I doubt Carl gets his hands dirty with RTW alteration work, I'd take it to Wilfreds Tailoring which is about a block away from Cego.

You just want to 'go over' your bill w/ Wilfred's cashier !

Carl has kindly altered sleevelengths (not his own) for me in the past. I don't know if he makes a practice of it...

 

[erdavis]

I thought all the shirts I got made by CEGO were done by magic elves.

 

[Tomasso]

Before Panzeraxe II posted his experience with Cego I was on the Buy side, now I'm on Hold, bordering on Sell.

 

[Rolo]

Originally Posted by erdavis

I thought all the shirts I got made by CEGO were done by magic elves.

Only if you choose cloth out of the Keebler book.