dealing with tailors (disputes, etc)

i'm just wondering what people normally do when they have something tailor-made and it doesn't quite work out.

i had a bespoke suit made some time ago which, after several wearings (unfortunately), i've decided i'm not happy with. the flaws, as i see them are:
(i) heavy shoulder padding
(ii) low gorge
(iii) large armhole
(iv) pants are too narrow

from my basic understanding of suit construction, (i) and (ii) can be fixed, but not (iii) or (iv) since these require cloth that isn't there.

as for the payment arrangements, i paid half up front and half on picking it up, both times in cash. i requested two pairs of pants, and both were cut before the first fitting.

in retrospect i think walking away or asking for those repairs until i was satisfied would've been the best course. but since it's a bit late for that:

1. is it worth bringing this up with the tailor?

2. should i offer money to get these things fixed, given that i accepted the garment as 'satisfactory' when i first took it out of the shop? i am worried about passive-aggressive disgruntled tailor behavior if i raise it as a complaint ("oh we're really busy.. come back next week&quot.

3. i'm considering having another tailor do the trousers, but have no idea how to make sure it's the exact same cloth.

any help would be appreciated.

also, if someone could link me to a "how to deal with tailors" thread that'd be great.

Originally Posted by ricotta

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i'm just wondering what people normally do when they have something tailor-made and it doesn't quite work out.

i had a bespoke suit made some time ago which, after several wearings (unfortunately), i've decided i'm not happy with. the flaws, as i see them are:
(i) heavy shoulder padding
(ii) low gorge
(iii) large armhole
(iv) pants are too narrow

from my basic understanding of suit construction, (i) and (ii) can be fixed, but not (iii) or (iv) since these require cloth that isn't there.

as for the payment arrangements, i paid half up front and half on picking it up, both times in cash. i requested two pairs of pants, and both were cut before the first fitting.

in retrospect i think walking away or asking for those repairs until i was satisfied would've been the best course. but since it's a bit late for that:

1. is it worth bringing this up with the tailor?

2. should i offer money to get these things fixed, given that i accepted the garment as 'satisfactory' when i first took it out of the shop? i am worried about passive-aggressive disgruntled tailor behavior if i raise it as a complaint ("oh we're really busy.. come back next week").

3. i'm considering having another tailor do the trousers, but have no idea how to make sure it's the exact same cloth.

any help would be appreciated.

also, if someone could link me to a "how to deal with tailors" thread that'd be great.


I think that you either have to accept the suit, scrap it, or move-on to another tailor.

From what you described, the tailor would have to redo the coat and pants. I doubt that he would do this for free.

In the tailor's eye he may have made for you an A-1 suit. Indeed, other people may agree. This might be the tailor's house style.

If you were to show the suit to the tailor and ten people off the street they probably would say that it is fine. However, if it is "off" in your eyes, then that is all that counts.

I would discuss this with the tailor. The padding and shoulders might be corrected, and that might make the difference. The same with the pants if there are sufficient inlays of cloth to let-out the legs. The worst that could happen is that the tailor throws you out of the shop.

Good luck.

A bespoke suit requiring alterations??? I'm sure you specified what you wanted. If the tailor didn't deliver the right result, why would you accept it? Why???? Try to reason with the tailor to get them to do the alterations for free. I doubt very much that they are going to refund your money, so you might as well do some damage control.

My questions to you, from someone in the trade.

did you look at garments that were hanging in the shop.
did you walk in wearing a decently fitting garment as a point of comparison.
How much of your requests were discussed.
this tailor might be able to adjust many of the problems. but this is a big job.

You should go back and calmly discuss the issues. See what he is willing and can do.

Carl

If anything is physically uncomfortable on you (and you haven't put on weight), then you have a solid case for free or discounted alterations. However, a do-over at no cost is not realistic.

Originally Posted by ricotta

Click to expand...

i'm just wondering what people normally do when they have something tailor-made and it doesn't quite work out.

i had a bespoke suit made some time ago which, after several wearings (unfortunately), i've decided i'm not happy with. the flaws, as i see them are:
(i) heavy shoulder padding
(ii) low gorge
(iii) large armhole
(iv) pants are too narrow

These are not flaws, they are characteristics of a particular style. Before ordering the suit, did you ask the tailor to show you his house style? If not, did you articulate to him exactly how you wanted your suit to look like?

During the fittings -- and I presume there were several -- did you notice these things that you did not like and tell the tailor? Did your tailor agree to modify the work-in-progress suit to accommodate you but failed to do so?

If your answers are all yeses, then your tailor should do whatever alterations possible at no charge to you. On the other hand, if your answers are all noes, then you should not complain.

Originally Posted by ricotta

Click to expand...

the flaws, as i see them are: (i) heavy shoulder padding (ii) low gorge (iii) large armhole (iv) pants are too narrow
None of these things are "errors" or "mistakes" which you became aware of after the fact, they are stylistic options you obviously chose, or at least were completely comfortable with, during the process of suit construction. Since you obviously paid the last chunk of the price and walked out the door with this suit, I don't see why the tailor should do anything for free. From his perspective, you bought a suit and left, then changed your mind about a bunch of aspects of the styling and now you want him to update the suit on his own time at no cost to you. Honestly, situations like this should never even arise. Do your homework before selecting a tailor (to say nothing of paying him), and do not accept the job as done (meaning do not take the garment or complete payment) until you are satisfied with it. Once you ARE satisfied and you pay and take the suit home, that's it; anything you decide later, short of discovering a real flaw (I would not characterize your complaints above as "flaws"), is a question of alteration and a totally separate transaction in every sense.

thanks for the replies guys - i appreciate the bluntness. yes, i figured as much; when i walked out the door that's basically me confirming the suit's quality. i was sorta resigned to this but figured i wouldn't lose anything by asking.

in my defense though, as for certain qualities being "stylistic" i don't think things are black and white. i won't be pursuing these with the tailor; these are more like mental notes of what i think a good tailor should be able to right without my asking. maybe i'm being unreasonable:

- the armhole is larger than in your standard OTR suit. if the point of bespoke/MTM is to get a closer fit to the wearer than OTR, this is a defect.

naturally when you walk in for a fitting they show you a suit cut in the tailor's style, e.g. one that fits you on the shoulders but is big everywhere else. "how's that around the shoulders? it'll be like that but shorter and more tapered." you don't scale back the sleeve length, jacket length, lapel width, then keep the armhole the same size. a tailor that holds you to that literally is not a good tailor.

- the gorge actually "fell" - the original collar had the gorge at standard height, but when the neck space had to be enlarged the replacement collar came with a much lower gorge. i suspect a QC issue, or the tailor who built the second collar didn't build the first.

- request for a wider leg was ignored/forgotten; two pairs of pants were cut this way before the first fitting. two pairs are harder to redo than one, which makes it harder to ask for (if you're me). at the least this was poorly planned, since pants can be narrowed when wide, but not vice versa.


to the tailor's credit, the neck was widened when i found the neck was thicker than expected (new collar), though this resulted in the lower gorge.


once again, i accept this as my fault and chalk it up to inexperience. the tailor was a great salesman (to use kinder words), and probably a good tailor. but i think i needed someone who works more like an engineer than a salesman.

life goes on.

Based on those three specific complaints, you would have had a case had you talked to the tailor around the time you picked up the suit. It can't hurt to mention them now, especially since you probably don't want to commission him for future work and he needs to do better work for others. Maybe you could tell him you'd consider paying him for another jacket in the future if he takes care of you now.