Australian Members - Part II - if you read the first post, you'll get what this is all about.

[mercury]

A few people asked to see photos of my Zing Chen suit, so here you go:

Spoiler

20190410_212058

• mercury
• Apr 10, 2019

Excuse the bad pic, phone was leaning at an angle so the perspective is a bit off.

 

[sensuki]

I get an error when trying to view the photo

 

[mercury]

Album was set to private, should work now.

 

[Contango]

Fit seems good, silhouette is a bit straight and bland.

 

[__PG__]

Quality, average. Fit, terrible. The block they use to fit for their MTM suits (and all their suits for that matter) is IMO terrible. The jackets are too short, the pants have a very low rise and their lack of features in MTM was astonishing. I got 1 grey birds eye single breasted and 1 navy double breasted. They had 2 options for their lapels on a single breasted, I went with their widest and it was utterly average. The double breasted was a whole other world of shocking. No lapel options, a VERY short jacket and questionable style "advice".
The fitting process was, for lack of a better word, ****, and when I requested options like patch pockets on both my suits they said it would look stupid. In addition, they took all of (from memory) 4 measurements in total for my body, and when the suit finally came in, the pants were too short. They measured the length from my hips down, despite me requesting a higher rise, and after the pants were made, they couldn't be salvedged as there was a pack of material. I requested a 5cm cuff and refused to budge on this. They could take the cuff out, and thus lengthen the pants, but alas, I just didn't want to deal with the hassle.
In full disclosure, I didn't "pay" for either of these suits. I previously had purchased 5 or so suits from them OTR and they had some serious issues in regards to fabric. Their customer service refused to deal with me, so I took them to VCAT where I met with both a judge and the CEO himself. From memory, his name was Paul Jackson, a lovely guy, and we settled the case with 2 MTM suits as compensation for the OTR issues. Afterwards, we went for a coffee and spoke the whole process through.

In saying that, you would think that they would go above and beyond to satisfy me, but maybe I'm the picky customer here. I think Peter Jackson are great for the average Joe in Australia but they lack creativity, design and most importantly, a good fit. If you like the short jacket, low rise pant look, go for it. But I've had more success elsewhere.

I've purchased 3 suits from InStitchu, and I enjoyed them. Their fitting process was great, options good, and staff knowledge, fantastic. They allowed me to lengthen the jacket, high rise the pants along with many other things Peter Jackson did not.

In saying that, the quality of Peter Jackson fabrics is better than InStitchu. Institchu offer VBC as a "premium fabric" and charge very much accordingly. I went with their house fabric which has been okay thus far.

In short, I would definitely steer clear of both, but it's up to you. I really like Suitsupplys standard block OTR and it fits me well. You might not be as fortunate, but suitsupplys custom made program (albeit very different from MTM) is a great happy medium.

Interesting. I bought an OTR double-breasted suit from Peter Jackson two years ago. Their standard block (in a long jacket) fits me beautifully. My wife as a rule hates double-breasted but not even she could argue with the awesomeness of this suit.

Whereas the MJ Bale suit I've just taken for alterations doesn't really fit at all. This is their regular drop 7 fit link. I'm a size 40 in their chest measurement, but that is way too short in the sleeves and jacket body. Their 42 jacket is fine for length but too big across the chest (shoulders are OK).

We're all different.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience w/Peter Jackson.

I've dropped off the MJ Bale suit with Samuel in Guests Lane (thanks @fxh) so let's see if he can work some magic with it.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

Christ on a bike. The ARU has sacked Israel Falou. Merde! Five months out from the Rugby World Cup. Plenty of other christian players don’t act like foghorn leg horn on a soap box off the rugby field. Merde!

 

[mercury]

Fit seems good, silhouette is a bit straight and bland.

Indeed, noone will ever comment on the suit. Less waist suppression than I usually get, and cut more full overall.

They've built up my chest and shoulders a lot. Not with padding or shoulder pads, seems to be just canvas that has been shaped, from what it feels like. I'm pretty small, 5'7" and 55-58kg, with very narrow shoulders.

I'm really digging how much more masculine this makes me look, compared to my slimmer suits.

 

[Journeyman]

A few people asked to see photos of my Zing Chen suit, so here you go:

That looks fine to me. Classic conservative navy suit with nice proportions (although I'm biased as I like pretty generous lapels).

In completely unrelated news, the Metropolitan Police have gone into the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and removed Julian Assange:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47891737

 

[hschrapel]

Interesting. I bought an OTR double-breasted suit from Peter Jackson two years ago. Their standard block (in a long jacket) fits me beautifully. My wife as a rule hates double-breasted but not even she could argue with the awesomeness of this suit.

Whereas the MJ Bale suit I've just taken for alterations doesn't really fit at all. This is their regular drop 7 fit link. I'm a size 40 in their chest measurement, but that is way too short in the sleeves and jacket body. Their 42 jacket is fine for length but too big across the chest (shoulders are OK).

We're all different.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience w/Peter Jackson.

I've dropped off the MJ Bale suit with Samuel in Guests Lane (thanks @fxh) so let's see if he can work some magic with it.

I have little faith in the company and forsee an eventual collapse if menswear continues to evolve as fast as it is currently. But I really have no idea about Australian menswear at the moment. I've been living in Stockholm for the last 2 years and the cliches of the Swedes being well dressed is true. I hope one day the average Australian male would set their game up, but one can only hope.

What makes me question PJ is that their last two season releases have hit the stores and online with a $699~ price tag with an instant discount down to around $500~. I realize that this is probably just marketing, but a $500~ suit is questionable to say the least.

Also, to add on to my InStitchu experience, I've since changed my stance. One of my jackets is starting to bubble showing clear signs of a ****** fussed canvas as well as a severe lack of adjustability of the trousers. I've since out on some significant muscle on my legs and looked to get the pants taken out so as not to have this uncomfortable skinny pant look. To my surprise, when I looked inside all 3 pants, there is little fabric to let out at all... Potentially one of the downside to MTM I guess

 

[Journeyman]

Also, to add on to my InStitchu experience, I've since changed my stance. One of my jackets is starting to bubble showing clear signs of a ****** fussed canvas as well as a severe lack of adjustability of the trousers. I've since out on some significant muscle on my legs and looked to get the pants taken out so as not to have this uncomfortable skinny pant look. To my surprise, when I looked inside all 3 pants, there is little fabric to let out at all... Potentially one of the downside to MTM I guess

I don't think that it's any surprise that InStitchu is poor quality. Good MTM will have spare fabric in the seams to let out - quite often more than off-the-rack clothing. I think that the issue here is that InStitchu is really cheaply made and so, as a result, there is no fabric inlay in the seams as every little bit of fabric saved is a bit more added to your bottom line.

 

[Prince of Paisley]

Christ on a bike. The ARU has sacked Israel Falou. Merde! Five months out from the Rugby World Cup. Plenty of other christian players don’t act like foghorn leg horn on a soap box off the rugby field. Merde!

So what? This means we lose by more now?

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

So what? This means we lose by more now?

Oh yea of little faith.

 

[__PG__]

I have little faith in the company and forsee an eventual collapse if menswear continues to evolve as fast as it is currently. But I really have no idea about Australian menswear at the moment. I've been living in Stockholm for the last 2 years and the cliches of the Swedes being well dressed is true. I hope one day the average Australian male would set their game up, but one can only hope.

What makes me question PJ is that their last two season releases have hit the stores and online with a $699~ price tag with an instant discount down to around $500~. I realize that this is probably just marketing, but a $500~ suit is questionable to say the least.

Also, to add on to my InStitchu experience, I've since changed my stance. One of my jackets is starting to bubble showing clear signs of a ****** fussed canvas as well as a severe lack of adjustability of the trousers. I've since out on some significant muscle on my legs and looked to get the pants taken out so as not to have this uncomfortable skinny pant look. To my surprise, when I looked inside all 3 pants, there is little fabric to let out at all... Potentially one of the downside to MTM I guess

I picked up my MJ Bale suit jacket for $89. It's half-canvassed suit with a hand finished collar.

I've bought Canali suits and other hand-finished Italian suits from Azzaro for around $500. The cost to actually make a suit is often divorced from it's RRP which has to pay for shop rent and staff wages. Robots are pretty good these days, they can lazer cut fabric, automatically stitch lapels and make button holes better and faster than a tailor.

When you wander through the DFOs of MJ Bale/Peter Jackson/Oxford etc you realise how much surplus industrial capacity exists in the Menswear industry.

 

[sliq]

That looks fine to me. Classic conservative navy suit with nice proportions (although I'm biased as I like pretty generous lapels).

In completely unrelated news, the Metropolitan Police have gone into the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and removed Julian Assange:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47891737

What was his crime? Having a succulent Chinese meal?

 

[sliq]

Fit seems good, silhouette is a bit straight and bland.

Agreed... not a flattering silhouette. idk, doesn’t have much character to it. I’d try less canvas in the shoulder to give it softness. Is your upper body much longer than your lower body? In future I’d probably have the quarters opened a bit more.