Bangkok tailors

[Halifax]

This tax on fabrics in Thailand is basically an urban myth.

In Thailand wool fabric has around a 5% customs duty and cotton around the same - other than being free I don't see how it could be much less expensive. Ask a tailor who complains about customs duty to show you his draft duty summary - this shows what you will pay before paying.

The level of the Thai clothing industry has to do with supply and demand more than anything else.

Wool suits are not worn as often in Thailand as in England.

Sheep are not raised much in Thailand.

Cheers SH. Finally some clarification regarding the infamous "imported textile tax" in Thailand, which appears to be grossly exaggerated. So it seems a healthy margin is made on the selling of fabrics and no one has tried to undercut the current market, or those that could simply don't have the tailoring skills to compete with the current group of tailors.

Also the comment that someone made that the Thais are not going to reach Savile Row skills to be polite is quite far from reality and probably something that was said in haste. Take a look at the best Thai specialist doctors - on par with the West today. And I would suggest that heart surgery or any specialist medical care for that matter) is a bit more complicated than making clothes...

In the last 20 years increasing numbers of Thais are getting degrees in textile design etc in the West. Quite a few want to make real money and are involved in large export oriented textile mills in Thailand.

Over time more and more wealthy Thai men are wearing suits - expect more skilled Thai tailors in time.

Interesting hypothesis. Surely the time frame of this transition would be at least a decade.

I always wondered why there seems to be a generational gap between the established tailors (Perry's, Art's, July, and Broadway) and the younger, European trained tailors (Narin and Tanisara).

Currently the best bet for a Thai tailored suit is to bring your own fabric, find one of the handful of good Bangkok tailors and take your time over fittings and changes.

Be polite but firm - an art no doubt - but it can be done.

Are you suggesting that even Tanika could be convinced to accept CMT? It would seem that they make most of their margins off using their own fabric so I don't see how you could convince them.

 

[Sam Hober]

I have not met any Bangkok tailors that I remember so I don't know who would accept your own cloth.

With that said Thailand is a flexible country and charm and politeness goes a long way...

 

[jweiht]

I called tanika to postpone my fitting due to the unrest. I asked if they would accept me bringing my own fabric, and they replied to bring it down and they will decide.

they did say they usually would not do so, but it depends on the relationship I guess.

with regards to the skill of tailors, I fully agree that it is due to demand.

I recent chatted with a old timer tailor in Singapore and he says no one truly have the skill anymore to do a floating canvas.

the "sifu" has passed on and the practice in the past was not to impart everything to their students. Even the surviving old timers lost the touch because not many suits are done that way for a long time.

I guess people started buying designer OTR in the 90s and alter, and not many visit the tailors anymore.

 

[Halifax]

Hand woven fabrics is something Thailand has done very well in the past - better than most other countries, and the very best Thai silks are better than most western fabrics.

I have bought dozens of Thai silk scarves and wraps for Spitfire (aka Ms Halifax) that are just amazing. She and I spent a day walking around Baan Krua searching for handmade silk weaves being made on rickety old looms, of which we found only found one. If my Thai was better, I'd even consider traveling to the North East to visit some of the villages.

KiwiMan told me about Narai Phand under the President Tower which also had some great handmade Thai silk souvenirs. Has anyone else found any notable places in Bangkok to find handmade Thai silk, either by the length or as a finished article?

I called tanika to postpone my fitting due to the unrest. I asked if they would accept me bringing my own fabric, and they replied to bring it down and they will decide.

they did say they usually would not do so, but it depends on the relationship I guess.

with regards to the skill of tailors, I fully agree that it is due to demand.

I recent chatted with a old timer tailor in Singapore and he says no one truly have the skill anymore to do a floating canvas.

the "sifu" has passed on and the practice in the past was not to impart everything to their students. Even the surviving old timers lost the touch because not many suits are done that way for a long time.

I guess people started buying designer OTR in the 90s and alter, and not many visit the tailors anymore.

Very interesting about Tanika's exception on CMT. How many times have you dealt with them JW?

Regarding the 90s, your explanation seems reasonable; it was all about having the right label on the inside of your jacket...

 

[jweiht]

I have bought dozens of Thai silk scarves and wraps for Spitfire (aka Ms Halifax) that are just amazing. She and I spent a day walking around Baan Krua searching for handmade silk weaves being made on rickety old looms, of which we found only found one. If my Thai was better, I'd even consider traveling to the North East to visit some of the villages.

KiwiMan told me about Narai Phand under the President Tower which also had some great handmade Thai silk souvenirs. Has anyone else found any notable places in Bangkok to find handmade Thai silk, either by the length or as a finished article?


Very interesting about Tanika's exception on CMT. How many times have you dealt with them JW?

Regarding the 90s, your explanation seems reasonable; it was all about having the right label on the inside of your jacket...

They did not reject neither did they commit . 1st time customer, but i guess the chemistry was there.

My dad was pretty successful in the 90s, and has more than 30 suits/jackets/overcoats from Lanvin, Boss, Zegna, Donna Karan..etc I wondered why didn't he go tailor from the start, but I guess its about wearing an Armani in those days yeah?

He has left me all of them but I can't wear them!! Wished he didn't buy them and left me the cost of those jackets instead LOL.

I guess as demand for bespokes suits went down, these skilled tailors became realistic that fused MTM is the way to go. Why bother earning 2-3 times the amount for a bespokes, but the expectation is 10x more and it takes 2 months to commission. Just set up a shop in a tourist haunt, go for volume and they "can't" return anything once they go back to their country.

Having said that, we do have more young designers who strike it out on their own as bespokes artist for suits and shoes. But maybe I should comment more in a Singapore thread instead LOL, but I would say I've yet to find one that impressed me.

 

[Halifax]

Having said that, we do have more young designers who strike it out on their own as bespokes artist for suits and shoes. But maybe I should comment more in a Singapore thread instead LOL, but I would say I've yet to find one that impressed me.

I'd subscribe to that thread as an observer, especially if you do end up finding one that impresses you... only a matter of time as curiosity is a powerful force.

 

[aldiver]

Yep, 5% import tax but dont forget the 7% VAT, so you are looking at 12% to bring in fabrics plus the charges for handling etc ontop....HALIFAX would love to see a few more photos of your jacket buttons....another reason that tailors don't like taking fabrics for CMT is if there is a problem, and more fabric is needed, if it's their fabric they can sort it out, if it's not and they only have 3.5 metres they have a problem and the customer will know and it can't always be sorted out.. I was recently in Cambodia and hand woven products are everywhere....silk, cotton all sorts......maybe check that out?

 

[jweiht]

I was in Cambodia a couple of times last yr for biz.

Went to a recommended tailor but the fabric was limited and the sample suit wasn't good.

all in all, it seems shirts are a safer bet in Cambodia. They do have good seamstress and dress makers tho, but not for menswear

 

[Halifax]

Yep, 5% import tax but dont forget the 7% VAT, so you are looking at 12% to bring in fabrics plus the charges for handling etc ontop....HALIFAX would love to see a few more photos of your jacket buttons....

Sorry, I've been a little busy. You are absolutely right about the jacket buttons; upon closer inspection you can see the recurring pattern on all the buttons and the colouring is too subtle to be true horn. That's rather annoying as I explicitly remember them saying they would use horn buttons.








I also have a white linen button down, a pale yellow OCBD, olive cotton trousers, and the linen trousers to match the linen jacket. I haven't put these up because the posted items cover most of the craftsmanship. Just let me know if you want to see these items, or more close-ups of the buttonholes, seams, pick stitching, etc

 

[Halifax]

Actually, there is some subtle variation... perhaps some more images will help.


Back of sleeve buttons


Front of closure buttons


Back of closure buttons

 

[jweiht]

Finally, I had some time to upload and shares some pictures of the pants from Narin. I do like them, as the are comfortable and drapes well.

These have been with me for 5.5 yrs, and still holding up pretty well.

 

[Halifax]

The buttonholes on Narin's trousers are definitely superior to Tanika's. Did you specifically ask for the curtains?

 

[Halifax]

Just thought I might add several more observations I have made regarding my Tanika wears.

(1) The seams are single needle stitched but are inside out (ie the two rows of stitching are visible on the right side); rather idiosyncratic
(2) There are 18 stitches per inch (I may have said 16 somewhere...)
(3) Despite the jacket buttonholes being hand stitched, I don't think the shirt buttonholes are


Right side of the side seam


Wrong side of the side seam and gusset



Wrong side of the cuff buttonhole


Right side of the cuff buttonhole


Relating to the tax discussion, some stores allow you to claim back the 7% VAT; could this include the tailors?

Cheers,
HPH

PS JW, when are you heading over again? It would seem that the yellow shirts are running out of steam (/protesting is becoming too economically painful)...

 

[jweiht]

I'll be back in 2 weeks my friend. Really looking forward to it!

I wish that we could claim VAT on it as well, but I'm not too sure about it.

Now that it's been some time owning the linen suit, are you still as impressed? Their prices for full canvassed suits are very expensive, they do earn alot of the fabrics and I guess they are only a handful that is able to do full canvas.

I guess the high mark up for premium fabric is also due to insurance. Just in case they cut it wrongly and need more cloth.

Btw, I think I may have stumbled into a pretty good tailor here in SGP . PM me for more details

 

[Halifax]

Now that it's been some time owning the linen suit, are you still as impressed? Their prices for full canvassed suits are very expensive, they do earn alot of the fabrics and I guess they are only a handful that is able to do full canvas.

I guess the high mark up for premium fabric is also due to insurance. Just in case they cut it wrongly and need more cloth.

That suggestion would add weight to the rationale behind their stance against CMT. It could also explain why Narin does offer CMT, as he is "confident" in his cutting. Perhaps Tanika said to you that CMT may be possible as their cutter (I assume Tanisara) is building in confidence. However, they wouldn't have a jacket pattern for you so that complicates things.

One could speculate for hours on this topic...