Bespoke shirt makers (needs to account for movement but also great fit)

[clothingfun]

Hello @dauster and I hope you and everyone else is doing well.

For several years now I have had shirts made by a business called Anto and have been very happy. They have made me everything from conservative/classic "plain Jane" suit and tie shirts, to bolder one piece collar designs, to short sleeve linens to be worn untucked by the pool, and everything in between. I have been very happy with them all. Just a real pleasure to wear. Unless things have changed, as a first time customer they have a six shirt minimum and one fitting is standard. However, if you desire a second fitting they will accommodate you (I didn't find a second fitting necessary.) They make one shirt and then you go away for awhile and wash and wear it a few times. If you are happy, they proceed with the rest of the order. If adjustments are necessary, they make the second shirt with said adjustments and repeat the process.

My experience was they nailed the fit very quickly. The second shirt required slight adjustments but that was largely due to my personal preferences and not inadequacies with the maker. I make the drive out to California once a year to update my pattern (if necessary) and place an order. Overall, outstanding shirts made in house by genuinely great guys who are very serious about customer satisfaction.

The Dege and Skinner suggestions by others are probably solid. I have never had any shirts made by them. However, I am in the process of having a garment (sport coat and britches) made and their shirt cutter Tom Bradbury accompanies the suit cutter to their U.S. trunk shows. I have had the opportunity to chat with him a few times now and he is a very amiable and knowledgeable young fellow who clearly enjoys and takes pride in his work. I have seen his shirts, him wearing them as well as trunk show samples, and they appear to be very nice. I don't know anything about minimum order numbers or prices however.

Anyways, I hope this information is somewhat useful to you. Best of luck and whatever you decide please let us know how it turns out!

 

[bry2000]

Robert Whittaker no longer does the shirts for Dege, correct?

 

[clothingfun]

@bry2000

Yes sir, that is correct. Mr. Whittaker retired and Tom Bradbury who apprenticed under him for many years is now the shirt cutter. Just to reiterate, I have had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Bradbury a few times at my trunk show appointments and he is a very pleasant young man who is very enthusiastic about his work.

 

[dauster]

so none of the italian shirt shirtmakers come to San Francisco?

Hello @dauster and I hope you and everyone else is doing well.

For several years now I have had shirts made by a business called Anto and have been very happy. They have made me everything from conservative/classic "plain Jane" suit and tie shirts, to bolder one piece collar designs, to short sleeve linens to be worn untucked by the pool, and everything in between. I have been very happy with them all. Just a real pleasure to wear. Unless things have changed, as a first time customer they have a six shirt minimum and one fitting is standard. However, if you desire a second fitting they will accommodate you (I didn't find a second fitting necessary.) They make one shirt and then you go away for awhile and wash and wear it a few times. If you are happy, they proceed with the rest of the order. If adjustments are necessary, they make the second shirt with said adjustments and repeat the process.

My experience was they nailed the fit very quickly. The second shirt required slight adjustments but that was largely due to my personal preferences and not inadequacies with the maker. I make the drive out to California once a year to update my pattern (if necessary) and place an order. Overall, outstanding shirts made in house by genuinely great guys who are very serious about customer satisfaction.

The Dege and Skinner suggestions by others are probably solid. I have never had any shirts made by them. However, I am in the process of having a garment (sport coat and britches) made and their shirt cutter Tom Bradbury accompanies the suit cutter to their U.S. trunk shows. I have had the opportunity to chat with him a few times now and he is a very amiable and knowledgeable young fellow who clearly enjoys and takes pride in his work. I have seen his shirts, him wearing them as well as trunk show samples, and they appear to be very nice. I don't anything about minimum order numbers or prices however.

Anyways, I hope this information is somewhat useful to you. Best of luck and whatever you decide please let us know how it turns out!

Thank you so much for this detailed response... that's why I love this forum. much appreciated. Will see what budd and dege & skinner say about when they are back in the Bay and about pricing etc.
Who is this Anton fellow? Does he have a shop here in the Bay area?

 

[Shirtmaven]

@dauster It is expensive to travel to see customers unless you know you have guaranteed sales.
Men do not dress up the way they used to in SF. Look at the high end stores that have closed.
I used to see customers in San Fransisco, but only because my son was at Berkeley.
I guess I will start seeing customers in chicago once he gets set up there.
working with traveling tailors requires patience. you see them once. the shirt shows up some time later on.. then you have to hope it fits.. you can communicate via emails and photos. and hope the shirtmaker can make corrections and send another shirt. when will the shirtmaker be back in San Fransisco? 6 months or maybe never because there was not enough business. to warrant the expense.
@clothingfun Anto makes an excellent shirt.

lastly, if you want to see interesting fabrics, you wont see them from a traveling shirtmaker.
they can only carry so many swatches.

 

[bry2000]

I agree that you should use a good, local shirtmaker over a traveling one if you have that option.

Does NSM visit San Francisco? I have had shirts made by her and I thought they came out pretty well. She will do a fitting before sending the final product. I would definitely consider her.

There are some traveling shirtmakers that bring a fairly exhaustive selection of cloths. I have used one, in particular, and the selection can be overwhelming if you don't have an idea of what you are looking for.

 

[clothingfun]

so none of the italian shirt shirtmakers come to San Francisco?

Thank you so much for this detailed response... that's why I love this forum. much appreciated. Will see what budd and dege & skinner say about when they are back in the Bay and about pricing etc.
Who is this Anton fellow? Does he have a shop here in the Bay area?

@dauster

You are certainly welcome and I am sincerely happy you found it to be helpful. Actually the business is called “Anto” which is the name of the founder who started the business many decades ago. He has since passed and his sons Jack and Ken own and run it now. Additionally, one of their sons (I can’t remember if it is Jack’s or Ken’s) Anthony is now heavily involved. All three are genuinely great guys and every year I look forward to visiting with them. Pretty neat to see a family business keep going through the generations.

They have two locations in Los Angeles and to the best of my knowledge, as a general rule, they do not travel for trunk shows. The reasons why they do not were summed up perfectly by @Shirtmaven.

If you do decide to give them a try I can say from experience they are very accommodating if you plan ahead and give enough notice that you are coming in from out of the area. For example, for my first appointment when we were just getting started, when I let it be known I was traveling from out of state, they said if the appointment was scheduled far enough in advance, they could have everything (including the fittings) finished up in two days. Three if I decided I wanted a second fitting (which after the first fitting I decided wasn’t necessary.) It actually took longer because I wasn’t in a hurry. I had never been to the area before and was enjoying my little vacation.

Once again I hope this helps and thank you for your kind words. Whatever you choose, please report back in with an update! Good luck!

 

[pendragon]

I think part of your problem may be using three different people. I've never had bespoke shirts, but I've tried a couple of MTM houses. My first experience with Luxire was unsuccessful after two tries, but I took the experience / measurements and moved on to Proper Shirt. It still took two iterations to get the fit down, so that's four versions in all. Now I have a fit I'm happy with and can order from them in whatever fabrics they have. As for fabrics, they all seem to be fairly conservative with their choices, so I still mostly go RTW.

 

[dieworkwear]

Who is this Anton fellow? Does he have a shop here in the Bay area?

A friend of mine uses Anto in Los Angeles and really likes their work. They also make for a few Hollywood stars.

 

[dauster]

A friend of mine uses Anto in Los Angeles and really likes their work. They also make for a few Hollywood stars.

Thanks will do a google search.

 

[dauster]

A friend of mine uses Anto in Los Angeles and really likes their work. They also make for a few Hollywood stars.

Of course this does not mean his craftsmanship is not on par with the best but yucks the gallery looks like a bunch of rich gas station owners get their wedding shirts made there:

Custom Dress Shirts | Bespoke Shirts

Anto Beverly Hills is America's leading shirt maker in custom dress shirts, handmade ties and bow ties made in USA. Since 1955 Anto has been crafting men's shirts for presidents, royalty, leading entertainers and business modules. Shop men's dress shirts online or make an appointment for bespoke.

www.antoshirt.com

 

[dauster]

Of course this does not mean his craftsmanship is not on par with the best but yucks the gallery looks like a bunch of rich gas station owners get their wedding shirts made there:

Custom Dress Shirts | Bespoke Shirts

Anto Beverly Hills is America's leading shirt maker in custom dress shirts, handmade ties and bow ties made in USA. Since 1955 Anto has been crafting men's shirts for presidents, royalty, leading entertainers and business modules. Shop men's dress shirts online or make an appointment for bespoke.

www.antoshirt.com

to make a long store short I think I will give Budd a try when they come to the Bay in May. thanks everyone for their suggestions... also loving this safari shirt simon cromption got from Budd