Bespoke suit in LA or SF for < 1K: impossible?

[jastevenson]

Hi all,

Not sure if this exists, but I have a relatively tight budget ($1,000) and would ideally like a bespoke suit.

I am in Los Angeles and San Francisco on a regular basis.

I prefer a modern, slim silhouette.

Does this exist, or am I stuck with off the rack?

Thanks!

 

[comrade]

A post from nearly three years ago. Several SFers in the Bay Area have used Spoon Tailors with good results.
I have never tried them.




post #1 of 222 2/13/11 Thread Starter

Gong Tao

Posts: 119
Joined: 11/2006
I was walking in San Francisco Chinatown today when I passed a tailor shop that looked intriguing. I went in and talked the the clerk for a while. Later I read some reviews on Yelp; some of this is based on what they told me, and some on information from Yelp reviews. The clerk is young and speaks English, the tailor is older and only speaks Cantonese. The tailor worked his whole career in Hong Kong, only recently moved to the US. The family still owns a tailor shop in Hong Kong, sewing is done there, measurements and fittings (and, I assume, cutting) are done in San Francisco. Buttonholes are handstitched, MOP buttons on shirts. They showed me the inside of basted jacket: free floating canvas but also a thin layer of fusing. They said I was the first customer to ever ask about the canvassing. They had Thomas Mason shirting, some Loro Piana and Holland and Sherry cloth for suits and jackets but most of the fabrics were cheaper stuff. They quoted me something like $850 for jacket or 1250 for a suit made of Holland and Sherry cloth. According to Yelp suits in lower quality fabrics could be as cheap as $500. Shirts start at about $80 and go up to $150 for Thomas Mason. Address is 716 Sacramento, e-mail [email protected]. They have a website at www.spoontailor.com, but it is not up and running yet. They said they have been there for about a year. The clerk's clothes did not look bad. Reviews on Yelp are uniformly good nnut that doesn;t mean anything. My impression is that this is a medium quality Hong Kong tailoring operation transplanted to America with little change in the way they do things or in the prices. I am considering getting a shirt made and I will certainly post the results if I do.

 

[DayTripper]

I get my suits made by Richard Lim at High Society in Los Angeles' Koreatown. He's done really good work ork for me so far. Prices are very reasonable (~895 depending on fabric selection). Not that it matters too much, but Richard does a lot of work for the surrounding TV and film studios. Here's a thread on him:

http://www.styleforum.net/t/243288/...ed-navy-summer-jacket-pics/90_30#post_6143727

I'd elaborate more, but I'm busy at the moment. If you have any questions about my experiences, let me know.

 

[Carli]

Have you tried any reliable online MTM company? if no do some research and you will see you are not tight in your budget and there are some very reliable sources available online.