Bespoke, Turnbull and Asser OR Emma Willis? And assorted questions

[suede chukka]

Originally Posted by manofstyle

Who is the bespoke shirt maker in London who get the shirts made out in Cyprus?

It is Stephan Haroutunian in Fulham. MTM rather than bespoke but much lower price point than others mentioned here.

 

[JBT]

I think the one that you are refering to is Stephan Haroutunian in Fulham.

They are MTM but you can have whatever you like really, very reasonably priced at £69 and no minimum order.

I have bought both MTM and RTW shirts and they are great value and well made, patterns match at shoulders and yoke and collars/cuffs are unfused (even on RTW).

They seem happy not to advertise and plod along as they have quite a loyal customer base, they don't even have a website!

Having said that when I was there last week there is a new younger guy managing the shop so things may change in that respect although the factory etc is unchanged.

 

[TC11201]

Originally Posted by R.O. Thornhill

Another vote for Sean O'Flynn (and another endorsement of the Loro Piana linen/cotton - am hopefully picking up a few new shirts including one of these tomorrow)

I actually used to have my shirts done with Turnbull & Asser (and have posted a few times about the reasons for switching to Sean). Essentially it came down to poor customer service, unreliable fit and finish, and somewhat limited fabric selection (or at least most of the 'bolder' fabrics they had did nothing for me). The good news with T&A is that David Gale has become head of their bespoke department which should result in a better pattern being made quicker (it took quite a while for them to get my first shirt right - though to give them credit they did keep going). Not sure if the reliability is any better, though.

When I started getting shirts at T&A they were £160 for a 'standard' shirt, £190 for Sea Island Quality and about £225 for 2x200s. Now I believe that they start at around £200, and I would assume that for any of the nicer cottons you will be pay closer to £250. As has been stated by others there is a minimum order of six.

Sean O'Flynn charges £160 or so, with Alumo cotton at £170; he is very pleasant; cuts a great shirt; and there is no explicit minimum order.

I've had a very similar experience with Turnbull via their New York store - while the fabrics are unique (sometimes in a good way, sometimes not), the quality of the shirts was variable (decidedly not OK at the prices they charge) and the service was nothing short of abysmal. Besides the 6 shirt minimum, the first ("test") shirt was essentially unwearable (seemed to be made for someone a good two sizes smaller than I) and took 16 weeks to make. After a second go on the trial shirt, which took another 20 weeks (the winter 2-week shutdown), they were supposed to proceed with the balance of the order, but apparently forgot to tell the factory for another three months, after which they called to tell me that 4 of the 5 remaining fabrics were no longer available. After I selected a new bunch of fabrics, had another 16 week wait for the shirts, 2 of which ended up being quite differently sized than the others. Those were eventually replaced, but not after another trip to the store to "prove" the sizing problem. Throughout it all, the attitude I received was somewhere between polite but unyielding (from Simon, the original English manager) to downright arrogant (from the American guy who replaced him - and as a New York resident, I'm accustomed to arrogant retail service!). For the price, there are certainly plenty of shirts that are at least as well made and without a doubt, for 1/10th the price, there is infinitely better service to be had. Never again for me.

 

[jamesbond]

So far i have had semi-decent service from Turnbull NY. I plan on going back for some minor tweaking to my pattern. The torso isn't quite long enough and the hips billows out too soon, other then that they are by far the slimmest and best fitting MTM/Bespoke shirts i have come across. There spread collars that Kudlow always rocks are by far my favorite english collar out there. There button downs are probably better then most of the Italian ones I've seen, way more roll. People complain about how bad T&A is but if anything i've had better experience with them then some of the other makers out there. I will probably try Geneva too at some point but for now im giving T&A one final shot at getting it right.

 

[radicaldog]

Originally Posted by JBT

I think the one that you are refering to is Stephan Haroutunian in Fulham.

They are MTM but you can have whatever you like really, very reasonably priced at £69 and no minimum order.

I have bought both MTM and RTW shirts and they are great value and well made, patterns match at shoulders and yoke and collars/cuffs are unfused (even on RTW).

This is quite interesting -- could you please elaborate? Do they do fittings/trial shirt? Can you draft your own collar pattern? Do they do unlined collars and cuffs? What sort of fabrics and buttons do you get for £69? Thanks.

 

[kraftar]

Originally Posted by radicaldog

Do they do fittings/trial shirt? Can you draft your own collar pattern? Do they do unlined collars and cuffs? What sort of fabrics and buttons do you get for £69? Thanks.

Has anyone tried Stephan Haroutunian recently? In addition to radicaldog's questions above, I was wondering how things have changed under the new manager?

 

[lasbar]

Originally Posted by jon5986

Sean O'Flynn makes great shirts!

And there is no minimum order...

Turnbull are just a bunch of used car salesmen...

 

[radicaldog]

Originally Posted by lasbar

And there is no minimum order...

Turnbull are just a bunch of used car salesmen...

I have found one middle aged salesman's demeanour quite annoying, yes. But I never tried their bespoke service.

 

[bbhewee]

I think T&A also offers a MTM service. Or that's what I was offered at their Harrod's concession, minimum order of 3 shirts for not much more than RTW if my memory serves me well.

 

[Amiens]

There is a feature on Stephan Haroutunian Shirts which might be of interest here: http://www.bespokeme.com/article.aspx?id=63

 

[EFBenson]

I was in Haroutunian yesterday. The range of fabrics for MTM at £69 is extremely modest [15-20, maybe 5 classic patterns], at £85 very modest [about 30, 10-15 of them classic]. I believe the fabric is from Thomas Mason. £69 is for one-ply cotton, £85 two-ply.

 

[Rob777]

Now this is an interesting question because I have been making the same comparison myself, only I have been comparing my first Emma Willis shirt with one that I bought from Harvey and Hudson a few months ago. I paid over £200 for the Emma Willis shirt, and half that price for the Harvey and Hudson shirt. I asked why the Willis one was so expensive, and was told it was because of the quality of material that they used. However, I put both shirts through the wash this week and noticed that they were made of exactly the same fabric. There was no discernible difference either in the way each of them was made and in fact I think the cheaper shirt is the slightly better fit.

 

[octafuzz99]

Customer service in the Jermyn Street Turnbull and Asser store is basically non-existent.

Had a stock special shirt made (£205). The fit is fundamentally flawed and cannot be fixed by regular alterations. Instead of offering a basic remedial service, the response was basically "oh well chap, don't worry only £205 in the toilet, but we can fix the fit by offering you the full bespoke service for an extra £1400-1500 for a minimum order of 6. How does that sound old boy?"

Disgraceful.