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Custom made suits and shirts - suggestions please

chalmers22

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Hello - I'm new to the Style Forvm - and yes I read about it in today's New York Times. Alright - I'm in the market for custom suits and shirts. Can I get recommendations for tailors in New York City, Boston & Portland, Maine - three cities i conduct a fair amount of business in? Also - has anyone heard of or dealt with www.mytailor.com and if so how would you rate them? For the record - I think Larry Kudlow looks fantastic and commend Mr. Logsdail on his work. Any and all suggestions and recommendations are appreciated.
 

Will

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After being a Turnbull & Asser MTM shirt and pajama customer for twenty years, I decided to try mytailor.com when two calls to T&A in London were not returned.

Ordered half a dozen weekend shirts in silk, linen and cotton. Got the sample from that order this week and it seemed fine. Need to have it washed a couple times before I can tell for sure.

I am already certain that Joe Hemrajani is a pleasure to work with and that the sample shirt arrived within two weeks.

I was surprised when he pointed out that the front of my T&A shirt was fused at the buttons. He promised that his wouldn't be, and it wasn't.

Will
 

laura

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I'm looking for the same recommendations, but for Philadelphia or possibly Wilmington, Delaware.  I'd recommend talking to Alan Rouleau on Newbury Street in Boston.
 

shoefan

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Chalmers

for custom (bespoke) suits in New York, do a search for: Raphael, Beaman, Chan. These 3 tailors -- the latter 2 travelling tailors --, at different price points, offer options for those in New York City. Also, of course, there is Mr. Logsdail. Further, a member named Bry has posted his experience in searching for reasonably priced bespoke suits in NYC, as has member Marc Grayson/Grayson37.

Laura:

Member David Bresch has ordered two garments from Centofani near Philly; this tailor is highly regarded in the trade and seems reasonably priced. In a recent post (last couple of days), David also mentioned another highly regarded Philly tailor, whose name I don't recall.
 

brescd01

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Chalmers, strictly based on what I have learned from the forum, I would add Ercole to the tailors you considered.

Laura, I mentioned Ray Partito, who is considerably more expensive than Centofanti, possibly because of where his shop is (the highest rent area in town). According to Centofanti, he is his equal. I highly recommend Centofanti, for a variety of reasons: selection of fabric, his knowledge and cultivated style, and his prices, you really cannot go wrong.

For both of you, so far as shirts are concerned, I would consider Jantzen (lousy customer service, difficult to select fabrics, but outstanding prices and quality, $45), Hemrajani (I have no personal experience but reports have always been positive, and the web site and customer service are good, $80), and finally, my high-priced suggestion is Liste Rouge ($180, excellent quality, customer service, and speed, about 3 weeks)
 

mr. magoo

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Alright - I'm in the market for custom suits and shirts. Can I get recommendations for tailors in New York City, Boston & Portland, Maine - three cities i conduct a fair amount of business in?
Your request is not unique. Do searches here and in AskAndy for tailors/shirtmakers in New York and you will have a plethora of responses from the last year or two.

Shirts: Ascot Chang, Geneva, Paris, Cego ("Shirtmaven" on the forum), depending on your needs and desires. If you're willing to spend more and be more exotic, look into the foreign operators -- Borrelli for MTM, for example -- or Alexander Kabbaz.

Tailors: several less expensive tailors are reviewed on the site -- Ercole, Mr. Ned, and the tailors in Bry's frustrating thread on AskAndy. Darren Beaman probably falls into that category as well. More expensive ones are reviewed, including "Leonard" who posts on AskAndy. Darren has built up a tremendous following and reservoir of good will on the threads by posting, being helpful and never having burned anyone who posts. Raphael is held in high regard thanks mostly to one poster who buys by the bushel and another who's been and was satisfied. However, there are boosters of several other tailors. Read and learn.
 

retronotmetro

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Shirts: Ascot Chang, Geneva, Paris, Cego ("Shirtmaven" on the forum), depending on your needs and desires.  If you're willing to spend more and be more exotic, look into the foreign operators -- Borrelli for MTM, for example -- or Alexander Kabbaz.
I second the Ascot Chang recommendation. I like their shirts very much. They have two sales channels that seem to work independently--the US stores handle their own orders but they have a road team that comes to the US, even to cities with an Ascot Chang store. I've always ordered from the road team or from their Kowloon store so I don't know how well trained their US retail staff is.

I can't recall their pricing offhand, but I think it starts right around $100 and goes up pretty fast. I have some Thomas Mason Silverline shirts that were something like $180, and I can't recall what the Swiss 200s (super-thin but very nice) go for, but it's around that, perhaps more. I haven't bought any of their Swiss 200s in probably 10 years, but I have some from the early 90s that are still in good shape.

One of the keys to getting Ascot Chang shirts is picking the right interlining for the collars and cuffs. They have a very rigid fusible that they like to use, and I find that those shirts look great but will fray at the collar points and cuff edges. If you have them use the softer fusibles, the shirts last a lot longer and still have plenty of body to the collars. If you go with the more rigid collars, you can always have them replace the collars if they do fray.
 

STYLESTUDENT

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Adding a plug for Bergforf made to measure shirts (Alan Bair, first floor). They're not custom, but fit well and are relatively inexpensive ($130-$150). They will take about 9-10 measurements. Alan is great to work with and does return telephone calls.
 

tjmaglio

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Chalmers22,  Welcome to the styleforum. I've no experience with mytailor.com nor can I recommend a tailor in New York, Boston, or Portland, but I can suggest you learn as much about bespoke clothing from both this forum and AskAndy. Arming yourself with a good knowledge of what is possible will make you a more demanding customer which will hopefully produce a better final product than what you would get being at a tailor's mercy. Here are a few helpful posts I was able to dig up (google cache used where possible): Bespoke post 1 Bespoke Suit with critique Another bespoke post - not cached and will be slow. Those are posts that I was able to quickly dig up, but there are many others that are equally worthwhile. Also, I encourage you to join the London Lounge which is a Yahoo group solely dedicated to the bespoke arts. The knowlege on this group is tremendous. Finally, I have to caution you about "custom" clothiers. Be sure that what you're paying for is indeed custom- that is the pattern for the suit is cut for you and is not a generalized pattern that is modified to fit you (Made to Measure). Getting MTM is fine, just be sure you understand what you're paying for before putting any mony down. Feel free to ask any other questions, many here would be happy to help. Oh one last thing: you may want to contact the  Custom Tailors & Designers Association for a list of tailors in Maine, New York, and Massachusetts. The list you get won't be complete, nor will all the tailors listed still be in business but it's a better starting point than the yellow pages ;-). You will find Alan Rouleau listed in the MA list but personally, I find his prices to be too high. -Tom
 

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