Custom Suiting Toronto

[vinston]



Well, my original point is to upgrade some handwork. I never said there are parts need to be made by machine, but there are parts must completed by hand. In a better world, a tailor should give hundreds options to customer whether made by hand or machine. In reality, it is okay to ask more, but not good to ask less.

I agreed. In my personal experience, I saw many many tailors would refuse to change or modify the way they constructed their jackets, including my late father. But me, a bespoke tailor myself, I do not hand padded lapels nor chest canvas, because I think that is not necessary, and also because of my bespoke price point too. But if in case, any of my clients ask me to hand padded lapels I will do it for sure and charge extra accordingly.

The silhouette and the fit of your jacket also depends on the way it's been cut too. Handwork by itself can't rescue a badly cut garment.

By the way, I set shoulder pads and sleeves head by hand . I believe that would be one of the most important detail of a good bespoke jacket.

 

[Encore]

Hi Guys,

My friend is looking to make 8 MTM suits for his wedding, budget is around 550 each, he is thinking about SuitSupply/ Indochino, do you have any better suggestions?

Thanks,
Will

 

[dappercanadian]



Hi Guys,

My friend is looking to make 8 MTM suits for his wedding, budget is around 550 each, he is thinking about SuitSupply/ Indochino, do you have any better suggestions?

Thanks,
Will

@spiermackay

 

[scatterbrain]

Hi Guys,

My friend is looking to make 8 MTM suits for his wedding, budget is around 550 each, he is thinking about SuitSupply/ Indochino, do you have any better suggestions?

Thanks,
Will

@spiermackay

+1. Spier and MacKay is going to be FAR better than Indochino, and I think significantly less expensive than Suitsupply (Prices here http://ca.suitsupply.com/en_CA/content-page-tailoring-made-to-measure.html). I haven't seen any custom suitsupply suits so I can't speak to quality/fit, but I'm very impressed with my first MTM from Spier & MacKay. Will try to post a Spier and Mackay review (with fit pics) this weekend (work permitting)

I would also have two concerns about Suitsupply: 1) They focus on a short, very fitted, very tapered suit. This is great if you get the right size and all the groomsmen are gym rats. But some of the salespeople take it way too far. If you get the wrong sales guy, and he recommends that everyone buy a size too small, nobody will really look good. 2) See the suitsupply thread for people complaining about blowing out the fabric on suitsupply pants after just a few wears (particularly if your friend would be going for entry-level cloth).

 

[scatterbrain]

Pics of some recent commissions.

Raj Singh (suit has been worn ~7 times since it was pressed and needs a press; pants cut for braces, but I'm not wearing any here).


(really should have worn the braces)


Handmade lapel buttonhole

Nice clean handmade vest buttonhole and subtle handfinished pick stitching.








(standing weirdly crooked in the last picture)


Raj Singh - Blue jacket posted earlier (now with lens correction and has been let out at the waist). Had pants made to match to minimize impact of short jacket.

(pants caught on shoe)

@SPIER & MACKAY @SPIER & MACKAY - More detailed review here: http://www.styleforum.net/t/383376/spier-mackay-official-affiliate-thread/6480_60#post_8721533

 

[TOstyle]

First jacket sleeves look a little long maybe? Otherwise all look good!

 

[scatterbrain]



First jacket sleeves look a little long maybe? Otherwise all look good!

Thanks. I agree. The first sleeves need shortening.

I should've specified in the original post that I prefer some room in my suits (both for comfort, and so I'm not bursting out of my suit after a large meal).

Also, I'm carrying weight around my waist that means I don't want to wear anything too fitted.

By the way, I've been wearing that overcoat I bought from you much more than expected.

 

[TOstyle]

Yeah it isn't slim fit but it doesn't have to be fitted and tasteful is good, and its a real thing worrying about whether they will fit in a few years. I do the same!

 

[vinston]

Sorry, I don't want to say bad about anyone but the handwork look like home-made rather than hand-made.
Machine would do a much neater job.

 

[scatterbrain]

I like the handmade holes. I think they add personality.

 

[David Reeves]



Kiton and other top mtm companies have been having problems finding people with real tailoring skills for a decade or two. How interested are they in making there own. When you talk to old Italian tailors they started when they were small children, with no pay. So many countries apprentices started very very young. In the 50s, 60s and maybe the 70s some schools had classes where 13 years olds could start. To pay fumble fingers is unreasonable. The apprenticeship needs to start in childhood and finish in childhood.

So many factories use people with very little skill. YouTube is a great place to see the incredible machines. Jigs, or computerized means the factory workers have less hand skills than those of the past. If the the mtm company doesn't have a factory that makes drape, or whatever you want, then they can't offer it, and asking won't help. Some mtm companies, even in fit, offer very little, much more than anything else.

Real tailors do bench made. The more skill and knowledge he has the more he can do. Here you can read, or make, from this book. Https://archive.org/details/pdfy-6x5RRDlrC8nRAeWc And there are other books with some different methods. If you ever try to make start with pants. Coats are way too involved, not to mention, time. Basic learning errors you want on pants (further from the eyes). But, looking at these various books helps you understand some of the process of making clothes, and you might ask, less silly questions. Factory made with all the jiggs and computerized machines is very different.

Gregor having said that if you had taken a walk around the old Primo factory in NYC, you would see aside from industrial pressing machines (that are probably 50 years old) how low tech and skill based they were. The shop was ran by Rocco Ciccarelli for maybe 40 years. I was watching an old Italian propaganda newsreel the other day and it showed a factory making Italian uniforms for the war, I was really struck with how similar looking the place was set up. You could find many tailors that started tailoring from childhood working on benches sewing, you could meet women that had been hand sewing buttonholes all there lives and men and women with big burly arms from decades of hand pressing pockets.


I think when people say factory we tend to think of robots stamping things out and doing things in a very cookie cutter way, its got bad connotations but a small factory with say 50 workers making very high end work is quite different than say a MTM place. I have not had a tour but I would imagine the Kiton and Oxxford factories are rather similar.

I do agree with you about training from childhood, its not only skill but speed which is important to be successful, thing is kids tend to go to school now in the west so what can you do? We seem to have a one size fits all education system which has its benefits to be sure, but apprenticeships at young ages certainly had value I think.

 

[greger]



Gregor having said that if you had taken a walk around the old Primo factory in NYC, you would see aside from industrial pressing machines (that are probably 50 years old) how low tech and skill based they were. The shop was ran by Rocco Ciccarelli for maybe 40 years. I was watching an old Italian propaganda newsreel the other day and it showed a factory making Italian uniforms for the war, I was really struck with how similar looking the place was set up. You could find many tailors that started tailoring from childhood working on benches sewing, you could meet women that had been hand sewing buttonholes all there lives and men and women with big burly arms from decades of hand pressing pockets.


I think when people say factory we tend to think of robots stamping things out and doing things in a very cookie cutter way, its got bad connotations but a small factory with say 50 workers making very high end work is quite different than say a MTM place. I have not had a tour but I would imagine the Kiton and Oxxford factories are rather similar.

I do agree with you about training from childhood, its not only skill but speed which is important to be successful, thing is kids tend to go to school now in the west so what can you do? We seem to have a one size fits all education system which has its benefits to be sure, but apprenticeships at young ages certainly had value I think.

You are right. Credit due where credit is due.

Factories and robots, robots are kinda new.

Small children have plenty of time when not in school. With them an Apprenticeships are stretched. But, handling thimble, needle and thread, and cloth is best taught at a very young age. Some places was before the age of six. As soon as the child can sew dead straight they are taken right into making trousers, then a coat where they learn how a coat should fit. After that they are allowed to put on a coat made by someone else. At such young ages they are not allowed to touch shears nor iron, but shown how to use them and the iron why. When there mind is capable of handling numbers....

 

[TOstyle]

You are right. Credit due where credit is due.

Factories and robots, robots are kinda new.

Small children have plenty of time when not in school. With them an Apprenticeships are stretched. But, handling thimble, needle and thread, and cloth is best taught at a very young age. Some places was before the age of six. As soon as the child can sew dead straight they are taken right into making trousers, then a coat where they learn how a coat should fit. After that they are allowed to put on a coat made by someone else. At such young ages they are not allowed to touch shears nor iron, but shown how to use them and the iron why. When there mind is capable of handling numbers....

Hear hear. I've always been a fan of child labor and we DEFINITELY need more of it. Age six seems kind of old - if they can walk, they can hold a needle can't they? Thanks to @greger for having the gumption to say it.

 

[greger]



Hear hear. I've always been a fan of child labor and we DEFINITELY need more of it. Age six seems kind of old - if they can walk, they can hold a needle can't they? Thanks to @greger
 for having the gumption to say it.

How many boys asked to become tailors? These boys were not forced into the trade. No doubt some boys were. Then there were the boys who were not fast enough who were told to find a different trade a few years down the road. Any boy knows there are advantages to making your own clothes. You get to make what you want to wear. So it is actually empowering. Another advantage is they can earn more money than other boys their age. Dishwasher is low pay.

 

[GBR]



Hi Guys,

My friend is looking to make 8 MTM suits for his wedding, budget is around 550 each, he is thinking about SuitSupply/ Indochino, do you have any better suggestions?

Thanks,
Will

Those companies will make them for him, one of them badly.