Having my tailor make me a suit

[dukeaw]

I'm having my tailor make me a suit and I'd like to hear the community's thoughts on going through with this. I am in NYC in the West Village and he is a local tailor that has been plying his trade in the neighborhood for years. He has been doing my alterations for quite some time and I trust his expertise and opinion for my alteration work. I have a few MTM suits and know my style preferences, but have never done anything with quite this level of personal customization.

I supply my own fabric, lining, and buttons (from Mood fabric) and he will make it with two fittings over a 5 to 6 week period. The cost is $450 for a two piece suit and I need 4 yards of fabric and 3 yards of lining. I want to use a fresco wool and the jacket will be half lined. It should be ready by when July comes around.

We will talk through all options and finishes I would like. He will make a fully canvassed jacket.

Some of my suits have felt under the collar, and some have suede. I really like the suede because it feels higher quality. Is there a reason I should go with one over the other? Should I use cupro (bemberg) or rayon for the lining? He says rayon, but I was under the impression that cupro is the higher quality.

Anything else i should consider?

 

[Twotone]

Has your tailor made suits for others? If so, I'd ask to see his/her work and talk to previous customers.

There are a lot of very qualified MTM/bespoke tailors in NYC with lots of history and great reputations. No need to have a tailor learn how to make a suit with your money and fabric.

 

[dukeaw]

Here is his website. He claims to do bespoke for a few other clients, and advertises it quite heavily on his website. He doesnt have pictures, but he did make the clothes he wears, which are well made and fit him quiet well. He made his pants, shirt, and vest. He doesnt have a jacket though.


http://www.ardianstailor.com/

 

[greger]

How can he charge just $450?
Try one and see how you like it. If it is better than what you buy else where for the same price then it is worth it.

 

[TOstyle]

That's insanely low for a bespoke product. At the best of times, let alone in the West Vill. Something sounds fishy here, even if you are supplying him with fabric, lining, buttons etc. And the website doesn't look too inspiring.

Good on you if you can tell suede versus felt for under the collar. That's one detail I can't really care about.

Bemberg is just a name brand for a synthetic lining. If you have good quality rayon it's the same thing (that's all bemberg really is).

 

[comrade]

Your project seems to have the same probability as finding a Picasso
in a thrift shop. For $450 it might be worth trying. I hope that you are
successful.

Full disclosure: I had two pairs of dress slacks made by a no- name tailor
now retired in San Francisco over 15 years ago. They were $400 a pair.
They were superbly made and I still wear them. I certainly wasn't paying
for a big name.

 

[TOstyle]

Yeah, I mean good on you if it works out. I'd be REEAAALLY interested in your guy if he did. I still don't have a good bespoke tailor I can really trust in NYC - at least in my price range. Not saying there aren't good tailors out there, but I'd prefer the sub-$2K price point for most custom suits, and haven't found someone who's worked well so far.

So would look forward to your experience and update on the thread when your suit comes in.

 

[dreamspace]

I'm guessing it's a made to measure suit that he(the tailor) will finish for the customers.

Or it could be some extremely basic bespoke suit, fused and all...who knows. Keep us updated on this.
400-500 bucks is usally in the local MTM range.

 

[greger]

The time alone just for making up the trousers would cost that much. So they must be made up in a third world country. Cloth, trimmings, and shipping also add cost.

 

[ter1413]



That's insanely low for a bespoke product. [COLOR=FF00AA]At the best of times, let alone in the West Vill. [/COLOR]Something sounds fishy here, even if you are supplying him with fabric, lining, buttons etc. And the website doesn't look too inspiring.

Good on you if you can tell suede versus felt for under the collar. That's one detail I can't really care about.

Bemberg is just a name brand for a synthetic lining. If you have good quality rayon it's the same thing (that's all bemberg really is).

Not sure what the W Vil has to do with the price.

 

[TOstyle]

Relative rent.

 

[ter1413]



Relative rent.

Huh?
Maybe the guy owns the building.
Maybe the guy has been there for 20+ years and pays "low" rent to the owner.
Maybe the guy splits the rent with the barber shop.

There are many people in the Vil who pay far below market rates because they have been at one location for a long time.

 

[dukeaw]

So I met with him today. (his location is around the corner from the barbershop in a tiny room that is maybe 60-80 square feet, so he is probably paying less than a few hundred a month in rent. yes, I'm a commercial real estate broker... I pay attention to what tenants probably pay in rent). I dropped off the fabric and we went through the features I want on it. All in the material is $200. I picked up a navy fresco wool made in England for $150 for 4 yards, green bemberg lining for $21, and some leather buttons for around $25.

He confirmed the labor is $450 for a bespoke and not mtm suit. We will do two to three fittings. The template is my body, and no matter how many times I come back for new suits I will go through the measurement process again. We took basic measurements today. Next week we will fine-tune the fit of the jacket, and a week or two after that we will fine-tune the pants. After that it should be a few weeks and it will be ready. I'm doing a half lined suit to take advantage of the fresco wool. He told me its fully canvassed. Most of the options arent wildly different from my other MTM suits. We are basing the style on the mtm suit I wore in today with a few style tweaks that he recommended. That suit is from propersuit, of which I am a huge fan. I have 3 suits from them and a sport coat. They have great service and high quality. But I wanted to try something different on this one. And they dont have a fresco fabric in stock to my knowledge.

When I spoke with the salesman at Mood fabric he said that the price was very reasonable but not unheard of for a legit tailor. Its on the less expensive side though. There is so much competition in NYC for luxury goods that prices are incredibly suppressed. His website might be skimpy, but that doesnt mean much. Some of the best professionals in NYC have none to terrible web presence. He gets so much business from the community he doesnt bother advertising which would be overwhelming to his one man operation. I'll update when I go in for the other fittings and get the finished product.

 

[TOstyle]

You could have hit the jackpot. Still on the low-low for what bespoke costs in the city, and I'm not sure @ter1413 's nonsensical "maybes" or the analysis of competition suppressing the cost of luxury goods are spot on (on real estate prices those aren't typical scenarios and don't result in tailored lowballing themselves, and on competition I think it depresses the cost of low to mid range products like Boss that might be passed off as luxury in less competitive markets, but let's not get into that) but it sounds legit.

Interested to see how it turns out. For sure keep us in the loop and post pics or it didn't happen etc.