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"Huntsman - Savile Row", latest designer label.

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Griffindork

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I work with Patrick and Peter. I've had about 6 commissions. They made a mistake once and they just refunded my money and asked if they could try to fix it. But if that had happened on my very first commission, I probably would have been disappointed and felt the same as you do. It is hard for any house to overcome a serious error on the first piece with me as I find it easier to move on. That being said, I haven't seen anyone else that replicates the huntsman style. For those that want to try the huntsman house style, I would suggest calling peter smith. You will be in good hands.
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Dempsy444

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This is what I would say about Huntsman based on my experience. . .

Quality and construction is first rate. Excellent sewing, finishing and trim. There are a few notable characteristics to my huntsman suit and experience. First, my suit contains a heavier canvas, so even though I chose an 11 oz cloth the suit is very heavy. Much heavier then the italian style suits I am use to. I will say that the heavier construction is growing on me and I appreciated wearing it when I was in NYC this winter. It just has a very substantial feel that I am liking more.

Second, it is a much more closely tailored suit then I am use too. Huntsman has a reputation for cutting a very lean and close fitting suit. This is what I got. As a result, it feels very bespoke. I find that I feel less relaxed in it but more muscular. In fact, one interesting consequence of wearing the suit is it draws commentary on my physique. I've only worn it 5 times publicly but each time I get a comment like "you're taking steroids," "you look strong." I never get these comments in any other suit I wear or if I wear a shirt. I believe it just has to do with the structure of the suit and how closely it contours my frame. It accentuates my broader frame and drop. I'm not sure how I feel about the commentary but I do appreciate the close tailoring of the suit, and feel good in it.

Third, my experience with Huntsman was mixed. I found the staff to be very professional and friendly. A few things conspired to make the process painful though, which has lasted over 3 years and 7 fittings. It was a long distance commission from San Francisco and I don't get to London very often so the process got extended unnaturally where adjustments would be made and then shipped to me. What arrived was always off and I would have to wait six months for them to get to SF to show them in person. As I said this carried on for 7 fittings and 3 years. An easy way to solve this is to live in London. It would have also been avoided if the suit was just right after the second fitting, which it sounds like others on the forum have had the fortunate experience of having. For those who don't live in London though, you need to be prepared for a potential complication like I had as there is no guarantee against it even with the best tailors. (Long distance bespoke sort of puts both the customer and the tailor in an unfair situation and you both have selfish motives for making it work and hope that it will, but there is no guarantee). Another contributing factor may have been Huntsman's ambitious nature. As I said, they do try to cut a very tailored suit, which leaves little room for error. This sort of raises the stakes in the long-distance program. When they get it right, the results are brilliant, but when they don't you go through the ordeal I did.

The one significant criticism I would have of Huntsman itself and not just the overall situation is the apparent out-of-site out-of-mind nature of the firm. In person very professional and polite with an eagerness to give me what I want but once they got home it was as if out-of-site out-of-mind took over. They would tell me that the suit would arrive by a certain date yet I found myself calling two months later wondering where it was, at which point we would go through the same frustrating over-promise/under-deliver process all over again. In the end I probably spent more money on my Huntsman suit in lost time then I did in actual dollars. I realize Huntsman now has my pattern down to make me a very good second suit but in reality I likely won't use Huntsman again for this very last reason.
 
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Hirsh

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I had a beautiful Huntsman shirt, now sadly worn out, which was amazing, although I've lost a lot of weight since then.

I'm commissioning a jacket from them which I hope will last as long as I do!:)
 

Svenn

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I've only worn it 5 times publicly but each time I get a comment like "you're taking steroids," "you look strong." I never get these comments in any other suit I wear or if I wear a shirt. I believe it just has to do with the structure of the suit and how closely it contours my frame. It accentuates my broader frame and drop. I'm not sure how I feel about the commentary but I do appreciate the close tailoring of the suit, and feel good in it.


I'm surprised no one thanked you for your detailed review, SF needs more of these, especially from SR houses. Anyway I liked this part specifically, I think I can picture what you mean. I had a suit made by Steed that has a very nipped waist with broad shoulders, broad skirt, and blooming chest, and I get a similar feeling of being an overly-bulky superhero or something. Do you feel yours is too striking? If you've only worn it 5 times I'm getting the sense you might. Americans aren't used to seeing men in buttoned suits, much less so ones with structured contoured silhouettes.
 

andreyb2

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Dempsy444, a wonderful review indeed.

Regarding the "muscular" look, here is what Brian Lishak (now, of course, working at Richard Anderson, but the style is essentially the same):

All bespoke tailors worldwide have their own definitions of the silhouette they wish to achieve. A broader shoulder, a fuller chest to make the customer more masculine. A deeper armhole and wider sleeve to give more comfort.

Our aim is, as I said earlier, is to make the customer look better than nature built him. In most cases that means taller and slimmer. If the customer already has those attributes then highlight them. To do that we achieve long lines by keeping a slim shoulder, a higher gorge, defining the waist, cutting the skirt with a little flare to hide the round of the hip.

Andrey
 

Dempsy444

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I'm surprised no one thanked you for your detailed review, SF needs more of these, especially from SR houses. Anyway I liked this part specifically, I think I can picture what you mean. I had a suit made by Steed that has a very nipped waist with broad shoulders, broad skirt, and blooming chest, and I get a similar feeling of being an overly-bulky superhero or something. Do you feel yours is too striking? If you've only worn it 5 times I'm getting the sense you might. Americans aren't used to seeing men in buttoned suits, much less so ones with structured contoured silhouettes.


Thank you Svenn. I wouldn't say I feel it is too striking, though I wouldn't wear it if I just wanted to blend into a meeting or something. It's a power suit but because it is still fundamentally natural and well proportioned it works very well without seeming costume like.

I'm not sure I would want all my suits cut this way, but I'm glad I have at least one.
 

Hirsh

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I had a beautiful Huntsman shirt, now sadly worn out, which was amazing, although I've lost a lot of weight since then.

I'm commissioning a jacket from them which I hope will last as long as I do!:)


I'm very excited because today I'm discussing the details of my Hunstman jacket with them!

This will become what Savile Row call "heirloom clothing!"
 
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Griffindork

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The scuttlebutt on London lounge is that peter smith is leaving huntsman and going to Richard Anderson. If true, I consider it a tremendous loss and a very sad turn of events for huntsman. I'm hoping for the best, but based on peter'a absence from the January New York visit and the upcoming April visit, I'm not optimistic.
 

Hirsh

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The scuttlebutt on London lounge is that peter smith is leaving huntsman and going to Richard Anderson. If true, I consider it a tremendous loss and a very sad turn of events for huntsman. I'm hoping for the best, but based on peter'a absence from the January New York visit and the upcoming April visit, I'm not optimistic.


This doesn't surprise me as they get on very well.

I'll have to speak to Peter this week about my latest commission

Thanks for the info...
 

dopey

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So . . . any update on Peter Smith and Patrick Murphy? Are they still there?
In other news, l'roubi just released a new RTW collection for Huntsman. Some of it is not awful. Some of it is. A couple of things were better than not awful. Overall, that makes for a pretty poor start.

AY: thanks
 
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Griffindork

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^Pat's not gone. He will be in NYC in 3 weeks. I don't know for sure whether the rumor about Peter that I posted above is true but I note that Johnny Allen is accompanying Pat on his next visit to NY. That would be odd if Peter is still at Huntsman as Pat and Peter typically do the east coast and Dario and Johnny the west. But I won't know for certain until they visit and I ask.

As for the ready-to-wear, what might not come out in the pictures is that there has been a drastic change in the silhouette from what I would think of as the typical Huntsman suit (basically, the same as one would get if ordering a bespoke suit) to what I would think of as something more modern and fashion forward, and slim-fitting. If you are someone who has been buying an RTW suit or two from Huntsman each year for the past however many years, you find yourself trying on something that is most likely no longer to your liking. The RTW suits are beautifully made (in Italy, I believe) but they are very, very expensive for what they are and they don't look to me like what I think of as Huntsman.

I'm very interested to see how my work in progress stacks up to past commissions. I have total confidence in Pat, but once this piece is completed I'm basically going to "wait and see" mode for Huntsman. Typically, I order two or three suits or coats/trousers a year from each of Huntsman and Cifonelli, and this year I ordered a single tweed jacket from Huntsman and much more from Cifo. I'm hoping things don't change too much. I really think Pat is an amazing cutter and I love the garments he produces. I'm not sure that the Huntsman style would follow him to another house.
 
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Grammaton Cleric

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I was in London last week - Peter Smith was no where to be seen at Huntsman. Where there's smoke...

Btw, unlike Richard Anderson, why is there little love among ex-Huntsman clients for Terry Haste at KH&L? Seems like a good option for a Huntsman-style suit at a substantially lower price than Richard Anderson.
 
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taxgenius

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I was in London last week - Peter Smith was no where to be seen at Huntsman. Where there's smoke...

Btw, unlike Richard Anderson, why is there little love among ex-Huntsman clients for Terry Haste at KH&L? Seems like a good option for a Huntsman-style suit at a substantially lower price than Richard Anderson.


Isn't KHL ~ $4,500? How much cheaper is that than RA?
 

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