josepidal
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2006
- Messages
- 2,197
- Reaction score
- 81
I was able to visit Singapore and Joe's Tailor where I had a couple of jackets made a couple of years ago. An apparent miscommunication resulted in the jackets being tight and Joe took them back and had them let out, for a discount to their usual alteration fee.
I felt good, as Joe has an infectious love for his product. I noted the prominent display of Thomas Mason Goldline fabrics. I did a test shirt (price is 250 Singapore dollars plus sales tax) and waited for the package. The shirt fit perfectly (I've put it through the washer five or six times) and the fabric just felt great after the first wash took that scratchy new shirt feeling. The only thing wrong is that the cuff over my watch may need to be tightened by a quarter inch or so, but that's hardly a defect.
I'm thinking of having a few more shirts made since I'm happy with both the tailor and the pattern. One detail that I'm thinking about is mother of pearl buttons. Joe stocks beautiful ones that he imports from Italy, with a choice of normal or thick. Both are visibly better looking than, say, Jantzen's. His thick ones go to 2.5mm.
I was wondering what the preferred thick button thickness here is. I think Kabbaz uses 3.2 mm while Borrelli goes up to 4.0 mm. Joe just warns that he has found 2.5 mm to be the sweet spot for his customers who prefer thick buttons and even then some complain that the thick buttons are a ***** to button. Joe's 2.5 mm house buttons are already quite beautiful, but I'm thinking about sourcing my own buttons.
On another point, I'd like to have some shirts made as buttondowns, and some of the oxfords and houndstooth fabrics in Joe's book would be incredible as casual shirts. Do you guys use thick MOP buttons as well for the collar?
Finally, I was thinking of having more than one 18 ligne MOP button on each cuff. I was thinking of two, but I was wondering if anyone here did three, and how that worked out.
In other news, I was able to pass by Marcell in Budapest on an Eastern Europe vacation some time back. Awesome guy, awesome product I have to say. You just have to realize that the shoemaking tradition there differs from the British, French and Italian, although Marcell is very flexible with lasts.
I felt good, as Joe has an infectious love for his product. I noted the prominent display of Thomas Mason Goldline fabrics. I did a test shirt (price is 250 Singapore dollars plus sales tax) and waited for the package. The shirt fit perfectly (I've put it through the washer five or six times) and the fabric just felt great after the first wash took that scratchy new shirt feeling. The only thing wrong is that the cuff over my watch may need to be tightened by a quarter inch or so, but that's hardly a defect.
I'm thinking of having a few more shirts made since I'm happy with both the tailor and the pattern. One detail that I'm thinking about is mother of pearl buttons. Joe stocks beautiful ones that he imports from Italy, with a choice of normal or thick. Both are visibly better looking than, say, Jantzen's. His thick ones go to 2.5mm.
I was wondering what the preferred thick button thickness here is. I think Kabbaz uses 3.2 mm while Borrelli goes up to 4.0 mm. Joe just warns that he has found 2.5 mm to be the sweet spot for his customers who prefer thick buttons and even then some complain that the thick buttons are a ***** to button. Joe's 2.5 mm house buttons are already quite beautiful, but I'm thinking about sourcing my own buttons.
On another point, I'd like to have some shirts made as buttondowns, and some of the oxfords and houndstooth fabrics in Joe's book would be incredible as casual shirts. Do you guys use thick MOP buttons as well for the collar?
Finally, I was thinking of having more than one 18 ligne MOP button on each cuff. I was thinking of two, but I was wondering if anyone here did three, and how that worked out.
In other news, I was able to pass by Marcell in Budapest on an Eastern Europe vacation some time back. Awesome guy, awesome product I have to say. You just have to realize that the shoemaking tradition there differs from the British, French and Italian, although Marcell is very flexible with lasts.
