Ledbury bespoke

[dfagdfsh]

I posted this up on another site, but figured I might as well cross post it here. I can't really find any other reviews of Ledbury's new bespoke service anywhere else.

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Just came back from my first Ledbury bespoke shirt fitting. I've never commissioned anything bespoke before -- just made to measure -- but I've always wanted to, and I've always heard a shirt is a good place to start.

I decided to give Ledbury a shot for a couple reasons: they're local, they do a full custom pattern with a sample shirt fitting, the shirts are literally made 4 blocks from me, and the pricing is excellent (about what good MTM costs if you're buying from the US). I can get a pretty good fit through MTM, but there's a couple things I've always struggled with: I have sloped shoulders so the fabric never lies completely flat across my shoulders, I have more prominent pecs so I always get extra fabric in the front waist, which can't really be fixed by darting (which is what you usually find in MTM), and I like a very snug wrist/forearm fit, which again is hard in MTM without a custom pattern.

The whole experience took about 30 minutes. It helped a lot that I knew exactly what I wanted in a shirt, and was able to give very specific instructions. The measurements took about 10 minutes, and included everything you'd expect -- shoulder, collar, sleeve length (left and right), shirt length, waist, chest, wrist, yoke, collar angle, etc. We then spent about 5 minutes talking about what I wanted in a collar: I wore one of their off the rack shirts to the fitting to provide some context, and we looked at some sample collars. I gave them specific notes on what I'd like, and showed them a picture of what I was looking for. We then picked the rest of the details, and fabric.

I also appreciated that their attitude through the process was "let's give this a shot as is for the sample shirt, because it's really easy to fix for the final shirt." I didn't feel that they expected to make zero changes from sample to final product -- which is reassuring.

The total cost was $295 (based on fabric), and the pattern and shirts are made in house. Timeline will be roughly 1-2 weeks for the sample shirt to be produced.

What I'm having made:

My "ultimate" dress shirt

Medium weight white oxford cloth

Fused collar, unfused cuffs

No gauntlet button

Barrel cuff

Thick MOP buttons

Medium spread with extended points and a raised collar band with no tie space

Extra length (32")

Obviously everything will depend on how the final shirt fits, but I was really impressed throughout the experience. My one concern with doing bespoke from a company that makes its money from selling off the rack dress shirts was how knowledgeable the person doing the measurements was, and how seriously they took the bespoke experience (can you truly do anything?), but once there, my concerns were unfounded.

I also checked out their tailoring, and they're going to start MTM suiting from their DC and Richmond location. All of the jackets right now on their website are made by Luigi Bianchi Mantova, and the pricing is MUCH better than LBM produced jackets I've seen elsewhere -- I'm looking at you Epaulet.

 

[smittycl]

Sounds like a great experience. I have many of their RTW shirts and love them. Store in Georgetown does MTM suiting? I wonder what one of their LBM bespoke/MTM suits costs?

 

[matty long legs]

I never considered Ledbury's bespoke or MTM because their OTR doesn't fit me the way I want. After reading this maybe I should reconsider.

I just received my first two MTM shirts (MiUSA from Leviner-Wood) and am quite happy with them. A $100 step up to bespoke doesn't sound bad at all.

 

[dynemacron]

I'm curious as to the quality of the result of your shirt and your satisfaction.

 

[Viral]

In for pics when you have the final product

 

[TennesseeWill]

Just completed my first MTM shirt. Great experience, albeit long.

The initial measuring session was the best part [it came with scotch]. Since I've found my prefered fit through Proper Cloth and know the measurements by memory, it didn't take long. Essentially, they put you in one of several stock shirt patterns and then adjust from there. You can change things like cuffs, buttons, and collar, and add/remove inches to the measurements, but only to a point.

Six weeks later, you return. Unfortunately for me, we discovered that the sleeve was too short by roughly 1". It was an error on their end, and six weeks later, I returned to a well-fitting shirt. The arms, yoke, chest, waist, and length are spot-on. All in, it took 12 weeks, but I expect most will only wait six. Now that I've got a fit dialed in, hopefully six will turn into four weeks on future orders.

In summary, great experience and beautiful shirt, but a long wait when compared to Proper Cloth's two-week turnaround. However, the employees are awesome and I like hanging out at the shop, so it wasn't an issue at all. Hope this is helpful.

 

[ceriano]

Has anybody tried their bespoke service recently? Can they do cocktail cuffs?