Made-to-Measure and Bespoke Tailors in Manchester, England

[teachmenononsense]

Does anyone have any experience with made-to-measure or bespoke tailors in or around Manchester? I will hopefully be looking to acquire a few different suits/jackets over the next few years. Budget is going to vary a lot. For some it might be £400, for some (i.e. probably when I get married) I might be looking closer to £2000. Obviously your money gets you very different things at those price points, but I believe that there is usually good value to be had at any level of expenditure, as long as you adjust your expectations accordingly. There seem to be a number of established bespoke suitmakers with two or three-piece offerings in the £900-1400 region.

I have only ever previously owned ready-to-wear suits, so this would be a step into the unknown for me. My professional and family demands mean that travelling outside of the local area is pretty difficult for me, and I am keen to support regional tailoring, as long as I can get results that satisfy me.

Looking online, there are not too many reviews of tailors in the North West, and without knowing precisely what the reviewers' demands and expectations were, it's hard to know how to interpret those that do exist.

Looking at tailors' own websites is little use, as many are hopelessly vague in terms of the actual detail of their process.

Some of the businesses I am interested in:

• Myles Anthony (Sale): Seems to have started as a womenswear bespoke offering that now offers menswear? Offers two levels of made-to-measure (based on their ready-to-wear patterns), plus bespoke with individual pattern and a minimum of two fittings. Everything is cut and made on their own premises.
• Frank Rostron (City Centre): Well-established tailor, again offering bespoke with a minimum of two fittings. Their suits all seem to be made in Italy. They seem to make up and keep on file an individual pattern for the customer, but are inconsistent in the use of the terms "bespoke" and "made-to-measure" on their website.
• James Personal Tailor (City Centre): Again, very well-established. Bespoke only, with minimum of two fittings. Individual pattern, with all suits made on site.
• Phillip Alexander (Wilmslow): This seems to be a bespoke Savile Row firm, but they offer a made-to-measure service out of their Wilmslow premises? Reading between the lines, I'm not sure their Savile Row suits are made on the premises on the Row, but it's hard to day. They are quite transparent about the difference between made-to-measure and bespoke on their website, which is encouraging. Have been in business in some form for 140 years.
• Charles Campbell (Preston): Offer made-to-measure or fully bespoke, with minimum two fittings. Not clear where the suits are actually made.
• Doherty, Evans & Stott (City Centre): Made-to-measure. Suits made by Caruso in Italy. There then seems to be one fitting with the completed suit once it's back in the UK, with the potential for any further alterations to be made locally, by unspecified tailors.
• Crichton (Chester): Full bespoke. Basted fitting, plus minimum one more after that. All manufacture done on the premises.
• Paul Afrim (City Centre): Basted fitting, plus minimum one more after that. All manufacture done on the premises.

But I will gladly consider anyone who comes with a good recommendation and is open and honest about their practice. If I lived in London, based on my reading online, my first port of call would probably be Cad & the Dandy. Or possibly Whitcomb & Shaftesbury, for their "Classic Bespoke" service, which brings the price down by having most of the work complete in India. I am not prejudiced at all about cost-saving methods being introduced to the manufacturing or sales process, as long as I am happy with the suit I get at the end, and no attempt is made to hide anything. This is just to give a general idea of the market level I am looking at.

Any personal recommendations from forum users are very much appreciated.

 

[Andy57]

You're what, two hours from London? Get on a train and go there. Go see Cad & The Dandy or W&S.

 

[teachmenononsense]

My professional and family demands mean that travelling outside of the local area is pretty difficult for me, and I am keen to support regional tailoring, as long as I can get results that satisfy me.

Apologies, you must have missed this part of my original post the first time you read it.

 

[Andy_00]

You are in a similar position to myself. I am also in Manchester and, after a couple of poor experiences with made-to-measure I am exploring options for bespoke (i.e. proper fittings with capacity to adjust fit until it is accurate). Some of the options you have found are new to me so interesting.

I had enquired about ‘James Personal Tailor’, but understandably given the price (in the region of £1200 for a two piece) the construction is partly fused. I was also rather put off by the style aspects of pretty much all the work I have seen him post on social media.

Most other supposedly bespoke options turn out to be made to measure of some variety (often via Carl Stuart over the Pennines). I would be really interested to hear of some if your links turned out to be good. You can actually get bespoke, with two fittings nd made on site, for around £900-1000 per suit in Huddersfield via Carl Stuart or Antich, but again the construction will be fairly basic and part-fused.

I am currently looking into Brita Hirsch based in Macclesfield who does seem the real deal and not too much more than your price range. There is another ‘real deal’ tailor over in Yorkshire (previously known to this forum) who I most certainly cannot recommend!

I understand that this talk of being unwilling to travel more than 40 minutes away for bespoke must be rather strange for our US forumites who it seems are used to long distances for this particular passion. E.g. Steed is less than two hours drive away in Carlisle but that is difficult for me.

 

[teachmenononsense]

I had enquired about ‘James Personal Tailor’, but understandably given the price (in the region of £1200 for a two piece) the construction is partly fused. I was also rather put off by the style aspects of pretty much all the work I have seen him post on social media.

Yes, I've seen some pretty awful photos online, but also heard some glowing reviews. I think I'll make a point of visiting his shop to at least see the work in the flesh. Do you have any more detail about the construction and level of canvassing at all?

Thanks for the tip on Brita Hirsch. Another one for the list! If I do end up giving any of these tailors my business, I'll be sure to report my findings back here.

 

[BigBadBernard]

I’d second the suggestion of Carl Stewart, but probably easier to go to the Osset shop rather than Huddersfield.

It’s worth going to one place for bespoke (possibly one of the Mancs tailors on the list) and another for MTM (Carl S) as most of the tailors will outsource MTM, likely to Carl S given the location.

 

[Aloysius16]

.

 

[Mark Seitelman]

Andrew J. Musson is in Lincoln.

He used to work for Davies & Son, Savile Row, as well as others on the Row. After about 20 years he decided to return to his home town. He used to travel with Alan Bennett on the USA visits of Davies & Son. See www.andrewjmusson.com.

In so many words, he has the "chops" of a real tailor.

He does both bespoke and MTM.

I would give him a ring. Perhaps, he visits customers in Manchester?

Good luck.

 

[Aloysius16]

I’d second the suggestion of Carl Stewart, but probably easier to go to the Osset shop rather than Huddersfield.

It’s worth going to one place for bespoke (possibly one of the Mancs tailors on the list) and another for MTM (Carl S) as most of the tailors will outsource MTM, likely to Carl S given the location.

I popped into Carl Stuart in Huddersfield and discovered that they have sold their factory so no longer do bespoke (they do outsourced mtm at a signficantly higher price than of old).