Modern Tailor.com review - my experience

[skyduster]

Deadly, The fabric was "Blue Royal Oxford Made in Japan / v121b" which, it appears, is no longer available. It was on sale for $39.95. I think that the original price was around $60 or $70. I ordered Thick MOP Unbranded Buttons which coast $5 extra, as opposed to getting the regular cheap-looking buttons at no extra cost. I had a $10 voucher, because when they sent me a survey for my first order, I had mentioned to them that I wasn't too happy with the 1st shirt...not because of the collar, but because one of the measurements was off by a quarter-inch (which had me wondering if I should order from them again, because they weren't completely precise on the shoulder measurement). To their credit, it seems they really do care what their customers think, and they do put effort into keeping you as a customer. Regular shipping cost is $10 per shirt. It costs an extra $8 per shirt to have it expedited, and another $5 if you want it made faster, and that's what I did. I ended up paying $57.95. I saved $10 from the voucher, but I could have saved an additional $13 if I didn't want the shirt expedited. But I was willing to pay more to have the shirt sooner. If you do the math, it would have been $49.95 with no voucher and no extra costs. The first shirt, I didn't have it expedited; I ordered it on 7/11, and received it on 7/22. The second shirt (in the picture), which was expedited, I ordered it on 8/11, and received it on 8/20...come to think of it, it wasn't worth expediting it. I told them they can display my shirt on the showcase, but they never did. Maybe it takes a while to upload the picture? My shirt is similar to this one: http://www.moderntailor.com/showcase/html/90829.html except that his shirt looks like a medium cutaway, not large, and my shirt has French cuffs.

 

[deadly7]

Thanks for all the great info! At that price range, I'll definitely have to consider going the MTM route if I can't find things in stores.. A bit annoyed at overpaying for ill-fitting clothes that I then need to get taken in by a tailor.

 

[skyduster]

Especially for me. I have a thick neck, broad shoulders, and developed upper traps. Off-rack shirts size 17" fit me perfectly on the shoulders and neck, but are HUGE around the midsection. They look outright ridiculous, even the "slim fit" Tommy Hilfiger shirt is ridiculously huge, or at least the 17" shirt is huge. And it's also hard, if you have a specific pattern, color, or collar in mind, it's hard to find what you're looking for at the stores. The Express shirt I mentioned earlier, it's a white-blue checked shirt, which I love, but the neck unfortunately doesn't fit me anymore. I looked everywhere at the stores for a similar shirt and couldn't find it. Not even Express makes it anymore; and all their shirts have the same traditional collar nowadays, which I don't like to wear with a tie. Ever since they became Express Men, they've gone downhill. The clothes were much better when it was Structure. Anyways, I was able to find a similar fabric at MT: http://www.moderntailor.com/fabric-comment/626/ and I went ahead and ordered another shirt, made exactly as the shirt pictured above. It'll end up looking similar to this one: http://www.moderntailor.com/showcase/html/42675.html

 

[Sanguis Mortuum]

Originally Posted by skyduster

Here's the shirt that I got from Modern Tailor, and I' very happy with it.

Personally I'd shorten the sleeves by quite a bit. The cuffs are stopping them falling down further than they should, and a bit of bunching is normal, but imo there's just too much.

 

[phxlawstudent]

Originally Posted by skyduster

Here's the shirt that I got from Modern Tailor, and I'm very happy with it.

Sleeves too long, waist too tight, chest too tight.

 

[imwithtuxedo]

Originally Posted by phxlawstudent

Sleeves too long, waist too tight, chest too tight.

+1.

Your collar and shoulder width look spot on though.

 

[lim's]

Originally Posted by david123

I got the book last week. It is reasonably useful -- helped me decide on a few fabrics -- but is certainly not exhaustive.

The coupons are not stackable with the more generous coupon offered on SF ($20 off) are are thus useless. If you want to buy mine off me, PM me.
How many swatches does the book have? I'm guessing it doesn't have any of the newer fabrics?

 

[lim's]

Originally Posted by skyduster

Here's the shirt that I got from Modern Tailor, and I'm very happy with it. The collar is a Large One-Button Cutaway. The fabric is a blue royal oxford.
Do you mind posting a picture without your tie and the collar unbuttoned? Actually, how about a closeup of the collar? Is the collar point really 8.5 cm long? I was thinking about getting the two-button collar but am a little hesitant on a 5cm collar and an 8.5 cm point. thx!

 

[Weich77]

Good deal, but this fabric is not available, Id like to try this one too

Originally Posted by skyduster

Deadly,

The fabric was "Blue Royal Oxford Made in Japan / v121b" which, it appears, is no longer available.

It was on sale for $39.95. I think that the original price was around $60 or $70.

I ordered Thick MOP Unbranded Buttons which coast $5 extra, as opposed to getting the regular cheap-looking buttons at no extra cost.

I had a $10 voucher, because when they sent me a survey for my first order, I had mentioned to them that I wasn't too happy with the 1st shirt...not because of the collar, but because one of the measurements was off by a quarter-inch (which had me wondering if I should order from them again, because they weren't completely precise on the shoulder measurement). To their credit, it seems they really do care what their customers think, and they do put effort into keeping you as a customer.

Regular shipping cost is $10 per shirt. It costs an extra $8 per shirt to have it expedited, and another $5 if you want it made faster, and that's what I did.

I ended up paying $57.95. I saved $10 from the voucher, but I could have saved an additional $13 if I didn't want the shirt expedited. But I was willing to pay more to have the shirt sooner. If you do the math, it would have been $49.95 with no voucher and no extra costs. The first shirt, I didn't have it expedited; I ordered it on 7/11, and received it on 7/22. The second shirt (in the picture), which was expedited, I ordered it on 8/11, and received it on 8/20...come to think of it, it wasn't worth expediting it.

I told them they can display my shirt on the showcase, but they never did. Maybe it takes a while to upload the picture? My shirt is similar to this one: http://www.moderntailor.com/showcase/html/90829.html except that his shirt looks like a medium cutaway, not large, and my shirt has French cuffs.

 

[TheTukker]

Thanks for sharing, but indeed far from perfect. Not sure about the waist, but sleeves are indeed too long and chest/armholes seem(s) too tight. There's also a bit of bulging going on on your neckline.

 

[skyduster]

Thanks for your replies. Wow, I didn't think that the chest/waist look too tight. Like, by how much? Maybe I don't have "the eye" for this? Or is it because it's the best-fitting dress shirt I've had so far, that it still looks like an improvement to me (from what I've had in the past). Never had to wear suits on a regular basis, so still new to this. The only point of reference I've had is the boring-conservatively-dressed skinny/narrow guys in department catalogs, and on them, the shirts always look very snug and very tapered (that's not the look I was going for though). Anyways, I'll post new pics. Maybe it looks too tight because, as I was tucking it into my pants, I tucked more of it toward my bum than my front side. No hard feelings, I appreciate the feedback. The sleeves can always be shortened, it's not big deal. MT followed my measurements exactly. It's just down to me finding the perfect measurements now. Although, I didn't think that this shirt was "far from perfect"

, I thought it was pretty good. On a plus side, I do plan to lose some bodyfat within the coming months (I'm probably around a porky 15-16% right now, so I'm not lean at the moment). So, the fit should probably look different then. I'll consider these MT shirts a "longer-term investment".

Although, hopefully, I'll get to use them at job interviews soon, as I would like to leave where I'm currently at. Will follow up tonight with new pictures: different angles, tucking in differently, and close-up of collar. Thanks for your help, and glad I could be helpful too. @Lonneker, yes the collar point really does measure 8.5 cm, from the seam to the point. The fabric actually folds a few millimeters above the seam though (like all collars do). I do have a pretty thick neck and big shoulders, so this collar may look more proportional on me than someone with a narrower build. For myself, I wouldn't go with the two-button cutaway, though. But I guess that's a matter of preference. If you ever watch the Daily Show, I've always liked the collars on Jon Stewart's shirts, and that's the look I was going for, and that's what I got.

 

[phxlawstudent]

Well, reading what you've just posted, then the shirt could be fine. The sleeves are still too long. Letting out the bicep measurement would help with the bunching there too. But thats a personal decision.

I thought 15% BFP was pretty athletic? Eh, what do I know, the machine says I'm 6%...

Your pretty close. If your goal was to motivate yourself to lose some weight; personally I think thats odd, but hey, whatever works. The chest is still going to be tight, not much girth is lost there.

The goal is to have full or near full range of motion. So move your arms around, see where the shirt restricts your movement, and adjust accordingly.

 

[LRMD]

I was going to use ModernTailor but I paid $25 for the swatch and it showed up with the binder falling apart and with the holes punched through the edge of the fabric. I emailed the pics to ModernTailor too and never got a response, so I posted them on here. Complete mess. Here's that post: http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=178967 Do you think I should reconsider?

 

[lim's]

Originally Posted by skyduster

@Lonneker, yes the collar point really does measure 8.5 cm, from the seam to the point. The fabric actually folds a few millimeters above the seam though (like all collars do).
Is the back height of your collar really 4.8 cm? Do you feel that it's too tall? My tallest collar is 4 cm and I think that's my limit. thx.

 

[skyduster]

Hey phxlawstudent, thanks for the feedback. Ok, I'm posting new pictures. This time, I tucked in more "normally". I moved around a bit, so that the shirt is more natural. And I'm not wearing an undershirt. I also took a close-up of the collar, as someone had asked:

Originally Posted by phxlawstudent

I thought 15% BFP was pretty athletic? Eh, what do I know, the machine says I'm 6%...
15% is not fat by any means, but it's not "athletic". Athletic is 6-12%. Under 12ish, you should be able to see a six pack. Especially at 6% you should see a 6-pack, even if you don't have a muscular abdominus (although, if it's more developed, it pops more). I've been focusing on muscle building for too long, and leanness took a back seat. So, I plan to work on that over the next two months. But I don't plan to go as low as 6%. My plan is 8-10ish. So, that's a drop of around 10-15lbs of fat. And since fat is less dense than muscle, a 10-15lb drop of fat is quite a loss in volume, and will certainly take care of the bit of "man *******" and "beer gut" that you can see in my pictures.

Originally Posted by phxlawstudent

Your pretty close. If your goal was to motivate yourself to lose some weight; personally I think thats odd, but hey, whatever works. The chest is still going to be tight, not much girth is lost there.
Well, no, it wasn't my intention to motivate myself through smaller clothes. I really thought I was getting a shirt that fit me well. However, since I plan to drop bodyfat anyways, then the shirts should fit me better in the longer term, so I guess that's not money wasted. Aside from the sleeves, which I can just take to my tailor to have them shortened a bit. As for the chest area: my body does currently have fat stored in the lower pecs. The way you can tell this, is when you flex the body part, and all the softness that you feel between the skin and the flexed muscle, is bodyfat, and I have a little bit on my lower chest, which will hopefully go away. Same for my lower tummy (which is where all men are genetically predisposed to store fat, when they have a little extra). So, I should be losing a bit of volume around those areas too. So, hopefully these will solve my "shirt crisis" that you guys pointed out to me. It's a learning process, but at least I should be good in the longer term with these shirts.

Originally Posted by phxlawstudent

The goal is to have full or near full range of motion. So move your arms around, see where the shirt restricts your movement, and adjust accordingly.
Hmm...I think I'm okay as far as being able to move freely. I don't feel constrained. I do get hot, though. But I easily get hot, and I easily sweat anyways. I always have a fan on at my desk at work, and I'm always wearing t-shirts to work (super casual environment).

Originally Posted by lim's

Is the back height of your collar really 4.8 cm? Do you feel that it's too tall? My tallest collar is 4 cm and I think that's my limit. thx.
No, I don't think so. I wouldn't go any taller, but 4.8 cm is fine. If you like the collar in my pictures, then go for it.

Originally Posted by LRMD

I was going to use ModernTailor but I paid $25 for the swatch and it showed up with the binder falling apart and with the holes punched through the edge of the fabric. I emailed the pics to ModernTailor too and never got a response, so I posted them on here. Complete mess. Here's that post: http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=178967 Do you think I should reconsider?
Ouch those pictures look terrible! I don't know what to say. So far my experience with MT has been good. The first shirt I ordered, one of the measurements (the shoulder measurement) was off by a quarter inch. So, I too questioned their ability to tailor clothing with quality and precision. Because of this, they gave me a $10 voucher, and I ordered a 2nd shirt. I was very pleased with the quality of the second shirt. Any sizing issues that other posters have brought up is due to the measurements I sent them. And the shirt came folded and packaged very neatly.