kcheng
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2006
- Messages
- 55
- Reaction score
- 1
A few weeks back, I took a trip up to Shanghai to visit some family there and decided it wasn't a bad time to get a suit made whilst i'm there. To make it a little more interesting, a decided not to go with Chan and made it an experiment to try out some recommended places. I know there are probably thousands of tailors in the world who do comparable suits at a similarly low price, but thought I'd share my experience with everyone here.
Ended up at a place down the river from the Bund called the Western Bund Indoor Textile Market (roughly translated) and took the dive on a 2-piece dark navy with a light pinstripe in a 130s 9oz? (tailor didn't sound too sure when he mentioned weight, but it sounds about right) fabric. Although the fabric wasn't a VBC or anything, I thought it was fairly decent. Single breasted, Canvassed, 2-button, with working button holes, single front pleat pants. Total risk was RMB600 (US$75). It seemed to me as being a reasonable experiment at a tenth of the cost of Chan's and others (given that my perception of the fabric was positive). The owner there also noted that if I had brought my own fabric, he would've charged RMB200 for the work (US$25) which seemed to me as a pretty good deal.
Initial thoughts
Downside: only 1 initial fitting, limited fabrics inhouse
Upside: Fairly reasonable in pricing, tailor was as knowledgeable as I could have expected an indoor market environment, 5 day turnover
I was actually positively surprised with the finished product considering it was a first time suit, with only an initial fitting. I thought the they put a little too much shoulder padding in, arm holes too low, sleeves maybe a tad too long.
Apologies for the poor quality of photos. Tried for a while to increase the lighting properly, to no avail. And also, I am standing a little tilted - which makes the pitch look a little off. Would appreciate some thoughts from fellow members as to what i could suggest to them to improve the suit the next time around.
Ended up at a place down the river from the Bund called the Western Bund Indoor Textile Market (roughly translated) and took the dive on a 2-piece dark navy with a light pinstripe in a 130s 9oz? (tailor didn't sound too sure when he mentioned weight, but it sounds about right) fabric. Although the fabric wasn't a VBC or anything, I thought it was fairly decent. Single breasted, Canvassed, 2-button, with working button holes, single front pleat pants. Total risk was RMB600 (US$75). It seemed to me as being a reasonable experiment at a tenth of the cost of Chan's and others (given that my perception of the fabric was positive). The owner there also noted that if I had brought my own fabric, he would've charged RMB200 for the work (US$25) which seemed to me as a pretty good deal.
Initial thoughts
Downside: only 1 initial fitting, limited fabrics inhouse
Upside: Fairly reasonable in pricing, tailor was as knowledgeable as I could have expected an indoor market environment, 5 day turnover
I was actually positively surprised with the finished product considering it was a first time suit, with only an initial fitting. I thought the they put a little too much shoulder padding in, arm holes too low, sleeves maybe a tad too long.
Apologies for the poor quality of photos. Tried for a while to increase the lighting properly, to no avail. And also, I am standing a little tilted - which makes the pitch look a little off. Would appreciate some thoughts from fellow members as to what i could suggest to them to improve the suit the next time around.
