MTM Tailoring in New Orleans?

[Lee Saxon]

Thanks @Mr. Six.

How much customization and options do I have/get to contend with? Is it a handful of preset fits? Are they the types to expect me to show up understanding all the options?

More generally. John's comment that you're sort of paying $600 for "Edwin's sensibilities" is basically what I was wondering with the outsourcing thing (and with the starting price being lower than I expected). Does my $1400+ get me a $600 expert consultation/fitting on a lower-midrange $800 worth of actual construction/materials? Basically, where would Steed MTM be on the StyleForum Suit Hierarchy spreadsheet? Other than fit (it no longer fits at all), am I going to be disappointed going from my (mainline) Canali?

 

[jdp234]

You will not be disappointed in the construction quality in my opinion.

 

[classicalthunde]

@Lee Saxon I inquired in the fall about a tuxedo for my wedding (unfortunately it was out of my price range).

I didn't ask a ton of questions about options, but he did mention that the lapels were proportional to the chest size and could could be made bigger/smaller by .5 CM increments up to 2cm larger, which i thought was a pretty high level of customization. He did say that they were not able to add or adjust the "belly" of those lapels which is what some of the bespoke clients request, so there is a limit to how custom you can get with his MTM

also worth noting is that there was only a low price point and a high price point to each of the options, which leads me to believe that there is a decent amount of high quality fabrics at each level. I hate when places get you in the door by advertising a certain price and then only have 1 or 2 options at that level and everything else is 2-3x more expensive

 

[Mr. Six]

I guess I'd say that the quality is "very good." I don't recall what, if anything is done by hand, but the workmanship and QA are solid. I've had my oldest MTM suit for several years. I haven't had stitches come loose or found any outright errors. The work is pretty consistent from one order to another. Sleeve rotation is the only thing that's needed to be fixed on recent orders. Pattern matching is pretty good on complex fabrics.

Unless something has changed, the MTM pieces are made in a factory in the Czech Republic. Since the integration with English Cut, there's another MTM line that's made in Japan. It looks nice, but I haven't examined the pieces closely.

There are a fair number of options available, but as classicalthunde noted, there are limits. You can use any of the fabrics to which Steed has access. I haven't seen any difference in price as a result of fabric choice. You can choose your lining and buttons. They can do any number of buttons on the sleeve; however, the factory is used to four, so it's possible that they might make a mistake. Functional buttons on the cuffs are the default. There are 2-button and 3r2 options. The lapel width can be customized as noted. You can do any combination of patch, flap, and besom pockets. A ticket pocket is an option. There are at least a couple of canvass type options--though Matthew has in the past recommended reserving the lighter canvass for lightweight fabrics. And you can do full or half-canvassed. I think they now have a partially lined option as well, but I could be mis-remembering that. There is also a standard and "soft shoulder" option. The latter is still somewhat structured.

The trousers can be done with belt loops or side-adjusters. There are some options for tabs as well. The cut of the trousers by default is full, so you should talk to Edwin about what you want. You can choose hemmed or cuffs, of course. I haven't done a lot of trouser customization, so I don't know all of the options.

One of the distinguishing features of their program is that Edwin takes the measurements and does the fittings with the finished pieces. There aren't that many programs where a bespoke tailor with his level of experience handles those aspects.

If something is off with the finished pieces, in my experience, they'll try to fix them. I know that a couple of forum members haven't been satisfied with the results of that process. I have been, but I know that it has been unsatisfying for others.

I happen to like the silhouette of their MTM jackets and suits. It's not identical to Edwin's bespoke style, but they're related. Edwin and Matthew worked on it--it's not the factory default--so that's not a surprise. I feel like it has a bit more of a point of view than a lot of other MTM silhouettes, but that's subjective.

I'm also including this from Matthew, which tells you a bit about how they created a MTM pattern for each customer.

That's quite untrue to be honest, at least for our (Steed) MTM Service, and many other MTM Services provided by other firms.

It's not a case of "finding a pattern as close to yours as possible and try to alter it". We take the exact same measures as we do for Bespoke and note all figuration details. Then not only are the measurements taken into account when drafting from the block MTM Pattern but they are then manipulated manually to address the figuration details such as a dropped right shoulder, prominent shoulder blades, sway stance etc. Many of these figurations need to be addressed at the very start when manipulating that initial block pattern, which then by the fact of the large array of measurement and figuration details, evolve into a custom pattern for that individual.

These details are very hard if not impossible to amend once the garment has been finished. Usually down to the generally small of inlays left on the machine-made garments, compared to Bespoke. There is certainly no way you can take an OTR Jacket and have it altered to account for say a prominent chest (Needing a Neck Cut or Dropping the neck points) or accounting for very prominent blades in which you need to pass up the back. You need to address that from the start which is the large benefit of MTM over OTR.

Best wishes,

Matthew

Steed Bespoke Tailors

 

[Lee Saxon]

Thanks so much for the detailed answers! This all sounds compelling and I'm definitely going to reach out to them.