Ongoing Bespoke Projects

[Posh Gentleman]

So I love suits and I have a bunch of RTW high end suits, most of them Ralph Lauren black / purple label suits that I got on hefty discounts. (60-70% off retail, all new) I am a huge fan of RLPL due to it being the best fit for my body shape, off the rack.

It's been a while since my last suit purchase.. maybe 3 years? This year, I was looking to do some bespoke work, to up my suiting game. I like structured shoulders. I checked out some tailoring houses with the cut I am interested in.. the Huntsman's and other SR tailors that travel to NYC. Holy cow.. I was quoted $8-9 grand for a 2 piece suit. The hell?? You can buy a freaking Rolex Submariner for that money, and with the Rolex, my "investment" won't depreciate much if at all, unlike these ridiculously priced clothes.

Are there more reasonably priced bespoke tailors that I should look into? I am based in NYC and would love some suggestions! $3k is my max budget.

 

[John Grady Cole]

Steed. They visit NYC several times a year.

 

[NYDRH]

So I love suits and I have a bunch of RTW high end suits, most of them Ralph Lauren black / purple label suits that I got on hefty discounts. (60-70% off retail, all new) I am a huge fan of RLPL due to it being the best fit for my body shape, off the rack.

It's been a while since my last suit purchase.. maybe 3 years? This year, I was looking to do some bespoke work, to up my suiting game. I like structured shoulders. I checked out some tailoring houses with the cut I am interested in.. the Huntsman's and other SR tailors that travel to NYC. Holy cow.. I was quoted $8-9 grand for a 2 piece suit. The hell?? You can buy a freaking Rolex Submariner for that money, and with the Rolex, my "investment" won't depreciate much if at all, unlike these ridiculously priced clothes.

Are there more reasonably priced bespoke tailors that I should look into? I am based in NYC and would love some suggestions! $3k is my max budget.

Traveling tailors from Italy would be closest to your price point. The guys from No Man Walks Alone bring in sartoria Formosa every 2 months. They offer great customer service and a conduit between you and the tailor which is very useful in those situations.

 

[papado]

So I love suits and I have a bunch of RTW high end suits, most of them Ralph Lauren black / purple label suits that I got on hefty discounts. (60-70% off retail, all new) I am a huge fan of RLPL due to it being the best fit for my body shape, off the rack.

It's been a while since my last suit purchase.. maybe 3 years? This year, I was looking to do some bespoke work, to up my suiting game. I like structured shoulders. I checked out some tailoring houses with the cut I am interested in.. the Huntsman's and other SR tailors that travel to NYC. Holy cow.. I was quoted $8-9 grand for a 2 piece suit. The hell?? You can buy a freaking Rolex Submariner for that money, and with the Rolex, my "investment" won't depreciate much if at all, unlike these ridiculously priced clothes.

Are there more reasonably priced bespoke tailors that I should look into? I am based in NYC and would love some suggestions! $3k is my max budget.

I believe 3k is hard for NYC area to get a true bespoke garment. Similar to what the above poster mentioned, I think italian is the way to go. Sicilian Reserve has a 3k price-tier which I think should work for you.

If you'd settle for MTM I'd say Alan Flusser's program seems quite robust with a lot of options/adjustments compared to a typical shop. However there are plenty of options at under 3k in NYC for MTM.

 

[Encathol Epistemia]

Are there more reasonably priced bespoke tailors that I should look into? I am based in NYC and would love some suggestions! $3k is my max budget.

A lot of sensible people would consider that very generous for a suit, but it will be hard to keep to in bespoke. Joseph Genuardi, whose studio is in Hoboken, might charge around $ 4,000 for a two-piece suit, depending upon the cloth, but that's not a trivial stretch. (He seems pretty good, at least, he even made me look not-that-bad, which is hard, because I look lousy) I don't know if he'd be suitable, but John Di Pietro here in Philadelphia might make a two-piece suit for around $ 3,000, although I'm not sure if he could quite meet your expectations. (Also local to Philadelphia is Henry A. Davidsen, which cites a lower bound of $ 2,850 for their blue label, which seems to be bespoke with some machine finishing, but I don't know much about them)

 

[dieworkwear]

Are there more reasonably priced bespoke tailors that I should look into? I am based in NYC and would love some suggestions! $3k is my max budget.

IMO, unless you have uncommon proportions, I wouldn't get a bespoke suit just because you want a bespoke suit. Get a bespoke suit because you admire a certain tailor's work, and then figure out whether that price is worth it to you. If you go into this with a specific budget in mind, and just want a bespoke garment, you may wind up with a subpar suit and would have been happier with something off the rack. The suit may, in the end, even fit fine, but you may dislike the silhouette.

Figure out which tailors you admire first and then ask about their prices.

 

[Texasmade]

$3k for a bespoke suit was the rate like 15 years ago. Most tailors I’ve seen start at around $4500. The established houses like Huntsman, Cifonelli, and Rubinacci are around $7k+.

 

[mercury]

Anyone had shirts made in Naples recently?
Hoping to try one or more shirtmakers preferably around the 200-250 euro mark.

Will any of the usual suspects fall in my budget? Piccolo, Lombardi, Fluido, Formosa etc. I don't need Riva fabric, but would like handmade buttonholes and shirred shoulders, as that is different from my current shirtmaker.

I've searched through the relevant threads, but most posts are a few years old. Tried emailing a few of them, but no responses as of yet.

 

[Posh Gentleman]

$3k for a bespoke suit was the rate like 15 years ago. Most tailors I’ve seen start at around $4500. The established houses like Huntsman, Cifonelli, and Rubinacci are around $7k+.

haha maybe I was insane to think that dropping even $3 grand on a suit is a bit too much. I always felt guilty with my occasional splurge for some higher end RTW clothing at $1-1.5K price range.

I dunno, I wonder if there are really enough quantity of people willing to drop 7 to 8 grand on a suit in this day and age, to sustain the business model for these higher end bespoke houses. I personally would never spend that much dough on a suit, unless I am a multi-millionaire and money is no object. I can't help but think about the opportunity costs. Then again, I work in finance and am a pretty good investor, so I know what I can accomplish with that $7-8k as an investment seed money. Just $5k invested in some AMZN stock 10 years ago would be worth high six figures today...

 

[Posh Gentleman]

Traveling tailors from Italy would be closest to your price point. The guys from No Man Walks Alone bring in sartoria Formosa every 2 months. They offer great customer service and a conduit between you and the tailor which is very useful in those situations.

Thank you. I will check these guys out. Much appreciated!

Any other Italian tailors that I could study up on?

 

[Posh Gentleman]

IMO, unless you have uncommon proportions, I wouldn't get a bespoke suit just because you want a bespoke suit. Get a bespoke suit because you admire a certain tailor's work, and then figure out whether that price is worth it to you. If you go into this with a specific budget in mind, and just want a bespoke garment, you may wind up with a subpar suit and would have been happier with something off the rack. The suit may, in the end, even fit fine, but you may dislike the silhouette.

Figure out which tailors you admire first and then ask about their prices.

Thanks. I agree with the spirit of your thought process here.

I am satisfied with the overall cut of RTW suits I have, mostly RLPL suits. I like structured shoulder, tapered chest, and notch lapels. Other details I think I am pretty flexible with. Lapel width and shape - if I go bespoke route, I was hoping to consult the expertise of bespoke tailor in question and make an informed decision, based on the proportions and what the tailor / cutter thinks is most appropriate for my build.

I like RLPL and Tom Ford styles the best from RTW, so I naturally gravitated towards Huntsman and other SR houses for that traditional british cut. I guess the main goal with my first bespoke suit would be to get the best fit I can experience, while getting the cut that I would be decently happy with. I am no fashion critic and don't work in a creative field or anything, so to my eyes, fit trumps everything else.

Are there some Italian taliors that I could study up on, within reasonable price range?

 

[Posh Gentleman]

A lot of sensible people would consider that very generous for a suit, but it will be hard to keep to in bespoke. Joseph Genuardi, whose studio is in Hoboken, might charge around $ 4,000 for a two-piece suit, depending upon the cloth, but that's not a trivial stretch. (He seems pretty good, at least, he even made me look not-that-bad, which is hard, because I look lousy) I don't know if he'd be suitable, but John Di Pietro here in Philadelphia might make a two-piece suit for around $ 3,000, although I'm not sure if he could quite meet your expectations. (Also local to Philadelphia is Henry A. Davidsen, which cites a lower bound of $ 2,850 for their blue label, which seems to be bespoke with some machine finishing, but I don't know much about them)

Thanks for the reply. Will take a look at those tailors.

 

[Posh Gentleman]

I believe 3k is hard for NYC area to get a true bespoke garment. Similar to what the above poster mentioned, I think italian is the way to go. Sicilian Reserve has a 3k price-tier which I think should work for you.

If you'd settle for MTM I'd say Alan Flusser's program seems quite robust with a lot of options/adjustments compared to a typical shop. However there are plenty of options at under 3k in NYC for MTM.

What are some MTM places I could consider? I know Suit supply is one, and some other random names that many of my co workers used. I noticed many times that fit was off with many of these middling MTM suits. hmmm...

 

[dieworkwear]

Thanks. I agree with the spirit of your thought process here.

I am satisfied with the overall cut of RTW suits I have, mostly RLPL suits. I like structured shoulder, tapered chest, and notch lapels. Other details I think I am pretty flexible with. Lapel width and shape - if I go bespoke route, I was hoping to consult the expertise of bespoke tailor in question and make an informed decision, based on the proportions and what the tailor / cutter thinks is most appropriate for my build.

I like RLPL and Tom Ford styles the best from RTW, so I naturally gravitated towards Huntsman and other SR houses for that traditional british cut. I guess the main goal with my first bespoke suit would be to get the best fit I can experience, while getting the cut that I would be decently happy with. I am no fashion critic and don't work in a creative field or anything, so to my eyes, fit trumps everything else.

Are there some Italian taliors that I could study up on, within reasonable price range?

If you like a structured suit, and want to stay within that aesthetic, you may want to check in with Chittleborough & Morgan. They're one of the descendants of the Tommy Nutter look, which is one of the inspirations for Tom Ford's line.

Another option is Edward Sexton's offshore bespoke. There, the pattern is cut in-house, but the making process is done in China. The pattern is also adjusted, although by hand, off a block pattern, rather than drafted from scratch. If you have a very difficult figure, this may pose a problem, but from your description, it sounds like you fit well into RTW. The other difference for Sexton's offshore bespoke is that it comes with one fitting rather than the typical three. I don't remember their prices offhand, but it's roughly half the price of their usual full in-house bespoke service.

The one downside to the offshore bespoke is that the block patterns are a bit tamer to fit a wider audience. So if you look up photos of Edward Sexton's work, you may see some very dramatic cuts that aren't possible through offshore bespoke. If, however, you want something bespoke but a little closer to contemporary styling, that may work for you.

The problem with trying to find an affordable, structured bespoke suit is that it puts you in the London area, which typically comes with higher costs (as labor is more expensive). If you use a Sicilian or Neapolitan company, it's much easier to get a bespoke suit for $3,000 or so, but they're almost all some variation of a soft-shouldered style. If you're interested in exploring that, however, I'm currently using I Sarti Italiani. I can't remember the exact price, but I paid something like $2,500 for a cotton suit. Price may be a little higher for wool. I'm still getting my fittings, so can't comment on their work, but what I've seen on other people looks nice. I'd say it's a little more structured than your average Neapolitan cut.

As someone else mentioned above, Steed is another option. I wouldn't compare them to Tom Ford or RLPL though. They're not as soft as some Neapolitan companies, but it's a soft English drape cut. Depending on your taste, that could also work. They have a MTM service. Check the Anderson & Sheppard thread on this board for examples of their work.

 

[comrade]

"I like structured shoulders."

Neither Steed nor the Neapolitans are good suggestions.
Their house styles are the antithesis, more or less, of Huntsman
and its' ilk.