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Raja Daswani

2Stripes

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As you can see I'm new (well, fairly new - I've been lurking for a while) and I love this place, almost everything I need/want to know about clothes is here. "You guys are so cool." A few months ago I read an article in the Sunday Times (or was it the Telegraph) about Mr Daswani under the title "The Savile row wistle blowers" and have since been considering giving him a go and I hear that he'll be in London in November so I think I 'll pay him a visit. Now I don't expect to get Huntsman quality or anything but I'm a poor student so I probably don't need it anyway for what I'm planning to spend (about £200-£300, which is about $300 - $500) I think I'll be grtting my money's worth. So should I go through with it, considering that: 1) If I go RTW I WILL have to go to a tailor anyway. 2) High street e.g. Topman/Marx and Spencer suits = about £150, and are absolutely terrible and horribly overpriced) 3) Lower-end brand name suits e.g. Boss, Zegna, Paul Smith = £400, are not worth that much in my opinion) 4) I've tryed discount shops, but I'm quite thin so it's difficult to find suits in my size that aren't in silly colours/styles. Thanks.
 

dah328

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There's been a fair amount of discussion regarding Raja, most of it critical. Â See the threads below: Raja thread 1 Raja thread 2 Raja thread 3 The general consensus for value at your price point is to find a quality RTW suit on ebay or the like and have it altered. Â Failing that, you'll probably have to settle for a lower-quality suit. Regards, dan
 

bryce330

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I wouldn't say most of the discussion on Raja has been critical - in fact, I got the impression Doctor Crane was quite pleased with his suit, despite his distate for some of Raja's sales tactics.

Anyways, I had a fitting with Raja last week, here are my impressions:

- I looked through some of their "lower-priced" swatches (around $400) and was not terribly impressed, they felt rather stiff and coarse.  However, any RTW suit you find for less than $500 is likely to have the same type of fabric.  I eventually went for a super 140s fabric for around $700.

- They take a lot of measurements, which was somewhat surprising since people have mentioned on other threads that they have been surprised how few measurements Chan has taken.

- You definitely have to be aggressive about the type of cut, fit, and details you want.  They never really asked me what style I was looking for, I had to go through point-by-point and explain what I wanted.  I then went through the list again at the end of the fitting to make sure they had everything right.  

- I made sure my suit will be fully canvased; however, I believe the default construction is half-canvased (i.e. lapels and chest only).  Although fully canvased is certainly preferable, half-canvased is probably better than anything you will find off the rack in your price range.

- As Doctor Crane mentioned in another thread, they are somewhat aggressive as far as pushing you to upgrade to more expensive fabrics, buy extra trousers, throw in some shirts, etc.  I think the best way to deal with this is just to explain that you are new to this and don't want to spend a lot of money, but that if you are satisfied with the suit you will be certainly purchasing many more items in the future.

As for your question, I think you would probably be better off buying from Raja than buying off-the-rack, especially since you mentioned you are rather skinny.  I know from experience it is difficult to find suits for slender men, and especially at a low price point.  Anything you can find at a department store for under $500 is likely to be baggy and ill-fitting.  The exceptions might be stores like Zara and Topman, but as you correctly noted, the quality of these suits will be very poor - you would be much better off with a half-canvas suit from Raja that is tailored to your body.  

As far as eBay, I would be hesitant about buying your first quality suit on eBay since you will not yet have an idea of what measurements suit you or the type of cut that looks good on you.
 

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