SF Groupon for Bespoke Shirts

[senseigmg]

http://www.groupon.com/deals/mark-austin-san-francisco

Anybody know if this is a good deal? I've never had a custom shirt, but it seems like a good deal for some shirts.

 

[in stitches]

never heard of them, try a trusted SF affiliate

 

[atila]

It's probably a legit company - the thing about Groupon is businesses give DEEP discounts on their products, often at a loss, to get exposure out in hopes of gaining repeat business.

So just because it is cheap in price does not mean their quality is cheap as well.

 

[Shirtmaven]

i know the guys.
most of their business is based around an asian made custom shoe business.
I thought they made their shirts in hk/china if yes, then they have a nice mark up built in.
if italy, like they say, then a good value.

 

[imatlas]

Originally Posted by senseigmg

http://www.groupon.com/deals/mark-austin-san-francisco

Anybody know if this is a good deal? I've never had a custom shirt, but it seems like a good deal for some shirts.

Thanks for the tip. At this price it's worth rolling the dice, and I'm obviously not the only one who thinks so - it's selling briskly, I hope these guys can handle a couple of hundred extra orders!

Note: super limited fabric options (white, beige, light blue and blue, no description of weight or style). Upgraded fabric is available with an upcharge to their standard pricing, starting at $198.99.

Originally Posted by Shirtmaven

i know the guys.
most of their business is based around an asian made custom shoe business.
I thought they made their shirts in hk/china if yes, then they have a nice mark up built in.
if italy, like they say, then a good value.

Interesting. At the Groupon rate ($129 for 2 MTO shirts, with shipping), the shirts are in the same price range as typical HK bespoke shirt pricing. Made in Italy can easily mean "made by Chinese workers living and working in crummy conditions in Italy", of course.

 

[Alex C]

This deal ran in St. Louis a few months back and I bought it. Then, it was $99 for two shirts. Mark and his brother Marlon came out to my house right around the 2nd of November for a shirt fitting. It's pretty detailed measurements, far above and beyond the amount of measurements I usually put on Cottonwork. Mark and his brother were both exceedingly pleasant guys. As with the SF groupon, the color choices were limited.

My only complaint this far is the turnaround time. I still don't have my shirts. The Italians took holiday break from the 20th of December until the 4th of January. Hopefully I'll be seeing my shirts soon. During the fitting he'd hope they'd be finished by the 18th so Mark and Marlon could hand deliver them in St. Louis. At this point I believe he's planning on shipping them.

Unfortunately, I don't have the shirts in hand or much to help out in the way of quality, but I talked to him about his suits and they seemed a bit pricey. OTR sized suits were over a grand and then you could pay upgrades to half-canvassed. Worried me a little bit. But I'm reserving judgment until I see the shirts. When they show up I'll post pictures, but it'll be well after the deal is done I'd assume.

 

[senseigmg]

I'll post pics whenever mine arrive as well.

 

[HORNS]

My wife bought two bespoke shirts for me, so I need to make an appointment with them. I'll keep you abreast.

 

[Alex C]

My shirts were ordered November 2nd. Mark says the factory was closed December 17-January 10. He also says that the way he counts his 6-8 working weeks means that weekends don't count towards the overall number of weeks. This requires some artificial concept of "week" where you divide the total number of days by 7 and attempt to make some sense out of it. Based on that type of numbers, I've only been waiting 5.5 weeks since November 2nd. Odd. He's been unresponsive to emails as of late, too.

Still no shirts, will post pictures when they (finally) arrive.

 

[imatlas]

Originally Posted by Alex C

My shirts were ordered November 2nd. Mark says the factory was closed December 17-January 10. He also says that the way he counts his 6-8 working weeks means that weekends don't count towards the overall number of weeks. This requires some artificial concept of "week" where you divide the total number of days by 7 and attempt to make some sense out of it. Based on that type of numbers, I've only been waiting 5.5 weeks since November 2nd. Odd. He's been unresponsive to emails as of late, too. Still no shirts, will post pictures when they (finally) arrive.
Thanks Alex. At my measurement session a couple of weeks ago I asked them a question about upgrading to MoP buttons, which they promised to answer within a week. No reply was forthcoming after a week, so I emailed, and still haven't heard back. I guess I'm getting plastic buttons.

 

[cbbuff]

I have a bad feeling about this...

 

[Alex C]

Got my shirts today. I'll wait and post pics until after a first washing. They're rather creased right now, were shipped UPS.

I got plastic buttons. They're especially cheap looking.

I also was recommended a few features on the shirt that I regretted as soon as I put it on. I went no placket (mistake) and did his "Napoleon" collar, which is a wide spread collar with a two button closure. It's massive.

Stitching quality seems fine on the shirt itself. Fabric feels nice. Buttonholes were clearly machine made, the button gets caught occasionally on stray thread when removing the shirt.

The fit is roomier than I expected, but I didn't go for slim fit (mistake). Also, the shirt is cut square bottomed, which I don't remember asking for. Sleeve length is proper, but the collar seems to gap a bit and buckles if you tie a tie more than loosely taut. Doing so also often pops the top button on the two collar button.

For $50 apiece, the shirts are acceptable. I'll wear them, but probably towards the back of the rotation. I'll probably also have them taken in an darted at some point. The five million dollars he charges on these things amounts to highway robbery. I see nothing special about fit or construction that makes it worth the amount of money he's charging for them.

Based on the fact that he charges around $1200 for a RTW sized fully fused suit (half and full canvassed available as upgrades on top of that base price), it's not surprising that they don't seem to match up to what he's charging for his products. But he's obviously carved a niche for himself, otherwise the business wouldn't exist.

When I emailed him questioning the shipping times earlier in our interaction, he got rather defensive. His manipulation of numbers so that he can avoid apologizing is disappointing. Even if I was worried too quickly (which I wasn't) a simple response of "I'm sorry they're running behind, I'll let you know as soon as I know" would have been wonderful. And then letting me know ANYTHING without having to email him about it.

Overall, it's been a pretty disappointing experience that's resulted in some pretty average dress shirts.

If people are interested, I can try and post pictures in the next few days.

 

[imatlas]

Bump - got a Groupon offer today for a 4 shirt or suit/shirt/tie package from Navin's, but the little that's been posted on SF about them has been less than stellar. I'm going to be near their SF location this afternoon, so I may call to see if I can review some of their merchandise. The Mark Austin deal was borderline at best, not sure if this is any better.

 

[UrbanComposition]

Hmmm...please report. I didn't see the groupon. Linkage?

 

[k4lnamja]



Bump - got a Groupon offer today for a 4 shirt or suit/shirt/tie package from Navin's, but the little that's been posted on SF about them has been less than stellar. I'm going to be near their SF location this afternoon, so I may call to see if I can review some of their merchandise. The Mark Austin deal was borderline at best, not sure if this is any better.

Please let me know what you find out.

Hmmm...please report. I didn't see the groupon. Linkage?

The link is on the SF groupon site..tempting