Source for blazer buttons

[MikeF]

I'm looking for an online source for nice, simple blazer buttons, preferably in brass. Please do not suggest Ben Silver, which seems to be charging $125+ (?.) per button. I'd like to pay no more than $30 or so for a full set.

 

[hwaseng]

Please visit http://www.hst.com.sg/acatalog/Holla...ry_Button.html . We sell Holland and Sherry Button online. Please let me know what you think. Thanks

 

[MikeF]

$15 per button?.

 

[hwaseng]

Well, the button is gold plated and it is genuine Holland and Sherry, not an imitation. Goh Cher Peng Hwa Seng Textiles www.hst.com.sg

 

[learydenis]

Goh, Who weaves the Gianfranco Fila and Enrico Ferrante fabrics for you? You might consider this confidential, but I would like to know what exactly I am getting before I decide to buy. Also, even if you won't share, we're knowledgable enough to approximate a good guess. If it's woven in Italy as you say, it must be Albini/DJA, S.I.C. Tess. or Riva since these are the only Italian mills which produce up to 200/2, which you have under the Gianfranco Fila and Enrico Ferrante labels. There's Alumo, which does weave 200/2, but it's Swiss. Why does everyone slap an Italian name on everything these days? The fellow SartorialSolutions(doesn't seem Italian in any way) at AskAndy calls his clothing line Carlo Franco, and Hwa Seng has fabrics woven for them under the Gianfranco Fila and Enrico Ferrante labels. At Vavra Italy(http://www.vavraitaly) everything has an Italian name on it, many of which are unknown and have inflated price tags and which must be made specifically for the "budget" Italian luxury market in the USA.

 

[Alias]

Chuck (sartorialsolutions) has his stuff made in Italy, so he quite fairly names his products with an Italian label.

Italian names carry a lot of weight in the fashion industry. I'm sure we'd rather get something from "Carlo Franco" as opposed to "Smith Suits."

 

[hwaseng]

Dear learydenis, We are a reputable firm selling high quality fabrics for almost 40 years now. We distribute these fabrics to high end tailor shops in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Perhaps we are not well known in the State so my reason to have an internet store to promote our collection. If you happen to come to Singapore, it will be my pleasure to show you around. Just let me know. Our Gianfranco Fila and Enrico Ferrante Collection are all made in Italy. A small portion from Switzerland and some in Germany. These are clearly stated in the individual product description. We work closely with about 14 Italian mills every seasons in order to present a collection of more than 1000 colors to date. For stategic and marketing reasons I can not and will not disclose to you. But I believe you are very informed in these field so your guess are as good as mine. We have been working with Acorn for the past ten years and we didn't ask them who they source from. Â What we are more concern is the consistancy of the quality. Given the background of these fabrics it is very natural to choose an Italian name for the marketing and promotion of these fabrics. I sees nothing wrong with this practise. Â I hope I have clear your anxiety. Please let me know. Goh Cher Peng Hwa Seng Textiles www.hst.com.sg

 

[FCS]

Mr. Goh,

I'm wondering if you have recommendations on some great tailors in Jakarta, Indonesia? I'd really appreciate if you could mention a number of different names and also elaborate who are the best in suits and who are the best in shirting, as the skills required are rather different.

Please message me privately if for any reason you are not comfortable to mention their names here. Thank you very much for your help.

Ferry

 

[naturlaut]

Why does everyone slap an Italian name on everything these days? Â The fellow SartorialSolutions(doesn't seem Italian in any way) at AskAndy calls his clothing line Carlo Franco, and Hwa Seng has fabrics woven for them under the Gianfranco Fila and Enrico Ferrante labels. Â At Vavra Italy(http://www.vavraitaly) everything has an Italian name on it, many of which are unknown and have inflated price tags and which must be made specifically for the "budget" Italian luxury market in the USA.

learydenis: I think we could rule Carlo Riva out as their output each year is small and distributed only selectively. Â What is Carlo Franco? Â Is it the name of a maker or just a label? (Sorry I don't surf on the Andy forum, reading one forum eats enough time out of an hectic day....) Most men are label conscious. Â What struck me as comedy is how most Italian brands resemble big names, such as Birroni (forgot where I heard this). Â What concerns me nowadays is the difficulty in finding small makers/labels of genuinely quality, when their names could sometimes be stir fried into an array of Gianni this or Giorgio that. Mr. Goh: You must be the first Singaporean on this board. How is Singapore? I once lived there for a short time. Â I could spot a Singaporean anywhere in the world from his accent. --- is it still called Singlish (a fusion of local dialects and English)?

 

[FCS]

What is Carlo Franco? Is it the name of a maker or just a label? (Sorry I don't surf on the Andy forum, reading one forum eats enough time out of hectic day....)

www.carlofranco.com Chuck Franke is the guy who runs the biz. Some members say his ties are great, although I think Thracozaag had some concern about them. I'm still waiting for mine to arrive.

 

[hwaseng]

Dear FCS, Many people like you always approaches me with these question because to them I knows alot of tailors and their inside stories, and I may be the best person to answer them. My reply to them is always these: Tailoring is a skilled craft just like cooking and individual people has individual tastes. Tailor A may suit me and I like his cutting very much and I recommend him to you. But his style of cutting may not be up to your liking and you may have unpleasent experience with him. After some searching, you may find Tailor B more suitable to you but Tailor B style of cutting is not what I want. So my advise is this, go to the tailor shop and have a chat with him. If you like his personality and his way of serving you, examine his stitching of suits or shirt. If you are satisfy with his works eg fusible or non fusible lapel, level of workmanship, then you can proceed with one garment and try him out. If what it turn out may not be what you want, you may ask him to do some alteration or better still, modify the cutting for your next garment. It may takes one or two fitting in order to get it right and the tailor will know your "tastes". From then on you can just order your clothes in complete trust that he will follows your style. You just need to choose the fabrics. What I normally advise is not to switch tailors too quickly, give him a chance or two to get to know your "tastes" better. My analogy is to see a doctor for your illness. The doctor needs to try out different medicine at different dosage. It is through trial and error , and time that your doctor gets to know which medicine works well for your body and which medicine gives you the allergy. It will be dangerous to your health if you switch doctors too quickly. This is just my view of choosing a tailor and I suppose many members have other ways. Hope we can share our experience together. Goh Cher Peng Hwa Seng Textiles www.hst.com.sg

 

[FCS]

Dear FCS,

Many people like you always approaches me with these question because to them I knows alot of tailors and their inside stories, and I may be the best person to answer them. My reply to them is always these: Tailoring is a skilled craft just like cooking and individual people has individual tastes.

Tailor A may suit me and I like his cutting very much and I recommend him to you. But his style of cutting may not be up to your liking and you may have unpleasent experience with him. After some searching, you may find Tailor B more suitable to you but Tailor B style of cutting is not what I want.

So my advise is this, go to the tailor shop and have a chat with him. If you like his personality and his way of serving you, examine his stitching of suits or shirt. If you are satisfy with his works eg fusible or non fusible lapel, level of workmanship, then you can proceed with one garment and try him out. If what it turn out may not be what you want, you may ask him to do some alteration or better still, modify the cutting for your next garment. It may takes one or two fitting in order to get it right and the tailor will know your "tastes". From then on you can just order your clothes in complete trust that he will follows your style. You just need to choose the fabrics. What I normally advise is not to switch tailors too quickly, give him a chance or two to get to know your "tastes" better. My analogy is to see a doctor for your illness. The doctor needs to try out different medicine at different dosage. It is through trial and error , and time that your doctor gets to know which medicine works well for your body and which medicine gives you the allergy. It will be dangerous to your health if you switch doctors too quickly.

This is just my view of choosing a tailor and I suppose many members have other ways. Hope we can share our experience together.

Goh Cher Peng
Hwa Seng Textiles
www.hst.com.sg

Hem, I'm not switching tailors, actually I'm trying to find one to start with. I can't afford to experiment much, that's why I'm asking for references. And I'm not even physically there, this is for future reference. So if you don't mind I'd really appreciate any insight you might have. Shirt styling in particular does not differ much from tailor to tailor.

 

[hwaseng]

Dear naturlaut, I am glad to hear I am the first Singaporean on board. Singapore is currently gearing up to celebrate the Chinese New Year on the 22/23 Jan. We are now on our a festive mood. Tell you what, we just have our first sound of firecrackers after a ban of 30 years. See the story http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/new...28395,00.html? Singlish is still pretty alive and it is so ingrain in our society that we speak without knowing we are using Singlish. By the way, where are you from? Goh Cher Peng Hwa Seng Textiles www.hst.com.sg

 

[naturlaut]

Quote:

What is Carlo Franco? Â Is it the name of a maker or just a label? (Sorry I don't surf on the Andy forum, reading one forum eats enough time out of hectic day....)
www.carlofranco.com Chuck Franke is the guy who runs the biz. Some members say his ties are great, although I think Thracozaag had some concern about them. I'm still waiting for mine to arrive.
Quote from the web-site: "The Seven Fold tie is recognized as the finest tie a man can own." That is definitely going to stir some smoke in this forum. I never knew Thracozaag has one. However, we both vouched to each other that if anything should happen to one of us, the other will inherit his wardrobe.

 

[naturlaut]

By the way, where are you from?

Native of Hong Kong, a British national, an ex-resident of Singapore, and a proud New Yorker.

How about the rest of the members?