The Official Tweed Appreciation Thread

[ojaw]

The quality of my Mears jacket is very good, but the measurements were way off.
Basically had to get the coat re-built by a local tailor: ultimately it was still a good deal price-wise because of the very high cost of bringing in tweed cloth and having a jacket made here in the middle of Canada.

 

[mactire]

The quality of my Mears jacket is very good, but the measurements were way off.
Basically had to get the coat re-built by a local tailor: ultimately it was still a good deal price-wise because of the very high cost of bringing in tweed cloth and having a jacket made here in the middle of Canada.

There really is no substitute for being measured and fitted properly. Would it be very expensive to get tweed to Canada?

 

[ojaw]

At about $100 per metre plus shipping, the cost would be approximately equal to what I paid for the jacket (pre-re-build).
By the end of it I paid about $750-800; local quotes were generally $1000 until I mentioned tweed, then the cost would balloon.
So yeah, I got a jacket that now fits and I'm pretty happy with for about half what I would have paid to get it made locally.

 

[ojaw]

My next one will be second hand, and then tweeked to a hopefully less extreme extent.

 

[mactire]

At about $100 per metre plus shipping, the cost would be approximately equal to what I paid for the jacket (pre-re-build).

Well let me know if you want a few pointers on getting hold of tweed for less than that, even with the weak CAN$ that can be improved upon.

 

[ojaw]

Thanks very much, I'll keep that in mind.
This shopping lark is more complicated than a cursory dip would seem to indicate.

 

[OlSarge]

As Mactire said, there is no substitute for getting properly measured. I don't know where "the middle of Canada" is precisely, but you might consider finding out when one of the traveling tailoring companies has a stop within reasonable distance and go order a shirt. For that cost you get a very good measuring which you can then send on to Mears and save the alteration costs. My favorite is MyTailor.com though I am also experimenting with Ravi Tailor. We will see how that turns out. Ravi himself seemed to take quite detailed measurements so this may be another source for me. But to reiterate, measurements are primary! Once those are set (and you hold your weight) e-tailoring becomes much easier.

 

[ojaw]

I don't know where "the middle of Canada" is precisely

Measuring only east and west, it's basically Winnipeg.
Honestly, my life doesn't really demand more than one suit jacket of any kind (though I would like more).
I don't think MTOs are in my future, so I'll just keep an eye out for near-enough second handers and get them fitted by a tailor.

Thank you OlSarge and mactire for the good advice.

 

[velomane]

Has anybody here bought cloth from http://www.huddersfieldcloth.com ? Any comments on the quality? Currently, they've got some 23oz herringbone cloths on deal for twenty-five pounds/metre, double width.

Ojaw, this might be a reasonably-priced source for some cloth for you. Also, sent you a PM re: Winnipeg tailors. If anybody has any comments about local tailors, please let me know.

 

[ojaw]

Answered you back velomane.

That's a much better than standard price, with shipping maybe $200 all in?
Like I said, local tailors generally were quoting me $1000+ for a basic suit. Not sure how much they'd take off if the customer supplies the cloth.

The cloth for my jacket was from Anthony Haines: ES077
I like it very much.

 

[A Canuker]

Huddersfieldcloth has been well spoken of in other parts of the site. I would have no issues with placing a order from them, I was going to take part in some of those specials also.

 

[OlSarge]

Good price on that Huddlesfield! Unfortunately, there isn't a single day in the year when 23 oz. cloth would be wearable around here. Perhaps if we relocate to Portland there might be a day or two . . .

 

[mactire]

Good price on that Huddlesfield! Unfortunately, there isn't a single day in the year when 23 oz. cloth would be wearable around here. Perhaps if we relocate to Portland there might be a day or two . . .

Plenty of light stuff out there.

 

[Michigan Planner]



Just letting you guys know that I put out all my above average Tweeds on ebay for $4.99 with No reserve (ending next Sunday).

Brands like: J.Press, Donegal, Harris Tweed, Brooks Brothers, Andover Shop, YSL, PRL, Oxxford and much more.

Message me with questions!

Pics (there are a lot, just a heads up )

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Thumbs up to @cpmac7 - I recently an auction for one of the tweed jackets he had and it is in great condition and he shipped it out very fast. FWIW, as a testament to how nice the jacket is, my wife usually turns her nose up at my eBay purchases (especially if it involves tweed) but when I pulled it out of the package and put it on (and it fit like a glove) even she remarked how nice it was.

 

[Odradek]

Herring Shoes announce a new tweed loafer, coming in May.
https://twitter.com/herringshoes/status/436072936793837569/photo/1