Trip to Thailand

[clearshades]

Later this year I am planning a trip to Thailand for vacation. While most of my trip will be visiting with relatives, I was considering the options of shopping while there. I should clarify that I am young professional who has only been conscious of style for about a year and half or so and consequently have been slowly improving my wardrobe as budget allows. Budget is limited due to me being a new father and sole breadwinner but I do save up for quality. Currently I do not have a "go to" person for suits or clothes at all since the local ones that I would use (such as Sid Mashburn, I am an Atlantan) are out of my price range. Generally I have been doing bargain shopping and doing what I can with that.

My current thought was to use the trip to visit the shop for www.ravistailor.com since a friend recommended them to me. I figured that I could get fitted for a suit in their own shop and talk to them about my preferences in person rather than having to deal with them solely online. This would also allow me to start a relationship with them since I intend to move towards daily suit wearing at my office* and thusly would need a larger wardrobe of suits than I have.

Apologies for rambling but I suppose that my questions are as follows:

1.) Do you think this is a good plan in general? If not then why not?
2.) Do have experience with this company?
3.) Do you think I would get better value/longevity for the same price from anyone local to me (Atlanta)? I am ok with the suggestion of chain stores if you truly believe they will be better.
4.) Do you have a suggestion of an alternative tailor or othe sartorial purveyors whom you would seek out if you found yourself in Bangkok for two weeks?

Thank you all for your help in advance.

Chris Tang


*Although no one else in my office does it is easy for me to get away with this since I am a lawyer and I have found that on the days I wear suits the clients take me more seriously. Plus there is no hassle of cobbling together something acceptable with a tie in the drawyer should I need to appear in court.

 

[globetrotter]

this is basically what I did when I was in my twenties. It worked well for me. I got 4 suits and a bunch of shirts and they lasted me for years, until I could afford to upgrade. good for you.

as to the tailor, I'd shop around a bit. I walked up and down kao san road and barganed with a few tailors until I found a good deal.

 

[Nomad_K]

Hi Chris,

Send me a PM and I will try to get back to you with the name of another tailor or two.

Now onto your questions.

1. From friends who have ordered online vs those who visited tailors in Thailand, I think that you will get better service if you visit a shop in person on your trip - the fit will be better and your tailor will have a face to put to a name and vice a versa. This makes a difference on a number of levels.
2. No experience with the company, sorry.
3. I know two bankers and more than a few consultants who have suits tailored in Thailand and are quite satisfied with the work. Hopefully more members here will chime in.
4. Drop me a PM closer to your trip. A few friends are having similar work done by these shops so that we can compare the experience and final result.


On a more general note - there are more tailors in Bangkok than the city knows what to do with. There are only two or three that I would consider spending money with.

I would drop into a good tailor when you arrive, select fabrics, and have measurements taken. If you will be in Bangkok or pass back through, go back in 5-7 days and have a quick fitting. Then pay a final visit to the tailor on your way out.

 

[plumpto]

I am looking to go on a similar trip in the next couple of months, any suggestions would be awesome.

 

[chorse123]

I am going to take the contrarian point of view and say that especially if you're on a budget, do not have clothes made by a second tier (or lower) overseas tailor. I think it is a myth that you're going to be getting a bargain on "quality" tailoring. And what's worse, I think unless you are very knowledgeable about suits and what exactly you want, the style is going to be unsatisfactory and you will just end up wasting your money. I speak from experience on this one. I thought I was getting a bargain buying this way and I wish I could get back the money I've spent on something like four or five suits and three or so jackets over a number of years. It would have gone much farther on deeply discounted RTW or lower end stateside MTM. I only wear one of the garments now.

 

[hacksul]

Have to agree with chorse on this one. Though you can find hong kong trained tailors in Bangkok (better than the Indian ones imo) you really have to know what you want in a suit if you want one made to your expectations. Also, the good materials for the most part are imported anyway and is not cheap. What is cheap is the labor. If you have low expectations than it may work for you since you are on a budget but to randomly pick a place is a kind of a crapshoot. Unless you have some very good recommendations on a particular place or see some of their finished work and can give pics/descriptions on exactly what you want in a suit, I would stay away. However, you mentioned that you saw the work done on your friends so if that is acceptable to you and have time for multiple fittings/corrections than it may work for you.

 

[plumpto]

I am personally not on an extreme budget, I am looking to spend the same as on the suit there as an entry level MTM Coppley suit would be here in Canada ($800 CAN), if the quality is significantly above that.

 

[hacksul]

I'll ask my friends in Thailand where they get there suits made and/or recommendation and send you a pm.

 

[plumpto]

thanks

 

[acidboy]

Originally Posted by chorse123

I am going to take the contrarian point of view and say that especially if you're on a budget, do not have clothes made by a second tier (or lower) overseas tailor. I think it is a myth that you're going to be getting a bargain on "quality" tailoring. And what's worse, I think unless you are very knowledgeable about suits and what exactly you want, the style is going to be unsatisfactory and you will just end up wasting your money.

I speak from experience on this one. I thought I was getting a bargain buying this way and I wish I could get back the money I've spent on something like four or five suits and three or so jackets over a number of years. It would have gone much farther on deeply discounted RTW or lower end stateside MTM. I only wear one of the garments now.

+1. I also had the same experience (with shirts) with a supposedly good tailor here. I was even joking with my wife when I was having myself measured, "what could go wrong, its just shirts."

True enough, the shirts came and they were tight and too short to be tucked in. A waste of money indeed.

That being said, you might want to shop around. Bangkok has stores that sell Corneliani, Pal Zileri and other stuff. There's a Muji store there too somewhere.

 

[benjamin831]

Remember to watch the ***** ping-pong show in the red light district.

 

[GTR]

Watch out for the shemales.

 

[meister]

Don't get strangely written autographs...

 

[Sebastian]

Originally Posted by chorse123

I am going to take the contrarian point of view and say that especially if you're on a budget, do not have clothes made by a second tier (or lower) overseas tailor. I think it is a myth that you're going to be getting a bargain on "quality" tailoring. And what's worse, I think unless you are very knowledgeable about suits and what exactly you want, the style is going to be unsatisfactory and you will just end up wasting your money.

I speak from experience on this one. I thought I was getting a bargain buying this way and I wish I could get back the money I've spent on something like four or five suits and three or so jackets over a number of years. It would have gone much farther on deeply discounted RTW or lower end stateside MTM. I only wear one of the garments now.

+1000

Just don't do it!

I had three suits made, by a tailor from Thailand and I could have bought a NWT Sartorio Kiton suit for the money of two of them on Ebay.

The styling is horrible, the construction more than mediocre and the cloth very bad (although advertised as S150 pure wool).

I would NEVER, I repeat NEVER want to use one of those far east tailors again (surely with the exception of first tier Hong Kong tailors)!!

Spare the money for some good Italian or English OTR stuff from Ebay or the B&S forum here!

 

[jc138]

Hmm,

I used James Fashion to copy a pair of pants and a couple shirts. They convinced me to add in a suit.

The fabric is terrible but the fit is remarkably good. They did a great job of copying the shirt and pants I showed them. The jacket they did from scratch. The styling is fine, although I wish I had them do the lapels a bit slimmer.

If I went back I would do it again.