Unfunded Liabilities: a/k/a The Cloth Thread

[Andy57]

It really depends on your size, primarily, and secondarily on the pattern (bigger scale, more needed) and skill of the tailor. From first hand experience, 3.0M is not enough for a 2 piece for me (55L) in even a plain fabric.

All of my references are to bespoke, but MTM in a factory setting seems to require ~10-15% more fabric than bespoke.

The direction of this conversation seems slightly odd. Why provide your tailor with the challenge of how to cut a garment using the bare minimum of cloth? To me, that is not the most important thing when commissioning a suit or jacket. Besides, cloth is cheap compared to the cost of the finished item. I provide my tailors with 4.5m of patterned cloth for a two-piece suit, 5m if I want a waistcoat, too. Bespoke clothing is not an exercise in frugality.

 

[abkain]

Also, I am going to order some minnis fresco (I am waiting for some swatches). If you want to order together if that saves on shipping, let me know).

I'm up for that. I'll pm you when i am going to order. Please keep me posted on your end. Thanks

 

[abkain]

The direction of this conversation seems slightly odd. Why provide your tailor with the challenge of how to cut a garment using the bare minimum of cloth? To me, that is not the most important thing when commissioning a suit or jacket. Besides, cloth is cheap compared to the cost of the finished item. I provide my tailors with 4.5m of patterned cloth for a two-piece suit, 5m if I want a waistcoat, too. Bespoke clothing is not an exercise in frugality.

I agree with that but on the other thread they specifically said 3m so my thought was to provide 3.5 m. Now after all of these comments I am thinking I should provide four or more meters.

 

[Andy57]

I agree with that but on the other thread they specifically said 3m so my thought was to provide 3.5 m. Now after all of these comments I am thinking I should provide four or more meters.

Fair enough. I wasn't thinking about that Sicilian tailor thread.

 

[firenze_rob]

Agree with Andy.

Carrying a bunch of lengths of cloth around is a hassle as well. Outside of "mythical" cloths like Minnis 656 or getting an insane deal, in my experience there is little reason to buy this on your own. My tailors don't mark up cloths.

 

[Tastethesoup]

Minnis Fresco III images, all on one page. We shot them as we thought that some of the colors on the hfw website were a bit off.

Hoping someone may find them useful.

Very helpful to see all on one page. Thank you for sharing.

 

[mactire]

Carrying a bunch of lengths of cloth around is a hassle as well. Outside of "mythical" cloths like Minnis 656 or getting an insane deal, in my experience there is little reason to buy this on your own. My tailors don't mark up cloths.

Different strokes for different folks. The attraction is of course that you may get a bargain, or find something different that you like that's not in the books your tailor has.

Also if you're visiting a tailor the turnaround will be a lot quicker when you're bringing the cloth with you as you're not waiting on stuff to be delivered etc.

I agree with the other comments re erring on the side of caution. I've had tailors get a 3-piece out of 4m and another need 4.5m. Some are sharper cutters than others.

 

[firenze_rob]

Totally against what I just said, because both of these pics are from CMT commissions.

@lordsuperb - here is my LL City Gunclub. I think I had this made in 2013/2014? I still wear this loads during the winter; one of my more dandyish pieces.



Just funded. The length of Minnis Chatworth Gun Club that I bought from @RogerC . I tried to sell this for a while on B&S, but no bites. So I turned this into a 2x2 DB summer jacket.

 

[lordsuperb]

@lordsuperb - here is my LL City Gunclub. I think I had this made in 2013/2014? I still wear this loads during the winter; one of my more dandyish pieces.

View attachment 795518

Nice there doesn't seem to be any swelled edges on this one? I really like the jacket it doesn't come across as dandyish in person.

 

[WillingToLearn]

Different strokes for different folks. The attraction is of course that you may get a bargain, or find something different that you like that's not in the books your tailor has.
.

This - some of my favorite SCs are ones where I found the fabric myself that was the end of bolt on deep discount that I loved the pattern and color and I know it will be basically unique to me (Kiton cashmere/vicuna). That SC will always have a story and I would never have found it from any book. That being said, another favorite is a navy hopsack SC that can be found in just about any book...

 

[bamboo]

Different strokes for different folks. The attraction is of course that you may get a bargain, or find something different that you like that's not in the books your tailor has.

Also if you're visiting a tailor the turnaround will be a lot quicker when you're bringing the cloth with you as you're not waiting on stuff to be delivered etc.

I agree with the other comments re erring on the side of caution. I've had tailors get a 3-piece out of 4m and another need 4.5m. Some are sharper cutters than others.

Some more thoughts on fabric buying. 1) I like the fabric itself. 2) I admit I like the bargain. 3) It is quite difficult for me to imagine the finished garment from the small swatch. 4) I don't like the time browsing through swatches when I actually made commissions. I feel a time pressure to make a decision. 5) sometimes you find very interesting cloth like LL, the one Ed is selling or some special run.

 

[WillingToLearn]

^ Agree with all 5 of those points.

Especially the time pressure with a travelling tailor that has other appointments. My biggest regrets were choices made in those situations. Having the fabric, or at least knowing exactly what I want before I went to the appointment makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable.

 

[ATWright]

All good points, though I would say the one thing that underscores this is everyone on this thread evidently loves cloth. Extending the search for cloth is just another way to lengthen the bespoke chase, and I'm sure tailors appreciate it more than having us in the store for countless hours looking through swatch books when they could be serving other clients.

 

[lordsuperb]

.

 

[Mr. Six]

All good points, though I would say the one thing that underscores this is everyone on this thread evidently loves cloth. Extending the search for cloth is just another way to lengthen the bespoke chase, and I'm sure tailors appreciate it more than having us in the store for countless hours looking through swatch books when they could be serving other clients.

That said, I was looking for some books under the Harrison's umbrella that my tailor didn't have and ended up in their showroom on Sackville Street, just down from Savile Row. I'm not entirely sure it's intended for customers to just rock up, I think my tailor mentioned something about it awhile ago, though I didn't get any impression that I was unwelcome from the staff. A really helpful young guy showed me the books I was looking for, as well as some that were yet to be released. But the highlight was the vintage/deadstock cloth, a solid portion of which was older that I am. I took a quick photo which represents about an eight of the offerings. A lot of stuff in stripes and qualities you don't find anymore.

View attachment 795804

Since so much of it is discontinued or end of the bolt, etc, they require you to buy all the remaining length, but they basically charge the per meter price for the whole length, meaning it's a great bargain. I'm getting some tan summer trouser cloths from H. Lesser & Sons. I have trousers in another vintage Lesser of the same bunch, based on the selvedge/year/finish, just a slightly darker color. It drapes and resists wrinkles impeccably, so I hope this will live up to that.

I'll post pictures later, but given I'll be getting 3m+ of each, and don't see a need for two identical pairs of trousers, anyone who wants can have the left over 1.5m+ for cost price.