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W.W. Chan tour vs local tailor

marksman

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I live in San Francisco and WW Chan is visiting on tour in April for two days (http://wwchan.com/itinerary.pdf)

My question is, should I choose WW Chan over a local tailor?
Chan will presumably not be able to do multiple fittings due to only being in town for two days. At a local tailor, I'd be able to go in for multiple fittings, try on a basted jacket, etc..

I don't see how using Chan on tour would be much different than ordering a MTM suit. However, I have seen how highly they are regarded here, so I was curious on people's opinions.
 

Viktri

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I'm a customer of WW Chan and I'd recommend that you go local, if your local tailor's technical capabilities meet your standards. As much as I like my suits from Chan, I would have been dissatisfied with how the suit turned out if I didn't get 3 fittings (at their insistence) before the suit was finished and the several minor alterations (shoulder divots and a few other tweaks) after the suit was completed.
 
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TOstyle

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I agree with Viktri. Nothing against WW Chan personally, but I've used other "travelling tailors" and haven't had much luck. Something always needs to be fixed on a custom made product - that's just the nature of the beast - and you can't do that with the traveling guys.

You end up getting what you pay for, so I think it's worth it to pay a bit more for a local shop, since usability and customer service are hopefully much better.
 

comrade

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I live in San Francisco and WW Chan is visiting on tour in April for two days (http://wwchan.com/itinerary.pdf)

My question is, should I choose WW Chan over a local tailor?
Chan will presumably not be able to do multiple fittings due to only being in town for two days. At a local tailor, I'd be able to go in for multiple fittings, try on a basted jacket, etc..

I don't see how using Chan on tour would be much different than ordering a MTM suit. However, I have seen how highly they are regarded here, so I was curious on people's opinions.


I don't own any Chan's, but I've seen them at Meet-Ups in San Francisco.
I am not aware of any "local" tailor that is at the level of Chan. In fact there are
no real quality bespoke tailors in the Bay Area. MTM is of course different.There
are several high-end retailers like Wilkes and Nieman Marcus that offer MTM.
But MTM is NOT BESPOKE. And frankly from my experience with Saks several
years ago MTM is a crap shoot- I received a full refund. PM me for details if you
wish.
 

JLibourel

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Well, I don't have any experience with local tailors in the Bay Area, but I have had a lot of experience with W.W. Chan: 17 odd jackets, six suits and six shirts. I have been extremely satisfied with their work. Your first effort with Chan will be somewhere between MTM and bespoke, but they do make an individualized pattern for you that can subsequently be tweaked. My first suit from them was a good fit and very satisfactory, but not quite as satisfactory as all subsequent garments. (I have been told this is true of all bespoke tailors.) You can, by the way, get multiple fittings with Chan, but it adds to your expense and protracts the procedure considerably.

I would conclude by saying if there is a very good local bespoke tailor and if his prices are at all competitive with Chan's (I think about $1,500 these days for an "entry-level" two-piece suit from a fabric like VBC 110), then perhaps you are better off going with the local guy. Otherwise, I don't think you can go wrong with Chan.
 

Andy57

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In fact there are
no real quality bespoke tailors in the Bay Area. MTM is of course different.There
are several high-end retailers like Wilkes and Nieman Marcus that offer MTM.
But MTM is NOT BESPOKE.
+1

In San Francisco there is Spoon Tailors. They measure and fit in the city and send the pieces to be actually made in Hong Kong. I have no experience using them, but you can find positive reviews on the interwebs.

Other than that, if you want bespoke in the Bay Area, it's a traveling tailor. Steed visits from London 3 times a year. Not cheap, though. I've also had good luck using Hemrajani Bros (mytailor.com) who visit about 4 times a year. Poole comes to SF, as do a number of Asian tailors. It's a question of which one you want to work with, I guess. And it takes patience.
 

comrade

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+1

In San Francisco there is Spoon Tailors. They measure and fit in the city and send the pieces to be actually made in Hong Kong. I have no experience using them, but you can find positive reviews on the interwebs.

Other than that, if you want bespoke in the Bay Area, it's a traveling tailor. Steed visits from London 3 times a year. Not cheap, though. I've also had good luck using Hemrajani Bros (mytailor.com) who visit about 4 times a year. Poole comes to SF, as do a number of Asian tailors. It's a question of which one you want to work with, I guess. And it takes patience.


I drropped in to Spoon Tailors earlier this year. I asked if they did tweed sport coats. They
said no. Nuff said?
Also, I saw someone being fitted with a mostly completed garment. I am no expert, but to me who wears high-end RTW, it looked like some thing from Nordstroms. Or Asian bespoke that looks suspiciously like middle priced RTW here.
 
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Andy57

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I drropped in to Spoon Tailors earlier this year. I asked if they did tweed sport coats. They
said no. Nuff said?

I'd say so. That seems really peculiar to me. My curiosity about them has never yet extended to actually entering their premises. And probably never shall.
 

marksman

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As a follow-up, I contacted WW Chan and here's what they had to say:


  • on tour, they bring a basted sample jacket, which along with my best fitting suit, will be used as the basis for fitting the new suit
  • they assure me that this process proves as reliable as a normal fitting, according to their experience


  • If I wish to have a fitting with the basted suit, I can have the basted suit mailed to me at a cost of approximately US$200
  • Then I can bring it to the next fitting in San Francisco the next time they are on tour (3 months later, in July)


  • prices start at US$1,700 for a VBC super 140's fabric


So the question is whether or not I can find comparable quality in the Bay Area for around $1900.

It seems like the answer might be no, so I am leaning towards using Chan and having the basted suit mailed to me for the next fitting. Hopefully one fitting with the basted suit will be enough to fix any issues I may notice.
 

supplychainman

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As a follow-up, I contacted WW Chan and here's what they had to say:

  • on tour, they bring a basted sample jacket, which along with my best fitting suit, will be used as the basis for fitting the new suit
  • they assure me that this process proves as reliable as a normal fitting, according to their experience

  • If I wish to have a fitting with the basted suit, I can have the basted suit mailed to me at a cost of approximately US$200
  • Then I can bring it to the next fitting in San Francisco the next time they are on tour (3 months later, in July)

  • prices start at US$1,700 for a VBC super 140's fabric


So the question is whether or not I can find comparable quality in the Bay Area for around $1900.

It seems like the answer might be no, so I am leaning towards using Chan and having the basted suit mailed to me for the next fitting. Hopefully one fitting with the basted suit will be enough to fix any issues I may notice.

Marksman, which tailors were you considering in the bay area?
 

marksman

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I didn't consider many. I just briefly searched on Yelp and on this forum and didn't come up with much. My local option would probably be Spoon Tailor
 

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