I have ordered four shirts from WW Chan's online ordering service, and while I'm happy with my experience (this fit is just perfect), I'd like to be able to have shirts made from higher quality fabrics than simply the 2x2 100s from Thomas Mason. I'd like to have access to some 120s or 140s fabric, for example. Does anyone recall if Chan had, for example, the Thomas Mason Goldline book available on their US Tour?
In my visits with WW Chan in the US their Thomas Mason selections have been from the baseline cloth only--nothing better. That's one of the reasons I prefer the shirts I get from Ascot Chang, which has a much larger cloth selection. Ascot Chang has Thomas Mason Silverline shirtings that I like a lot better than the basic line. I don't recall whether Ascot Chang brings the Goldline book on tour, but I am sure you can either email them or call the NYC store for more info. I don't know if the pricing structure has changed for Ascot Chang, but in the past it has been cheaper to get the shirts direct from HK or on the US tours than ordering from the BH or NYC stores. You might want to check them out, but it will cost you about double the WW Chan prices. If you do order from them, I recommend their softer interlinings for the collars and cuffs--the rigid ones use a very stiff interlining that looks good but doesn't wear very well.
It's curious that they wouldn't offer higher grades of fabrics, such as DJ Anderson or at least the TM Silverline. I could see limiting what they are putting up on their website, but if they have access to Holland & Sherry wool, why not access to the same cottons as Ascot Chang has access to?
I've always been curious about that as well. Â I should ask. Â I assumed it was because their shirts were basically a sideshow to the suits, and they didn't want to tie up cash in inventory of cotton. Â Since Ascot Chang has such a lock on the tourist trade and the market for local trade is pretty saturated, the shirt business is pretty tough in HK, making it tough to build market share (high effort, thin margin). Given the nature of business in HK, I'd be surprised if anyone (read: Chang) had exclusivity on the higher-line Thomas Mason or Anderson shirtings.
I'm pretty sure I've ordered shirts from fabrics other than Mason during Chan's US visits. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the label because I really liked the pattern, but I know the price was significantly higher than usual $80 or so. dan
Sorry if my prior post was misleading. Â They do have fabric from several mills. Â However, Thomas Mason offers several lines and only the basic one seems to be available at WW Chan. Â I have several Thomas Mason Silverline shirts that are a much nicer fabric than the basic Thomas Mason line. Ascot Chang charges something like $130-150/shirt for Silverline.
Chan just emailed me saying that on their US trips they do have available "110s and higher grades" shirting fabrics. So, that means they have at least 120s available, and possibly higher. The only catch is that the turnaround time for shirts on the US Tour is 2 months, as opposed to one month from online ordering. In any event, I'm really happy with my Chan shirts. I did my own measurements, as opposed to staying with the measurements that I got on a US Tour visit last year. I only needed one test shirt to get my current measurements to where I want them. I like Jantzen collar shapes a lot better than Chans, but Jantzen has blacklisted me, I think.
JN3, I am thinking about ordering shirts from them during their upcoming US tour. Do they accept shirts only order during their tour? What's the min. order? Price range? Why did you use your own measurements instead of their own? I thought it'd be more accurate if you let them measure you instead of taking your own measurements. If the WW Chan shirts fit, is it a good idea to send it to Jantzen to duplicate the measurements? One reason I haven't ordered from Jantzen yet is that their online measurements are too demanding and I am not sure if I can get them all accurately.
I went with my own measurements because that gave me more control over how the shirt fit. For example, I like my sleeves to have a bit of extra fabric and control effective sleeve length through my cuff size. The shirt from Chan that I ordered via their tour last year had a cuff circumfrence of 8." I like my cuffs to be 7.5." This allows me to get the sleeve about .5" longer, yet still have them rest at the same point on the hand/wrist when I have my arms hanging straight. I like that extra .5" because it prevents the shirt from ever receding below the suit sleeve, regardless of what I'm doing. I also like the shoulders on my shirt about .25" narrower than what Chan gave me. And I like less flare at the hips than Chan's default. I don't think their are any minimum orders. Prices will range from $80 to perhas mid $100s for their highest grade fabrics, I imagine. I am fairly certain you can order shirts only. Arnold Wong certainly didn't suggest otherwise to me, and I basically said I'd only be ordering shirts this time around. Jantzen's turnaround times have made it impractical for me to order from them for the time being.
Yes, you can order just shirts. I don't remember if there's a minimum order. I ordered just 3 last year in BH, and requested that one come as a test shirt before the other two. Regarding fabric, unless they've changed, as far as I knew, they only had one grade. I asked which were the "best" and was told that they're all the same quality. When I inquired as to the mill or brand of the fabric, I was just told "Italian" or something vague. Each shirt was $110. The shirtings online are $80 or so. I'm not sure if those are different from the ones on tour, but I distinctly remember every fabric on tour costing $110.
Chan always offers a special on one suiting fabric and one shirting fabric during their US trips. The price for shirts from their fabric on special has been between $78 and $80 per shirt. dan
Speaking of which, I just received the flyer for Chan's July US trip. The fabric specials for this trip are: Loro Piana Super 120s -- $910 for 2-pc suit 2-ply Egyptian cotton 100s -- $78 per shirt Two trips ago they had another Loro Piana 120s on special for $845/suit. There are some interesting patterns there, but I'm not convinced it's a very durable fabric. dan
i did not get the mailer...mmm. anyway what brand of fabric applies to this shirt offer. Its usually thomas mason..... anyone with exp. on the 120s suitings...im leary about numbers games with fabrics..because i have some that are labled 150s and wear great (brioni) but others at lower numbers but wear worse....
They didn't list a name for the shirting fabrics, but as you say, it's usually Thomas Mason. I have a suit made from the Loro Piana 120s. I get compliments on the material, but I don't think it's that durable (pills rather easily). I think a fair number of SF members ordered suits from that material, too. Perhaps they'll weigh in with their assessments. dan
Can some experienced chan customers comment on thier collars. I ordered a shirt on the web as a test prior to the july tour. This shirt is great. really. but the collar is just a tad small (no. 11 cuttaway) will they customize collar size and height or just use the stock 10 or so collars they list on the website.