Alterations for your suits and clothes

Happy with your alterations? If so then ignore. But if you have yet to find consistent success in this area then read on. Actually you should read on just in case your not getting as good a service as you thought.

• What should you expect to pay?
• What alterations are less/more expensive?
• What should the turn around times be?
• What questions to ask?
• What should your expectation of service be?

What should you expect to pay?
Alteration charges will vary from tailor to tailor and areas of city. But generally a simple alteration would set you back £15 - £30 ($24 - $48). Larger work or multiple alterations like a total recut will be from £50 - £300 ($80 - $480).


Less expensive alterations:

• Trouser length
• Sleeve length
• Waist in or out
• Replace buttons
• Cut buttonholes
• Slight lining repair
• Repairing seam rip
• Pocket repair
• Take in or let out centre back seam

More expensive alterations

• Jacket waist in or out
• Jacket seat in or out
• Jacket length (can only shorten)
• Complete re-lining change
• Narrowing sleeve barrels
• New crotch piece
• Altering collars and lapels
• Taking in point to point (shoulder width - can't let out)
• Invisible mending - this is specialist repairers that use a microscope to mend nearly impossible holes. Well worth but whilst it says invisible be prepared to still see something slightly where the hole or rip was.

Turn Around times
Again this slightly depends on the quality but I should expect a week. If they are quick but not very good then the speed of work means nothing. Then again if they are great but take a month then you may wish to look elsewhere. So decide your priority and maybe accept you may need to sacrifice something else, from the options of speed, cost, quality. If you can find one that is great in all 3 then use them and do the right thing and mention their name on to friends and colleagues to increase business. Then let them know this as feedback is always appreciated for they may not know that they are liked, as people are not always in a habit of letting you know, and so dip in one of those 3 key areas.


What questions you should ask?

• Do you have any damage guarantees? - this is important but hard to find for if a shop will guarantee the cost if damaged of an item it means they are probably very good and high quality as if their not they will be out of business very quickly. 
• Do you do alterations here or or somewhere else? - some places actually use other larger companies to do apt heir alterations but most don't. This is an issue if it gets damaged at that other place and you are stuck with a damaged garment.
• How long have you been here? - a shop that has been around for 20 plus years has survived recessions and competition so is probably pretty good. Doesn't mean don't give young start up companies your work but it is a good indicator of quality (not always though).
• 
  

What should be your expectation?
You should be getting polite, efficient and reasonably priced work. But do remember, you get what you pay for so don't expect high quality or speed if the cost is very low. Minimum communication of any extra costs to be confirmed before work is done and receipts provided. Also work must be of a good standard so don't accept bad work unless the tailor made you aware that the repairs would be mostly visible. All good tailors will manage your expectations so this would be rare and silly of them if they led you to believe they are magicians on things that are far too damaged.
Delivery service may be provided but will cost. Expect discount of you do many items. It may be worth you and some colleagues pooling, once one of you has found a good place, and getting work down at the same time. Most of these places do dry cleaning too so you will be using them more then just every time a popped button happens.


Give me your feedback once you have found somewhere good so I can pass it on to other readers in your area.




Tailor Dan

What are the Do's & Dont's of Men's clothing? part 1

There are certain taboo practices you shouldn't do when dressing well. Some are golden rules never to break and others guide lines that can be bent. The best dressed men of the world do break the rules from time to time as challenging our concepts of style creates some wonderful and daring looks and always feel free to do so but at your own peril. You may end up with a disastrous look that people may be too kind to tell you doesn't work.

So treat these rules as daring jokes. Saying some in the right crowd at the right time may get a reaction that will make you a legend. Others will get you sacked.



Wearing tan shoes with navy:

This is a faux pas that has been around for as long as I can remember and has remained one of the worst dress habits to form. I have rarely seen this work as the clash of tan or light brown is not a colour that contrasts well with blue. The only time it works is with jeans. But this depends on the shoe style and depth of colour. Also the darker the jean the more the mix might clash. And also denim is a casual outfit and forgives more than a suit might.














If you are to wear a brown shoe with navy then dark browns, burgundy's or ox blood colours will work great as the photo below will show. It's not a perfect match for me but looks much better than the previous three pictures. If you want to play safe then stay wearing black when you don your navy suits.





Bright Yellow ties with classic suit colours:

This look is a very tough one to pull off. There are some great yellow ties and shirts to match it up but normally all have mixtures of blues, reds and pastels with patterns in them. And they can work very well. In fact I saw a chap this morning sporting a great mix of a yellow with navy dot against a white shirt, navy suit and a navy pocket handkerchief, but rarely do they work so well and most of the ones I see are too bold. Sunflower yellow is such a bold colour that it blazes out and can overpower a look. Steer clear of these to be safe unless you really know your colours and mix them well.





Match your belt and shoes:

If you are wearing black shoes you must wear a black belt. Same with brown or tan. This is a school boy error which most have been guilty of. Nobody will stare and point if you do it but better to purchase a good belt in each colour or a reversible if you must. These though have been know to break sooner than normal belts as they have a swivel action and can be over used. Go out and purchase one of each or ask your clothier, if you have one, to provide you with them for you.



Belt buckles

Casual dress can be much more forgiving when attempting fashionable belt buckles day to day. But in business avoid the habit of wearing big or weird designer ones. A simple basic dress buckle which is not a sheet of metal with a brand name on it works perfectly and goes with every look. For casual you can be a bit daring but if you are unsure what will work ask a professional. Ben better send me a picture of the belt and will help advise before you buy.







Dress well


Tailor Dan

How to Get the Best Out of Your Suits?

What I want to achieve here is increasing the value of your basic wardrobe. I can do that by advising you on how to get better life out of your suits and better look from their appearance. And two things will affect this; first, the amount of suits you own and the level of quality you invest in concerning who makes it and how and what from. 

There is only one qualification....How much are you ready to spend?

I will state below what to do for whether spending from £1000 per year and above or under £1000 per year. I'll also add a bit for those real bargain hunters who have no cash at present but do need to dress well for work or just for fun




£1000 - £10,000 per year and beyond
You should be spending the lower end of this on made to measure as you should purchase more to build up your wardrobe if you are restricted to the lower end of this budget. In the previous post I explain more about rotation and why a good amount of suits is much better than 1 or 2 expensive ones. But if your rotation is over 10 suits then spending £3000 plus is a must to experience try tailoring and cloth at its best if you have not done so already.

Building up to 10 suits I would recommend buying 2 or 3 per year for around £1500 to £3000 so you can have some real elegance and still a well tailored experience. After 4 or 5 years you will no longer be buying suits or casual outfits for necesscity as you should have a good rotation to last a long while but now you can buy all the things you want but weren't in a position to justify before more essential items. Such items like casual suits for summer or winter, great tweed and check 3 pieces for going to the races in, an extra DJ for back up, tropical suit weights for your business trips to Asia or the Middle East, and so on.






Up to £1000
There are some lower end made to measure places that do a suit or casual outfit for less then £500 but from all the experiences I've heard from clients and businessman around London the consistency is way below par. Needless to say most of these will be garments made from block cuts in a far east factory so quality will vary depending on the measurements taken when ordering.

Above £500 you will find a much better product with more bells and whistles as to extras and maybe even some handwork here and there. Many places and visiting tailors will sell the word bespoke at prices under £500 but if that is possible the only place I have ever seen something close is the far east where commodities is a little cheaper but labour is hugely discounted so don't believe it.

If you think handmade when you hear the word bespoke then you are in agreement with Savile Row and most respectable tailors. But some will use the word with little care or tact. They could be describing a simple made to measure or, if they are dishonest, be giving you an adjusted off the peg, but I have as yet never seen a fully bespoke garnment made by a tailor in London or even Europe and America for less than £1500.

The fact is the word 'Bespoke' is a grey area in the garment making world. In 2008 the Advertising Standards Authority in Britain ruled that it was ok to call a suit that was entirely cut and sewn by machine as long as too some measurements were taken and made to order. In fact because of this ruling many items which in the past would have been called made to measure (cut and adjusted from a block pattern) are now called bespoke with no changes between the two.

So beware the description and ask these questions to determine made to measure, semi-bespoke and bespoke and pay to your budget:

Is the garment hand cut? Yes, Semi or full Bespoke. No, Off the Peg or Made to Measure.

Is the garment completely handmade? Yes, full Bespoke. No, Off Peg, M2M or Semi-Bespoke.

Is the cut made from a block pattern? Yes, Off Peg or M2M. No, Semi or Full Bespoke.

How long does the suit take to make? Under 20 man hours, Off Peg. 20-40 hours M2M. 40-60 hours, Semi-Bespoke. 60+ Full Bespoke.
These are rough averages as most establishments will tell you in weeks the delivery estimate but this is actual man hours by "cutters and master tailors". Also resulting time in far east is either due to very cheap and hard working labour force meaning you can churn out a completely handmade suit in just 4 days to 2 weeks or they lie. Personally, I don't know as some tailors are very reputable and others are just guys started up yesterday woth a shop front but will one day do my best to find out.

£200 and under
If you are only able to be in his group to begin your professional career then either do some hard searching in Charity shops (some of my greatest buys have come from these) or do some shopping around for fit and find a shop whose cut you like then buy as many as you can reasonably afford. But beware, high street shops are dictated by fashion so cut and style can change rapidly so that suit that fit last year may have changed completely to something new in design.

This is a fellow blogger that has a great blog, An Affordable Wardrobe, about finding fantastic quality garmenst in thrift stores in the states.

 Tailor Dan

The Key to Long Life - How to make your clothing last?

There is a reason the best dressed men of the world look great in their garments and why it lasts so long. They all started out with just one suit, just like the rest of us, but they invested in quanitity, quality and smartly by going to the right tailors.

Having a good rotation is the biggest factor in suits that last well and look great for the duration. This is at the minimum 5 suits of medium weight wool plus two casual outfits to cover the basics and get 3 to 5 years from your wardrobe before it starts deteriorating.

Most chaps sadly have to little in their wardrobe and get a false belief of economy from their apparel buying. Having two suits that cost £300 each and last only a year is a terrible value to your wallet and look. For one they never look very good as they will be off the peg and fit 5% of the population great, 15% just ok and the rest of us just look plain shabby. That's 80% bad fit and most of us fall into that category. So better to fork out a bit more a year and get to 5 suits quickly then string out and pay £600 a year for two suits that look bad. If you paid £50 a suit less and bought 5 suits straight away it would only cost you £1250 but last you probably 3 years and look better for most of that. Weigh that against £600 per year to buy essentially the same two suits that look worn after 10 months. In three years you would have spent £1800. You do the math. Not a good deal is it?

Better still, buy some tailored outfits which will fit gloriously (as long as you have a good tailor or clothier), help with your appearance when making deals, improve your chances of getting that promotion at work and last longer due to better construction and quality of cloth. Tailored in the city starts at £500 (for good quality and good service) and will last side by side against an off the peg a good 6 months to a year. Also you look and feel like those chaps you admire around town.

Now with tailored you may be paying more per year but you will get that value of still having your suits in your wardrobe 5 years later when you rotate them whilst building to your minimum of 5 suits.

Buying bespoke is a no brainier for fit, feel and quality. There is nothing like the feeling of a handmade garment. It's the same feeling of travelling first class on a great airline or having the box seats at the theatre or football game. But more into handmade in later posts. These items are a must for every high level businessman. But if you are just starting out and cannot afford to spend £2400 per suit om a 5 suit rotation then het semi-bespoke or lower as described above.  

I will go into maintaining your wardrobe with some simple care advice on a separate post but the main key is "more is definitely better" and if you're going to do it right, do it tailored. 

Tailor Dan