I'm in the hunt for a couple good quality custom made suits. I'm interested in making them online or via overseas tailors travelling to Melbourne.
Looking for reasonable quality suits using materials such as quality wool/ cotton, which can be worn daily. Approx. Budget would be 2 suits for ~$1000, but willing to pay more for decent quality.
Does anyone have any good recommendations of websites? or upcoming tailor roadshows (from Thailand/ Vietnam etc).
Many thanks!
Oh right. awesome. Any specific section? Finance? Classifed? Other?
Check out Institchu, they do custom suits at a reasonable price. Price varies with cut and fabric.
Personally I've ordered 3 suits from them and think they are much better value than off the shelf. Also, on their home page they have a range of deals, its always worthwhile trying to catch a deal with a second pair of pants.
Yeh, they came up on the first page of google searches when looking for custom suits. Will research them a bit more. Cheers.
No, No, No, No - Absolutely not. I can't fault them for their customer service, but the product me and a few others received for a private event were horrendous. Here's a breakdown of our experience:
1. The initial measurements were off for 2 out of 3 suits ordered
My "custom" jacket was off by a few CM in the width, meaning I couldn't button up the jacket without significant creases showing up
One of the guest's shirt, jacket AND vest were off - Again very obvious when he tried the garments on. It was at this point that we referred to an alternative professional tailor for advice and, as he was quick to point out due to the folds of fabric and creasing, the vest and jacket were imbalanced post-production.
One of the guest's shirt made him look so stiff, you might've mistaken him as a human paper cutout
2. They misplaced the photo they initially took of me with someone else - I flagged this across to them in the case notes but it was never acknowledged
3. Upon picking up one of the suits, the guests met up with a different consultant from our initial specialist, who said the following when he tried his garments on:
Did you get measured here?
And you know what's worse? Because we deferred to the experience and knowledge of these so called professionals, we accepted their praises and complements when we tried the suits on, despite the obvious creases, rigid body postures we had to adopt and, to some degree, sucking in some gut to even get pieces on. They didn't even bother to raise any concerns that the suits needed serious adjustments, as they all had faults.
Oh right, sounds like a bad experience with them. Did you let them know post event to see if they could help you out?
Thanks for sharing.
have you tried MJ Bale? they are very good quality suits and value for money when on sale.
They have a store in the city. Will go in for a look. Cheers.
Try oscar hunt, suit shop, tailors mark, germanicos, sarti or thegwyn.
Tailors are like barbers/hairdressers, the best ones come at a price, but you might be able to find one that is suitable for you at a good price.
Whatever you do, find one that has a fitting session because it's the guy that made the measurement and perform the fitting process that will make/break the suit.
The fitting session is important to make any final adjustments.
Good luck!
Thanks! Will check out those places.
is the fitting session the first session? or are you referring to having minimum two sessions for final adjustments etc?
Most overseas travelling tailors would only offer one i imagine.
Each tailor works differently.
I probably won't recommend a "fly in/fly out tailor" as they fly into Sydney/Melbourne to do their measurement and i think the suit comes in delivered to you (without a fitting or adjustment process). I might be wrong though.
The whole process (ideally) is basically:
1. You choose the fabric, including type (semi-wool, pure wool, etc) and colour
2. If you know what style you want, then it's easy. If not, you need to decide things like 1/2/3 buttons, lapel, pockets. If you don't know what you want, I suggest finding a photo of a suit that you like and take it with you to show them
3. You will get measured - this is not a fitting
4. Suit is then produced somewhere in the world (nowadays most places have them done in Asia)
5. You come in for a fitting, where they will note what adjustments will be needed. If the suit is actually made in Australia (which will cost $$$), then the tailor may ask you to come in for a fitting when the suit is half done (i.e. everything is cut and parts of the fabric have been sewn together, but it hasn't been finished yet)
6. Final adjustments are made
7. You come in to the shop and try on the completed suit. If you still don't like parts of it, some shop may be able to do further adjustments
Note that you need to be realistic, where most men are not actually models, so what you see looks good on someone may not apply to you (due to body shape, height, etc). The best tailors are the ones that can actually recommend what looks good on you (similar to a hairdresser recommending a new hairstyle)
Legend. Thanks for the in depth response.
I think one of my biggest factors is choosing materials. I'm not after the lambo/ porsche of materials, but not poly/ bonded stuff that will look bad very quickly.
Any good recommendations on what material to look out for? What questions to ask?
This will be for day-to-day use, and pants will be worn regularly to work (couple times a week). Suit jacket less often.
Choosing materials are actually quite easy, because it comes down to your personal taste.
There are materials that cost a lot and there are those that are quite reasonable.
Personally, I don't go for any fabric with obvious stripe or checker patterns (not a fan and i prefer to have the patterns on my shirt rather than my suit).
Some fabric will have different weaves (e.g. herringbone, twill etc)
from experience, anything that is only wool will be harder to wash (i.e. dry clean), so ask whether u can put them in the washing machine.
if u use the pants separately, it may be worthed to get extra pants made (i.e. 1 jacket, 2/3 pants)
@aussie bargain: thanks! Definitely going to go with things without obvious stripes or patterns. I like classic suits with nothing too stand out.
In terms of materials..i meant more the fabric. Like I know some shops that sell 100% marino wool, but one suit being $300 and another being $10000…both 100% marino wool by the same store/brand and same look. Just can't get my head around some of that.
EDIT: After posting this, i found a good article on what i meant. Thought i'd share if anyone is coming back to this thread for future reference:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-does-super-100s-mens-sui…
Joe Button :)
Will have a look. Thanks
I can recommend Montagio Custom Tailoring - they're in the city. Soem of the best suits I've seen!
Looks like it's in Sydney. Thanks anyways :)
I will say that I’ve been very happy with the travelling tailor services of Crown Tailors from Bangkok, Thailand and I’ve sent about 7 friends down their road. What we’ve all been impressed is the communication, as well as the after sales service. One of my mates needed some alterations and they happily let him do it with his usual seamstress locally and Crown credited the amount to my mate. Well done on that end. Ive also done some ‘online’ orders with them just for shirts, and all turned out great too!
They were in town on an Australia tour recently yeh?
It could be. I have workd with them mostly through online shopping. I know lot of ppl that go to thailand for business or sports event and all of them happen to have shopped at Crown, which i found impressive!
check the Age newspapers, they always have ads for visiting tailors