How to choose a Tailor
How to choose a Tailor
Picking out a tailor used to be simple; you either went with the tailor who had been servicing your father or you headed to the experienced suit salesman who would get the right introduction. Nowadays regrettably, the job is more arduous - expert tailors are tough to come by, and the ordinary menswear salesman does not hold the knowledge to guide you in the proper direction. In this article, I outfit you with the tools to determine a good men’s tailor whose services can transform you and your clothing.
The below steps are in order of action to be taken when searching for a tailor, and they are intended to be applied in concurrence with each other. The 1st point is the most crucial, and shouldn’t be passed over.
1. Educate Yourself
Prior to you talking with a tailor or seamstress, you want to possess a grounding in the fundamentals of men’s style. The most arduous thing for most men to do is to find a couple of hrs to sit and learn about suits, shirts, and other menswear; yet most gentlemen find once they begin studying the material they become captivated. Learning about the intricacies of quality menswear you begin noting men’s clothing particulars you never considered before; you pay attention to the fit of suit jackets, working sleeve buttonholes, and the break along a pair of pants.
Stepping into the universe of tailoring, you will realise just how crucial your clothing is in broadcasting messages about who you are. Most folks you go past daily know you solely by the clothing you have on; your appearance is the only way they can make any sense of who you are and what you do in this world. The suit, shirt, and tie combination you put on in the morning covers up ninety percent of your body, and before you speak this garment combination declares who you are and indicates to other people whether or not you merit attention.
To build a firm base in the fundamentals of men’s style, I recommend reading any book by Alan Flusser, Nicholas Antongiavanni’s “The Suit”, or Bernhard Roetzel’s “Gentleman”. An extraordinary internet resource is A Tailored Suit’s Style Guide, a trove of men’s style articles. Once you have a foundation, you ought then to then interact with experienced people at places like Style Forum, an internet community of men’s clothing partisans. When you find you can talk the tongue of bespoke menswear, you’re ready to begin questioning tailors.
2. Tailor Recommendations
Be heedful here - most gentlemen are not discriminating in picking out their tailor, and remain with their current tailor just because they are oblivious of a better alternative. Aggregated with the reality most men do not understand what proper fit is, it’s very possible that a tailor who gets high praise only does so because of the cluelessness of his patrons. Don’t presume since somebody addresses themselves as a tailor or seamstress that they know anything about men’s style or can evaluate proper fit.
Conduct a critical look at your acquaintances - who amongst them is a natty dresser? These are the folks you would like to ask for tailor recommendations. You’ll be able to widen your search by asking women also, only be careful. The manner garments fit on an adult male vs. the way they should fit on a woman are very different. A skilled woman’s tailor doesn’t necessarily possess the correct skills to tailor men’s clothing.
3. A Tailor’s Communication Skills - does this tailor listen and understand you?
You now have a list of tailors - now you should start speaking with them. You will be able to do this over the telephone or e-mail; your goal is to determine if this is a individual you are able to work with. Do they have superior communication skills? Do they really listen to you, or are they attempting to drive in a direction you know you do not need to go down? Do they have time to speak, or are they in a hurry? To be fair, you should not hold the last one against a tailor if you call up their workplace out of the blue - however any master tailor ought to be willing to put aside twenty minutes to talk with a prospective customer at a determined time within a few days of phoning.
You would like to work with a tailor whom you feel confident in - this decision is very personal and ought to be based off the tailor’s knowledge and communication skills - ideally you encounter a tailor with solid skills in both arenas. Regrettably, a combination of the 2 in a tailor is uncommon except in bigger urban centers. You could find a very skilled tailor, but if he doesn’t understand you or the tailor decides he should ignore your wants and execute what he believes is correct, both you and the tailor are going to be frustrated. Communicating is critical, and ensuring that both sides clearly understand and respect one another is important to a long term partnership.
4. When is the Tailor satisfied?
There’s one answer here; the tailor shouldn’t be content until you’re satisfied. This does not imply that a accomplished tailor or seamstress always gives you what you wish or doesn’t make errors - nay, a tailor really worth retaining is one who learns what your idea of the ideal fit is and perpetually works to accomplish this.
5. Does the Tailor understand style? Does the tailor understand timeless fashion?
I brought this up earlier, but don’t presume a tailor or seamstress understands classic men’s style. While a lot of accomplished tailors are experts at constructing anything you are able to conceive of, their eye for what colour material or style of jacket suits a man is oftentimes inconsistent with reality. Culture differences could also play a factor here, because a lot of the best tailors nowadays are native Chinese, Thai, or Indian - what worked for tailors in Mumbai in 1970 might not be practical nowadays. With your base in classic men’s style (see point 1), you ought to be able to figure out quickly if the tailor possess an eye for timeless fashion.
Picking out a tailor used to be simple; you either went with the tailor who had been servicing your father or you headed to the experienced suit salesman who would get the right introduction. Nowadays regrettably, the job is more arduous - expert tailors are tough to come by, and the ordinary menswear salesman does not hold the knowledge to guide you in the proper direction. In this article, I outfit you with the tools to determine a good men’s tailor whose services can transform you and your clothing.
The below steps are in order of action to be taken when searching for a tailor, and they are intended to be applied in concurrence with each other. The 1st point is the most crucial, and shouldn’t be passed over.
1. Educate Yourself
Prior to you talking with a tailor or seamstress, you want to possess a grounding in the fundamentals of men’s style. The most arduous thing for most men to do is to find a couple of hrs to sit and learn about suits, shirts, and other menswear; yet most gentlemen find once they begin studying the material they become captivated. Learning about the intricacies of quality menswear you begin noting men’s clothing particulars you never considered before; you pay attention to the fit of suit jackets, working sleeve buttonholes, and the break along a pair of pants.
Stepping into the universe of tailoring, you will realise just how crucial your clothing is in broadcasting messages about who you are. Most folks you go past daily know you solely by the clothing you have on; your appearance is the only way they can make any sense of who you are and what you do in this world. The suit, shirt, and tie combination you put on in the morning covers up ninety percent of your body, and before you speak this garment combination declares who you are and indicates to other people whether or not you merit attention.
To build a firm base in the fundamentals of men’s style, I recommend reading any book by Alan Flusser, Nicholas Antongiavanni’s “The Suit”, or Bernhard Roetzel’s “Gentleman”. An extraordinary internet resource is A Tailored Suit’s Style Guide, a trove of men’s style articles. Once you have a foundation, you ought then to then interact with experienced people at places like Style Forum, an internet community of men’s clothing partisans. When you find you can talk the tongue of bespoke menswear, you’re ready to begin questioning tailors.
2. Tailor Recommendations
Be heedful here - most gentlemen are not discriminating in picking out their tailor, and remain with their current tailor just because they are oblivious of a better alternative. Aggregated with the reality most men do not understand what proper fit is, it’s very possible that a tailor who gets high praise only does so because of the cluelessness of his patrons. Don’t presume since somebody addresses themselves as a tailor or seamstress that they know anything about men’s style or can evaluate proper fit.
Conduct a critical look at your acquaintances - who amongst them is a natty dresser? These are the folks you would like to ask for tailor recommendations. You’ll be able to widen your search by asking women also, only be careful. The manner garments fit on an adult male vs. the way they should fit on a woman are very different. A skilled woman’s tailor doesn’t necessarily possess the correct skills to tailor men’s clothing.
3. A Tailor’s Communication Skills - does this tailor listen and understand you?
You now have a list of tailors - now you should start speaking with them. You will be able to do this over the telephone or e-mail; your goal is to determine if this is a individual you are able to work with. Do they have superior communication skills? Do they really listen to you, or are they attempting to drive in a direction you know you do not need to go down? Do they have time to speak, or are they in a hurry? To be fair, you should not hold the last one against a tailor if you call up their workplace out of the blue - however any master tailor ought to be willing to put aside twenty minutes to talk with a prospective customer at a determined time within a few days of phoning.
You would like to work with a tailor whom you feel confident in - this decision is very personal and ought to be based off the tailor’s knowledge and communication skills - ideally you encounter a tailor with solid skills in both arenas. Regrettably, a combination of the 2 in a tailor is uncommon except in bigger urban centers. You could find a very skilled tailor, but if he doesn’t understand you or the tailor decides he should ignore your wants and execute what he believes is correct, both you and the tailor are going to be frustrated. Communicating is critical, and ensuring that both sides clearly understand and respect one another is important to a long term partnership.
4. When is the Tailor satisfied?
There’s one answer here; the tailor shouldn’t be content until you’re satisfied. This does not imply that a accomplished tailor or seamstress always gives you what you wish or doesn’t make errors - nay, a tailor really worth retaining is one who learns what your idea of the ideal fit is and perpetually works to accomplish this.
5. Does the Tailor understand style? Does the tailor understand timeless fashion? I brought this up earlier, but don’t presume a tailor or seamstress understands classic men’s style. While a lot of accomplished tailors are experts at constructing anything you are able to conceive of, their eye for what colour material or style of jacket suits a man is oftentimes inconsistent with reality. Culture differences could also play a factor here, because a lot of the best tailors nowadays are native Chinese, Thai, or Indian - what worked for tailors in Mumbai in 1970 might not be practical nowadays. With your base in classic men’s style (see point 1), you ought to be able to figure out quickly if the tailor possess an eye for timeless fashion.
6. Samples of the Tailor’s work - Can the tailor present you his custom suits and tailored shirts?
Pictures, example pieces, alteration miracles - you’re seeking samplings of their work that validates the tailor’s claims of greatness. If the overall garment appears fine, spend a couple of minutes analyzing the details - does the stitching look firm and neat, is the build and silhouette something you want in your clothing. Be weary of a tailor who does not have anything to display or pleased clients to refer you to.
Pictures, example pieces, alteration miracles - you’re seeking samplings of their work that validates the tailor’s claims of greatness. If the overall garment appears fine, spend a couple of minutes analyzing the details - does the stitching look firm and neat, is the build and silhouette something you want in your clothing. Be weary of a tailor who does not have anything to display or pleased clients to refer you to.
7. Tailoring turnaround times? Is the tailor accessible?
A lot of the better tailors out there are really active folks. They accept more work than they can handle, and alas wait times of more than a month for a expert tailor’s time are not unheard of. Ideally you want a tailor who can attend to your wants quickly, particularly when you call for a quick fix before an crucial appointment. Be direct about your needs here, as that most tailors will accommodate emergencies aware it creates loyalty and good will.
Notice I did not bring up cost when picking out a tailor - this is the least significant factor and should be a small consideration even for those tight on money. You need to find a good tailor who can assist you to realize your vision of the perfect tailored fit. Saving 20 bucks on a cheaper tailor and not getting what you desire is a waste of money - spend a bit more and getting precisely what you envisioned by employing the skills of a master tailor - it’s always worth itA lot of the better tailors out there are really active folks. They accept more work than they can handle, and alas wait times of more than a month for a expert tailor’s time are not unheard of. Ideally you want a tailor who can attend to your wants quickly, particularly when you call for a quick fix before an crucial appointment. Be direct about your needs here, as that most tailors will accommodate emergencies aware it creates loyalty and good will.
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