Our common reader Andrew has contributed to many PS discussions over time about bespoke, and given priceless recommendation to readers on each fabric and tailors. So I requested him to rewind somewhat and describe his entire expertise from begin to end, with all the recommendation he may consider for different readers in the identical state of affairs.

By Andrew Borda.

I’ve been commissioning made-to-measure and bespoke tailoring since 2007. Throughout this era I went by means of three discernable phases within the kinds of tailors I used, made quite a lot of errors, and have now discovered a tailor and different makers that I’m very glad with.

I hope sharing my experiences and what I’ve discovered alongside the best way will be useful for different readers, whether or not they’re simply beginning in bespoke, are seasoned execs, or are maybe in search of a brand new tailor.

The primary part of my journey was MTM, which lasted for round 5 years. My decisions on this part had been primarily pushed by the need of dressing for the workplace (I run an funding agency primarily based in Zurich) and total it was very satisfying since I used to be lucky to discover a good MTM choice in Isaia that was price efficient and fulfilled what I then wanted from a tailor. 

This was adopted by my Neapolitan bespoke part, which lasted one other 5 years. This was much less satisfying, as I misplaced the reliability of my MTM expertise and not using a main  enchancment within the match, high quality or type of the garments I used to be sporting. 

The present part is my bespoke Caraceni part, which has been going since round 2017 and which is as soon as once more very satisfying, as I believe finest displays my imaginative and prescient of how I wish to current myself to the world. 

Tasteful grandmothers

I’ve been fascinated by garments since I used to be younger, which I believe should have been influenced by my grandmothers. Each had been elegant ladies and had been all the time properly dressed, and my maternal grandmother was very fascinated by ornamental arts. 

Contemplating not one of the males in my household had been notably fascinated by garments, and that rising up within the mid-west of the US I used to be removed from any bespoke tailor, I can solely guess that my curiosity in garments and artwork basically got here from observing my grandmothers.

Like many individuals, my first foray into tailoring was pushed by a necessity to purchase some fits that I may put on to the workplace for my new consulting job. I had owned a replica of Bernard Roetzel’s Gentleman for a minimum of 15 years at that time, however many of the makers listed had been both too costly for a latest graduate or impractical for me to go to, so I took to the web to determine the place I ought to get my new fits. 

There, I found the late oughties world of Type Discussion board and A Appropriate Wardrobe, each of which I learn religiously. I additionally began studying a brand new upstart weblog referred to as Everlasting Type simply because it was getting began, and I believe I’ve learn each article since then. 

MTM is usually the easiest way to go

My spouse is from the Puglia area of Italy, and as PS readers will know, many fairly sized cities in Italy have a minimum of one good unbiased menswear store. Luck would have it that Martina Franca, the city the place we went swimsuit buying, has two and there I began the primary bespoke part, which was really MTM. 

Ivano Chirulli, proprietor of the very good boutique Chirulli, stocked Isaia fits and Finamore shirts, each manufacturers that made the lower on Type Discussion board, which was in fact a vital standards for me. 

Right now, Isaia had not but expanded to its present extent and costs had been decrease. Benefiting from the arbitrage between Swiss salaries and Southern Italian “mates’ charges”, I ordered a blue and a gray single-breasted swimsuit and a few blue and white shirts, guided by Ivano’s good recommendation to start out with the fundamentals. 

Ivano used the usual Isaia and Finamore blocks, to which he made slight modifications primarily based on my measurements. Total, the match was good, the costs had been cheap and the orders had been delivered on time. Again then I didn’t have any plan or concept about constructing a bespoke wardrobe, and MTM fulfilled precisely what I wanted. 

To this present day, I nonetheless assume that for many prospects who don’t have quick access to a bespoke tailor, or who haven’t discovered one they’re proud of, MTM is a good choice.

Be cautious of globetrotting tailors

I caught with Isaia and Finamore MTM for round 5 years, ordering one new swimsuit a yr and some shirts. Regardless of my satisfaction, curiosity acquired the higher of me and I made a decision that I wanted to strive “actual” bespoke. 

A Appropriate Wardrobe was writing very positively about Napoli Su Misura (NSM) and contemplating the type appeared fairly much like my MTM fits (Neapolitan, however with some construction within the shoulders and never too brief or tight) I made a decision to offer it a strive the following time they did a trunk present close by. 

I’m not positive if NSM continues to be going, however for the good thing about readers who are usually not conversant in them, NSM was a bespoke Neapolitan outfit that was very fashionable on the boards within the early 2010s on the peak of the Neapolitan #menswear craze, and did trunk exhibits nearly anyplace conceivable. Their costs had been on the low finish of the spectrum of Neapolitan tailors, which contributed to their reputation. 

My relationship with NSM didn’t final lengthy, as I shortly acquired pissed off by high quality management points (eg trousers with stitching that got here undone) and often delayed supply instances. That is the supply of certainly one of my main classes in bespoke, which is common hesitance to make use of tailors who journey often. 

I should not have an issue with travelling tailors and trunk exhibits per se and a few massive homes have been doing it efficiently for many years. However for this to work I consider that the tailor’s “machine” must be well-oiled. 

In my restricted expertise, in smaller homes the place there is no such thing as a division between front-of-house and cutters, the extra time the proprietor/cutter spends exterior of the workshop, the larger scope there may be for high quality management issues and delayed orders. 

Consequently, I might advise anybody who’s contemplating utilizing a travelling tailor to take a while to know how a lot expertise they’ve with abroad trunk exhibits and the way they guarantee high quality and supply.

You have to just like the tailor’s type

Following my unsatisfactory expertise with NSM, I jumped to Solito. I had learn a optimistic overview on PS they usually got here often to London, the place I used to be then residing. 

Initially, Luigi Solito’s father Gennaro was additionally travelling to London for trunk exhibits and they’re each beautiful folks. I used to be instantly reassured by their expertise, and I fortunately didn’t have any high quality management points or delays.

Nonetheless, my expertise was unsatisfactory for causes that had been solely of my very own making. On the spectrum of Neapolitan tailoring, Solito’s jacket (particularly Luigi’s) tends to be much less structured, shorter and tighter than tailors like Ciardi or Ciro Zizolfi. This type was not appropriate with my imaginative and prescient for myself and the way I needed to decorate, and I continuously felt like I used to be sporting anyone else’s garments. 

This isn’t in any respect Solito’s fault; somewhat, it was my mistake in selecting the improper tailor. This leads me to my second major lesson of bespoke, which isn’t to ask a tailor to deviate from their home type. Tailors are good at making their home type as a result of they do it on a regular basis, and often wrestle to do something totally different. 

Subsequently when selecting a tailor, it is necessary that the client has a transparent image of the type they need for themselves and chooses a tailor who’s appropriate with that type. For instance, if you wish to gown like an Italian industrialist, go to a tailor in Rome or Milan that has that clientele. A tailor in Naples or London will not often reach replicating one thing that’s not their home type, even when they comply with strive.

Ferdinando Caraceni clears the low bar

After 5 years of irritating bespoke experiences, I used to be contemplating going again to MTM as I continued to put on my Isaia fits even after I bought or gifted what I ordered from NSM and Solito. Earlier than doing so, I made a decision to offer bespoke one final strive. 

I had began to journey to Milan often for enterprise and I made a decision to make an appointment at Ferdinando Caraceni. As I commented in PS’s latest overview of Tommy & Giulio Caraceni, I’ve all the time been most interested in Central Italian tailoring, of which Ferdinando Caraceni was an offshoot. 

(For these which can be , Simon has written on the A Caraceni article concerning the historical past of the varied Caracenis.) 

Regardless of being my choice all alongside, I didn’t go to the Caracenis earlier as a result of I not often travelled to Milan or Rome, none of them do common trunk exhibits, and since I couldn’t afford them.

I made a decision to shoot straight down the center of the golf green with my first order, choosing two basic enterprise fits: a navy herringbone DB and a medium-grey birdseye SB. I wanted them for the workplace and I figured that, contemplating their clientele, if Nicoletta Caraceni couldn’t do these nicely there was no hope of prolonging our relationship. 

From the primary becoming onwards, it was clear that the tailoring stars had lastly aligned, which for me is a mix of: a method that matches how I needed to look in my thoughts’s eye, comfort, dependable high quality, and on-time supply. It feels like a really low bar to clear, however as Simon can attest, primarily tailors don’t obtain even this seemingly low threshold. 

Relationship; comfort; high quality

Nicoletta sadly determined to shut on the finish of 2023, and I discovered myself as soon as once more searching for a tailor. I requested her for recommendation on the place to go, and the one title she instantly recommended Tommy & Giulio Caraceni in Rome. As luck would have it, I began to go to Rome often, so going there additionally labored logistically. 

I received’t write extensively on my expertise with Tommy & Giulio as a result of it was extensively coated by Simon in an article final yr, however I’ll summarise by saying that my expertise with them has been much more optimistic than Ferdinando Caraceni. The components I commented on above are all fulfilled, however on prime of this I desire T&G’s home type (somewhat longer and fewer boxy than Ferdinando) and I like the truth that Andrea Caraceni is near my age and hopefully has a few years forward of him in working the enterprise. 

This present part of my bespoke expertise seems like one that may final for a few years, and I actually hope it does as a result of I’m very glad and don’t have the vitality to start out constructing a relationship with a brand new tailor. 

This leads me to my remaining two classes from my bespoke journey. The primary is that as I develop into extra skilled, components corresponding to my relationship with the tailor, comfort, and high quality management matter as a lot to me as type. 

This could not come as a shock to common PS readers, as Simon has written equally over the previous couple of years. I’m a 44-year previous enterprise proprietor with three younger youngsters, so time is a really valuable commodity. (The identical age and place as Simon in truth, although his youngsters are older.) 

For any relationship with a tailor to work, they need to be straightforward for me to go to and commissions must be delivered on-time with out issues. This was a significant motive for me to cease patronising tailors prior to now and it’s much more vital to me now. Thankfully, Tommy & Giulio Caraceni fulfill these standards nicely. 

Bespoke requires a giant funding of time

The ultimate lesson is that constructing a relationship with a bespoke tailor is a major funding of time and vitality if you wish to get one of the best outcomes. 

At their finest, a tailor is stylist for males along with a specialised artisan who cuts and sews garments. To offer one of the best recommendation and information the client to make the correct decisions, she or he wants to know the shoppers’ life, work, preferences, type and finally tradition. 

This requires that the client invests time in speaking to and constructing a relationship with the tailor over a protracted time frame. If a buyer isn’t keen to make that funding or seems to be at a fee as a one-off, I might advise that they assume twice about whether or not it is sensible to go bespoke and to contemplate MTM as a substitute, which is a considerably extra transactional buy.

I’ve intentionally targeted right here on my expertise in every of these phases of my bespoke journey, what has and hasn’t gone nicely, and classes discovered somewhat than components of fashion. Type has been extensively written about in my reader profile and different articles on PS. I get pleasure from replying to feedback and check out to take action promptly, so if readers have questions on type or on anything, I’m completely happy to reply them.