The London Lounge

Gentlemen/Forum Members
What are your thoughts on Alan Flusser custom tailoring?
Appreciate all your feedback and insight.

Nik

IMHO: overpriced. You would be paying a surplus for the "built in" tutorial and not really for the craft in the garments. As a LL fellow member I´m sure that you won´t be needing the former but will be missing the latter.

I was a customer, and I recommend them.

I would try to work with Flusser. He works with the customers. There is no question that he has a great "eye" and sense of style.

As for price, Alan Flusser is not cheap, but he is in line with similar makers. Unfortunately, all of the similar makers are expensive in the prime parts of midtown. If you are looking for a cut rate tailor working out of a rundown building in a questionable part of town, this is not the place.

I would give them a try.

If you have any questions, please send a private message, and we can chat over the phone.

Good luck.

The issue will be who is doing the tailoring. The Flusser tailors have come and gone for various reasons, I believe. Alan is a talent but not a tailor. Consistent quality comes from having a top talent tailor who builds/maintains/trains a top team.

Doug wrote:The issue will be who is doing the tailoring. The Flusser tailors have come and gone for various reasons, I believe. Alan is a talent but not a tailor. Consistent quality comes from having a top talent tailor who builds/maintains/trains a top team.

Tailors come and go at top clothiers for any number of reasons. Some want to open their own shop. Some get a better offer down the street. Some get restless. And some have an unstable work history.

I think that the "man whose name is on the door" means something.

Flusser has had excellent tailors through the years. He would get the best available talent from the limited pool of workers. I believe that Raphael once worked for him. Phillip Ferrante worked with him at Saks. When Flusser left Saks, Phillip stayed-on and had his own bespoke operation at the main Saks store. Therefore, I cannot imagine Flusser having anyone but experienced, excellent tailors.

I agree with Mr. Seitelman's high opinion of Alan Flusser and can also confirm his comments about Raphael and Phillip Ferrante. Alan's name on the door matters and he is much more than a name on the door. That in itself is not sufficient, however. Most of the soul of the bespoke business is the people who make things. Men like Raphael and Phillip are very, very rare. Their talents are not easily replaced commodities, as the very many comments on this site and others about the aging generation of great artisans attest.

The leader of a bespoke business must attract and manage a team and maintain consistency even as, as Mr. Seitelman notes, people may come and go. Even if the proprietor is a tailor/cutter, he still needs other talented tailors to consistently produce top quality. Over a long business life there will be ups and downs. What I am suggesting is that one should ask questions about who is doing the cutting and making, their experience, and how long they have worked together as a team. These are especially important questions when the leader is not a tailor or cutter. I'm sure Alan would welcome such a discussion.

What distinguishes London--and I believe Italy, though I have not been a customer of Italian tailors--is the rich learning environment that exists where there is a larger community of professionals at the top of their trade. Talented people realize more of their potential in such environments, whether the profession is tailoring, law, medicine, architecture, etc. There has apparently been an upswing of young people's interest in entering the bespoke tailoring business in London, which is a good portent. In the US, it's harder.