Lead Times

[Man at C&A]

An email from my tailors asking me to book for a 2nd basted fitting of the Brora 646 has made me think about how long it's been since I left the cloth with them. And how long to go before I'm wearing the finished coat. The house I use advise a start to finish time of 14 weeks, but recent experiences indicated several more weeks can be added to this particularly in summer as a good proportion of their turnover is 'wedding work'.

I'd be interested to hear how long your respective tailors take on a order.

[Concordia]

A lot of the SR shops will calibrate their assembly lines to meet their travel deadlines. So you might order during their September visit, get a fitting in January, and see the finished product just before their April trip. Obviously, for the bigger places, you can work out other schedules, especially if you are in London 4-6 weeks after your order.

It will certainly vary by shop, though. I remember seeing notices 30 years ago that some of the SR houses would offer to do a 7-day suit for a tourist. I rather liked the style of one of them, even though I didn't need their rush service-- and never summoned up the nerve to place an order in any case. Anyone remember Donaldson, Williams, & Ward?

[couch]

No, but I remember the extra effort to accommodate travelers. In 1984, when John Kent was at the old Hawes & Curtis in Burlington Gardens, they did a blazer for me in two weeks (after I'd selected cloth from swatches by mail and booked initial appointment ahead of time). Measure-up and basted three days apart, forward after a week away at a conference in Paris, collection after minor adjustments and all finishing three days later. Still the best finishing work of any SR garment I've had. I think in those years the trade was a bit sleepier than currently, though with a bump when the dollar spiked against the pound in the early '80s.

[Man at C&A]

For what it's worth, whilst in Thailand over last New Year I was talked into a visit to a Kata Beach tailor who turned around a suit, a couple of pairs of trousers and half a dozen shirts within 4 days. All complete trash of course but hell, 4 days!

Actually the standard of construction is excellent, particularly the shirts. Certainly better than the TM Lewin rags I habitually pick up for a dull day at the office. The fit of the suit was marginally better than RTW. The let down was the materials being worthless. What was sold as linen is polyester. The shirt collar interlinings bubbled on the first wash. Zippers failed within a couple of weeks.

I only paid the cost of a single Budd shirt for the whole caboodle, and there was stuff for My Darling Wife in the order too. There are of course sillier things to blow £300 on in Kata whilst drunk, but at least I won't be short of gardening shirts in the foreseeable future.....

[davidhuh]

I'd be interested to hear how long your respective tailors take on a order.

Dear Man at C&A,

I'm afraid this is not a very helpful question, because answers will vary and hardly make you any wiser. It depends - on the tailor, how he is organised, his current work load, the season, his temper and how much he likes you

I never put pressure on a tailor to deliver something by day X. I try to have him confirming a reasonable time frame until the next step, that's pretty much it.

Cheers, David

[hectorm]

I'd be interested to hear how long your respective tailors take on a order.

Between 2001 and October 2015 (when he passed away) I dealt mainly with a highly reputed but ageing local tailor who always took no less than 3 months for final delivery. Sometimes it could be up to 5 or 6 months if I did not insist. Typically, although my patterns were supposedly on file, it took a long time between commission/measuring and first fitting. Longer if I didn´t choose cloth from the available bolts, which was usually the case. Then the processing speed picked up a bit. Mr. de Paris didn´t use email but had an assistant who sometimes would call you for fittings and sometimes not. Fortunately his shop was only a few blocks from my office and I could drop from time to time. He was always there and always working on something, but not mine. It was very frustrating to discover that despite all promises my bundle was still on the shelf or that he hadn´t even put the order with the cloth merchant. But with the passing of the years I got used to it as part of the relationship. I would even say that there was some pleasure in forgetting about a commission and then -one day- being surprised with the news.
But I agree with David. Waiting time is not a good indicator of craft or final result, and I would not choose a tailor for his.

[andreyb]

Waiting times is one thing, getting delivery promises only to see them been constantly broken is another. I consider adherence to one's promises as a sign of professionalism, and very much value it. Unfortunately, this is a rarity among bespoke makers.

The only bespoke shop I patronized that was *always* strict on schedule is Barcelona's "Bel y Cia" -- contrary to Spain's reputation. I discussed this briefly with Jordi Ballbe (his family owns Bel) and as he told me, he specifically instilled this quality into Bel, as the shop was very unpredictable before then. Being efficient and on time doesn't prevent them from making high-quality clothes with great deal of hand work.

Granted, it's much easier for a shop like Bel y Cia, which is supported by a large workroom in the same building -- much harder for a one-man-band who has to rely on outworkers. I sympathize with the difficulties faced by small artisans and is willing to be more forgiving. But do I find inability to stick to one's promises "charming"? Hell no.

Andrey