Dege & Skinner "Phitwell" - Gunclub recommendation needed

[st.tully]

Greetings all -

Having recently read the history of Michael Skinner and enjoyed it very much, I'd like to give Dege and Skinner a try and commission a "Phitwell" shooting jacket. I do occasionally shoot skeet or sporting clays but for the most part this would be a weekend jacket.

I love the Alden gunclub cloths, but they are gone for now. Has anyone recently looked thru the books for a gunclub? Hoping for something 14-20 oz - so not too heavy. Pictures would be great if you have them. I'm sure D&S will have all the swatches but some advance thoughts and insights would be helpful.

Many many thanks, st.tully

[tteplitzmd]

Dreadful customer service at Dege & Skinner, in my experience. At least for shirtings.

[st.tully]

I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience with Dege. Was this recent?

For shirts, I'm very happy with Budd. Although I have not yet seen the newly renovated Budd shop.

[tteplitzmd]

My shirting experience is at least 10 years old. I am not keen on British shirtmakers at this point. I feel their fabric choices are rather limited and many of the shirts are made by the same consortium of housewives in their homes (not that there's anything wrong with that). Frequent errors in details, sloppy stitching, inordinate wait times, billing errors, not following shipping instructions, what more do you need to know.

[dopey]

I used Dege for many years and have a Phitwell suit. If you search the LL archives you will find some photos of it. I stopped using them for a variety of reasons including some mentioned by TT, but what I liked from them, I liked very much.
My experience is now several years old, but if nothing has changed since then, I would certainly recommend them to local customers.

[tteplitzmd]

Dopey is more forgiving than me.

[st.tully]

Dopey, I love your Phitwell! I actually have a jacket in that same fabric from Ede and Ravenscroft.

I'm really sorry to hear these non-positive experiences with Dege and Skinner. I will ask more questions of them at our initial meeting and be clear about my expectations. I am very happy with my Poole suits and I'm sure they could do a "shooting" variation. But I do favour asking tailors who specialize in something to do their specialty. In fact, when I first met with Poole's Simon Cundey, he said that he had several clients who used other tailors for specific things, naming Huntsman, A&S and Dege.

If anyone has some recent experience with Dege and Skinner, please chime in. I will report back on my endeavours.

Cheers, st.tully

[Scot]

Dreadful customer service at Dege & Skinner, in my experience. At least for shirtings.

I could not possibly disagree more.

I have used Dege for a couple of years now, for shirts only. I have had nothing but good experiences; front of house staff have been welcoming, Robert Whitaker cuts very well indeed and the quality of making has been faultless. The often mentioned slowness is not something I have noticed but it may depend upon the time of year - they are sometimes working desperately hard to fill the order of a certain middle eastern sultan! In any case, good things come to those who wait! I can't give you any feedback on their tailoring as I use a firm down the street.

[tteplitzmd]

Well, you said it not me. They are more interested in their gulf clients than you. This has gone on for years. They seem enamored of those royal warrants from potentates.
Limited shirt cloth ranges, all from the usual sources, made by the same ladies as I wrote previously. Mr. Whittaker is a capable guy, I knew him from Bowring Arundel, and then Dege. I really don't see any particular reason to use them. Their billing and follow up on inquiries was dreadful, if not frankly disorganized. You might tell them you're a potentate and see if that helps...

[Scot]

Well, you said it not me. They are more interested in their gulf clients than you. This has gone on for years. They seem enamored of those royal warrants from potentates.
Limited shirt cloth ranges, all from the usual sources, made by the same ladies as I wrote previously. Mr. Whittaker is a capable guy, I knew him from Bowring Arundel, and then Dege. I really don't see any particular reason to use them. Their billing and follow up on inquiries was dreadful, if not frankly disorganized. You might tell them you're a potentate and see if that helps...

As you said, your experience is now several years ago. My "particular reason" for using them is that, whereas another shirtmaker didn't manage to get my pattern right after several attempts, Whittaker did so at more or less first go. I would now need a "particular reason" to stop using them and, based on my fairly recent experience, I can't think of one.

[dopey]

Robert Whittaker is an excellent pattern drafter/cutter and he has a great sense of color.

[tteplitzmd]

Perhaps, but he didn't always follow up on changes asked for. You get a sort of blank look or shrug when you inquire about things like that.
I have my own preferences as regards color. I don' look to the shirtmaker too much for that.

[dufossat]

Dopey, I love your Phitwell! I actually have a jacket in that same fabric from Ede and Ravenscroft.

I'm really sorry to hear these non-positive experiences with Dege and Skinner. I will ask more questions of them at our initial meeting and be clear about my expectations. I am very happy with my Poole suits and I'm sure they could do a "shooting" variation. But I do favour asking tailors who specialize in something to do their specialty. In fact, when I first met with Poole's Simon Cundey, he said that he had several clients who used other tailors for specific things, naming Huntsman, A&S and Dege.

If anyone has some recent experience with Dege and Skinner, please chime in. I will report back on my endeavours.

Cheers, st.tully

Someone posted not long ago (in this forum or another) a great looking Norfolk jacket made by Poole. I am sure Poole are capable of making a proper shooting suit. Is there something about the "Phitwell" coat that distinguishes it from other shooting coats?

[chelsea]

My recent experience of Dege has been very positive indeed.

I wanted some slips putting in a couple of waistcoats I wear at weddings and Dege did it at a cost which was embarrassingly low.

They also made me some shirts and I am delighted with them. Robert and the rest of the team could not have been more helpful.

I would certainly use them again.

Chelsea

[st.tully]

Upon reflection and research and LL input, I look forward to talking with William Skinner, Simon Cundey and Terry Haste about the commission of a sporting jacket with an "action" back - appropriate for a bit of shooting or riding or just lounging around on the weekend talking about such sporting endeavours.

I'd still like some recommendations of current Gunclub fabrics.

Cheers, st.tully