The London Lounge

Hello Everyone:
I was looking through the Sept. issue of the Robb Report and near the end of it on page 240 is a nice piece on custom shirts.

The article also mentioned our very own LL member Mr. Alex Kabbaz. The article in general was about how a custom shirt is different from an off the rack shirt, (nothing that many of the LL readers here don't already know ).

What caught my eye in the article was a quote from Mr. Simon Hobbs, general manager of the New York Turnbull & Asser shop. In which he states, "What is the point of all that handworkmanship, if it's only going to get destroyed when you send it out to a $3 laundry?"

"Maybe if they sent it to a $4 laundry, that wouldn't happen ". (Cufflink79's quote)

Now when you have something custom made, especially a shirt handworkmanship is suppose to be a hallmark of bespoke clothing. Although, as much as I enjoy quality I also want durability as well. Is it possible nowadays to still have them both?

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[quote="Cufflink79"]Hello Everyone:

What caught my eye in the article was a quote from Mr. Simon Hobbs, general manager of the New York Turnbull & Asser shop. In which he states, "What is the point of all that handworkmanship, if it's only going to get destroyed when you send it out to a $3 laundry?"

"Maybe if they sent it to a $4 laundry, that wouldn't happen ". (Cufflink79's quote)

/quote]


Turnbull makes a machine made shirt, i.e., the pieces are machine sewn. When a customer inquires if Turnbull's shirts are hand sewn, I have often heard Turnbull reply that a machine sewn shirt can withstand the abuse of commercial laundering.

By and large most American and British shirts are machine sewn. One rare exeption that comes to mind is the Y'Pres or Oxxford Bespoke shirt which has a hand sewn collar and partial hand sewn shoulder. Generally, the hand sewn shirt is a Neopolitan hallmark.

Turnbull has likely been harmed by the general increased awareness of truly handmade (or better machine made; e.g. Charvet) shirts, so I would imagine that the comment was largely made as a further attempt to preserve their business.

Has anyone else noticed a trend, as of late, in magazines and such, of articles dealing with mtm and bespoke clothing? It seems that business for this small field might be picking up once again.

James