The London Lounge

Ok guys I have decided to go with WW Chan in Hong Kong. I emailed them about fabrics and they said they carry the entire Lesser and Harrisons range but have to order it. So, I would like to pick a fabric before I go to Hong Kong since I would really like to use harrison's or Lesser. They said they would send me scans if I let them know the color, weight, pattern I am looking for. I can't go look at the books in person because I live in Phoenix. So, I was hoping you guys could help me narrow down so I can email them back to get the scans. I love the heavier fabrics and especially flannels but obviously they are not practical since I live in phoenix. I was thinking of staying 10 oz or under. I have heard good things about the Harrisons Mystique and Frontier bunches. Anyone have experience with them? I don't know the lesser bunches so do they make any worsteds at 10 oz. or under that are nice? I am thinking of a light gray (perhaps pick and pick) and a Charcoal chalk stripe. Also how do people feel about navy windowpanes for suiting. I appreciate any help so that I can give them pretty specific instructions for the scans.

Lessers has three bunches that are pretty good for your climate. The SuperFine Tropicals (8-9oz or so), there is a new 9-10oz book to replace the old 10oz collection, and there is a 9-10oz 120s wool/cashmere that doesn't normally cost much more than the others, if any. That one is more of a luxury choice, although it wouldn't be a disaster if you wore it weekly. The 9-10 regular looks a tad coarser than the tropicals, but might be better with stripes and should hold up a bit better under fire than either of the other two.

The New York tailors upcharge pretty significantly for the Lesser Supers book. I don't know about Savile Row, but in general, they upcharge less and their basic price covers a lot more cloth.

I don't think that the 9.5/10 is coarser than the tropical book. I think the finishing is actually slightly more refined. Just me, maybe.

Interesting Manton. I guess I am very lucky. My tailor does not apply any upcharge for the clothes he sources from distributors. However, if I do source my own cloth he will only charge for the cost of making the garment. As a result CMT saves me a lot of money.

I can never understand why tailors would be so stingy when it comes to giving a discount for CMT. In fact there is one Savile Row trained tailor in town whom I do not patronise at least in part because he will give very little discount for CMT.

Well, a lot of tailors make a good margin from cloth. A not uncommon formula is to take whatever they paid to the distributor and double it, then add that to the cost of the labor. Voila, there's your price for a suit. The theory is, they are buying "wholesale" from the distributor, and it's only fair that they charge you, the customer "retail" prices. After all, you would not expect to pay a department store's cost for a new suit from that store, would you?

I think tailors who give a small or no discount for CMT are simply trying to discourage the practice, so that they don't lose that margin.

But there are other reasons. With a customer's own cloth, it's usually impossible to get any more. If anything goes wrong, an unhappy dispute could result. Whereas if they tailor got the cloth himself, he can just order more if something happens.

Also, I think tailors are often suspicious of CMT goods. They often don't know where it came from, who made it, how good it is, how it takes the needle, how well it will make up, etc. With their own trusted sources, on the other hand, these are not concerns.

manton wrote: I don't think that the 9.5/10 is coarser than the tropical book. I think the finishing is actually slightly more refined. Just me, maybe.

Not in a bad way-- but the threads appear to be fatter, so patterns are a little lower-resolution. Most noticeable in checks. The colors and so on are lovely.

You are right in saying that tailors are suspicious of customer's cloth. My tailor usually sniffs at mine but then is pleasantly surprised at how well it makes up. So he has come to trust that I will always bring him quality stuff.

The tailor here probably couldn't get away with that sort of upcharge for 'selling' cloth, except for one who is third generation Savile Row trained. The distributors already slap on 70% to their cost price. By cutting out the distributor's mark ups I save huge amounts on cloth. I guess tailors perceive NYers as having more money and ergo fleecable. I envy you not an iota.

YC, to your question about navy windowpanes for suiting: You can see an excellent example of a grayed navy cloth with a chalky pearl-gray windowpane in the Photojournal in the East Coast Chapter section. Open the album in the middle of the first page's bottom row, labeled "Impromptu NYC GTG (June 10, 2006). There you'll see Etutee (on Smoothjazz1's right as you view the first pic) wearing a jacket in such a cloth. I was not there, so I can't say if it was a suit, but I and at least one other (NYC) LL member have 3-pc. fall suits in a similarly patterned woolen flannel cloth. And here is what appears to be a worsted cloth in a similar color/pattern on the Henry Pool site:



If you like the look, go for it. Perhaps not for the most sober meetings, depending on your line of work, but these days it's pretty versatile, done in a color like this. It's a particularly good pattern if you are on the lean side.