Height of ridiculousness

[storeynicholas]

I like the convenience of his having included a "currency converter" in the sales pitch.

It makes all the difference and the added value is obvious to all.

[Mark Seitelman]

Des Merrion is to be congratulated. He's pulled a publicity stunt that P.T. Barnum would envy.

Every now and then a NYC restaurant gets a good amount of press by having on its menu "the most expensive" entree in town. E.g., one restaurant featured the most expensive hamburger garnished with truffles ($100+). An ice cream parlor got a good round of publicity with its world's most expensive sundae made with the imported chocolate and sprinkled with gold dust.

Alan Flusser recently garnered some publicity with an offer to escort a customer to the best clothiers in the world to buy a few suits and other items for the bargain price of $100,000.

Did anyone ever buy the sundae or take-up Flusser's offer? No. It's just a publicity stunt.

[Mark Seitelman]

Des has an excellent selling point for future customers on the fence:

"I charge as much as $60,000 for my top of the line suit, but my regular suit at $4,000 is just as good, and it's a bargain!"

[bry2000]

Well, if nothing else, this guy has possibly made the LL vacation appear to be a relative bargain.

I guess this is the power of the internet -- the ability to create a stir without actually doing or achieving anything.

I think the shark has jumped here and there is no looking back. I don't know why young, upstart tailors choose to resort to gimmickry. Why can't they let the quality of their work be their calling card.

[rjman]

An ice cream parlor got a good round of publicity with its world's most expensive sundae made with the imported chocolate and sprinkled with gold dust.

Yes, and then it got closed for repeated health code violations of an especially revolting nature -- animal droppings in the kitchen, mice and roaches visible on the inspection...

Alan Flusser recently garnered some publicity with an offer to escort a customer to the best clothiers in the world to buy a few suits and other items for the bargain price of $100,000.

I think the price was 1,000,000. It included installing a custom closet system as well. Not saying that's reasonable.

Did anyone ever buy the sundae or take-up Flusser's offer? No. It's just a publicity stunt.

Exactly. It's the same reason James & James -- now part of your tailor, I believe -- was selling a 20,000 pound handstitched suit with fittings by helicopter a few years ago. It makes people talk about the tailor, and that, as we see here, we've done. While I think it's a rather silly proposition, I can't condemn Des for doing this.

[formby]

Well, if nothing else, this guy has possibly made the LL vacation appear to be a relative bargain.

I guess this is the power of the internet -- the ability to create a stir without actually doing or achieving anything.

I think the shark has jumped here and there is no looking back. I don't know why young, upstart tailors choose to resort to gimmickry. Why can't they let the quality of their work be their calling card.

'..Young Upstart...' that's a petulant atttitude isn't it Bry2000....I sense a little history here...care to elaborate...

[smoothjazzone]

Or that it costs $60K for 100% handmade and for $4K one gets one fifteenth that amount or less!

I don't think my initial reaction would have been much different if he wanted $10K vs. $60K.

To Bry's point and to Des' own point -- focus on improving his work product may be all the calling card he really needs.

Des has an excellent selling point for future customers on the fence:

"I charge as much as $60,000 for my top of the line suit, but my regular suit at $4,000 is just as good, and it's a bargain!"

[storeynicholas]

Des Merrion is to be congratulated. He's pulled a publicity stunt that P.T. Barnum would envy. He has, though, rather spoiled the overall impact by describing it as 'nothing but a bit of bullshit', above.

Every now and then a NYC restaurant gets a good amount of press by having on its menu "the most expensive" entree in town. E.g., one restaurant featured the most expensive hamburger garnished with truffles ($100+). An ice cream parlor got a good round of publicity with its world's most expensive sundae made with the imported chocolate and sprinkled with gold dust.

Alan Flusser recently garnered some publicity with an offer to escort a customer to the best clothiers in the world to buy a few suits and other items for the bargain price of $100,000.

Did anyone ever buy the sundae or take-up Flusser's offer? No. It's just a publicity stunt.

[sartorius]

I am surprised that they are still sending the tailor around to do this suit. IIRC, even at the prices charged, it was a real money loser. Adding on top of that the growing percentage of these suits done for Russian businessmen, the cost to Kiton has got to be going up quickly.

I agree with you, iammatt.

My own tailor travels to clients regularly, including in Thailand and Australia. But the business model is very different. The cost of the suit is the same as it would be if you were visiting him in SR, but the client pays the travel expenses on top. While this may sound even more expensive than the £15,000 which Kiton charge, most of his overseas clients seem to order suits in multiples. You actually only need to order a relatively modest number using this model for it to work out cheaper than Kiton. By simple comparison: 5 suits at £4,500 + (say) £15,000 for 2 or 3 business class air fares = £37,500; at £15k a pop Kiton would be charging £75,000!).

Even for the most the cash rich, time poor client (such as those which zegnamtl identifies) it would still make no sense to patronise Kiton. Particularly if you live in proximity to their London store, which is on Clifford Street which runs at a tangent to SR!

[Cantabrigian]

I think the shark has jumped here and there is no looking back.

What happened to Fonzie?

[formby]

I think the shark has jumped here and there is no looking back.

What happened to Fonzie?

Don't know where he's at now, but in that episode he's clearly showing the benefit of having high armholes in his jacket...er sorry...coat...lovely hand finishing as well, don't know about the fit, but that's not important, the hand stitched buttonholes more than compensate...

[Johnboy]

I met the chief executive a rather large French bank yesterday who seemed amazed/horrified that I'd consider travelling to Paris to buy a shirt from 'ze obscenely
priced' outfit/some of you guy's own a tie of theirs I believe.
This gentleman is not short of a bob or three as his Cesna Citation will attest but it just shows that any amount for anything is relative to the individuals willingness to pay.
Someone else paid 27 million for (imo) a tatty picture of some dreary yellow flowers a
few years back.
However if Des works solely on a single item for 6 months who could begrudge
him 30k.

[mafoofan]

However if Des works solely on a single item for 6 months who could begrudge him 30k.

I don't think he'd be working on it exlusively. After all, he's got other business to take care of. On his website, he says he can only do two a year; he doesn't say that each one will take 6 dedicated months. Anyway, I cannot imagine how any one suit could take that long if someone is working on it all day, every day.

[schneidergott]

I'm sure that everyone around here is aware of the fact, that each one of us has talents for something special. Not every doctor, lawyer or craftsman is equally good at all the different fields that exist.
Same with tailors. Although any well trained tailor should be able to make a suit completely on his own, in larger firms different stages of the making process are handed to specialists, who do nothing else but this very stage of the making. They have specialists for making the canvas, sewing shoulders(not as easy as it seems) or making pockets, just to name a few of the processes.
The finishing is a delicate matter, same is the final pressing!
I would say there are at least 5 basic skills an "all in one" tailor has to master:
1. pattern drafting
2. cutting and fitting
3. sewing
4. finishing ("visible" hand stitching)
5. pressing

I think it's pretty natural that one or two of these skills won't be as elaborate as they should be, but from my own experience I know to have preferences when making a coat or suit.
Only this Friday I happened to see a bespoke jacket. This customer paid about 1500,- Euro for it. Having seen the final result I must say it wasn't worth half of that price, if at all! Almost every aspect of the 5 processes mentioned was poorly executed, especially the finishing.
I'm afraid that tailors won't succeed in their attempt to get more money for their work(although we should)!
Sure, 30.000 GBP is way beyond reasonable, but keep in mind what you pay for other services or items, from a simple haircut to car repairs, an electric shaver or a top brand vehicle(it takes less hours to build a Porsche or Ferrari than to make a bespoke suit )!


SG