A friend who lives in Gloucestershire has asked me for my opinion of Barrington Ayre, a local bespoke shirtmaker. The proprietor appears to be a sole trader who offers a visiting service in the area where he lives.
The shirts are made in France using Italian two-fold fabrics. The prices appear very reasonable - from £50 upwards. The website is http://www.barringtonayre.co.uk/. More information can be found at http://www.hotfroguk.co.uk/Companies/Ba ... oke-Shirts.
I would value your opinions which I will pass on.
Barrington Ayre bespoke shirts - comments please
I can say little except that the price seems rather low for bespoke. I know that even a bespoke shirtmaker operating in suburban Sydney would simply be unable to make any profit out of machine made bespoke shirts with fused collars at that price. Usually the EU costs more when it comes to infrastructure costs. It makes me wonder how they are saving on the cost of production. Far Eastern or India subcontinent production perhaps?
Last edited by Sator on Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
This seems like a number of other online shirtmakers. Whatever it is, bespoke it is not.
I don't think Barrington Ayre actually sell online, only via a shop and visiting. I find it difficult to see how they can sell shirts this cheap if they are truly bespoke - we also sell bespoke shirts (made in UK by Rayner & Sturges) in Gloucestershire and the £50 would just about cover the cost of (for example) Alumo fabric and the time to draw up a pattern, never mind the actual cost of making a shirt and some sort of profit.
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Bishop of Briggs
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What is your company? My friend would be interested.gmludlow wrote:I don't think Barrington Ayre actually sell online, only via a shop and visiting. I find it difficult to see how they can sell shirts this cheap if they are truly bespoke - we also sell bespoke shirts (made in UK by Rayner & Sturges) in Gloucestershire and the £50 would just about cover the cost of (for example) Alumo fabric and the time to draw up a pattern, never mind the actual cost of making a shirt and some sort of profit.
Hi. I have PM'ed you a reply.Bishop of Briggs wrote: What is your company? My friend would be interested.
Glenn
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The General
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Good evening Gentlemen,
I am the owner of Barrington Ayre & I thought that I should take a little bit of time to answer some of the points that have arisen from your comments. I do hope that I don't waffle on too much, so please bear with me!
The reason that my shirts are priced as they are is because the whole concept of the company is to provide tailormade elegance at an affordable price. We believe that every Gentleman has the right to dress appropriately and we don't believe that this should cost a fortune. I spent many years when I worked at Hurst and Banks London Tailors developing a way to provide this bespoke service, and I have found a way to provide shirts that are effectively bespoke but made in a slightly different way. The process cuts down on wastage not only in fabric, but in manufacturing time, thus keeping the costs down and allowing me to provide shirts at a lower price, whilst maintaining the quality and still making a profit. I spent a lot of time working on this so I do hope that you won't mind me not going into the finer details of the process!
Also, the shirts are all made in France not the Far East & I can now also provide the finest English made fabrics. I am able to sell online but again this is all done in a slightly different manner to provide the same top quality service as I do for the clients that I visit.
I do hope that I have been able to answer some of the points that came up, however if anyone does have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
As the old saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding", so please feel free to order a shirt and post your thoughts.
Apologies for waffling on for so long and thank you for reading
I am the owner of Barrington Ayre & I thought that I should take a little bit of time to answer some of the points that have arisen from your comments. I do hope that I don't waffle on too much, so please bear with me!
The reason that my shirts are priced as they are is because the whole concept of the company is to provide tailormade elegance at an affordable price. We believe that every Gentleman has the right to dress appropriately and we don't believe that this should cost a fortune. I spent many years when I worked at Hurst and Banks London Tailors developing a way to provide this bespoke service, and I have found a way to provide shirts that are effectively bespoke but made in a slightly different way. The process cuts down on wastage not only in fabric, but in manufacturing time, thus keeping the costs down and allowing me to provide shirts at a lower price, whilst maintaining the quality and still making a profit. I spent a lot of time working on this so I do hope that you won't mind me not going into the finer details of the process!
Also, the shirts are all made in France not the Far East & I can now also provide the finest English made fabrics. I am able to sell online but again this is all done in a slightly different manner to provide the same top quality service as I do for the clients that I visit.
I do hope that I have been able to answer some of the points that came up, however if anyone does have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
As the old saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding", so please feel free to order a shirt and post your thoughts.
Apologies for waffling on for so long and thank you for reading
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Bishop of Briggs
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I thank The General for taking the time to register and post his detailed reply. He commented "I have found a way to provide shirts that are effectively bespoke but made in a slightly different way". Perhaps he could tell us more about this different way. I look forward to his future comments.
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