How I worked with a craftsman

[Alias]

A while ago, I posted a little article on the LL Yahoo Group about my search for tailors here in Seoul, Korea. After some further investigation of the two shops in question, "Zenith" and "Sartoria Min", I decided to go with Mr. Min.

I suppose the most important deciding factor was the quality of handwork I observed. I already had a great tailor, but what made me seek out another one was my desire to commission a garment with a greater amount of handwork; My old tailor, Hahn's, does things mostly by machine, which limited the shape of the suit. Concave shoulders simply aren't possible if you're using wads of foam in there. Don't get me wrong; Hahn's has made me some great stuff. But I was looking for something... more.

Min won out for two more reasons: the prices were more reasonable, and Mr. Min claimed overseas training. I felt that the suit design I had in mind would best be fulfilled in reality by someone with that training: Most Korean men like their suits large and loose-fitting, with sleeves too long and trousers too baggy. And so, that's how most tailors cut them, and that's how they cut them best. And about price... well, price is price. My wallet is not bottomless. If I can get something of equal quality for less money, I'll take that.

Mr. Min is a very nice person. He was patient with me throughout all my preliminary visits, when I would look at fabrics at his store and discuss the suit I had in mind. I think I visited him twice before actually commissioning the suit.

I don't know if all craftsmen are patient this way, but to me those preliminary visits are important: they let me get to know the tailor better, and they let him get to know my tastes.

I told him I didn't want a Korean Sack. I told him I wanted high armholes and a moderately tapered waist, with a high buttoning point. I wanted something with concave shoulders. He used the suit I was wearing as a reference point, and I tried as best as I could to communicate with him. Of course, as I would later find out, problems will arise when neither person knows the other one's language: my Korean is like his English.

The first fitting was promising. I did point out several concerns to him: The fronts didn't look open enough; they were quite closed. The lapel notches weren't as high as I wanted them to be. We double-checked the waist button position. The trousers looked good. It wasn't until I got home that I remembered:

Aw, crap. Armholes!

I called his shop, and he answered. I tried to say as best as I can that I wanted to double-check the armholes on my next visit.

Luckily, by the next visit, there was still enough material left to move the armholes up by about .5 cm (he takes measurements in centimeters) by moving up the entire jacket front. The jacket pockets were cut, unfortunately, but raising them by .5 cm wasn't a problem for me. The trousers still looked good, and I left the shop feeling satisfied that Mr. Min would get the finished product right.

Well, on the third visit, things weren't exactly there yet.

This was the crucial juncture. Would I, as a customer, have the patience and perseverance to stick with the tailoring process until my suit matches my expectations? Will the tailor have enough pride in his work to continue making changes until I was satisfied?

Here is what went wrong:

I asked for a space of 3/4" between the sleeve's end and the edge of the first sleeve button. I picked this up from Flusser's book, and I think it looks good. The sleeves first did indeed have this feature, but the sleeves were too long. They were too long because I wore the same shirt I'm sporting in the pictures I posted in SF: I was wearing a shirt with sleeves a bit too long. So, as long as I was wearing this shirt, I was ok with showing a nice band of shirt cuff. But when I would wear any other shirt, that band would disappear. By then, the sleeve buttonholes have already been cut and sewn.

The first attempt at solving this problem was to shorten the sleeve at the end. Bad mistake, and it wasn't enough anyways. So, I had suit sleeves with ridiculous-looking ends. I suggested that he raise the sleeves at the shoulders and lengthen the sleeves at the ends to get the proper spacing back. The sleeve pitch was also a bit too forward, but better than the second fitting, and I asked him to correct that. The jacket fronts were also still too closed, despite the corrections. I asked for a bit more to be cut away.

The trousers also needed some surgery. They looked great at the first and second fittings, but after they were finished and crisply pressed, the problems became apparent. The fabric draped nicely on the outsides of my legs, but on the insides were these horrible little breaks that I had hoped to avoid. I did tell Mr. Min that I had a pair of slightly bowlegged legs, but whatever adjustments he made to compensate weren't enough.

And all through this, Mr. Min stayed very patient and listened to me. And with every adjustment, he went back and changed my pattern.

I visited the shop again. The jacket was adjusted at the shoulders, but it was impossible to correct the sleeve ends. I think they took out too much fabric when they shortened them. The trousers were a bit better, but I thought they could be improved just a little. It was then that Mr. Min suggested a recut. Of course, I didn't know he was suggesting a recut at the time, because I was ready to accept the jacket as it was (and broken English isn't the easiest to decipher.) He told me to come back the following week.

I was surprised when he had me try on a newly-basted jacket! It was such a rush. Here he was demonstrating, at no small cost to himself, the sort of integrity that really makes one craftsman stand out from the rest. A new jacket, no charge, with everything I wanted in the first place. Since he could easily refer to my old jacket for measurements, there was no second fitting, and I arrived the following week and picked up a great-looking jacket. The trousers also benefited from further adjustments, although no recut was necessary.

This is how I got my suit, from start to finish. It could have easily ended in disaster, were it not for Mr. Min's willingness to get everything right, and for my willingness to stay with the process. But it didn't; it ended quite well!

Two important things I learned from this whole experience:

- Sometimes things won't go as smoothly as you planned. Problems that you won't notice at the earlier fittings will suddenly pop out at you during later ones. I read that, in old times, it took as many as six fittings to ensure a perfect fit. Don't invest in only three; take as many as you need.

- Technical skill isn't the only measure of a tailor's worth. To me, Mr. Min went beyond the call of duty by making me a whole new jacket. That is truly an impressive quality, that of going to great lengths to get things right.

Epilogue: I felt that the trousers still could use some work around the ankles. See what kind of pesky customer I am? I told Mr. Min I was glad he didn't kick me out of his shop yet! I ordered a spare pair of trousers, and they looked very good today at the second fitting. I gave him the trousers he had already made for me so he could adjust those to match. The new trousers just need to be a little longer at the ends to be perfect. I'll pick up everything next Monday, and will take pictures for you guys to enjoy.

Hope you enjoyed reading this! I'm posting this at 12:30 AM, so things might be a little sloppy. Comments and questions are welcome.

[Alias]

The SF thread is here:

http://66.170.193.77/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonbo ... f=1;t=9222

And so are the pictures.

[T4phage]

Dear Alias,

Splendid, splendid article! Bravo!

The members of LL need only to read your review to grasp the main points of commissioning a bespoke item:
1) Knowledge of the client,of what he wants and how the suit should look
2) Patience and willingness of the artisan to fulfil the clients commission to the best of his ablility.

Your artisan Mr. Min sounds like a true gentleman, the way went about his business and the extent he was willing to please you. These are the artisans that are getting rarer and rarer by the day, and the remaining ones, like your Mr. Min must be treasured.

Yours,
Jan

[Guest]

Very very good!!

I have to say that it took to me a second or even third jacket to make it perfect.

My compliments!

[Lookingtoimprove]

Wow Alias,

This sounds like the start of a long and fruitful relationship with your tailor. I hope I can find someone as patient and dedicated when I 'go bespoke'.

Mark.