tailors?

[marc26]

anyone know a really good tailor either in phuket or even bangkok. im looking for real quality suits and shirts. im looking to start a little business venture by selling them back in the states but want to find a really good one. thanks

[Werwolf]

Have a look at this thread of Nicke. Perhaps this is one for you.

http://www.phuket-info.com/forums/sh...ghlight=tailor

[Nicke]

Yes, I would like to recommend Peach, the thai tailor. Give him a visit and talk to him, a very nice and friendly Thai guy.

They do a lot of work for Laguna guests aswell.

[JayBee]

Hi Marc,
How's it going? Still raining here.

If you are in Bangkok, check this guy out. I have two good recommendations on him. Was hoping to check him out myself on my way thru BKK going home, but for reasons known to you, I ended up in Patong right up to the end of my tour. The guy's name is Narin. Royal Tailors, on Soi 4, opposite the New Nana Plaza construction site, almost on the corner of Sukhumvit and Soi 4.

I am told he speaks excellent English, is mid-40's, good-natured sort who is not too pushy. One friend of mine bought a dozen shirts from him last year(when the $ was worth more) at about $7 US apiece and was very happy with the quality. He was referred to him by another friend of ours whom I haven't talked to lately, but that is two good referrals.

Good luck with your scheme. How's the ladies treating you? Or should I say how are you treating them?

JayBee

[marc26]

peach does look nice, i was thinking about going in there.
jaybee,
everything is cool. still surrounding myself with girls that will eventually end up killing me, but oh well

[JayBee]

Originally Posted by marc26

still surrounding myself with girls that will eventually end up killing me, but oh well

But what a way to go!!! I can't think of a better way!!!

[anubis]

Originally Posted by marc26

anyone know a really good tailor either in phuket or even bangkok. im looking for real quality suits and shirts. im looking to start a little business venture by selling them back in the states but want to find a really good one. thanks

At the beginning of bangla on the right side if u r coming from the beach are a very good tailor and with low prices. At least the shop were there before the tsunami and hopefully now to. I bought 5 silk-shirts and a pair of silk-fishermans trousers for 3000 baht.

[JayBee]

Originally Posted by anubis

At the beginning of bangla on the right side if u r coming from the beach are a very good tailor and with low prices. At least the shop were there before the tsunami and hopefully now to. I bought 5 silk-shirts and a pair of silk-fishermans trousers for 3000 baht.

Thanks for the tip, Anubis!

Paul, did that business ever pan out for you?

[void]

Originally Posted by marc26

anyone know a really good tailor either in phuket or even bangkok. im looking for real quality suits and shirts. im looking to start a little business venture by selling them back in the states but want to find a really good one. thanks

I could type pages on the subject of tailor made suits. I know NOTHING about tailor made shirts.

To provide you a recommendation, one really needs to know how often you plan to wear the suit, and how you pack/carry the suit when you travel. And also how much are you willing to spend.

A good argument can be made for NOT buying a 3rd world tailor made suit, but rather in a 1st world (G7 country) purchasing an off the shelf suit, and having that custom adjusted/tailored in a 1st world (G7) country.

Also note that almost all Thailand tailor shops subcontract out their 24-hour (or one week, or what ever) tailor work to a private tailor who does the work for them. The best private tailors get paid the most money from the tailor shops, and they are also more in demand (and not every tailor shop can get access to the best tailors). Of course, as years go by, good tailors come and go, which means tailor shops have to find different tailors.

My experience, and the experience of friends, who have purchased custom tailor made suits in Thailand, is the inexpensive 3,000 to 6,000 baht suits, custom made in 24 hours, may fall apart within a year, if you wear the suit every day, or every other day. If you wear the suit once/month, or twice/month, then it may last you for about 5 years. And it may not.

If you go for high quality material, and and a superb tailor shop that contracts out to an excellent tailor, then the price goes up significantly. One can pay 10,000 to 25,000 baht for a 1st rate quality suit, 2 pair of pants and a vest. Now such a suit will last 5 years or more, even if it is worn every other day. Try and wear a cheap 3,000 to 6,000 baht suit every day, and it WILL fall apart within a year.

Of course the "trick" is finding out which shop is first rate, and which is not. Frankly, most tourists who purchase custom made suits, don't have a clue.

I am VERY cynical about those who claim: I got 2 suits, 2 pair of pants, x-shirts, x-ties for a mere $100 US ... blah blah blah .... They are great quality, ... blah blah blah .... Frankly, having visited the shops that are recommended, I have walked away unimpressed with the suit workmanship.

For recommendations for EXPENSIVE, but good suits:

Bangkok - July Tailor may be the best tailor. Cost around 25,000 baht or more for a suit, 2 pair of pants, and a vest.

Bangkok - Tony Fashions Tailor - Cost about 10,000 baht for a suit, 2 pair of pants, and a vest (my price estimate could be a bit off, ... a lot depends on the material you select). Quality probably not as good as July, but likely better than most other tailors in Bangkok.

Phuket - Tom's Fashion Tailor - this is the Phuket office of Tony Fashions Tailor. They tend to charge 1,000 to 2,000 baht more than the Bangkok office.

Phuket - Kings Fashion Tailor gets good reviews on this phuket-info.com forum. I purchased a suit from them, but at this stage of the purchase, it is too soon to judge the suit quality compaed to Tony/July tailor. So far, the cut looks good. (I supplied my own material).

Phuket - New Fashion Tailor in Karon - stay away. Cut is terrible. Who ever recommended them on this forum doesn't know a good suit from a bad suit. I examined 3 of their sample suits. Each had different stitching styles, all of poor quality. It appears they contract out to different tailors. I was not impressed, and I would not purchase a suit from them, at least not until they improve the stitching on their suits. Now perhaps they just showed me bad suit examples, but why would they do that??

INEXPENSIVE SUITS

Go anywhere, to any tailor. Your suit won't last long if you wear it a lot, but then that may not matter, if you only wear a suit once/year, or if the people who see when you wear your suit are not experts when it comes to judging suits. They will be impressed you are wearing a suit, and you will be happy with the great price you obtained.

And after all, as a customer, what is important is you are happy, and if you are happy with the $150 custom made suit, then that is all that matters. Its like an auto. If you like your old-clunker, because it gets you where you want to go, then there is no need to purchase a BMW nor a Rolls Royce.

MATERIAL

How well do you know how to select material. Do you need any suggestions on this?

SUIT STYLE

Do you know anything about suit styles. Do you need any suggestions on this?

If I sound opinionated, I probably am. Good luck in your tailor shop choice, and apologies if I "stepped" on the recommendations of others on this forum.

[Graytop]

If you want one of the best tailors in Thailand is in Keon Khen the name Sukkla.
Does most work for the Thai Govt.

[LarryOne]

I had a suit made by Creative fashion gallery on Bangla road and I thought they did a pretty good job. While ordering a suit I would make sure that you pick one of the more expensive materials as I think it is totally worth it.

[LivinLOS]

Void, some of what you say rings so true in my limited experiences..

Firstly I HATE suits, I am not a formal kinda guy and I always thought that being judged by the suit you wear so superficial compared to your skills at accomplishing a job I just used to think fcuk em and do what I wanted.. It helped I was my own boss and what I did was in real demand. America seems to not be as bothered by this but UK / Europe (France especially) all measure your skills by the cut of your cloth..

That said I think you can see a crap suit a mile off.. Cut, rippling of seams (shoulders especially) tightness in the wrong places etc) just screams crap quality.. Like wearing a cheap fake rolex it makes the wearer look a fool.. As you say simply buy an off the peg back home (the cost is not much different at the low end)..

Another point you brought up was the 3 suits for a 100 buck syndrome, I have seen those adverts (I had actually been told Narrys was OK as long as you paid for quality materials) but have never seen anything like that once they have your foot through the door.

So as you seem to know a bit, let me pick your brain. I 'might' have a need for a couple of new suits, hopefully it wont come to that but I may need to be in the middle east.. For that I will need the absolute lightest and breathable fabrics (desert heats) I was reccomended alpaca last place went and poked about but wool type suits for hot climates ?? Surely a cotton etc.. I kinda like the idea of a cream superfly suit but keeping it clean means I should probably not do that.. Anyway, what materials make the best summer suits ?? Wear will be extremly limited..

[urtheman]

Firstly I used to live in Hong Kong and have had suits made in HK, Vietnam and Bangkok.
My advice is unless you are really big or small and need a custom made suit go buy a really nice Italian one. yes they are expensive I used to wait for the yearly sales in Hong Kong to get one half price but it's worth it. Ferragamo, Armani, there's a couple of other ones that names escape me right now but will post those brands as well. Have these suits altered for you. They can fix sleeves, and the width of the jacket around your waist, they can fix the waist of the pants and the length of course, they can't fix the shoulders so this should fit you very well. Italians use some of the finest fabrics but some tailors will tell you they use Italian or English fabric as well. The big differance is in the workmanship.

Go check out in your town the best shops selling the best suits and look at what I mention then you can see the differance for yourself.

Firstly look at the buttons sewn on the sleeves are there three or four or two. Most business suits are using four now.
Do the buttons actually work, have they sewn an eyelet or even tried to make it look like an eyelet has been sewn. Most custom shops here don't even do that detail but just sew a button on. Look at the detail of the sewing.
Lapels do you have them with the hand stitched look, if so don't use anyone other than an Italian suit. With a custom suit just have a regular sewn lapel as they won't have the tightly stiched look of the expensive suit.

Also make sure you get french cuffs for your shirt. They look classy and you then get to show off cuff links.

Lastly when I came back to the states from HK I worked in a hotel and the GM would wear these shabby suits and during meetings I could see in his eyes he was not happy his new hire from Hong Kong had the nice suits. he thought he was paying me too much.

I had to start dressing down later.

Cheers!

[marc26]

i agree with all the brand name suits, but if you go to the right tailor, there is nothing that looks better on someone than a custom fitted suit and shirt. now im not saying that any of these tailors in phuket are the right tailor, but if you do find one, i think you, the person wearing the suit will feel the differencve

[void]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

I 'might' have a need for a couple of new suits, hopefully it wont come to that but I may need to be in the middle east.. For that I will need the absolute lightest and breathable fabrics (desert heats) I was reccomended alpaca last place went and poked about but wool type suits for hot climates ?? Surely a cotton etc.. I kinda like the idea of a cream superfly suit but keeping it clean means I should probably not do that.. Anyway, what materials make the best summer suits ?? Wear will be extremly limited..

I live in a cold climate, so I am not in need of a suit for a hot climate. Still, I would say wool is not a good idea for a hot climate, and cotton (with a light stretch) is likely the best. The suit I had made in Phuket a month and a half and ago was made of such a material.

Here is a URL that I found some time back, and it gives a good summary of suit fabrics (IMHO):

http://mensfashion.about.com/od/suits/a/suitfabrics.htm

Choosing the Right Suit Fabric

From Daniel Billett,Your Guide to Men's Fashion.

WOOLS
Wool is the fabric of choice for a good suit. It's natural, it breathes well, it's durable and looks great to boot. There are four main kinds of wool:

Tweed
Tweed is a very heavy wool fabric, popular in places like the British Isles where there seems to be a permanent chill in the air. The average wearer of tweed is more mature if you get my meaning. Stay away from tweed, especially if you're packing a few extra pounds. Tweed is not the larger man's friend.

Flannel
Flannel is the heaviest of the non-tweed wools. It is a corded wool, it's durable and is especially nice in a charcoal gray with classic pinstripes. For a suit, it might be a bit too hot in most office environments. While nice, it's not an ideal fabric for a suit.

Tropical
This is usually a kind of wool crepe, which is a lightweight fabric. It's more of a summer weight, the sort you might wear in warmer climates. Being lighter, it is also more susceptible to wrinkles, and therefore requiring frequent visits to the dry-cleaner. This clearly would not be an every day kind of suit fabric.

Worsted
As I have stated before, worsted wools are your best bet for a suit. These will be your gabardines or mid-weight corded wools. They are durable, wear well and usually fine for year-round wear. They can be a little lighter or heavier, depending on the weave, but consider them mid-weight.

You might come across a suit that is advertised as a "high-twist," 100, or Super 110. This just means that the suit is made of a worsted wool yarn that has been twisted more often than the usual 60-80 twist fabrics. This makes it a finer cloth of a somewhat lighter weight. Such suits would be perfectly fine, therefore, for spring, summer, and fall, but might not work in winter.

OTHER FABRICS

Cotton
Cotton is probably the most acceptable choice that isn't wool. If you live in a warm place this is a great alternative look to wool. I prefer cotton suits that have a little lycra or something that gives it stretch. This will allow your suit to keep it's shape and will prevent the color from fading more quickly.

Linen
Okay, you look at linen and you think of a beach on the Mediterranean or the Caribbean Islands and you're strolling down that beach with your pants rolled up a touch and . . . ahhh. Stop dreaming! As a fabric goes, linen wrinkles quickly, stains, and doesn't wear well. It is not acceptable for a suit, unless you really are one of the lucky few that actually do live on a beach in a tropical place.

Polyester
The 70's are over so let's move on.

Micro Fiber
A very light polyester. Again, let's move on.

Teflon
Just don't do it.

[Captain]

I once used King's fashion for throusers and shirts. I had a friend with me who knew a lot about clothes/fashion (director of l'Oreal in Belgium) and he selected the material (he wrinckled all fabrics and checked how they came back to the original state). I am very happy with the result but it was not that cheap.

[djmyst]

I think Kings Fashion is good. Maybe becouse i know the sellsman and he give me a good price everythime. And when I have a walk in daytime I stop by the shop to say hello. They always give me free beers. So easy is it to buy me hehehehehehehehehehehe