The price of a Bespoke Shirt
I just got off of the phone from a person that had left his details for a call back to make an appointment for a shirt fitting. He had come via our website and the first question I was asked was what are the prices and when i told him, he basically ended the conversation there.
My question is, and I did not ask him, what price did he expect to pay?
I believe the quality bespoke shirt market is suffering in the same way that bespoke suits have with so many companies offering so called bespoke-shirts from an online website and a few drop down menus. People do not realise that the shirts from these companies are 9 times out of 10 a totally different beast than genuine quality bespoke shirts. They are £45 or so for a reason! below I try to list a few of the reasons, which it is best to understand before deciding where to buy you bespoke shirt.
1. Quality of Cloth - A shirt for less than £100 is very unlikely going to be made from top cottons such as Albini, Alumo and Monti. If they are then the shirt has definitely not been made in the UK, more likely the far East in the shape of Hong Kong or Thailand in a factory operation. More than likely the cloth will come from India or China and will have a percentage of microfibre mixed in. Use of a good cloth will add £20 or so to the cost of making the shirt.
2. Quality of Interlinings for collars and cuffs - The collars and cuffs of a bespoke shirt tell us so much about the quality of the rest of the shirt. Cheap shirts will have the interlinings fused to the collar and cuff material, making the collars stiff and lifeless. A quality bespoke shirt will be made without fusing and the interlinings will be hand stitched making for a softer, natural looking collar and cuff. Good interlinings are more expensive and hand sewing takes longer than fusing.
3. Personal Patterns - A qality bespoke shirt will require a personal pattern to be made for you; a cheaper version will be made by working off of standard blocks. The extra time and cost of the pattern making adds to the shirt cost but ensures that the shirt fits you and is exclusive to you.
4. Details - Cheap online bespoke shirts are unlikely to have Mother of Pearl Buttons without paying extra; pattern matching is unlikely on a cheap shirt; contrast collars and similar are likely to cost extra on a cheap shirt, but are generally included in the cost of a quality bespoke shirt.
If you really want to pay less than £100 the you will be better off getting a better quality ready to wear shirt from the likes of Hackett, Aquascutum or Jermyn Street and getting it altered to fit better around the body.
3.
My question is, and I did not ask him, what price did he expect to pay?
I believe the quality bespoke shirt market is suffering in the same way that bespoke suits have with so many companies offering so called bespoke-shirts from an online website and a few drop down menus. People do not realise that the shirts from these companies are 9 times out of 10 a totally different beast than genuine quality bespoke shirts. They are £45 or so for a reason! below I try to list a few of the reasons, which it is best to understand before deciding where to buy you bespoke shirt.
1. Quality of Cloth - A shirt for less than £100 is very unlikely going to be made from top cottons such as Albini, Alumo and Monti. If they are then the shirt has definitely not been made in the UK, more likely the far East in the shape of Hong Kong or Thailand in a factory operation. More than likely the cloth will come from India or China and will have a percentage of microfibre mixed in. Use of a good cloth will add £20 or so to the cost of making the shirt.
2. Quality of Interlinings for collars and cuffs - The collars and cuffs of a bespoke shirt tell us so much about the quality of the rest of the shirt. Cheap shirts will have the interlinings fused to the collar and cuff material, making the collars stiff and lifeless. A quality bespoke shirt will be made without fusing and the interlinings will be hand stitched making for a softer, natural looking collar and cuff. Good interlinings are more expensive and hand sewing takes longer than fusing.
3. Personal Patterns - A qality bespoke shirt will require a personal pattern to be made for you; a cheaper version will be made by working off of standard blocks. The extra time and cost of the pattern making adds to the shirt cost but ensures that the shirt fits you and is exclusive to you.
4. Details - Cheap online bespoke shirts are unlikely to have Mother of Pearl Buttons without paying extra; pattern matching is unlikely on a cheap shirt; contrast collars and similar are likely to cost extra on a cheap shirt, but are generally included in the cost of a quality bespoke shirt.
If you really want to pay less than £100 the you will be better off getting a better quality ready to wear shirt from the likes of Hackett, Aquascutum or Jermyn Street and getting it altered to fit better around the body.
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Labels: bespoke shirts
posted by GML at
1:14 PM
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