Hira's Fashion

[Strawfut]

Just got an email in my work inbox from Hira's Fashion, a "[f]amily Owned Bespoke Tailors & Legal Outfitters from London and Hong Kong." The email says that Ramesh Hira is in D.C. next week and is doing fittings in law offices and out of the Embassy Suites near the Convention Center.
They go on to say that Hira's Fashion is "one of only three companies in the world that make a full range of Barrister, Q.C. and Judge wigs and robes used by legal professionals in the U.K & most commonwealth countries." Suits start at $549. A 2 Suit, 2 Shirt deal for $1499 from their $700-$999 fabrics.

They got an past the firm's spam filter, so that's one thumbs up for them.

I doubt I'd use them, but I'm always curious about the quality of the various traveling tailors coming through the District. Does anyone have any experience with Hira's?

 

[Animal Farm]

Originally Posted by Lonneker

Interesting; I would have expected you to be more supportive of the US economy after you said the following:

THE CALLOUT.

Just kidding. Although I don't know the context -- I mean to say that I did not read the thread from which you drew that quote -- it seems the two posts are not inconsistent.

His views seem perfectly reconcilable. He's critical of fraud, thinks mainland Chinese companies are particularly fraudulent, but has had good experiences with this particular operation in Hong Kong. Maybe he's said more extreme things elsewhere, but based on the quote you provided, he doesn't seem like an outright protectionist...

 

[TheTukker]

Originally Posted by gianni

hi, there is a great difference between hong kong and main china itself. day and night difference. i like hong kong as its civilized and law abiding but i dislike china culture because of lack of laws and wild wild east. my dealings with china companies always had some problems or the other, mostly due to lack of laws in china itself. it was up to client if he wanted to be ethical or not law did not matter, you have no idea how many large publicly traded companies from china would cook their books.

also these people come to the usa, they pay airfare, hotel, food, meals, etc etc, so at least there is some return to economy here. when you order online direct 100% of your money go straight overseas without a cent spent here on overheads here. these people also charge me similar cost for shirt as online guy but give me service here and come here for aftersales.

don't get me wrong, i am not against foreign business, and everything we buy must be made somewhere else, but i am not for business that give zero back to US economy. This is my opinion and maybe only my own opinion.

That's fair enough Gianni - I must admit that I was assuming a more narrow-minded view supporting your earlier comment. I am always surprised to see people from the 'developed' world complaining that the 'less developed' world is taking jobs away from them. I am not even sure where to start arguing against that. While I don't necessarily agree with your view, you articulate it gracefully. If apologies are in place, well, then: apologies.

 

[PL92106]

Resurrection of old thread. Any further thoughts from others on these guys? I too got an e-mail and am intrigued. Looks like their top of the line suit is around $1,500. Any other recommendations around SoCal?

 

[viator]

Bump. Anyone used Hira's lately?

 

[TheTukker]

They leave me unsollicited messages on my office voicemail a few times a year.

 

[Dragon Warrior]

I had terrible experience with Hira's Fashion. I made a suit and a shirt for almost 900 USD. When it arrived, the suit was too tight, and the pants was way too small to wear. so I contacted the traveling tailor John and waited another month for him to come back to my city to fix it.

He did come and remeasure it for me, it turned out the pants I received was actually 3 size smaller -- what's interesting was his respond -- "did you lost weight ?" I responded to him something like "did I also grow 3 size shorter ?"

Anyway, he did ship my suits and pants back to Hongkong, fixed it, sent back to me. But that took them another month.

So after more than 3 and half months i paid my money, I can finally wear the suite and pants. I put it on and went one event, guess what happened ? the pants broken because the slax was not stitched probably !! you can imagine how embarrassing it was.

I was unhappy and asked him at least to refund some money, his reply was "sorry, we don't do refund. we can give you discount next time you order suite from us. " --- Thank you, but no thank you, I will never order any suite from this Hira's Fashion.

I promise all my statement above are true. I even have all the email records.

So readers, Please be cautious about this traveling tailor.

 

[Juliet]

We sincerely apologize that our service has not lived up to your expectations. We continuously strive to improve our service and product quality. Pls feel free to contact me personally via PM and I will work with management to come up with an amicable solution to your issues.

To all our loyal clients, we appreciate your kind words of support for us.

Yours sincerely
The Hiras Fashion Management Team

 

[Pasha]

Relatively recently I used them for a suit. All in all, it took about 6 months, one attempt at a recut, and then they made a completely new suit. It seems like when it comes to the cut/fit/shape, there is no communication between their traveling salesperson and their cutter/tailor in HK. The house style, as it turned out, was Men's Warehouse circa 1990, so you must tell them exactly what you want. And even that might not be enough. They actually took my pants to HK to replicate them, and - quite amazingly - didn't do that properly - I had to bring them (and the jacket) to Matt of Imparali tailors to be fixed. The suit post-Imparali looks good. I would've been content to have gotten it on the first try. They seem to be honest people who truly care about their customers, but I will most likley not use them in the future.

 

[chandrachandra]

I usually am too lazy to write any reviews--positive or negative. But Hira definitely went above and beyond in the area of bad customer service--so I feel somewhat compelled to write this review for the sake of other people who may want to use them.

I would definitely not use them. First of all, I generally have a lot of my clothes tailored so I was very excited to have a custom fitted suit! I brought a suit and a shirt that I wanted replicated for my Hira appointment. Hira charged over $1200 which I thought was a good deal for customized clothes since I liked the fabrics that I had picked out. However, my overall experience with Hira left me horrified by their terrible service and lack of quality. First of all, it took over 60 days before I got my order because they did not ship it correctly-despite my giving them very specific instructions on the shipping. Second, the items--when they finally arrive--looked NOTHING like what I had brought for them to replicate. The suit had horrid gold ribboning on the pockets (Ugh!), looked very cheap, and did not fit at all. This is despite the guy taking my measurements and measurements on the suit that I brought to be replicated. I am still amazed at Hira's unique talent for taking nice fabrics and making them look like cheap, out-of-style, disco fashion monstrosities. Basically, I would have gotten a better suit if I paid $50 at some cheap off-the-rack place.

I then contacted them. It took them several emails to respond. They said that they would fix it the next time they were in my vicinity which would be approximately 3 months from the time the finally responded to my complaint. Well I emailed them 5 times when it was near the time for them to be back in my town. They completely ignored my emails. So now it is 5 months out from when I placed the order and despite paying over $1200, I still do not have anything wearable and they still have not responded to any of my emails.

So..caveat emptor..it is very hard to buy something from an establishment that is in another country that has no accountability, no talent for tailoring, no honorable customer service--although, after 5 months of their BS, I am having my credit card company dispute the charges with them.

 

[TheTukker]

Interesting; whom would you recommend instead?

 

[gsugsu]

I recently commissioned Hiras to do two sportcoats just to see what the end result would be and i was pleasantly surprised. They even threw in two shirts as part of the price on my asking. Local MTM is limited (Coppley, which is good but no options for full canvas construction) and bespoke is non-existent. I could travel but having the service come to me is a nice option to have.

Peter Chettiar was the fitter. He was very personable and I enjoyed working with him. As with any custom endeavour, doing your research, knowing what you want and taking the time to communicate exactly that is key to the process. Expecting perfection from a one-fitting visiting tailor service is not realistic. One would expect to build on the first commission, make adjustments and eventually reach a point of satisfaction with the product. He had no concept of the relative weight of various fabrics when I asked him.

I believe this was Hiras first visit to Canada and the fabric selection was limited. Most suiting and shirting fabrics were from lower tier mills, mostly Italian. Suiting and coating weights were more appropriate for far more milder climates. Their premium fabric selection was limited and not what I was looking for: tweeds and flannels were non-existent. As for shirting, there were nice fabrics but nothing from mills that SFers are accustomed to. Lots of solids and more bold/garish stripes. Limited selection of things I might have been looking for: no gingham, tattersal. Sea Island cotton or Sea Islandesque?

Hiras has a style guide with illustrations of cuts and style elements to guide the less informed. However, if you want something that differs from the norm then it is incumbent upon you to communicate that clearly and have it written down correctly.

Delivery time was as promised on the website, approximately 6 weeks. Overall, the jacket fit was acceptable although I will ask for it to be more fitted next time. Lapel width, sleeve and jacket length were as specified. Quality of construction is quite good. I asked for three patch pockets and the shape, size and position were quite to my liking. I specified a one-button closure and I would like a slightly better lapel roll to the button. Peter correctly noticed one shoulder was lower than the other and the jackets were correctly constructed to reflect this. I did not specify natural shoulders and the default was minimal padding that I had no issues with. Were they like my Castangia or Partenopea shoulders? No, but I did not expect it. The next commission will specify natural shoulders to see what they can do. Do they actually have my paper pattern on file in Hong Kong. They say they do and I'll believe them.

The shirt fit was quite good for a first commission. Of course some tweaks will be necessary. Collars were not fused but quite stiff. Overall, better than most MTM or "factory shirts" but certainly not on par with what Carl at CEGO has done for me in the past.

I failed to specify horn and mother of pearl buttons for the jackets and shirts, respectively, as I assumed that a bespoke product would naturally have these, but I assumed wrong and the default was plastic. I pointed this out and was assured that this would be corrected on future commissions. Disappointing? Yes, but not a hill to die on. Thankfully I did not get the default gold pocket edging! Lining, either standard or upgraded, is a separate charge.

Communication via email was adequate but I sometimes had to send another email to get a response. I asked if they could bring a selection of flannel suiting for their next visit and I was told that they would. I'll see from what mills they are from. They did not comment on the availability of fabrics from Fox or Minnis or others I enquired about. I have not yet asked if I could provide my own fabric to have made into a jacket or suit.

So, all in all, I am happy with the outcome. I will order again on the next visit subject to fabric availability. I'll try suits and have more shirts made. If the adage you get what you pay for applies, then I am ahead of the game. I'm realistic to know these aren't Despos, Huntsman, CEGO or T & A level garments but are far above my previous experiences with MTM.

One person's experience. Take it for what it's worth.

G

 

[noir]

Pretty much the same experience as Chandrachandra--horrible customer service, horrible endproduct. Suit fit worse than an OTR. Sent it back for them to fix, still haven't received anything yet. It's been about 6 months since they took payment. Wish I could do a chargeback but doubt it'd go through given how long it's been already. Wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt but seriously my patience is wearing thin.

6 months to address my complaints--ample time if you ask me. Just letting anyone who is considering them to beware. They have a no refund policy FYI. Tired of dealing with this BS from them but AJ (the manager) just told me to shove it, so here I am, 6 months and counting.

 

[fueltank]

I just got an email from them too... still debating whether to give them a go so would be keen to hear of anymore feedback from reputable posters

Cheers,
Ed

 

[viator]

I'm going to see them on Thursday at the Waldorf to see about getting a pair of pants done as a test. Thoughts?