Martin Greenfield Clothiers VS. Alan David Custom

[FlowSense84]

All SF Contributors, I am seeking anyone's experiences with both Martin Greenfield and Alan David Custom, particularly those that have custom suits from both.

Questions:

• If you have suits from both, do you have a preference and why?
• If only a suit from one and not the other, do you think there is a strong reason to order or not order from vendor (MG or AD).

Scenario:

• Wedding Suit for End of May
• Proposed Suit Description:
  • Jacket - 2 button (low stance), navy, slightly roped shoulder, peak lapel with clean chest, high armholes.
  • Pants - 2 pairs, one with side tabs
• Budget: $2000 for all above

I did an initial visit to both Martin Greenfield and Alan David to look at fabrics.

• Martin Greenfield:
  • No basted fitting, when I asked it almost offended them.
  • $1500 for fabric I'm interested in + $400 for extra pair of paints.
  • Very low sales pressure, which speaks to their confidence I suppose.
  • Tried on someone else's jacket and it was a light as a feather; beautiful.
• Alan David:
  • Better "sales service". From what I understand a basted fitting is part of the process.
  • $1595 for fabric I'm interested in + $595 for extra pair of pants. They could maybe knock off $100 or so as first time discount.
  • Also tried on a jacket for someone else, similar feel though notice the indent of the roped shoulder was a bit uneven on one side.
• Manolo Costa: Suits start at about $2500. Too much for me, but he has a sense of style.

Looking to pull the trigger by this weekend. Thank you all!

 

[GBR]

If you intend to have a long lasting relationship with your tailor the rapport between you is important. I rather suspect that these businesses are not specifically bespoke tailors and in that case you are at the mercy of salesmen.

 

[FlowSense84]

Agreed. They are not fully bespoke but rather a blend of custom or MTM.

 

[vstimp]

In a similar situation. What did you decide?

 

[David Reeves]

Style in a garment and customer service are so important in custom clothing, with your budget it's not a bad idea necessarily to put that money into an excellent OTR suit in a sale. The benefits of this are ease of purchase and you know what you are getting, you can look in the mirror and see if it fits you. I have seen things like Alexander Mcqueen and Brioni suits being sold for obviously much less than cost.

 

[NoobLord]

Agreed. They are not fully bespoke but rather a blend of custom or MTM.

For sure, 100%, Alan David is full bespoke and they don’t do made to measure or anything otr. Almost certain Martin Greenfield does bespoke as well as m2m.

 

[comrade]

I met Martin Greenfield probably 15+ years ago when he was doing a trunk show
at Nieman Marcus Palo Alto. A very charming man. He was measuring Nieman
clients for their Nieman Marcus/ Greenfield program which was based on Nieman
models. When he saw the Chipp jacket I was wearing he said that he would not be
able to do such a cut through Nieman Marcus, but that I should look into the
Brooks Bros./ Martin Greenfield option. I never did. I had a bad experience
with Brooks MTM years before in Chicago and did not have the confidence
that BB, already in decline, would not screw up the order as they had before.

 

[KeepItClassy760]

All SF Contributors, I am seeking anyone's experiences with both Martin Greenfield and Alan David Custom, particularly those that have custom suits from both.

Questions:

• If you have suits from both, do you have a preference and why?
• If only a suit from one and not the other, do you think there is a strong reason to order or not order from vendor (MG or AD).

Scenario:

• Wedding Suit for End of May
• Proposed Suit Description:
  
  • Jacket - 2 button (low stance), navy, slightly roped shoulder, peak lapel with clean chest, high armholes.
  • Pants - 2 pairs, one with side tabs
• Budget: $2000 for all above

I did an initial visit to both Martin Greenfield and Alan David to look at fabrics.

• Martin Greenfield:
  
  • No basted fitting, when I asked it almost offended them.
  • $1500 for fabric I'm interested in + $400 for extra pair of paints.
  • Very low sales pressure, which speaks to their confidence I suppose.
  • Tried on someone else's jacket and it was a light as a feather; beautiful.
• Alan David:
  
  • Better "sales service". From what I understand a basted fitting is part of the process.
  • $1595 for fabric I'm interested in + $595 for extra pair of pants. They could maybe knock off $100 or so as first time discount.
  • Also tried on a jacket for someone else, similar feel though notice the indent of the roped shoulder was a bit uneven on one side.
• Manolo Costa: Suits start at about $2500. Too much for me, but he has a sense of style.

Looking to pull the trigger by this weekend. Thank you all!

Old thread I know. But I am also conflicted about the 2. What did you end up going with?