Burgos (famous Madrid shirtmaker) to visit USA with tailor to royals

I am starting this thread on behalf of the owner of Burgos, who is a lovely person, business woman, and shirt maker, but not so hot in the "forum skills" department.

She is coming to the USA this year with the tailor to the King of Spain.

I had her make me some shirts when I visited Madrid. Her shirts are very nice, without anything distinctive like noticeable handwork. Her prices are extremely reasonable, especially if one selects fabrics manufactured in Spain. She carries the full Alumo range, which is something American shirt makers do not. If Vandecasteele is "bottom tier" in price and Charvet/Kabbaz are "upper tier" in price, I would say she is right in the middle. I will let her state prices but as we all know there are complexities and I don't remember how much my shirts cost, each was a special case. One distinctive thing I can say about her is that Burgos appears to have special expertise in formal dress, so they are a very good place to get shirts for your tuxedo.

I did not try the tailor she is traveling with though I visited his atelier (it looks like an atelier, with workroom visible from the elegant fitting rooms). I think I will try him if he comes to the USA, I would love to see the Spanish style in suits, and there are some fascinating pictures on Cutter and Tailor.

Before you ask me "how my shirts fit", she did not really have a chance to do her best with my shirts because I had one fitting and never returned. But they fit fine and I enjoy wearing them. I have no business interest in Burgos, I am just posting this to be nice. Though Carmen did tell me I could get 100 free shirts if I help her.

Just kidding.

Thanks a lot for your introduction, and glad to know you are just kidding about the 100 shirts¡

Let me say a few words about us,

Founded in 1912, this shirt shop is nearly 100 years old.

Supplying handmade tailored shirts, it has gained a considerable reputation and its clients include members of the royal family, bankers, aristocrats and leading figures from the worlds of bullfighting and culture. In the 60´s you can find in the shop International figures like Cary Grant, Orson Wells.

The shop still produce the shirts under the same manual method.
After the material for the shirt has been selected in a whide range of fabrics not just the best national one but also the best international such as Suisse cotton or Egiptian cotton, the tailor makes an individual pattern for the new client, to be kept in the shop for future orders.
Finally, the cuffs, collar, embroidery and shape of the shirt (loose or close-fitting, type of sleeve, etc.) are chosen. When the pattern has been completed, orders can be placed by phone or e-mail and customers can ask for samples of fabric to be sent to them, wherever they may be. In short, the highest standards in tailoring and customer care.

The shop also sells a wide range of jackets and teba jackets and accessories such as ties, belts, braces and cufflinks, which will make every detail of your dress distinctive.
Known in the country as the best traditional shirt makers, produce a wide range of Tuxedo and Frac shirts which includes a special ironing starch that no one else does.

Preparing their first visit to USA ( New York, Miami) next Autumn, together with the famous tailor: Lopez Herbon , the spainsh king tailor is one of their important customers they have.

If you are interested to get an appointment you can contact us by e-mail to [email protected] , please mention if you are interested in suits, shirts or both.

Burgos is in NYC today and tomorrow and I visited them for the first time this afternoon. Based on my visit and what I've read about them on the net, I will be ordering the minimum of 3 shirts; the first with one of their fabrics and the other two with my own (Bonfanti and Anderson). CMT is $200 and shirts with their fabrics start at $250. They travel with swatches from Alumo, G & R, Cancili and Spanish mills If you opt for CMT, they will wash your fabric before they work on it.

I was measured by the owners' granddaughter, who seems very knowledgable and amiable. She also is fluent in English, which helps.

For those who care about such things, the handwork is as extensive as Kiton RTW and much finer. I have never seen buttonholes sewn more meticulously in person or in photogragraphs. My personal basis for comparison is limited to most of the NY suspects, Mina, Savatore Piccolo and high-end RTW.

This all begs the most important issue of fit and the process in that regard is less than ideal, even for travelling tailors. At present, they (Ms.Burgos and the tailor that travels with her) plan to travel to NYC every 6 six months. As a result she will not be back until March. In the interim, she will send me the first shirt to wear and for comment. If in my view, only minor adjustments are required, I will return the shirt for the changes to be made and they will send me the finished product. If the issues are more significant, I will have to wait until March to iron them out.

Of couse, it would be better if they were within commuting distance. But given the apparent quality of their work and the limited risk involved, I resisted my usual bias against working with travelling tailors and decided to give Burgos a try. I'll report on the results.

Btw, Burgos has no idea I was going to write about my visit. I didn't either , until a few minutes ago.

^ Thanks for the note. I was very keen to try them as well, but balked at the infrequency of their visits.

From what I've seen, their shirts look very nice.

In my experience, it is easier to lock into the fit of a shirt than a jacket and once you do there is less variability from shirt to shirt. So if if they can get it right in a couple of visits, they will have my business. But if we end up constantly fiddling with the fit, it won't be worth the trouble.

I agree with the above, but have found it takes 2-3 iterations to get the first shirt perfect. With Burgos that would equate to over an year in waiting - a timeline I was uncomfortable with.

Yeah, I certainly understand how you feel. I'll see how it works out. Hopefully you can benefit from my experience regardless of outcome.



etkl said:

Yeah, I certainly understand how you feel. I'll see how it works out. Hopefully you can benefit from my experience regardless of outcome.

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Good luck - I'm sure their reputation is well deserved. I hope you'll post pics as you progress with Burgos.

Gramm

I dont' know how to do that but I guess I'm going to have to learn to make my posts meaningful.

I was in Madrid this summer and tracked down their location but unfortunately they were closed for August (I don't know why this didn't occur to me before I set out for the store). Let me know how it goes, the price point is very competitive for the reported quality.

I just received my shirt after an initial fitting and my first reaction is very positive. I am wearing it today and will only be able to really evaluate the fit after the first washing. (They wash the fabric before they make the shirt but there still could be some shrinkage). However, even at this stage, this shirt probably fits better after a first go around than any other I can remember and is very comfortable to wear,

The finish is also first-rate, although there is less handwork than I recall seeing on a sample. Probably a memory issue. From what I can see, the handwork is limitted to the shoulders, button holes, button attachment and bottom hem but whatever is there is impeccably done. I have never seen an Anna M bespoke shirt live, so if that is the benchmark for handwork, I can't compare the two. I noted that the side seams are done with two lines of machine stitching, a la T & A, and they too are very flat and neatly done. I finally bit the bullet and asked for a fused collar. I'm through with the havoc wreaked on non-fused collars by commercial laundries and I'm not going to do them myself. The collar is reasonably soft and the fit is great. The cuffs are not fused and also fit very well. They supplied their own Spanish shirting, which seems very solid, but after I approve the first shirt, they will be using my cloth.

At $200 CMT, it is probably the best quality/price shirt that I've seen. I wish they visited the US more frequently than twice a year but I'm sure they would if there was more demand. In any event, my first impression is that they have very nearly nailed it on the first shot and I'm hoping that after some minor tweaking, I can just send them fabric.

I know all this would be more meaningful with pictures and I am very frustrated that I can't post any at the moment. But I'm working on it.

^ Thanks for the review. Look forward to the pics!

I'm waiting for my kids to teach me how to do it and they are away at school. LOL.



etkl said:

In my experience, it is easier to lock into the fit of a shirt than a jacket and once you do there is less variability from shirt to shirt. So if if they can get it right in a couple of visits, they will have my business. But if we end up constantly fiddling with the fit, it won't be worth the trouble.

Click to expand...

Quite right. It's actually fairly easy (relative to a coat), especially if you're not exceptionally hard to fit. Update us with the results. What's the turnaround time?



etkl said:

I'm waiting for my kids to teach me how to do it and they are away at school. LOL.

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