Best Made to Measure/Bespoke Option in Alberta (Harry Rosen, Henry Singer, Holt Renfrew, ?)

[A Canuker]

I've had the same time issue's at Henry's but I guess I have just got use to it and expect it though it is worth mentioning. I had Giovanni make a suit for me but it was a total wreck. Sadly it made the wait at the other shop seem speedy and for some reason I never got a fitting but just a finished suit which didn't fit and was sized for someone much larger than I. I'm sure he does great work as others have had great stuff but I shall never set foot in that shop again, I'm bitter about it as I shall never get that fabric again

 

[bertie]

I use Umbertos. I'm very happy with the service.

 

[JCPhoto]



I've had the same time issue's at Henry's but I guess I have just got use to it and expect it though it is worth mentioning. I had Giovanni make a suit for me but it was a total wreck. Sadly it made the wait at the other shop seem speedy and for some reason I never got a fitting but just a finished suit which didn't fit and was sized for someone much larger than I. I'm sure he does great work as others have had great stuff but I shall never set foot in that shop again, I'm bitter about it as I shall never get that fabric again

Wow that really surprises me but I can totally understand why you would use Henry's after such an experience. The time issue really was my only problem with Henry, other than that him and his wife were very pleasant and did good work at reasonable prices. If Gio ever makes a similar large error on one of my orders I'll likely find myself in the same spot.

 

[droy]

I've had "mixed" results with Gio. He completely re-engineered a Canali jacket for me that turned out wonderfully, at a fair price. On the other hand, he tried to send me out the door one time with pants that were 4 inches too long (alteration not bespoke). I brought them back for him to fix, and he double charged me for the alterations. In addition, he charged me $360 to adjust the rise on a pair of pants...lol. The one thing I've learned is that he's not good at handling problems. He tries to sweep them under the rug, so to speak. In addition, I don't think that he's particularly interested in "collaborating", but that might just be with me. You never know. Lord knows I'm not perfect. Having said this, he can and does often do good work. I might be off base here, but I think he's mostly interested in doing bespoke, and that the alterations are for him a method to get someone to do a bespoke suit. Secondly, I believe when he discounts (sales, like the one he has in January), he's so busy he's just trying to get things out the door and maybe things tend to get out of hand for him. Perhaps when this occurs he's more likely to ignore problems...I'm stretching here as I don't know the man that well.

I've been considering going back to him to have a suit or two done now that I've bought some LL fabrid (Brisa and Mistrals). My other options are limited (go to SR when passing through England 2 times a year or meet up with one of the traveling tailors when in SF or elsewhere). These other options are for me, somewhat difficult since my understanding is that they require a lot of patience...which I'm in short supply...lol... I don't know what I'll do yet. Time will tell.

 

[bertie]

I just tried one of the better know travelling tailors for a shirt. Met them in person, they measured me and I wore one of my best fitting shirts. I asked for a non-fused collar as well which they assured me they could accomodate. The shirt fits okay but not as well as the original and the collar is awful - stiff and uncomfortable. I will not use them again. I got better results mailing a shirt to a HK shirtmaker and having them replicate.

 

[primetimeseano]

Which travelling tailor was it? Maxwell's is coming to town in a week and I was thinking about ordering some shirts. I bought some a couple of years ago and while the fit isn't what it should be, they've held up well and the price was right.

 

[bertie]

It was MyTailor. I'm going to try LeeBaron next.

 

[primetimeseano]

Would you agree that finding a good offshore tailor is the best way to go on shirts? It seems like the only other option for getting a solid fit would be to pay hundreds of dollars per shirt locally.

 

[bertie]

Yes I think so. Umberto has a shirt service and they use pretty good fabric but the prices start at $200. I have tried it once and the result was very good but that is a bit more than I want to spend on workhorse shirts. I use CEGO and Carl makes a great shirt assuming you can get fitted in person but the long distance complicates things. I've also tried Jantzen and the price is great at about $45 but the fabrics are hit and miss. Reviews for LeeBaron seem pretty good and they do CMT (unlike Jantzen). My plan is to order some Acorn fabric and send to LeeBaron with a sample shirt that fits well.

 

[FidelCashflow]

I would recommend getting a MTM Samuelsohn suit from Harry Rosen.

I tried Maxwell once - worst fitting suit I had ever had - the second I tried it on out of the box I knew I made a huge mistake. I would never do business with them again.

 

[primetimeseano]

I just got my stuff from Maxwell's. Epic fail. I'm currently trying to salvage something wearable out of the fiasco. Here's the email I sent them:

I ordered six shirts and a suit from Maxwell's in Edmonton in late May. I had ordered shirts from Maxwell's two years prior and was careful to emphasize multiple times to your staff that the collars had been too large, forcing me to shrink the shirts. Doing so made the collars fit somewhat better (to the point where the shirts were wearable), but also made the bodies and sleeves too short. As I said, the shirts were wearable, but barely. They did not look the way I had expected custom-made shirts to look and were inferior to shirts I had purchased in stores. Nevertheless, I decided to give Maxwell's another chance as I thought that the collar problem would be easily addressed the second time around. Unfortunately, I was mistaken. The six shirts and the suit that I ordered in May arrived today, and they are borderline unwearable.

Specifically, the shirts have the same issue with the collar, although it is much worse than last time. They are also much too large around my midsection and an inch or two too short. This is a problematic combination since they don't stay tucked in properly, which accentuates the excess midsection fabric. While the shirts can likely be tailored to improve the fit around the midsection, I very much doubt that the collar or length issues are fixable.

With respect to the suit, while it is better, there is one critical problem: the jacket is too tight around my midsection. When I button the top button, the bottom of the jacket stays pulled open slightly. Once again, I doubt that this issue is fixable through tailoring. Furthermore, the fact that my shirts are too large in the midsection and my suit jacket is too small appears to demonstrate a severe lack of attentiveness by your staff.

Overall, I am very dissatisfied with my order. While I understand and appreciate the fact that your business model is such that achieving a perfect fit out of the box is nearly impossible, the deficiencies in the shirt collars and the suit jacket are so severe that they render my whole order useless. I understand that you have an arrangement with a local tailor and that I can have my shirts and suit altered free of charge, but as I stated previously, I do not think it will be possible to fix the problems with my order in this manner.

I look forward to hearing your proposed solution to the problems with my order. As a lawyer and a fashion enthusiast, I have many friends that I share clothing recommendations with. I am also an active member of a number of fashion-related forums on the internet. I hope the deficiencies set forth above can be addressed in a manner to my satisfaction so that I can continue to do business with Maxwell's and recommend that others do the same. Thank you.

They've since referred me to their local tailor. We'll see how that goes. Worst-case scenario, I return everything and charge it back on my credit card.

 

[A Canuker]

This was a sad but foreseeable end to the thread.

 

[primetimeseano]

To make a long story short, I ended up having the shirts remade (for free) with some modifications to the collar, length and waist measurements. I then took advantage of the free tailoring again to have the arms slimmed a bit and the torso slimmed more. The end result is actually pretty decent. I may even order from them again.