Hong Kong Shirt Makers

[waterampage]

Will do! Thanks for the info, will look to head down on my next trip there.

 

[pc282]

Hi Penfold. I fell off the shirting wagon and stumbled upon some leftover tessitura monti fabrics at Graly. I probably ventured a bit outside my conservative zone but the allure of the puce POW was too much.

Amazing texture and hand. To be made w MoP buttons based on your helpful advice.

 

[Penfold]

Nice stuff @pc282 . Going to be a strong summer casual shirt - what make-up did you go for?

Gralys 14 through 17 collected today and a "happy accident" means I'll be up to 18 soon. Just discovered the Pinpoint Oxfords section on Acorn's website too... this could get really serious as I'm running out of both money and closet space.

Apologies for the crappy folding.

Plain blue poplin house fabric - $450 HKD, spread collar 120 at 3 inches (I think), collar band up to 1.5 inches from 1.25. French cuffs, rounded. Split yoke, removeable collar stiffeners, placket, self-supplied thin MoP buttons, no sleeve gauntlet button. All the conservative business dress.




Two very formal shirts for morning dress or general razzle-dazzle. $800 each as made from Thomas Mason fabric - a burgundy striped poplin and a blue end-on-end with a faint white stripe.. Collar 113 (1/2 inch more cutaway) in high quality white, shortened points to 2.75 inches and raised collar band to 1.5 inches, made with stiffest possible fusing. Cuffs to match shirt body (IMHO much smarter than white collar and white cuffs, not least because it can normally only be had bespoke). The idea being to mimic the look of a detachable collar shirt without actually having to wear one.















Finally the happy accident. Ordered a shirt in a Thomas Mason sky blue PoW check with a pale pink overcheck. Tim clips a little sample from the bolt or the book with every order, as well as writing down the details. But he'd made a mistake writing down the order and made the shirt up in the wrong cloth - the next fabric along which is another blue PoW but with a red overcheck. It was his fault - the sample clippings on both his order form and my copy were the pink one I ordered. I said I'd take it if he'd make me the right one again at a small discount, which he agreed to do. You can't exactly turn your back on a shirt made to your pattern now, can you? Tim swore in English when he discovered his mistake, which I think was a nice customer service touch

An FYI for anyone looking to source their own cheaper MoP buttons at the place I use in Sham Shui Po. They do have a couple of trays of 3.5mm and 4 mm thick MoP buttons, but they don't seem to have much stock and I could only see 18l size ones. A gross of 3.5mm buttons would cost $202 HKD. The ones I've used on these shirts are "2 mm" thick, in size 18l for the placket and 16l at the neck button, but they feel thinner. I like that, as the shirt front feels very smooth but you may prefer thicker MoP yourself. This is what you're looking for

 

[Penfold]

Hi Penfold. I fell off the shirting wagon and stumbled upon some leftover tessitura monti fabrics at Graly. I probably ventured a bit outside my conservative zone but the allure of the puce POW was too much.
Amazing texture and hand. To be made w MoP buttons based on your helpful advice.

Handled that this morning when dropping off buttons for the replacement pink PoW shirt. Colour very hard to capture but lovely stuff. I was tempted to make one up especially at the price, but need to wait.

The white collar/blue stripe shirt had a little oil stain on the chest so I took it back to show Tim, unworn and unwashed. He showed me how to get an oil stain out with baby powder, a piece of spare sacrificial shirting fabric (about 1 foot square) and a hot iron. Specifically, don't wash the shirt but sprinkle the area with the baby powder, place the spare fabric across the stain and heat through with the iron fairly aggressively. Voila, oil stain removed.

Obviously it would be best if this never happened and this is the only time that any of my shirts have had a major problem like that. Can imagine though that it would be very distressing if you were ordering from overseas.

He does have cheap MoP buttons (thin) which are free to customers AFAIK - they're just thin and people seem to prefer thick plastic buttons.

 

[pc282]

@Penfold, my fellow shill. Aren't the Monti pieces quite exquisite? I'll share photos upon collection of my shirts. Between my poorly enforced BC workplace and my sartorially challenged tendency, I hope to be wearing the shirts soon.

1. Isn't it a bit expensive to order acorn fabrics, approx 20 pounds and 2 weeks, for delivery to HK? Or do you have cheaper means?

2. G. Gekko sighting!

3. the TM Pow checks are my favorite of the bunch. I'm a sucker for checks, big or small, any and all colors. I really need to adopt more stripes to my wardrobe.

4. Thanks for the tip on Thick mops. A couple of months ago, I picked up 3 shirts worth from a different vendor @5 HKD each and probably overpaid. I had a 4 year old in tow, who was clamouring to goto a bead store and simply ran out of energy. I'll be sure to make a special effort to your recommended vendor.

 

[pc282]

What I'm worried about is, How did the stain get there?

I have an annoying gray dot visibly on the chest area on a pink jantzen shirt I picked out last summer. I noticed before even wearing it. I should have taken it back but didn't want to deal with the hassle. Mark is still there. Never washed off. Grrrr.

 

[baromatic]

Stopped by Graly Shirtmakers in Wan Chai today and met Tim. Nice guy and I decided to go direct to the Thomas Mason linen.
House fabric linen was $600 and $800 base price for TM. Buttons were 2mm MOP he has in stock in 18L size. I don't prefer the 3-4mm for linen and decided to go casual with the arm bands ($50 added charge).

I guess Styleforum members are well represented here as he mentioned member Alex with a smile. Good stuff.

 

[exodos]

Interesting to see that Graly is receiving good reviews here. I tried them a while ago but did not have much luck.

I did find their work better than that of jantzen. But the rudeness is perhaps on par. And they kept asking for a shirt to copy, which really bothered me...

 

[Viktri]



Interesting to see that Graly is receiving good reviews here. I tried them a while ago but did not have much luck.

I did find their work better than that of jantzen. But the rudeness is perhaps on par. And they kept asking for a shirt to copy, which really bothered me...

I think I understand what you mean - that you expect a shirtmaker to do their own thing and produce a shirt that is 100% theirs but FWIW even Ascot Chang also asked me about the measurements of the shirt that I was wearing (Janzten) and also measured the shirt (just the body) and will use that to start the fitting process so that the fitting shirt has familiar measurements on the body and is therefore guaranteed not to be too tight.

 

[Penfold]

I left a shirt there once to have the collar shape copied but other than that my shirts were made off the tape measure and not by copying others.

I'd like to think that I've always been pretty clear in stating this: Graly isn't perfect, it's not Ascot Chang and it may not meet everyone's quality standards, but for the money I think it's a good shirt, if you're in HK to be measured and can either wait for collection or pay the onward postage. I've never seen anyone but Tim in the (little) shop, making me think that for measuring/ordering Tim handles everything as a one-man-band.

As for this mysterious "Alex" from SF, who is he? My name is Guy Incognito Penfold.

 

[exodos]

Don't get me wrong. I am ok with their quality of work and value for money. I simply did not like the experience of being a customer with them. And when I said "they" I meant the only guy in the shop.

 

[baromatic]

I left a shirt there once to have the collar shape copied but other than that my shirts were made off the tape measure and not by copying others.

I'd like to think that I've always been pretty clear in stating this: Graly isn't perfect, it's not Ascot Chang and it may not meet everyone's quality standards, but for the money I think it's a good shirt, if you're in HK to be measured and can either wait for collection or pay the onward postage. I've never seen anyone but Tim in the (little) shop, making me think that for measuring/ordering Tim handles everything as a one-man-band.

As for this mysterious "Alex" from SF, who is he? My name is Guy Incognito Penfold.

Yes, a hard lapel roll and skinny tie please Mr. Penfold Homer Donegal Simspon...

Oh, I am with you on the one-man-shop experience. There is some confidence in his work as he quoted there "won't need an alteration" though I may bring back the shirt any time in the future for it if needed. If he is right then some preferred workmanship is on hand and I feel truly that he is in direct correlation with the final product I will pick up. Is this a dream? Perhaps.

I must say though, the only good feedback is the experience at the shop. However I haven't received the product yet so I cannot truly say or make comparisons.

 

[baromatic]

Took a page out of Tim's book at Graly's on how he wears his linen.

For the last few trips to the shop, he has been wearing some nice house fabric linen in Deep Pink & Deep Yellow. I decided to go with his recommendation even though I opted for the spread collar. Looking back I think I should have gone for the mandarin collar.

 

[bapelolol]

Will be in HK for 7-8 days. Is this enough time for Tim @ Graly and Jantzen to make the shirts or do I need to contact him earlier to arrange it?

 

[pc282]

Yes, it should be sufficient time for both. Also, if you bring in your best fitting shirt and use that as a starting point it might be helpful to reduce any misunderstandings.