Ongoing Bespoke Projects

[Ilkless]

I scrolled down & saw the laptop open & knew it was ypsilon haha. Great tailor. An old maestro.

Although, I’m not sure he trained raffaniello or Ciccio, as their style is definitely more Neapolitan than ypsilon’s. He did, however, train the late satoki kawai, at sartoria crescent. Satoki started there in Milan, then Colombo & A. Caraceni.

I’m not sure how much all the 3d scanning helps: every Milanese tailor I’ve used put a chest dart automatically without a 3d scan. Seems like it’s just for show & Japanese government grants apparently.


Milanese & Roman style is almost interchangeable, owing to their shared heritage with the caraceni family. Maybe Roman is a little bit softer.

I didn't say he trained Ciccio or Raffaniello. I meant that he significantly predates the current crop of Japanese tailors like them going over to Europe, without garnering near as much attention (perhaps partly because of lack of trunk shows).

He still personally fits clients, so I imagine the main time savings are in drafting the first baste since its printed all at once for him to adjust. And then feeding back his adjustments to the system.

 

[DavidLane]

Good to know, I wonder if the heavier linens are meant for unstructured safari jackets.

I am honestly not sure. I can see wearing mine mid winter and being fine fwiw.

-DL

 

[DavidLane]

The light blue MH is definitely worth making up. I wore mine today and I like it more and more each time I pull it out.

I am looking forward to it for sure.

-DL

 

[_AMD]

Doesn’t drapers ascot have an ecru colored fabric? Why not that

I guess my best answer would be, because I was not familiar with that option. I'll take a look.

 

[tim_horton]

Ongoing: Caccioppoli Spring/Summer 2024, wool/silk/linen blend at 290 grams/10 ounces.

It's hard for me to find patterns that I like in lightweight fabric. This is a pattern I associate mroe with autumn but I'm looking forward to wearing it in warmer weather.

 

[bourbonbasted]

Caccioppoli silk/linen funded, c/o Pastena.

 

[Texasmade]

Hi all,

A many-year lurker here who has decided finally to join because I feel I can now meaningfully add to the conversation. I recently managed to get fitted up for a bespoke sport jacket with a Japanese tailor whose work I've admired for a long time, that hasn't been discussed on any English-speaking forum.

He is Yukihiko Funabashi from Sartoria Ypsilon in Tokyo. I wanted to try a Japanese tailor as I was located in Singapore, relatively near Japan, and it seemed the natural choice to explore. Plus, Maestro Funabashi is one of the pioneering Asian tailors that trained abroad long before the likes of Raffaniello and Ciccio. He trained at what is now Tommy and Giulio Caraceni in Rome for 3 years before going independent in Milan and Rome for 30. He decided to return to Japan in 2009 to try and pursue some technological advances in tailoring (more on that later).

Great post!!! Keep us updated on the fittings and final product.

 

[Ilkless]

Great post!!! Keep us updated on the fittings and final product.

We will be going straight to finish, and shipped to me, as I decided to spring for his machine-made bespoke for a first commission (which includes 1-2 baste fittings that I've managed to complete during my holiday, but not forward fittings). I was quoted a September completion date. Very promising baste so I'm looking forward to the final jacket.

 

[aristoi bcn]

Dark navy Spence Bryson linen funded.

 

[aristoi bcn]

 

[camez_]

great! what's the price point with them nowadays?

I've just prepared a package for my shirtmaker to make up some shirts with canclini, thomas mason and söktas fabrics - I'll experiment a bit with different collars and button placement on the linen blends, see how far I can get with this

 

[Bespoke DJP]

Hi all,

A many-year lurker here who has decided finally to join because I feel I can now meaningfully add to the conversation. I recently managed to get fitted up for a bespoke sport jacket with a Japanese tailor whose work I've admired for a long time, that hasn't been discussed on any English-speaking forum.

He is Yukihiko Funabashi from Sartoria Ypsilon in Tokyo. I wanted to try a Japanese tailor as I was located in Singapore, relatively near Japan, and it seemed the natural choice to explore. Plus, Maestro Funabashi is one of the pioneering Asian tailors that trained abroad long before the likes of Raffaniello and Ciccio. He trained at what is now Tommy and Giulio Caraceni in Rome for 3 years before going independent in Milan and Rome for 30. He decided to return to Japan in 2009 to try and pursue some technological advances in tailoring (more on that later).

View attachment 2201875

The entrance to his workshop and fitting salon in a nondescript 70s Japanese building. It is located in Yaesu, right next to the great Tokyo expressway, at the start of the main stretch of Ginza. All I had to do was literally walk straight down from Ginza Mitsukoshi, and turn left past the expressway flyover. His fifth-floor unit gives a commanding view of Ginza stretching to the horizon, with cars zooming along the elevated expressway in the foreground.

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Owner/head cutter/tailor Yukihiko Funabashi (in check jacket) with his brother Yoshi, an accomplished RTW/couture cutter in his own right who returned from Milan after him. Note the wide range of cut lengths available. Sartoria Ypsilon kindly accommodated my travel schedule, after I reached out about 4 months in advance with a hope and a prayer. To ensure at least one baste could be fitted during my 10-day trip, I had to pick from the shelves, which is a treat given the selection.

I had been eying a vintage wool/cashmere jacketing from Carlo Barbera specially woven in the 80s for Funabashi-san, back when he was based in Milan. Unfortunately, that has long been made up. We discussed 230-300gsm jacketing options for Singapore that would be versatile (especially in a culture, climate and setting when classic menswear codes were a bit more malleable). I wanted something that could be worn with odd trousers for date night, as well as biz-caz work events without looking out of place. My field isn't very formal and odd jackets are perfectly passable, so that helped. I can even see this Zegna working with denim or chambray. As a stretch goal, I wanted something that could potentially even work as a casual suit should I decide to cut trousers from the same fabric subsequently.

Yoshi and Yukihiko, as well as undercutter Matsumura (hope I heard correctly) and apprentice Taka all helped too. The aged wooden coffee table soon got messy, strewn with jacketings from Harrisons, Loro Piana, Fox, Drapers and others.

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I finally decided to bite the bullet on some deadstock micro checkered Zegna Trofeo with a red micro overcheck that caught my eye from the start (despite a significant fabric upcharge). Matsumura, Funabashi-san and I all instantly agreed MOP buttons were the best choice:

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I wasn't dressed in a shirt for the first visit as I thought we'd only be picking fabric and measuring up (plus I had packed light for holiday). However, Funabashi-san happened to have a fitting sample on hand that was in the right size ballpark, which he could then adjust, to provide another data point for me and him.

Excuse the lack of sleeves; I didn't have the presence of mind to ask for photos until they were adjusted and ripped off. This fitting sample is on the more structured end of what he does. I didn't intend to ask for something structured for my commission (and ended up not doing so).

But wow, the swelled chest, the drape, the waist suppression, the gorge, the lapels, all looked so great and distinctive. He said the jacket was slightly longer than he'd prefer to cut for me, but I felt this was perfectly offset by the slightly more outward-curving and open quarters.

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Obviously as this is a fitting sample, the back isn't perfect and exaggerates the slight sway I have got. Just showing it for reference.

In the end, for my own jacket, I only specified that it be single-breasted and quarter-lined with lined sleeves. I told Funabashi-san (who is fluent in Italian and Japanese of course) through his apprentice Taka (who speaks very good English that needed only sporadic augmentation by Google Translate) that I'd leave everything else to him. He said that he felt the fabric (which felt like 230gsm) and usage indicated for a lighter construction with patch pockets.

Which was what appeared at baste a week later:

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Again, I apologise for only remembering to take fitting pictures after the sleeves were ripped off. But I will say the sleeves did not have any issues with pitch, and the tweaks for armhole and shoulder expression were minor.

The back he cuts leans towards drapey yet clean. And lovely work on the collar too. Just minor tweaks needed to clean it up further, but I felt the result was very good for a first-time overseas customer, and given the short turnaround.


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As you can tell, length and front/back balance were spot-on. Funabashi-san noted I had a high natural waist, which he took into account for the buttoning point. He said that there was room for more waist suppression (amazing given how fluffy I am) for the final garment. He will be finishing and shipping it straight to me.

Amazing work from a veteran cutter. Sleeves are a bit short because I threw on a shirt that was slightly snug, and snagged on my shoulders, not because of the jacket snagging. Excuse the shirt and the sneakers because I packed light.

And Funabashi-san rocks his own work well too! He is wearing a Japanese-made ecru hopsack. It is unstructured and the shoulders are unpadded. But so clean and extended!

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I like the lapel and gorge line too. He tends to cut a wide, low-gorged lapels that wrap around the neck and chestline with heroic ironwork, leading down to a gentle lapel roll.

I mentioned technology -- he has been experimenting with, and recently successfully deployed, 3D scanning customer's bodies with an array of 8 cameras. He returned to Tokyo because the tech wasn't available in Italy, and he also snagged government grants for this work.

The 3D scans are then used to generate a pattern off a master block via a machine learning model trained on Funabashi-san's patterns. The camera array was down the day of my first visit so I was measured up and my baste pattern drafted up the old-fashioned way. But Funabashi-san and Taka (who is the computer whiz) scanned me up on my second visit as a demonstration.

They first use an amorphous fibreglass sculpture to calibrate the cameras.

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Then I was asked to strip and step inside in the statue's stead. This is to ensure the body scan is accurate and not thrown off by worn garments. I only stripped up top as I was commissioning a jacket but expect to strip down to your undies if you commission a suit.

My pattern being generated. Had I been scanned up in the first appointment, the computer-generated pattern would have been printed out on paper on a gigantic industrial printer in the atelier (not pictured), for the cutters to further adjust and then subsequently made up for the first baste. The second baste and forward fittings are completely traditional and artisanal otherwise.

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I was skeptical until Funabashi-san pointed out to me (via Taka): "You have quite a full chest. The computer detected that in your scan and is now automatically adding a chest dart to your pattern."

Mind. Blown.

I was very impressed that a Japanese tailor with credentials to match any of the returnee expat artisans, and vastly more experience than most, was simultaneously so forward-thinking.

This was perhaps encapsulated by his response to a question I posed him. I had asked him what he missed most about Milan.

He said: "I haven't thought about it at all, I don't dwell on the past."

He then reluctantly ventured after some thought: "The fresh air."

Would love to hear your thoughts! BTW pricing was very reasonable.

Just under 2k USD starting for a jacket if you are okay with machine pad stitched lapels and collars, less handwork, and no forward fitting (a baste fitting is included. Funabashi-san will immediately adjust and recut the first baste for a second baste the same day if needed).

I paid a fabric upcharge of around 700usd for the Zegna. It appears that a lot of domestic-focused Japanese makers adopt the Porsche approach: a low base price is quoted with upcharges tacked on separately. I'd expect, but didn't confirm,.the base price would include stuff like Japanese worsted wools or maybe VBC. Drapers had a much lower upcharge of around 300usd but the Trofeo just caught me.

If you want handwork, the price goes up to the 3.5-4k range. In which case you get really clean and dense pad stitching, milanaises and the whole nine yards. And on request, they can do the entire garment handsewn.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for sharing your bespoke experience here; a detailed post is always greatly appreciated!

I know a thing or two of Ermenegildo Zegna fabrics, your chosen "Trofeo" is a really nice one, but it is a 100% suiting fabric. Thus, I strongly recommend you to complete the suit by immediately ordering its accompanying trousers, and use it exclusively according to its destined use.

That said, this is far from being a "casual" fabric and I urge you to re-consider using it as such, "with denim or chambray". There will be jacketing fabrics that will perfectly do this job!

Something to think about...


Best,

Dimitris

 

[Ilkless]

Dear Sir,

Thank you for sharing your bespoke experience here; a detailed post is always greatly appreciated!

I know a thing or two of Ermenegildo Zegna fabrics, your chosen "Trofeo" is a really nice one, but it is a 100% suiting fabric. Thus, I strongly recommend you to complete the suit by immediately ordering its accompanying trousers, and use it exclusively according to its destined use.

That said, this is far from being a "casual" fabric and I urge you to re-consider using it as such, "with denim or chambray". There will be jacketing fabrics that will perfectly do this job!

Something to think about...


Best,

Dimitris

It looks a bit washed out in photos but in real life under natural light it has much more of an oatmeal than grey tone. The red overcheck is also a bit more prominent. That in my mind shifts it a bit more to the odd jacket spectrum. Though I admit a larger check would reinforce the distinction better.

 

[Bespoke DJP]

great! what's the price point with them nowadays?

I've just prepared a package for my shirtmaker to make up some shirts with canclini, thomas mason and söktas fabrics - I'll experiment a bit with different collars and button placement on the linen blends, see how far I can get with this

A nice assortment!

The denim in the picture before the last, is from which mill?


Thank you in advance,

Dimitris

 

[Bespoke DJP]

It looks a bit washed out in photos but in real life it has much more of an oatmeal than grey tone. The red overcheck is also a bit more prominent. That in my mind shifts it a bit more to the odd jacket spectrum. Though I admit a larger check would reinforce the distinction better.

It has nothing to do with the color, the check is so subtle, the overcheck is suit-appropriate, AND the selvedge is a "Trofeo" suiting one.

Ermenegildo Zegna has to offer jacketing "Trofeo", not "Trofeo-Cashmere", or else, just "Trofeo" for decades; I am in the bespoke game from back then...


Best,

Dimitris