The Anderson & Sheppard Expatriates Thread

[jonathanS]

You can even pay for premium service with all the money you waste on mediocre bespoke. No wonder you were begging me to bring my tailors out to DC when I lived there 😂

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[jonathanS]

I realize that this may be a case of "apples and oranges", but I am a
natural shoulder fanatic, so I also like the Neapolitans- I own one
Rubinacci bought from Sartoriale. So, if I decide to go actual bespoke,
who among the Neapolitans are consistent and reliable?

Nunzio Pirozzi, zizolfi, or Ciardi, I think are the most consistent. I’d stay away from Dalcuore. Problem with Solito is the younger Solito cuts if you’re abroad. Personally I’d use b&tailor or Ciccio if I was in New York and constrained to New York.

 

[jb335]

Just looking for a few opinions to make sure I'm not going nuts:

--I commissioned a MTM suit for my wedding from a suitmaker who is regularly suggested on this thread/forum. It's my first MTM commission.

--I've had one in person measurement session, one in-person fitting, and took delivery of the "finished" suit a few days ago.

--The front of the suit looks fine, but I'm concerned about the back and sleeves.

--In particular, the shoulders look visibly off to me, especially from the back. My left shoulder (when viewed from the back) slopes more than my right shoulder. However, the right shoulder in the jacket has a lot of structure to it, with wadding/padding (not sure the technical term) extending past the natural shoulder and into the sleevehead. The left shoulder, in contrast, is very soft with almost no wadding/padding. This strikes me as backwards--shouldn't the lower shoulder be padded?

--The pitch on the sleeves also seems wrong, as well as the extra fabric through the back. I had expected a smoother line through the sleeves, and the jacket to sit smoothly on the back of my shoulders. I understand some of this might be the English Drape style or the way I'm standing.

Am I over-reacting or is there something to my observations?

 

[aristoi bcn]

Shoulders from the front look perfect. From the back, they are a mess but it seems fixable. What I think doesn’t look good are the proportions of the front. I have seen the same issue in bespoke commissions from almost all Row tailors trying to modernize the cut by simply shortening the jacket while maintaining the buttoning point. It looks out of proportion. Buttoning point has the function of creating an hourglass shape and here we have a bigger top and a skimpy bottom.

 

[TheLawBeard]

Just looking for a few opinions to make sure I'm not going nuts:

--I commissioned a MTM suit for my wedding from a suitmaker who is regularly suggested on this thread/forum. It's my first MTM commission.

--I've had one in person measurement session, one in-person fitting, and took delivery of the "finished" suit a few days ago.

--The front of the suit looks fine, but I'm concerned about the back and sleeves.

--In particular, the shoulders look visibly off to me, especially from the back. My left shoulder (when viewed from the back) slopes more than my right shoulder. However, the right shoulder in the jacket has a lot of structure to it, with wadding/padding (not sure the technical term) extending past the natural shoulder and into the sleevehead. The left shoulder, in contrast, is very soft with almost no wadding/padding. This strikes me as backwards--shouldn't the lower shoulder be padded?

--The pitch on the sleeves also seems wrong, as well as the extra fabric through the back. I had expected a smoother line through the sleeves, and the jacket to sit smoothly on the back of my shoulders. I understand some of this might be the English Drape style or the way I'm standing.

Am I over-reacting or is there something to my observations?

View attachment 2228239 View attachment 2228241 View attachment 2228243 View attachment 2228245 View attachment 2228247

Does your natural stance involve you leaning slightly backwards? Your photos make it look like your pelvis is positioned forwards and your shoulders are pulled back with your upper half tilting slightly backwards.

 

[jb335]

Does your natural stance involve you leaning slightly backwards? Your photos make it look like your pelvis is positioned forwards and your shoulders are pulled back with your upper half tilting slightly backwards.

I am certainly standing with my "best" posture, which does mean shoulders back and chest slightly forward. I do tend to be more mindful of my posture when wearing a suit and stand up straighter (i.e. more like this)

 

[fatpauljackson]

Thank you for sharing. I like some Steed examples I saw online but didn’t like some others which looked off, either stylistically (not a minor thing) or in terms of fit. A&S’ name is something I’m not inmune to and although they don’t post much of his work online I’ve seen examples I like. The reason why I think I’d try Mahon or Hitchcock is their focus, as it can be seen in their respective online presence, which seem to prove they are highly technical and know what they do. Examples of videos of them both explaining specific pattern tricks are a good example.

I’m however surprised of what you say about Henry Poole. I thought they were still reliable. Is this block pattern thing a tool to save time when cutting or rather intended to streamline a certain house style?

A few Steed examples off of IG. I really don't get how the first one is even allowed to go out, much less featured as an example of work to highlight. The second suffers from the same problem, which is that at the end of the day they seem to have a lot of difficulty in constructing their shoulders to 1) actually fit right, and 2) have a proper shape / silhouette that is actually flattering. The divot on the first picture is totally ridiculous, and the second picture clearly shows a massive difference between the two shoulders... and not in a good way because its bespoke, but in a bad way as in the left shoulder looks longer and drops further and is almost constructed different. I ran into the the same issue on my own commission, among other things. I will say on the positive side, their trouser cuts are really nice. I had an issue with the trouser that they acknowledged was totally wrong on their side, but it wasn't the cut which was beautiful and draped really nicely. But overall, I just think Tom and Steven are - as you say it seems - just technically better than Steed. At the very least, probably more consistent.

As for Henry Poole, others with much more knowledge can chime in on block patterns vs. not, but my understanding is that they are using basically a stock pattern and then adjusting it to your body. In my eyes that's not "true" bespoke as it's not a real custom pattern cut purely for your own body. They are doing this to same time, cost, effort. Perhaps its semantics, but I suspect not... I had a pretty poor fit. It was way too boxy for my build which is much more athletic and v-shaped (I think the block may have been defaulted for older gentlemen perhaps gaining a bit more weight - e.g., meant to accommadate more of a fits-all type), and the shoulders were too wide and had the same weird Simon Crompton fit / divot problem (I don't get why Simon insists it fits well; several knowledgable posters rightly called out the poor fit in the comments):

I did take it back into HP and get them to make a bunch of alterations on it, and the end product ended up being perhaps semi-wearable... but that's not what we are doing here. The shoulders never got as close to being as good as Tom / Steven's. At $5.5K GBP, we need perfection so off to the sale bin it went.

 

[othertravel]

A few Steed examples off of IG. I really don't get how the first one is even allowed to go out, much less featured as an example of work to highlight. The second suffers from the same problem, which is that at the end of the day they seem to have a lot of difficulty in constructing their shoulders to 1) actually fit right, and 2) have a proper shape / silhouette that is actually flattering. The divot on the first picture is totally ridiculous, and the second picture clearly shows a massive difference between the two shoulders... and not in a good way because its bespoke, but in a bad way as in the left shoulder looks longer and drops further and is almost constructed different. I ran into the the same issue on my own commission, among other things. I will say on the positive side, their trouser cuts are really nice. I had an issue with the trouser that they acknowledged was totally wrong on their side, but it wasn't the cut which was beautiful and draped really nicely. But overall, I just think Tom and Steven are - as you say it seems - just technically better than Steed. At the very least, probably more consistent.

View attachment 2228735

View attachment 2228737

As for Henry Poole, others with much more knowledge can chime in on block patterns vs. not, but my understanding is that they are using basically a stock pattern and then adjusting it to your body. In my eyes that's not "true" bespoke as it's not a real custom pattern cut purely for your own body. They are doing this to same time, cost, effort. Perhaps its semantics, but I suspect not... I had a pretty poor fit. It was way too boxy for my build which is much more athletic and v-shaped (I think the block may have been defaulted for older gentlemen perhaps gaining a bit more weight - e.g., meant to accommadate more of a fits-all type), and the shoulders were too wide and had the same weird Simon Crompton fit / divot problem (I don't get why Simon insists it fits well; several knowledgable posters rightly called out the poor fit in the comments):

View attachment 2228739

I did take it back into HP and get them to make a bunch of alterations on it, and the end product ended up being perhaps semi-wearable... but that's not what we are doing here. The shoulders never got as close to being as good as Tom / Steven's. At $5.5K GBP, we need perfection so off to the sale bin it went.

Thanks for posting this. How come more people aren’t trying Chittleborough and Morgan? They seem to be in the top tier in terms of technical expertise.

 

[Texasmade]

Thanks for posting this. How come more people aren’t trying Chittleborough and Morgan? They seem to be in the top tier in terms of technical expertise.

They don’t really travel for trunk shows. Unless you live close to London or travel to London frequently, it’ll take forever to get a suit.

 

[ppk]

Thanks for posting this. How come more people aren’t trying Chittleborough and Morgan? They seem to be in the top tier in terms of technical expertise.

What about Edward Sexton? Nina Penlington travels.

 

[comrade]

What about Edward Sexton? Nina Penlington travels.

Not remotely Anderson and Sheppard cut.

 

[ppk]

Not remotely Anderson and Sheppard cut.

Neither is Chittleborough and Morgan. C&M are related to ES. I was responding to that post.

 

[fatpauljackson]

Thanks for posting this. How come more people aren’t trying Chittleborough and Morgan? They seem to be in the top tier in terms of technical expertise.

Have any representative examples / pics of their work?

 

[jonathanS]

A few Steed examples off of IG. I really don't get how the first one is even allowed to go out, much less featured as an example of work to highlight. The second suffers from the same problem, which is that at the end of the day they seem to have a lot of difficulty in constructing their shoulders to 1) actually fit right, and 2) have a proper shape / silhouette that is actually flattering. The divot on the first picture is totally ridiculous, and the second picture clearly shows a massive difference between the two shoulders... and not in a good way because its bespoke, but in a bad way as in the left shoulder looks longer and drops further and is almost constructed different. I ran into the the same issue on my own commission, among other things. I will say on the positive side, their trouser cuts are really nice. I had an issue with the trouser that they acknowledged was totally wrong on their side, but it wasn't the cut which was beautiful and draped really nicely. But overall, I just think Tom and Steven are - as you say it seems - just technically better than Steed. At the very least, probably more consistent.

View attachment 2228735

View attachment 2228737

As for Henry Poole, others with much more knowledge can chime in on block patterns vs. not, but my understanding is that they are using basically a stock pattern and then adjusting it to your body. In my eyes that's not "true" bespoke as it's not a real custom pattern cut purely for your own body. They are doing this to same time, cost, effort. Perhaps its semantics, but I suspect not... I had a pretty poor fit. It was way too boxy for my build which is much more athletic and v-shaped (I think the block may have been defaulted for older gentlemen perhaps gaining a bit more weight - e.g., meant to accommadate more of a fits-all type), and the shoulders were too wide and had the same weird Simon Crompton fit / divot problem (I don't get why Simon insists it fits well; several knowledgable posters rightly called out the poor fit in the comments):

View attachment 2228739

I did take it back into HP and get them to make a bunch of alterations on it, and the end product ended up being perhaps semi-wearable... but that's not what we are doing here. The shoulders never got as close to being as good as Tom / Steven's. At $5.5K GBP, we need perfection so off to the sale bin it went.

Well, this was harsher than I would’ve been. But I can’t exactly argue with you.

Have any representative examples / pics of their work?

It’s very different from the Anderson look.

 

[classicalthunde]

But overall, I just think Tom and Steven are - as you say it seems - just technically better than Steed. At the very least, probably more consistent.

Does Edwin still cut all the bespoke suits? Or are the sons now involved in cutting the bespoke stuff? Wonder if that could be a difference...

Also curious about the volume differences as well...if they all cut 'rock of eye' but Steed is doing 8 US cities 2-3x a year vs. Hitchcock's 2 cities I wonder if they both have the same 'error' percentage but you just see more of Steed's because a) there are more of them and b) their an SF darling that people like to post about