i think GBP 2-3k

#1 is a 14 oz, only for fall/winter.

#2 is a mohair, not good. You want kid mohair. Better still, summer kid mohair.

#3 is ridiculous. Super 160s are for those who do not know any better.

In other words, choose again. Look at the Holland & Sherry Intercity stuff from karlatbay.

I like the last one. It's also in the traditional weave for a blazer.

You should buy 3 meters. Keep the extra for trousers later or just make a suit, not just jacket.

Go for registered post because I have lost fabric in the mail before.

^Avoid like the plague.

It is nearly impossible to judge if a cloth is good while in the shop. Anyone can print any selvedge they want. I'm surprised none had the idea to print vicuna or mink on the selvedges pictured above. The information in the selvedges of unknown manufacturers are worse than useless. They are almost always misleading. Outright lies.

Where do reliably good cloths come from? Huddersfield, in West Yorkshire, England. There, almost everything produced is wearable and robust.

Where do bad cloths come from? China, but they all have Italian-sounding names and will be sold as such by the mamaks at Binwanis.

I have bought 2 trousering lengths of the Thomas Reed from Binwani. Looked OK, lots of polyester in it, had it washed once came back looking like shit. 10 years older after one wash.

Binwani is bad like f***. Expensive and goods are routinely misrepresented.

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Added on January 5, 2011, 11:26 pmAlso, cloths have all kinds of stuff sprayed onto them, impregnated in them to make them look more lustrous, firmer, robuster than they actually are. You wash them once and the chemical disappears and the true shoddiness of the cloth comes to light.

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Added on January 6, 2011, 12:06 amRM800 is kinds expensive. I would have very high expectations at that pricing level.

You should buy your own cloth man. Once you start doing it you won't go back to house cloths. For instance, the guy essentially is charging you RM400 for the cloth. It's probably from China. Well, for RM550 I can buy Holland & Sherry (undisputably top notch).

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jan 6 2011, 12:06 AM

Poseidon sounds like a highly unsavory place.

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Added on January 6, 2011, 8:10 pmSome tailors can squeeze in 2 fittings in 4 days then mail you the finished suit 2 weeks after.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jan 6 2011, 08:10 PM

#2 is not for noobs. Only certain people can pull off wearing cloth like that. Like me, for instance. You? You need to pay the tuition everybody pays and make a few mistakes before you graduate to this.

While all you overfed college kids go to the usual suspects, all safe shopping mall forum approved stuff, I actively seek out the underappreciated, the downtrodden, the Chippendale at the junk sale (so to speak). Today, I may have found something of value.

The tailor was surfing the net. I walked in. There was a jacket with skinny lapels hanging conveniently close, which I proceeded to inspect. Made no worse than a Lord's, but the buttonholes were very nicely handsewn. They were so nicely sewn that I wasn't sure if it was machine sewn. So I asked.

kotmj: Machine sewn?

tailor: No, by hand. But if you want machine we can do machine.

I took a closer look at the lapel hole. Exquisite, and yes I finally saw the small irregularities that makes handwork so charming. f***, miles better than AL's standard buttonholes (though his special edition ones for me are nice).

The fact that the buttonholes are by hand tells me this guy has an old school tailor making for him and that he doesn't send orders to a factory full of Banglas.

Now, of course, the lapels were not padded. Nobody pads them except AL. Not even Lord's pads them. As I've said, standard of make is very competitive. The sleeves were set beautifully. Styling could be improved, but that is always the case and I will work with him on that aspect anyway.

kotmj: How much like this for a 2 piece? I supply the cloth.

tailor: 600.

kotmj: do you also do full canvassing?

tailor: sure. here's one.

He pointed to an unstructured field jacket with pockets everywhere. Inside, it was self-lined the way you see Italian tailors do with linen jackets. No fusing, partial self lining to hide the internal pockets, no structure. A shirt jacket. Nice.

kotmj: No, no, I mean structured jakcets with no fusing but with a horsehair canvas inside, handpadded.

tailor: Oh those. Hah, finally someone asks for them. But they are very expensive. My sifu can make them. In the whole of KL there are maybe 5 tailors who can make them and my sifu is one of them.

kotmj: how much?

tailor: Expensive. RMXK.

kotmj: that's how much AL charges me.

tailor: you mean AL from campbell street? the equestrian guy?

kotmj: yeah. he recently made me a fully canvassed number.

the conversation was a long and pleasant one. He quoted me a very reasonable price for FC. His standard of make is high. The guy appears to me reasonably intelligent. His shop is impossible to find. His buttonholes are sublime.

I may have uncovered an unknown tailor of great potential.

I'm itching to try him out.

(But I forgot to check how high the armholes are.)

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jan 7 2011, 10:15 PM

What's wrong with the Holland&Sherry? I would buy that.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HOLLAND-SHERRY-TARGE...=item3a60d7a687

The H&S only costs 23 pounds or so per meter.

Definitely no to the kid mohair.

People, I am currently formulating a reveal strategy for the newfound tailor. Once the strategy is in place the reveal will take place. I thank you all for your PMs and requests here.

I have also to book a room in the Nikko Hotel so all who may be interested can perform The Drill on me. Judging by the requests I have received it's gonna be quite a bukake.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jan 8 2011, 07:12 PM

There will be an off-site whole day meeting tomorrow in a nice hotel resort with bosses and colleagues and I realise I have nothing appropriate to wear.

What a situation like that calls for is a navy linen jacket. I don't have one. The best bespeaker of clothes in the country has nothing to wear to an offsite meet.

The fault for this calamitous state of affairs lies entirely with Lokemui. I need a better wardrobe advisor.

Now I know how the Granoffs and the Bespoppppeds of the world afford their rents...

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Added on January 10, 2011, 10:24 pmRM1.2K at Granoff is for a fused factory-made suit, certainly not a hand-made fully canvassed product. If you think otherwise you have misunderstood them. It will be, however, a nice fused product at the top of the quality range.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jan 10 2011, 10:24 PM

I'd say go for it. There's nothing like an expensive mistake to set oneself on the one true path.

Everything you plan to do go against conventional wisdom. Extreme supers. Black. Full canvassing for an infrequently worn suit (this would imply the reverse to be true: fused suits for frequent wear). Binwani's. Cerruti 1881.

Is it possible to go against more established wisdom in one single garment? You are one confused little bespeaker.

FCDB is the most pictorially documented suit in Malaysia. Right from cloth selection through the fittings to the finished product. Browse through this thread.

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Added on January 12, 2011, 7:41 pmBut I guess there is no harm showing it off again.





This post has been edited by kotmj: Jan 12 2011, 07:41 PM

I dunno wat your talking abt.

^ Eleh,provincial stufz.

Grimm, as a good friend, I suggest you take these pics to Bespudded by Ian Chang as sample.





A bespoke suit should look bespoke, i.e. personalised and not generic. Let your imagination fly.

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Added on January 13, 2011, 11:31 pmMore







This post has been edited by kotmj: Jan 13 2011, 11:31 PM

Saw the DB in the shop today. Midnight blue with sky blue pinstripes, belongs to a very tall and slim guy from Ipoh. He seems to be a likable guy because he managed to extract pretty good workmanship without pissing off anyone.

Since I was free today I talked about lots of stuff with him. Apparently he received request for "concave shoulders", and was wondering how to make them. I suggested two shallow darts in the shoulder pads and he got it.

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Added on January 14, 2011, 7:12 pmIf you think him a docile old man, try getting him to make something really new for you. Say spalla camicia, or a self-lined jacket. You might be sent running out of the shop with your cloth.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jan 14 2011, 07:12 PM