Hi everyone!

It's my first post here after sorting through 120+ pages from the first and second thread over the weekend (yes..... I actually did it... ). It's been a really informative 2 days for me especially in regards to Ah Loke and Bespoke @ 1 utama, so thanks heaps everyone.

So where do I start....,

I'm planning to fly up to malaysia sometime soon for about a month and would like to commission a few suits with both Ah Loke and Bespoke (probably 2 each), as I probably wanted to find out who makes a better suit for my slightly overweight build (170cm, 75kgs..... trying to work myself down to 70kgs), so I have a few questions I hope you guys don't mind filling me on.

In regards to ALT and Bespoke, how much time will it usually take between, measurement to the first fitting, and then from the first to the second, and possibly second to completion?

Also, I read somewhere that AL may have planned to retire sometime in the near future. Is that true? I certainly hope not.. as his retirement will be a great loss to the local tailoring scene.

Lastly, does Bespoke use a full floating canvas in their suits? I'm wondering if it's most likely this may be requested at additional cost?

I know it may seem ridiculous that I'm actually willing to fly all the way from aust. but with the price of a decent fully canvassed tailored suit starting from AUD$2.5k, I think that's still out of my league, being a relatively new entrant to the workforce.

Well, thanks guys for your willingness to hear me out...

Regards,

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Added on May 30, 2010, 2:26 pmOoooh, and I forgot to mention I love your linen jacket kotmj!! and silencer's 3 piece as well... looking forward to the day I can have suits n blazers like these.....

Cheerios....

This post has been edited by 3ff3z8e: Aug 22 2010, 07:42 AM

Hi kotmj,

Thanks for the reply. I'm actually looking at the PLal webbie just now... cool, now I know where to get my shoes as well...

In regards to fittings so if it's about 2-3 days per fitting, I suppose it's best to keep my schedule flexible for the 1st week and a half while I'm there for the fittings?

Well, I had my last suit done by the crew at Sparkmanshop a few years back, last I heard they've changed their name or something. But all I can say is, back then being my ignorant self, all I just needed was a suit for work, and hence got myself served a fused "sackcloth". Now I've been enlightened to the process of a decent bespoke tailor, I am aware that I am in need of a wardrobe/ image refresher. I'll post up a pic one of these days to show you guys the "sack" one day.

I'm still a novice which such affairs though so, I'm also planning to purchase a book or two from amazon.com, namely "Dressing the Man". I was wondering if anyone might have any other recommendations in terms of books to further my sartorial studies?

Thanks & regards,

This post has been edited by 3ff3z8e: Aug 22 2010, 07:43 AM

Thanks Kotmj, I don't really have a spare tyre to speak off, but I can really do better in terms of my weight. I've started to exercise more often now hoping I could lose a little more to get my BMI to about 25 or lower (currently around 27). At the current stage my silhoutte looks like a rectangular block at the moment, so hopefully I can work on the arms and the waist a little over the next few months (fingers crossed). but you've raised a good point on expectations.

Interesting point as well on AL fusing his suits. I guess that's okay as the ones I need for work, I'm not too fussed with the construction. Though I was just wondering how you managed to convince AL on partial canvassing? Will it be hard to convince him as a new customer?(Also when asking him to cut differrently from his house cut)"?

Cheers,

Lol, I'll literally cook myself in my own fat if I wore a wool suit in the malaysian heat. It's gotta be a kid mohair wool mix or linen for me for summer suits. And oh, BTW, anyone has any idea about these 90+% wool and 10 to 1 % cashmere mix fabrics? I'm getting a feeling they may be for cooler climates since I've always associated cashmere with winter scarves and sweaters.....

This post has been edited by 3ff3z8e: Jun 1 2010, 09:43 PM

[quote=silencer,Jun 3 2010, 01:57 AM]
back at last.....with Zegna fabric for 5 dress shirts and 1 pant....with several pocket square too... Too bad...th enavy suit is still not ready yet but alt told me that he will try to make it ready by this Saturday....AND my fabulous black Armani fabric for the next suit is already in alt's hand...with pink ermazine and black horn button...it will be a single button suit again....but i do wonder why alt keep asking me the same questions over n over-"Is this for official function?"....i guess maybe bec its black in color but with the V pattern (not heeringbone)..its the best fabric that I have ever bought so far....

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Added on June 3, 2010, 12:02 am
oppps...the kid mohair and tropical wool fabric r sold like "goreng pisang panas" in US...as a preparation for summer season.....

[/quote


Wow....it's pretty darned hard to find a fabric distributor here in sydney. Most people here either buy off the rack or have the cash for a bespoke suit. But even off the rack, the markups are horrendous. One of my only option at the moment is british fabrics on ebay for my inaugaral pilgrimage to Ah Loke. Hoping their stuff is decent.

Silencer, if you don't mind me asking, while I'm more familiar with kid mohair for summer, the tropical wool, is it within the 7-8oz per metre region?

hi kotmj & silencer,

Well, basically I'm building my wardrobe from almost scratch, besides my old sparkmanshop navy narrow pinstripe sacksuit being assigned to the "only use in serious emergencies status"...lol

I guess I'll be looking at starting with 2 summer and 2 winter suits, or if I can stretch my budget (by cutting out all my eating out expenses for a few months) a special "dinner date" suit.

For the summer suits I'm sticking close to my favorite colours like light grays, charcoals, tans and browns. For the winter wear, i have navy, charcoal and dark brown in mind. British Fabrics seem to have a few decent kid mohair/ wool blends on offer for my summer suit material. For winter suits, I'll probably come up to Binwanis when I drop by to see if any decent Super 100 - 120s fabrics around. Not sure how Binwani's prces compare to british fabrics. Overall for my "General Purpose/ workhorse suits" as long as the quality is decent, that's good with me. Not too fussed as they're mostly for weekday and work wear.

The dinner dinner date suit though I guess, I intend to get something more special, perhaps a lighter (in weight/ density terms) perhaps like Super 130 - 140 in Navy or charcoal.


Cheers peeps,

Haha kotmj, you raise a good point about dinner dates .... probably explains why I'm still rather poor

Thanks for the wardrobe recs... really some food for thought for me. Will google up some of the terms before bothering you further about it.....

Cheers,

Wow, 3 fitting in 3 days with ALT?

Just curious though, does ALT do unlined or half-lined suits? I'm thinking of getting a summer suit or two done.

Cheers,

Lol.... I really wished I paid more attention when I was sent to the Goethe Institute for Deutsche classes.... Anyone seen Der Untergang? It was released a while back.... but pretty good WW2 flick I must say...

Hi Beau,

Just wondering how many fittings WWChan does and how long does it usually take in between fittings.... I'm sorta saving up for a trip to either Singapore/ Malaysia stopover on-route to Japan or Hong Kong Stopover on route to Japan next year. So tossing up between using GShen's tailor in Singapore or going the full Monty with WWChan. Singapore is an easier option as I have relatives there but HK I'll need to look for some decent accomodation.

Just trying to factor in timing and budgets as well... like I'm sort of planning a one week on my stopover to Japan, before flying up to Japan for 2 weeks and then stopping over for about 3-4 days for the return leg for final adjustments.... that being said if budget permitting I might try two trips instead.

I also heard someone on SF managing a Peter Lee suit in 6 days... so I might give Peter a go as well budget permitting.

Cheers

Thanks kotmj, beau,

I certainly agree with you regarding the local tailors but I'm currently working in Melbourne where the price for a decent bespoke suit starts north of say $2000 (that's about RM6000+) and that's with the standard no working cuffs. I do visit Malaysia once a year to take a break and catch up with some old friends.. hence my initial plan to stop by Singapore instead.

I have also considered starting a working relationship with the local tailor, but seeing that I might be ordering quite a few suits down the line (local is RM30000 for 5 suits Vs say RM4000 x 5 = 20k for WWChan... not factoring in inflation of course, and certainly not buying all at once....it'll be over several years) and seeing the fact that I'm still relatively new in the workforce (4 years to be exact), and also the fact that I am planning frequent visits to Japan/HK in the future, I might as well give WW Chan and a few others in HK a try (definitely not the indian ones though).

Most of the Italian tailors here are pretty old though as many of them are 1st generation post WW2 migrants who settled here. Hopefully some of them will still be around when I'm in a better financial position especially this fabled tailor in Sydney called Adamo Marrone...

Cheers guys

Lol.... didn't know they even had "shanzhai" fabrics as well....

Hmm... I'm actually thinking of ordering a stopgap tuxedo (Until I have the opportunity to have one made for myself) for my Company's Christmas party as well. Theme says Black and White party, which I looked up the meaning;.... and to save myself from the indignity of showing as a penguin or a submachinegun toting nun, it'll be a tuxedo

But since it's a stopgap tux which will be relegated to "reserve" role, I'm actually looking at Marks and Spencer as Tom Mahon from the english cut recommended. They sell the tux jacket and pants seperately so perhaps you might want to look into that.

I'm really wondering now if I should just get the GBP99 one button notch lapel polyester or fork out another 100GBP for a pure wool peak lapel?

Oh and I'm actually looking out for a cummerbund and bow-tie and a pair of patent leather which I've Identified two options..... Sanders from pediwear has a pair for about 90GBP and herring shoes has one from Barker for about GBP120-ish... will decide 2moro....

http://www.pediwear.co.uk/sanders/products/1817.php

http://www.herringshoes.co.uk/product-info...tID=3&seconds=0

btw, Bon, did you manage to try the code out for Herringshoes yet?

This post has been edited by 3ff3z8e: Oct 31 2010, 06:28 PM

Point taken regarding notch lapels... I feared that to be the case as well. Unfortunately I live in the sartorial wasteland of Australia. Where you pay ludicrous retail prices for mediocre quality items which are very likely made in China. Put it this way; a very likely Made in China Suit from an average online UK retailer like TM Lewin, which I found out has side adjuster trousers (Hooray!!) is about AUD$360... something for the same quality here is easily 2-2.5x more expensive. Some close to $900 and the best bit about this is, It'll be very unlikely I can find short sizes. The market here ain't big enough apparently.

A suit hire costs about AUD$285. So I think my best bet is to get one from TM Lewin......