Got it buttoned up, with a tie?

No offense, but from the looks of this pic, I guess my idea of clown might be the going rate in Malaysia.

No, that's the problem. It's not at all an American style. Not in the least. It's a very clumsy attempt to do Italian in American style. If you want American style, it's very, very simple: buy Brooks Brothers. You would never find anything close to so garish a style in a Brooks Brothers catalog. I don't think you would find it from Ralph Lauren either, despite his Italian leanings.

This attempt at style is just awful. That is fully evidenced by your thinking that it is American when it is decidedly Italian. It just doesn't know what it wants to be, and you don't either, but it reached out to you on some level and you bought it.

I guess I giggle at your excitement for the 'roll'. The collar doesn't look elegant. Particularly since you can't wear it with a tie. You'd be far, far better off investing in something more serious.

The Japanese one is a traditional American style. The 100 Hands is aggressive, but at least it's out there in front, no questions asked (and I'd also note that it doesn't have fabric to spare for when it buttons). The Dylan and Sons is passable, but only as a casual shirt. There is no business shirt that buttons like that.

Of course. We all do. We're talking about tailoring here.

I don't have any experience with Kinslager. But I might suggest you give a call to Daniel at Prestige Tailors in Seremban 2. I am very impressed by his work, and I feel certain he could meet your timeframe.

I don't remember it exactly, but I know it was Bangkok prices for much, much better quality and service. I think it was 200 ringgit with a decent fabric, and maybe 350 or so for Soktas and the like. I'll also give the guy much credit for one thing. The sleeve was a bit off on the finished product, and he insisted on remaking the shirt at his expense.

For what it's worth (given a couple other recent posts in this thread), he was willing to entertain any and all my requests -- and I had several, as I enjoyed working with him -- and also to offer mother of pearl for something really reasonable that I can't remember what it was but it was far, far less than 200 ringgit.

He also made me a very carefully customized trouser for something like 350 in really nice fabric. I don't think the guy makes much margin on his labor.

Honestly, I'm coming around to not ever doing custom shirts again, or at least not expecting much from it. Unless maybe I could do them on Saville Row. I got started with them in the first place for a handful of reasons. One, the sleeves are often too long for me when I buy off the rack. Two, I bought into the idea that 'custom' absolutely meant higher quality. Three, I liked the idea of having the control of picking and choosing all the options. Four, once I moved to Asia from the States I was intoxicated by how affordable they were.

I now would reverse course on much of that. I've found a good alterations shop that can shorten the sleeves on shirts I buy off the rack. I know that the quality from any and every shop I've dealt with thus far in Asia is far, far below the quality from one off-the-rack shirt from a solid Italian or Japanese maker. I now regret the 'custom' choices I made on some of my shirts, such as contrasting fabric inside the collar and placket. And I have thrown away more 40-dollar shirts than I want to admit, while I keep and enjoy wearing my 100-200 dollar ones I have purchased carefully.

Put simply, the Bangkok guys can make a very nice department-store-quality shirt, if that is what you are after. You will pay around 30-40 dollars for it, typically, which is also what you would pay at a department store. You can choose your options. The fabric may not hold up as long, though, and you may not get the same level of workmanship.

What I'm coming around to is this. If you really want quality workmanship and a shirt you will be proud of wearing, buy something nice and have it altered if need be. In KL your best option, as far as I know, is the P Johnson line from Australia at WJ&Co. Super solid shirts at a price that won't break the bank. Or go on Ebay for Italian makes that you can nab all day long for about a hundred bucks. Put either of those shirts on your back, and you won't be terribly excited about going 'custom' in KL again.

But to answer your questions more specifically, I don't purchase fabric. I'd probably enjoy that if I had the time, but I don't. Myself, I like thinner fabrics that feel like silk, but to each his own and his own needs. I might recommend you try some, though, and see what you think.

As for your question number one, I'll echo the remark another person made, that your customization should not affect the price. After all, it's what you are paying for. (At least ostensibly.)

I'm quite intrigued to hear more about these suits you found. I'd have never expected that at Genting Highlands!

It's tempting to say that a bespoke culture just doesn't exist in KL, but it does. I can think of a dozen or more shops that I have seen while shopping for other things, on top of the ones I know.

What did they end up going with?

The problem with Suit Supply, for me at least, is their surgeon cuffs (meaning, the sleeve buttons are actually functional). Well, it's their surgeon cuffs combined with their odd models. I'm a 33" or 34" sleeve length, so of course I have to shorten the sleeves on any jacket I buy off the rack in a 'regular' size. On occasion I will try a 'short', though, and the sleeves are usually spot-on. I went ahead and bought a sportcoat in the Suit Supply shop in The Hague this summer, in a 'short' size so as to have some chance at all of the sleeves working, despite the body being pretty noticeably too short for me. And what happened? They shortened the sleeves as much as they could (an inch or so), and they are still too long. They are still long and the (working, whoop-de-do) buttons are that much closer to the hem.

To me, if you are going to significantly limit your customer base by requiring their arms to go a minimum length past the working buttonholes, then you ought not to have sizing models that run so long in the arm (especially if they run so not-long in the body). But much more to the point: If you are going to be a fairly mass-market retailer, why put a 'bespoke' feature on an off-the-rack garment, especially one that doesn't cost that much? So that the guys who can wear it with no alterations feel that much happier about their little 200-dollar jacket because they can undo a couple of the buttons and pass it off as custom?

I've got experience with their Made-To-Measure stuff, by the Australian brand, which I can't say turned out great (for my non-Asian frame). I have lots of experience with the shoe makers they sell, though not with any pair purchased directly from them. Please free to send me any questions, in case I can help. For what it's worth, I also have a sleeve length that tends not to work off the rack.

I tried chinos once and it was kind of a disaster. For a fairly casual item like that, I think you'd have to have a rare need in order for a custom pair to make much sense. (Or just want something super high end.) Anything below the thigh should be very easy for an alterations shop to handle. The length is easy, of course, but so is the width (of the knee/calf and leg opening). I'm guessing that a hem and taper could fix you up just fine, and it wouldn't cost very much at all.

If you have some other problem you are trying to get around, maybe post some pics so we can give advice?

Do you mean just the fabric itself, by the yard? Or tailors in KL that are working with it.