Jonathan Quearney

One of the most common questions we are asked is how to care for the clothes we make after they have been purchased. First, try and wear your suit only once a week and let it rest and regain its shape in between wears. We recommend hanging trousers by their hems so that the weight of the trousers encourages the creases to fall out and using a good quality hanger for the jacket.

Secondly, just like finding a good quality tailor, take some time and effort to find a dry-cleaner who will keep your new clothes in top condition. The modern dry-cleaning process is based on a highly industrialised mass market approach, whereas what you need is someone willing to take some time and care over your garments and not subject them to the rigours of a modern dry-cleaning system. You should only need to do this once, but it is worth going to some trouble to sound out your local dry-cleaner. Here are a few clues to help you gauge the quality of your dry-cleaner:

Do they sponge and press garments by hand? This is the least invasive and best quality cleaning process that there is. It is an old-fashioned name for the process and if your dry-cleaner gives you a blank look, then try to make sure that weak solvents are used and that they are applied selectively to the stained areas of the garment by hand. In all cases try to avoid any more industrialised processes which will be too hard on your clothes.

If you find a dry-cleaner who is happy to provide this service, then we would recommend dry-cleaning your suit about once every 20 wears. We will be posting a more in depth update in the near future on this topic covering shirts as well – so keep your eyes peeled!

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Over the last couple of months we have got our in-house bespoke shirt service up and running. Previously we used an external shirtmaker, but having it in-house means that we have complete control over the quality of our shirts.

The biggest development is that we have started to offer a muslin fitting for every new customer. Retailers do not usually go to this level of service anymore and rely on the feel or colour of the cotton to sell shirts. Our emphasis is on fit, first and foremost, because that is our primary concern. It doesn’t matter if the customer chooses a sea-island cotton or a Super 200s, if the shirt doesn’t fit perfectly, we have failed.

The muslin is essentially a toile fitting which we use to perfect each customer’s pattern before we even touch the shirt cotton, and sometimes before the customer even chooses the cotton.

Although it is called a muslin fitting, we actually use a batiste. We tried a muslin and two types of calico before we settled on a batiste thanks to the helpful people at The Cotton Patch. The batiste works extremely well because it is pure cotton and replicates the drape of our cotton shirtings extremely well. As you can see from the picture below, there is a simple band collar, but no cuffs or finishing on the hems – it is the pure form of the shirt.

So for a one-off cost of £100, each customer goes through this experience to perfect their pattern, and then we can start making shirts for them which fit beautifully.

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After last week’s post on the double-breasted jacket, I thought it would be good to post a picture of one that we have just made for a customer from a grey hopsack by Harrisons.

As alluded to last week, proportion is everything when it comes to a double-breasted jacket. First, the proportions of the body: a high armhole with a nicely curved waist ensures that the jacket looks slimming and a natural shoulder line keeps the shoulders in proportion with the waist and avoids the jacket looking too boxy. All too often a double-breasted jacket is cut with wide shoulders and a pinched in waist giving a real hourglass figure, we try to have some shape in the waist but with skirt flare minimised to keep the silhouette natural and flattering.
Secondly, button position really affects the initial impression of a DB – this includes the distance from the hem to the bottom pair of buttons, the distance between buttons (both horizontally and vertically) and the first button position. This is where a tailor’s eye and skill comes into it and if you trust your tailor, this is where it will pay off.

A nice little detail is the buttonhole on each lapel; the symmetry complements the style of the DB. Given the current fashion of single-breasted jackets with peaked lapels, we were amused to find several pictures from the 1930s and 1940s showing the last time this was in fashion. The best of the bunch is this picture of screen legend George Raft (most notable for his role in the original (and best)Scarface)!

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