HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TAILOR

Ever have a BAD custom clothing experience?

It can happen to anybody.

You take your favorite suit to a new tailor hoping for the perfect fit.

Instead you get a nightmare.

Hundreds of dollars later and you have a suit that’s unwearable.

Worse – you have to spend more to get it fixed.

Let’s never have an experience like this again.

How?

Build a great relationship with your tailor by solid communication.

Read on to learn 4 tips to make your next custom clothing experience a great one.

Why a relationship with your tailor matters

Before I get into the four tips you should understand that miscommunication is the real culprit here.

It’s not like a tailor is purposely aiming to ruin your clothes.

This would be bad for the custom clothier in building long lasting business with you.

This gives you all the more reason to come up with a process with your tailor to get a perfect fit this time and every time.

Get the alterations to be done in writing

This step is important as it provides a solid foundation that you and your tailor can agree upon and reference along the way.

You are going to want unique elements to your clothing to ensure it is truly unique to you. This will result in many features to track.

With the many ways you can communicate today this can become a nightmare.

Here are the most ideal ways to have all communication with your tailor in writing:

• Google docs  – The most preferred approach. Not only can you track all communication in spreadsheet format but you can easily share this with your tailor in real time.
• Tailor Created Sheet – A well run custom clothier will have a sheet they fill out detailing all the specifications you requested. Some really great tailors will even sketch out the designs of the suit!
• Emails  – An OK form of communication but can get tricky to refer back to especially when the conversation spans multiple threads.
• Your Smartphone – Given the camera functionality of your smartphone you can take a picture of the spec sheet and contract to refer to with the tap of the finger on your smartphone.

Keep a copy of the agreement

This is similar to number one but worth talking about. It can make or break your investment!

At a bare minimum make sure you get a copy of the receipt.

This will provide you with something to refer back to with both of your signatures to confirm mutual agreement.

Obviously the more information provided to capture the better.

Keep the alterations simple

If this is your first order with a new tailor or a testing the alteration of a new garment I suggest keeping it simple.

Only take one item to the custom clothier to alter on your first trip.

Don’t make the mistake of taking all your suits and run the risk of ruining all of them.

Most tailors offer package deals which will make the most sense to you from a cost perspective.

If this is the case, make sure you follow the same philosophy.

Have the tailor alter one garment to see the quality and craftsmanship prior to working on the others.

Check the return policy

I am a firm believer that a company that offers a money back guarantee truly believes in their product compared to one that doesn’t.

You should follow this same philosophy.

You don’t want to be caught in the situation that once you hand over your money to a tailor you have to take what you get regardless of quality.

Take some of the risk out of your custom clothing experience and try to do business with companies that offer some form of return policy.

Lastly, a strong relationship with a tailor is one of the best investments a stylish man can make.

Lets hear your experience with your tailor on the comment box below! 

THE BILLIONAIRE SERIES

Let’s be honest! At one time or another in our lives, each of us has pondered over the idea of becoming extremely rich. For most of us, it has been in our twenties. This is the time of our lives when we are extremely hooked by the idea of becoming a billionaire. But what about actual self-made billionaires? Were they obsessed with the same idea? If not, what were they doing in their twenties?

LEONARDO DEL VECCHIO (Ray-Ban)

Del Vecchio was sent to an orphanage because his widowed mother couldn’t provide for him. He later found work at a factory, making molds, where he lost part of his finger. At 23, he opened his own molding shop, making eyeglass frames which expanded to become the world’s largest sunglasses brand.

LARRY ELLISON (Oracle)

Larry Ellison was born to a single mother who gave his custody to his aunt and uncle. When his adoptive mother died, he dropped out of college and moved to California from Chicago. He was 22 at the time and held several odd jobs for the next 8 years. ‘Oracle’ was the name of the database for a CIA project he undertook while working for Ampex Corporation.

RICHARD BRANSON (Virgin Group)

Richard Branson dropped out of high school when he was 16. He was so mischievous that his headmaster predicted he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire. When 22, he launched the record label Virgin Records and installed a recording studio. After 10 years, he left everyone dumbfounded when he announced entering the airline industry. He has overseen more than 500 companies in his nearly 5 decades long career.

RALPH LAUREN (Ralph Lauren)

Ralph Lauren dropped out of college to join the Army for 2 years. During his childhood, he dreamt of becoming a movie star. In his twenties he was working as a tie salesman. At 28, Lauren convinced the company’s president to let him start his own tie line which would later become a multibillion-dollar enterprise.

STEVE JOBS (Apple)

After graduating from high school, Jobs enrolled in Reed College but dropped out to visit India. He had become fascinated by Eastern spiritualism and took a part-time job designing video games for Atari in order to finance the trip. At 21, he co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak. They set up a shop in Steve’s garage and called the venture ‘Apple’ – inspired by a happy summer Steve spent at an apple orchard.

HOWARD SHULTZ (Starbucks)

Shultz grew up in a housing complex for the poor. In his twenties, he was working as a sales representative for Xerox. Greatly inspired by Italy’s coffee culture, he opened his own coffee shop and later acquired Starbucks of which he was once a marketing manager. Today, Starbucks has more than 25,000 outlets across the world.

OPRAH WINFREY (The Oprah Winfrey Show)

Oprah was born into abject poverty. At 13, after suffering years of abuse, she ran away from home. She struggled hard to win a scholarship at the Tennessee State University and later became the first African-American TV correspondent in Tennessee. In her twenties, she was co-anchoring the six o’clock news at WJZ TV.

JACK MA (Alibaba)

Ma belonged to a poor family. After high school, he applied to college – but failed the entrance exam twice. In his twenties, he received more than a dozen job rejections – including from KFC which rejected only him out of the 24 total students who applied. He also got rejected from Harvard 10 times. he found success with Alibaba which now claims the title for the largest global IPO ever. As of 2017, Ma’s net worth surpasses $30 billion.

JEFF BEZOS (Amazon)

In his twenties, Bezos pursued his interest in computers at Princeton. During summers, he once worked at McDonald’s and hated it. After graduation, he worked for several firms including Fitel, Bankers Trust and D.E. Shaw. Quitting his job, he laid the foundation of Amazon in his garage.

ZHOU QUNFEI (Lens Technology)

Born to a poor family, she dropped out of school at 16. In her twenties, she started working for a small firm which made watch parts. At age 22, she started her own firm in a small apartment with her $3,000 savings. Now she supplies touch screens to Apple, Samsung and Huawei and has a net worth of $7.4 billion.

Fashion rules for grooms

As the groom, all eyes will be on you and your partner on your wedding day, so of course you want to look your best.

Rule 1: Your suit or tux should fit the formality

At the most basic level, your attire should be appropriate for your venue and match with the overall vibe of the wedding.

If your wedding is in the daytime or outdoors, you can wear something a bit more casual (think: lighter-colored suits made of fabrics like seersucker or khaki).

If it’s an evening affair in a ballroom or swanky hotel, go with either a dark, well-tailored suit or a tux. Want to get even more formal?

White tie (a black tailcoat, white shirt and white bow tie) is the ultimate in formal wear and ideal for an extra-luxe venue.

Rule 2: Your attire should coordinate with your partner’s

Another fairly obvious one, but it has to be said: Remember, your wedding is your first opportunity to show off your style as a couple, so make it a joint effort.

While you may not know exactly what your partner is wearing, you’ll want to be sure your styles work together. So if her dress is a bedazzled ball gown, you won’t want to wear a lightweight linen suit—a classic black tux is more like it.

Other combos that work: a rustic lace gown paired with a tailored tan suit, or a streamlined city-chic gown with a slim-cut gray suit.

Rule 3: Your body type should dictate the suit

The key to looking sharp is dressing for your body type. If you’re tall and slim, most tuxedos and suits will look good on your frame.

To add bulk, try a double-breasted suit, which will make you look broader. To slim down, try a fitted suit with a little bit of a nip in the waist to give the impression of a leaner silhouette.

Skip lighter-colored suits since darker hues are slimming. And to elongate the body and add some height, go for a two­ or three­-button jacket with a low ­button stance.

Rule 4: The fit should be perfect

Even the most expensive tux on the rack will look and feel awful if it doesn’t fit right. You should be able to move around easily—do lots of twists, turns and arm raises to make sure there’s plenty of mobility to show off your dancing skills.

Regardless of whether you’re renting or buying, most shops will custom tailor the purchase. Here are a few basic tailoring rules:

• The jacket sleeve hem should fall at the wristbone with about one-fourth to one half inch of the shirt cuff showing below.
• The bottom hem of the jacket should cover the butt and the vent shouldn’t pull open. If it does, that means it’s too tight.
• The collar should lay flat on the back and sides of the neck without any gaps or bulges.
• Pants should fit comfortably when standing and sitting and break across the top of the shoes so they cover the top one-third.
• A bow tie should fit snugly around the collar.

Rule 5: Your look should coordinate with your attendants

Traditionally, the groomsmen wear attire that’s the same as or similar to that of the groom, but it’s up to you. Even if you aren’t planning for all the men in your wedding party to wear the exact same suit or tux, it’s important that their outfits match in style and feel with yours.

(It will look a little bit off if you’re up there in a tux while your buddies are wearing casual khaki suits.) Matching doesn’t just end with the guys either—your whole wedding party should have a cohesive style.

To achieve this, aim to pair your groomsmen style to that of the bridesmaids—for instance, if the bridesmaids are rocking a vintage vibe, the guys can don retro three-piece suits.

Rule 6: Your accessories should set you apart

Now that everyone is matching and coordinated, it’s time to pick your extras. To achieve a totally unique look, it’s all in the details.

Spice things up and wear a special boutonniere or a bow tie, vest, necktie, cummerbund or cuff links in a different color or style.

If your wedding palette has two colors, you can wear one of the shades while the rest of the guys wear the other. For a luxe affair, have the groomsmen each wear a tux with a black bow tie and black vest, while you don a white tie and white vest.

Don’t be afraid to inject your personality into your outfit. Musical?

Add a treble clef to your boutonniere. More of a sci-fi nerd?

Find a cool pair of Star Wars–inspired cuff links.

We at FELICITY HOME OF EXOTIC CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES are ready to make your wedding a memorable one. Lets hear from you at the comment box below. 

Wedding Planning

Looking to make your wedding stand out? Start with a unique color palette. Draw inspiration from the big details, like the venue and season, then think about the mood you're trying to set. Do you want playful and fun (bright and vibrant hues)? Or lavish and intimate (moody jewel tones and luxe textures)? Keep in mind that your color combo will inform other design elements down the road, like bridesmaid dresses and flowers. And don't forget to leave a reply at the comment box below to discover your dream wedding vision—from the perfect color palette to your day of timeline—and find the right vendors to bring it to life.

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