Huntsman & Sons In New York City Savile Row Bespoke Suit Fitting | Kirby Allison

[Music] it's hard to believe that for over a hundred years enjoying the full London Savile Row bespoke tailoring experience required one to travel repeatedly to London this has all changed now for the first time in tailoring history a saddle road base bespoke tailoring house has opened a full permanent location here in New York for the exclusive purpose of servicing their American clientele no longer is one required to travel repeatedly to London the condition of the spoke suit I'm Kirby Allison and I love helping the well-dressed acquire and care for their wardrobes join me as we explore the world of quality craftsmanship and tradition just a few steps down from Carnegie Hall at 130 West 57th Street huntsmen New York has established its New York home and an old building built a hundred years ago as an artist cooperative this couldn't be a more fitting place for huntsmen to service its American clientele let's go inside and meet the team Eady nice to see you again good morning welcome back to unspin New York a pleasure to be here thank you so we just you know we just got back from London and it's so nice to have been able to see you know the London workshop of huntsmen but then so soon after come here and see who here in New York yeah I understand it was a wonderful experience and it's very exciting to have you here today because New York is really just the extension of London so I like to think of it as Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities but instead of London and Paris it's London and New York this room right here are FOIA is represents our incredible archive and it speaks not only to the nearly one hundred and seventy-five year history of Huntsman but also this incredible relationship long-standing relationship now going on three centuries of American clients and Savile Room and here we have depicted various garments patterns and measurement forms for some of our notable American clients everyone of course knows a long-standing relationship with Gregory Peck and movie star Ralph Lauren of course Marc Jacobs Nicole Kidman on the walls you'll see patterns of clients from Steve Miller to dr. Henry Kissinger measurement sheets on this wall and let's not forget it's not just about Huntsman it's about hunts women as well yeah Katharine Hepburn who was a long-standing client next to Bill Blass as measurements lauren Hutton's pattern is on the wall there so that goes on and on it is an incredible collaboration that not only represents the spoke needs of men but also women in this marketplace that's incredible I mean with a hundred seventy five years you know one of the things that I'm just constantly an on struck by especially with these heritage sound we wrote a luring houses you know isn't just the history of the British aristocracy and you know the business men of London but you know the movie stars and everyone else at the spoke tailoring house huntsmen serves one of the things that's really exciting to see the cutting room open here in New York is a formalizing just the relationship that this tailoring house has had with America because for as long as the Savile Row tailoring houses have existed America has always been an important part of the clientele right absolutely in a very important part and in some cases a dominant part Huntsman has a singular advantage where we've got an in situ 24/7 cutting theater men by a london-born huntsman train cutter so it represents an incredible differentiation point in the marketplace to anyone else and we're very proud of being able to bring that to our clients yeah I mean really it's quite groundbreaking for Huntsman to have a you know really an extension of the London experience here in New York but before that you know American clients you know in order to get the full London bespoke experience had to travel to London you know to experience that and to meet with their tailors or they were left you know coordinating with their traveling tailors schedules you know to meet in hotel rooms you know once or twice or maybe three times a year absolutely and if London was not a convenience the inconvenience of trying to book appointments in San Francisco or Beverly Hills where the cutter may be coming through for one day or a day and a half you can't be assured that a client's going to be available on the day that you're there so often those appointments are truncated to three months or four months or six months ends and it the process of having a suit made and delivered could take many many months if not several years you know what we do here actually represents a true paradigm shift so we can not only represent Huntsman in America but we provide an ongoing continual no no brakes applied level of service and availability to American clients so not only were we able to take care of people from our history like Gregory Peck that code having been made for him by the famous Colin hammock on May 30th 1960 but today's clients in the 21st century have access to us at all further reference to our history is this incredible map that indicates where all the Fox hunts took place in the United States and every one of those buttons represents a town or a city or a village where those Fox hunts took place and many of those garments were produced by Huntsman and part of the heritage that's code of course is the hunting coats yes I mean the one button stance the slightly ferrets flared skirt and further tonight as all Savile Row tailors have a history and some some histories are from the naval history some from the army some from other points of reference Huntsman's heritage is based on the equestrian heritage so our quintessential cut with the close-fitting shoulder the high armhole the NIP waist and the slightly flared skirt one button with the pockets referencing that are really right out of the nineteenth-century beginnings of H Huntsman and Sons yeah and we see this in the piece right here you know that is the fox hunting absolutely and there of course is a picture of Colin hammock actually fitting that garment in London on one of these pieces probably 50 years ago so this room Edie I mean it really is that link between London and New York your provenance and history I mean this in some ways is kind of an archival room you have these pieces that you've done you know throughout history for some of your famous clients but one of the things that immediately sticks out to me is it's not just your clients but it's your American clients absolutely and we're trying to really focus on that so the clients understand that this relationship between salvo Row and America in particular Huntsman goes back almost at the beginning when we started in 18-49 when Henry Huntsman bought a breeches maker and founded the new company this building that were in today which is ironically historic building was built in 1907 as an artist commune it's older in terms of its existence than ours time on Savile Row we're just celebrating our 100th year at 11 Savile Row we have the bones here that give us the same credibility as we have in in London and I think American clients are coming to appreciate this singular bespoke experience that they can enjoy at Huntsman well one of the biggest challenges for an American who wanted a proper British bespoke suit has always been connecting with his tailor either requiring that they travel to London or meet with them you know the three or four times that they travel to America so one of the things that's incredible here is not only you know do you have a permanent cutter you know that's based here in New York but you're able to do it here and whenever I walk in this room I really can't help but feel like I'm in London well we've not only replicated that experience here in New York but as we all know the most important part of any bespoke tailoring house and it's heart and soul is its cutting room Furby I'd like to welcome you to Huntsman New York [Music] [Applause] [Music] Ralph kovin and great to see you again and you have you been not great great thanks for having us it's so great to be here in New York and of course here we are in your cutting room the unique experience of Huntsman is defined by Ralph and in this room it's the reason why someone comes here every time we see a new client we engaged that client after we have our initial conversation or consultation the first thing we do is to introduce him or her to the cutting room and to Ralph the bespoke cutter is the foundation that a bespoke experience and one of the things that's just so incredible about having you here in New York again is not just the full London experience of what it feels like but really more importantly you know that full bespoke experience of having easy access to you and you being here every day I'm Ralph of course represents the new generation of Savile Row cutter london-born hunts been trained he's he's a very young man and clients can have an entire lifetime of huntsmen experience with him which is a very exciting prospect for most clients who were used to seeing tailors in the United States who are on the the last end of their journey not at the beginning of their journey yeah so we've cut the average down at least by half of the average agent of the spoke tailor here in New York so you know Ralph I mean you are part of this new generation of incredibly talented bespoke cutters that's really exciting to see you know kind of coming into their own but talk to us a little bit about your background because you know you're young but you've been doing this for a long time yeah I started when I was 16 I started on Mount Street in London with Campbell Carey who's the head cutter of Huntsman and creative director so I've been working with him for eight years actually we met on Valentine's Day eight years ago yeah so it's worked out really well opening this this front huntsman here because we have great synergy in the work that we create so the garments that we make here pretty much the same or very small nuances with the products that Campbell would cut and Dario would cut and in London yeah and it's really the exact same thing is what you would be doing in London I mean you know you're meeting with the clients here you're drawing the patterns striking the fabric cutting I mean the only difference is that instead of walking it down stairs like you would in London you just put it in a box and ship it over there because all the sewing is still done in London I mean it's still a proper British made garment it's exactly the same process but you're completely right sent overnight rather than walking down a flight of stairs and also you know I'm not losing any communication with coat makers and trouser makers I've known these coat makers and trouser makers since I was 16 so we stood on the phone every day and if there's a something that they've picked up the an issue or a suggestion I'm on the phone with them yeah and again I always go back to you know the the bespoke experience and I think what's create so much richness is having that personal relationship with your cutter it's really you know one of the sacred relationships I feel like a well-dressed man has you know as schumake or a shirt maker is his tailor his barber and so you know having you here local just allows and a degree of access that previously was unattainable for Americans for the most part yes very much so I mean from the clients that we've taken since we've opened on 57th Street you know this is a really comfortable environment to be in clients of ours will come in just for a chat for a coffee and I'm during the process of their orders and they can actually watch me mark up the the cloth and chop it out in front of them is something I don't think New Yorkers have had the opportunity to really see not every recent years anyway yeah and are they getting the garments faster too I mean because again part of the challenge for an American was connecting with their cutter or their tailor it's the same ly time I mean as we just mentioned it's sent in a box overnight you know we're not losing any time it's the same lead time for the Janet in London you know for the American otherwise I mean it probably is cut it down to six months for very much so we've seen we're going to destinations quarterly sometimes more than that beforehand it would take clients a couple of years sometimes he I think maybe in the past meeting a cutter in a hotel room and walking out you have nothing really to show for it and now you can actually see the whole process and it's a great thing and you can see that the clients are excited about it and I think savor it more yes because in a hotel room you're booked all day now you might have what 3045 minutes of the client definitely and you're looking through bunches travel bunches that aren't particularly inspiring here we have the whole set of bunches and bolts of cloth just like in London it's a real home from home yeah you know so you studied with Campbell you know for eight years but I mean it was a proper apprenticeship wasn't it definitely that something is anything you can learn in school no as yet anyway but even I'm learning off of people that passed away to be quite honest old patterns of cutters from the 60s and 70s that we have hanging up on our walls here it's it's incredible that's what I take a lot of inspiration from old hammock patterns old even Terry haste and many other cutters that's what I get my inspiration from is patterns that I see and I learn a lot from the makers as well code makers trouser makers because we have the best team on Savile Row and I get I get firsthand contact with them so you're actually pulling some of those patterns down and kind of reverse engineering their cuts yeah their cuts the lapel shapers I'm always working on different lapel shapers things that I've seen come in the door it's just utterly fascinating that's why I get kick out of in some ways it's a it's an oral tradition I mean you were taught by someone how to do this you didn't necessarily read it in the book I mean how do you carry that forward as now you know the cutter here you know bringing this tradition to New York that is actually one of my mind objectives here I want to teach young Americans the way I was taught and get this a bit of a revival in New York tailoring because sadly and unfortunately some of the greats have haven't passed on their their knowledge or experience here in New York so there's a massive lack for true bespoke lots of made-to-measure which is great to see even in this building is lots of made-to-measure but not enough true bespoke and there's nothing I don't think you can be taught in colleges as yet which are completely appropriate to huntsman cutting or making so that is my main objective to teach young americans and there's something we're going to be trying to push for definitely and get new york and 57th street up to the same level as Savile Row yeah at some point so coming in you know seeing the 4ea seeing all the bolts of fabric you know walking into this cutting room seeing used striking you know working on your boards I mean this is the reason that the British you know London Savile Row bespoke experience is so renowned around the world yeah a true representation of Savile Row and this is exactly what American clients have come to us for so they can share that same experience that it once took them a 3,000 mile journey to enjoy it's available to them here in midtown Manhattan and so where does the bespoke experience start I mean we've come in we've seen you know the Huntsman has this incredible history and Providence it's the pinnacle of the craft but for a new client that comes in where does it begin well who all want to start with the measurements because they want to get into the fitting room they want to see how Ralph uses to take to take their measures and to understand how their garment is going to be made so I think without further ado we should take your measures yeah let's go do that [Music] so here we are now we're in the fitting room yes so this is all part of the vertical experience I take all my clients measures and I find it important for drafting the pattern different cutters tape measures slightly different in each others I like being in control of the whole process so I like to begin with taking if the clients got a jacket on take his balance measure I don't take any measures to replicate the jacket their way it's got nothing to do with that is to determine the client starts [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and that's all I need for the jack if I take some measures with the jacket off now [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I use this measure to pretty much establish the length of the coat I'm going to cut you so I take that ground measure and I half it and more common knot now I'd take half an inch off of that measure so unless the length of the jacket that you know traditionally should completely cover the seat yeah and then huntsmen is normally slightly longer than slightly longer but again nowadays I do take off that half an inch also I do ask the client what kind of length within up more often than not they want something slightly shorter nowadays then from there I take this measurement so I just get you to move your arm slightly and I've run that tape push your back there and this it looks bizarre but it is actually to establish your depth of sight so I'm using this to calibrate the height of your armhole that undercuts I want it to be high up visually and for comfort but not so much that it's uncomfortable from the nape to where the tape intersects here that will give me a rough guide of how high to cut that are not for you and that's another element of it properly cut bespoke suit is you know it's tight not tight but it fits snug on the shoulders and that you know you've got a a high arms I for freedom of movement and so that whenever you're moving the entire jackets not contorting with you if the arm holes cut too low every time you move you're gonna drag half the jacket with you it's going to feel very uncomfortable at the same time you don't want it too high up and it's pinching you it's about finding that perfect sweet spot pretty much then from there I take your chest we waste the trouser waste then received [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] now that we've taken your measurements I want to actually take you through some garments all right well Herbie why don't you have a seat here at the desk and we'll chat about fabric and I think I've ever seen bottom any books of fabric in one place so when we were talking you were thinking about a double-breasted suit but I could tell that you were quite taken by some of our proprietary tweed so I'm gonna suggest that we do a tweet ensemble ok first outfit and it matched nice to start it's a good place to store it and you'll have a you know really a quintessential Huntsman garment so thinking about what we looked at inside let me just show you this jacket again so this one is the tweed that we made for the family in the Midwest and it was designed by Campbell as part of their brief and it was done with an understanding that they wanted to to include the colors of some of the limestone rock that comes from one of their quarries and I think we actually did and this was actually done in concert with Johnston's of elegant did a fantastic job of creating that and they were absolutely thrilled actually to the point where they not only want to have garments where we've made jackets waist coach dresses skirts caps one of the brothers now wants to cover all of the slipper chairs in his house in Michigan and they want to have fabric available for the next two generations of the family - Wow so if you think about the the history of huntsmen and you think about the pillars mm-hmm this really speaks to that because in in a generation when you and I won't be in the business any longer one of the grandchildren will walk into Savile Row probably 11 Savile Row and say I'd like to get a garment made in my family's tweed and someone will look at them and say what is your name and when they tell them who it is someone will realize that in the vault is the fabric that belongs to this family that's been sitting there for me and it's it's a wonderful story yeah so I think you should be the proud owner of a peck 62 and with that I might suggest you do something a little bit more interesting you could make the outfit your own both with the trousers selection and with and with the lining so this is something you can even do you know two different pairs of odd trousers up rotate absolutely so one of the great fabrics would be you know again we look at color but to go into the archive for Helen and sherry the Dakota range has got you know some of the classic cavalry twill sand lip courts that really harken back to the heritage of cloth making in the United Kingdom it actually speaks about our equestrian heritage as well and then we could pair that alternatively with a lovely pair of flannels and it doesn't have to be your father's gray flannel I mean this is if you asked me if there was a color of finally this is about eleven twelve ounces so it's it's a it's a worsted finish so it has all of the depth but it's not gonna feel as as heavy and we're so kind of sexist winter final absolutely so yes you can wear this in Texas for sure so I think that's one of the incredible things about a tailoring house such as Huntsman is you know working with you and working with Ralph the incredible knowledge that you guys have about the fabrics you know that really takes something that for a client is overwhelming I mean you guys literally have over 10,000 choices but to have someone that you know has a enough depth to the relationship with their client and understands you know who they are how they wear their clothing you know what they're interested in that they can take that and make these incredibly personalized recommendations that at the end of the day are producing one-of-a-kind unique pieces you know for your clients well that's certainly our objective and when we achieve that we've achieved some degree of success I mean even the most important clients and the most long-standing clients in Gregory pecks a good example there's a men who had 150 garments mm-hmm so if you think of those hundred and fifty garments compared to the number of options here he only touched the surface of that so for me to pretend that I could let you sit here and look through all of these fabrics and come up with a clear and concise choice and we're looking at opposite ends of the hourglass in that little piece that's in the middle yes where we have to meet where I put up enough things on the table that I absolutely resonate with you and and serve your purpose and you have been satisfied with the with those selections and those recommendations and it's the expertise again you know the people you know that work here but you Ralph at just in the same way that is the expertise of Campbell and Dario and the team in London you know that allow for this level of service that you just don't get outside of a proper London bespoke tailoring Castle it's it's it's I think the height of what happens on Savile Row and given the complexity and the complexion of huntsmen it's actually a unique situation because we all have a special set of skills we bring to the table and this is you know to segue back to what we talked about initially this is a very good example this is the original cloth that was copied that was produced by Johnston's for Huntsman on the pack cashmere and because they've got such a big investment in all of our tweed business we decided Campbell to take the cashmere production and move that to Joshua Ellis and we went from a mill that's founded in 1797 to one that's 50 years older so they are the near the battleship two hundred and fifty two years running I'm making cashmere I think ultimately men don't enjoy shopping we don't like you know being presented with the million options and then having to choose I mean and the ultimate pursuit is really the simplification of our lives and I think in so many ways that bespoke tailor is such an important part of that pursuit because again you know you're able to develop these really you know long-standing relationships with your clients so that the client comes in and they really don't have to make decisions you know they have a drink you know walk around catch up and it's just through this conversation that you're pulling things out and next thing you know you haven't unique and really perfectly suitable oh do you agree no pun intended he could be very sentimental about the things that are there things you know they don't you know that they're very protective of those things so when you start to establish relationship with a client that kind of goes beyond the four walls and you just make your suits yeah you don't just make yourself or part of your life or part of your lifestyle you know once you enter the world of the spoke it's so much more than the product I mean the product is important and it's exceptional and it's at the highest level but just the story of how these pieces come about is really what gives meaning to a garment so that whenever you're wearing it you know I think back and reflect on this conversation that I had with you and the time that you know you were able to pull these pieces out and we were able to talk through it and this kind of spontaneously came together you know the fact that you know we had dinner last night and you know the conversation we had then you know those memories you know ultimately go into a garment like this and then you know who made it and the fact that they knew that they were making it for you again I think just create something that is hard to really kind of put your hand on it really makes a garment at the spoke garment so much more special than the garment itself thank you very much we we certainly agree with that and that's how we try to run our business and run our lives every day and face the the experience should not just be special it should be exceptional in every way a client can go and have a suit made or a jacket made anywhere and sometimes we have tunnel vision and we think that whatever we do no one else can do well a lot of people can do what we do and so you know we have to kind of redouble our efforts every day to make sure that what we do we look at you know with at a distance and with circumspection to make sure that what we're doing is absolutely special yeah and that's what makes Huntsman Huntsman in so many ways so we've we've got this and we've got an idea of kind of what we want to do so what's next I mean we've taken my measurements you know we've made some selections in terms of cloth and style so where does it go from here well one of the things that we can look at would be how you would like to do the additional trimming and you know we can do the skull and crossbones we can do anything that you want and we also have the ability to make a proprietary lightning we have a client in Pittsburgh who has reproduced under license Salvador Dali's really for the inside of his jackets and the linings cost him more than the coats Wow I think one of the things with it with the tweed we've got you know a lot going on in the story of the actual yarn is to pick out aligning possibly something in a shot lining which is which which has got to two colors in it so the colors kind of believe through and pick out something in a color story that makes sense for you and possibly like to pick out you know like the over check or the window pane in a blue mm-hmm when we look at the the design of the garment I'd showed you the classic Huntsman silhouette because if we do eject it that's probably very important you have to do one button in slanted pocket and now doing the cash pocket that's a personal decision it will look good and actually will show off the handiwork of the coat maker and the cutter because the matching of the plaids and it's part of the magic of making a beautiful garment so the more pockets you have the more we can showcase that so what's the next step and we've taken my measurements we've come here we've spoken about you know generally what we're gonna do the PEC 62 the you know the doeskin waistcoat you know two pairs of odd trousers so now we're gonna talk about modeling linings and buttons and I think I'll ask Ralph to step in because since we make a lot of these garments where I can go through what I envision these items should look like and he can get some give some input and we can see what which is best for you okay so I will ask for elf to step in Ralph would you be kind enough to step in please so for Kirby we're looking at doing a PEC 62 we're going to do with an odd vest so the the Hainsworth doeskin which would be fantastic and we need to talk about line back we're solid back in buck without someone to have your input I thought what would be nice because of the color combinations here to do one of the shot linings where you have the blue but the green runs through it it's you're gonna get the reference of all the colors that are in here and perhaps we do you know a lighter color contrasting piping and jets inside the jacket two odd trousers so both from Holland and sherry one a little bit dressier and a charcoal Brown flannel and in a thirteen fourteen ounce covert which would be nice I think maybe for at least this if not both we should do the lap seam on the trousers because doing this weld edge on the jacket would be would be nice what else are we leaving out buttons do we do you know for cuffs do you think we should do turn up cuffs on me at the jacket or I think there's enough going on with the cloth I think it's really sings for itself maybe one thing we can do as they're all separates maybe do a nice collar a lapel on the on the vest we saw a swelled edge as well it'd be really nice through eight swirled edge and they'll show up mostly against the solid those good as well definitely lovely choice and what do you think about the seven and a half button to bring out the the richness of the horn and also that's one of our signature two whole buttons I think that would what about buttons on the cuff for jackets as this is separate I'd suggest four or you could be a bit more creative and maybe have so a mine here I've got three but make sure if you do three have them spaced accordingly you'll notice that on Ralph's jacket those are done that way what's what's the history with the three buttons it's not something I see ever it would just leaves you with the option of wearing it as a separate and it doesn't look so much as a suit jacket he gives you that option it's something our voice lights just a bit personality to it really but you know what other kind of details we can work in this you know really make it well we talked about doing the the Dax closure so you'll have the the tab is sewn in to the waistband it's elasticized and you have buttons I think Ralph action has the Dex closure okay on these trousers so it's it's very classic and it's named after the back strausser's so it's something that you know James Bond popularized in his own wardrobe that was done by Anthony Sinclair okay so even though it's got historic relevance it's still pretty modern because it goes back to the 60s but our clients liked it because it's a little bit sleeker you don't have the extra appendage of the piece of cloth as yeah tightening up the tabs and you've got a little squirrel yeah and also that will work nicely with your pleated trousers yeah I think it'll be a very turnout to the course what do you think an inch and 3/4 or two um maybe on these two slightly larger yeah especially if we do the lap seams make it a little bit more pronounced okay and then what about the back of the jacket I saw you had one of the you know was it the pack cashmere that it was a single piece back or what was was a worsted camel-hair that was done for that client special requests of you know being that it's bespoke and one of the other things we should talk about is if you think you might want to wear the waistcoat separately mm-hmm we can do it with the cloth back now if you line it with the lining on the inside so the smoother to get on we can make it one continuous piece they'll be side seams of course he had to be lying and the reason you would do lining versus cloth back as it would create a cooler waist code but cloth back gives you more versatility and being able to wear it without the G and you're buying an you know an autumn outfit here so you know we're not trying to achieve yeah you know air condition air condition this is this is about something which is very romantic so I think it would look fair time yeah no let's do that so cubby you want to come see a patent being drawn yeah that would be great these up to you come on through yeah thank you so here we are this is this is your room she's mine so these are your boards right so this is where you do yeah all the magic pretty much these boards are exact replicas are the ones that we have in the London so nutmeg getting them up but I'm so pleased that I've got them so they I mean they have to be familiar to you because I mean you trained you know of course with with Campbell in London so I mean whenever you're here do you do you feel like you're in New York yeah but these ones don't have anyone a bit shorter because I'm slightly shorter than Campbell so that's that but this is where I spend most of my day so we've taken the measurements and then what I mean you're gonna start working in the pattern yeah and so this is I guess this paper is where it's done yeah actually I'm very lucky we used to use I always grew up using a much lighter paper but I really like this and I have this specifically made for us in Philadelphia and it's the perfect weight I can fold it into my pattern bags perfectly and I feel that after time they don't lose their shape they don't wear I can get a real clean clean shapes for armholes and curves and such and they don't blunt or crimp or like other paper every time I see you with a garment or fitting the paper pattern and the drafts going to be updated accordingly so it's constantly changing you know I've had a client that's followed me since I've started or since I became a cutter and it's gone in and out in our arm holes change shape so what tools do you have to do this paper shears which I've had for eight years but these are probably a hundred years old Wow I'm quite obsessed with all tools they don't make them quite the same quite frankly especially with shears and scissors just er you don't get the same quality quality of hard metal and soft metal with it there differently made or maybe it's just me been well every test out Jerry particular about us years yeah people get into arguments when people hit someone else's around yeah moving them around or you see someone cutting up a piece of paper with your with your shears it's important to take great care in your tools I've very rarely get new ones and these tools that I've had have lasted my whole career and my whole apprenticeship and my shears I've never sharpened once and I try to keep it in great condition as possible because we have your cutting shears it consists of two kinds of metal you've got your hard metal at the front which actually cuts the fabric and you've got the soft metal attached to it you can actually see a thin line so the more you sharpen them the less hard mess we're gonna get and when that goes down really thin it's not gonna be the same result it's not gonna be as sharp something be as precise and so something like this you would never use to cut paper definitely no oh no no no no I take great pride in my tools and I mean how formulaic is this versus how much of it is just Rockabye I mean just your intuition and you know twelve years of experience I think he's probably 50/50 okay I think obviously your chest waist seat those measures they don't lie so I use those for you know using scale to work those out but if someone's got an athletic chest and to work out what kind of dark you want to put in the chest to throw a shape over it correctly I think that's Rockabye and working out how far down you want to throw that shape and again yeah the round of your back I think that's why I I don't think there's a sentence set in stone curve that's correct every one is completely different but I think the fundamentals of balance and getting your essential for measurements correct again chest coat waist trouser weights and see those I go by my book I go by the draft that I've been taught and I've adapted but there's I like to think miss 50-50 in this the pattern is also somewhat dictated by the cloth so on a trouser pattern for instance you'll have a trouser length for Cotton's okay and the trouser links for your wall okay for shrinkage and also for the amount of break that the client wants you know on a cotton pair of trousers you probably want this break in the toka trouser but that's all noted on these patterns all that information there isn't just a set of numbers you've got some ones almost story on it yeah where do you start at me what is the first line you draw on a jacket pattern on a jacket pattern so that I draft in words like this other cutters do it differently do a nice long straight line and then I establish the jacket length of the back [Music] [Music] so you've drafted the pattern you become this pattern pieces out but then how do you take this to the actual fabric before you cut it full I chop and strike anything out it will lay out the cloth on a pressing unit to get out all the residuals shrinkage do you have something you can show us I mean I'd loved it I always love seeing the handwork of and inside of a jacket yeah here's one here it is abased and this is a tweet we did in collaboration with the rake so you can see here all those lovely pad stitches and this is the I mean I mean it's not even finished yet right good good well there'd be even more pad stitching and you're constructing the canvas by hand am i correct yes because I mean some you know even high-end made-to-measure uses a prefabricated canvas yeah and that doesn't the canvas is not oppa hand all these instructions you leave you can actually see the techniques they use that cut I was showing you earlier on for the prominent chests you can see that's been cut through here and it's a double cut for a really prominent chest and you can see that the shape in in that chest mm-hmm and try and see it even laying flat third I mentioned that the coat makers created yeah I mean just look at that pucker right here yeah I mean it's crisp my hands flat pen mm-hmm and this is the first stage and this is the first stage and even around to the collar I mean again this is far from completion we're starting to see the layers built up you know I just love all this taping on the inside I mean again all of this is about durability yeah and shape right it doesn't look like much now but this is beautiful I mean I love seeing jackets at this stage because it looks like a jacket but it's still so far away from the final product he's not gonna be when you can't see the guts I mean the hand goes into this and all those basting Cotton's that we used those stitches the basting stitches I can take these apart and rip these apart without damaging the cloth in any way you know at the end of the day the provenance of a bespoke huntsmen suit is his British Savile Row to being done in London at your premises and that still is true for this garment that you're cutting as it is for one they would be cutting that one would cut on Savile Row well for it to be cool that the spokes have a row suit it needs to be made in several like a champagne or it has to come from the source do you have a jacket at the next stage that you can chose yeah so after I fitted this garment and ripped and smoothed it down it will be refunded sent back to London and it will be assembled to the next stage which will be finished base called finish bar hole which will look something like this so in a coat makers eyes this is finished garment ok he's finished his work with this and when you say that coat maker has finished his his work what is that what what has he done between this and this he has done pretty much everything he's put the lining in the pockets in the facings on the top corners on all the main body work has been completed at this point and so you know again if you were to turn this over you know you see you know from this stage you know that canvas the floating canvas yeah has then been pad stitched yep you know to the back of the pail mm-hmm and that's what creates kind of the role that not true lovely row totally individual you know made for the client yeah you know the fit and drape perfectly not have any collar gap you know to really come together and again the handwork and what you get with the proper you know British bespoke suit again is the durability of the product and really being able to trust that it's not going to fail it's not gonna look like rubber you know that you know it can live with you and still retain in the memory of the garment its shape yeah and you can see it here laying flat on the table all that lovely shape so actually here's a based so it's not for you but I'll give you be a good representation not yourself bubby it's not gonna fit exactly it's just a good representation of what the first fitting would look like and obviously this client is bigger in the way yes there's a much larger chest so you know what as the cutter what are you looking for and what are you changing at this stage this fits in this first fitting I call it my fitting okay so I'm trying to understand on a construction point of view if the coat is balanced if the shoulder seam is in the correct position and I want to make sure that the length is established as well and that you're in an agreement with me pretty much but at this stage I've got all the inlays at the end of the shoulder here I can let it out take it in and I can actually rip down the garment in front of you pretty much I can take the sleeve out which I probably need to do on this one because it's pitched to the wrong point you've got drags at the back here that's not because it's too big essentially because the sleeve is rotated to the wrong position so I take those off and give myself a mark well what those sleeves to be rotated to let me undo the sleeve here and show you all the alterations I can do um and actually at the same time at the back of the sleeve here looks like it's big but it's actually confusing is not at all it's it's the way the sleeve has been pitched and rotate it needs to be rotated to a different mark so I'll take that off and make a mark and a note of where the sleeve wants to delay and you're almost still a match and so this is where the based comes in because it allows you to you know really easily deconstruct the garment without ruining the fabric exactly but I can mark more accurately and I can see it better when this is off just leave thank you there you go right so now we can see clearly where we want that seem to finish the armhole is too high up it's catching and breaking there if you lift your arm ever so slightly I can mark where it wants to be and that's going to clear all of that and it's a bit loose on the end so I'd pick that up a quarter of an inch at the front I'll clean that up and I'll just let it out and I've left all this inlay here just let it out there 8 for an inch and that's where I want it to be on you here and but there you go it does look a bit they're not fitting stage now with the sleeve off but it really does help me that's why I say it's really for me this fitting it's not going to be anything you can walk out the store with of course but that's the beauty of this the all the alterations I can actually perform any alteration at this stage and even the same pattern with different fabric I mean it's allowing you to see how that specific pattern or that specific fabric is kind of interacting with the pattern the body because even I mean you know something a little bit lighter weight like this versus you know a tweet or a super 150 we're all gonna drape differently right very differently so what's after this so you take this you know you go and and and basically memorialize this into the pattern yeah but this isn't the last fitting right no definitely not and in most cases I take the first fitting straight to a finished butthole okay so I think it should take three fittings okay the three fittings be this the finished part hold and then the final one we're using the buttonholes yes thank you this is the next stage as I mentioned this is finish bar again unfortunately not for you curvy but let's just give you a feel for it and so this has the lining put in and I you know I can feel the structure right so it's a fully canvassed at this point yeah and it's been pad stitched and the linings are in more than ordinary so it's much easier to get on compared to the last one so the back here is much better than the base we saw it's got a lot more shape in the hollow of your back it's a lot cleaner through the back drapes one thing I would do it's got quite a short collar for you I need to raise that give you a bigger collar stand and where would you take the collar up to because it's I've got a rather prominent neck generally Khalistan is an inch and a quarter I'd give you something closer to image laughs and I think that should make the difference but not too far off kami I mean this gentleman clearly has a much more prominent chest and this I feel like it does a great job of really illustrating the amount of shape that is built into the canvas I mean look at you know this isn't my jacket and look at how shape to this is yes it gives it a real athletic form to it even on that on a hanger or laying flat you'll still have all that shape that you can really see and that's one of the big differences I find between a true bespoke garment versus something that is you know made to measure off the rack is that you know the amount of handwork and shaping that goes into the canvas and it's not a premade canvas that just as baste it in or you know Pat stitched in I mean this is darted and you know that form is created specifically for your shape and your body type and it really is something that's gonna last that that shape is never going to leave it and that's one of the purposes you know bespoke I mean again it's not handwork for the sake of handwork you know it's really creating durability and longevity to the garment yeah and these these should last you a lifetime the point of this bespoke no stitching is in this jacket isn't with purpose it's not for embellishment these extra stitches in the chest is for purpose to create that shape and so withstand time it's a beautiful jacket it's a window model so you're pretty fresh so when the model so after the alterations are due to this at this stage I'll moralize those into my paper pattern once again I'll mark these up for alteration I'll send it back to London and then it goes to the finisher who does all the felling work and buttonholes and after that it goes to the presser and that's actually a very very important part of the process memorialize is all that shaping the garment it's in an hour it's an hour and a half process well but that's that and so in most cases it's what two or three fittings and we've get the pasted we've got the bar Tech bar and then I guess you know the final would be kind of delivering the final suit just one lost look and you're not mailing it to the client I mean ideally I would like to meet them but we do ship and from then on any subsequent orders would go straight to that finish bar whole stage okay just for one last note you know to have you here to be able to just pop up say hello grab a pint is uh you know is great so Ralph thank you so much yeah okay Coby thank you they can't Edie thank you so much for having me I mean this really is amazing I mean thank you for for visiting and thank you for your positive comments we welcome you officially as a husband and look forward to seeing you with Ralph and September 30 you can't wait to be back for the first fitting it'll be your base to finish your hover whiskey to celebrate yeah indeed thank you sir thanks ed okay see you soon gosh I Love New York so much and this is such a seamless extension to the experience in London I hate to go but I know I'll be back soon [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Kirby Allison

Views: 717,763

Keywords: kirby allison, Huntsman, huntsman tailor, savile row, america, best tailors, london, suitmakers, mens fashion, mens style, style tips, 2019, New York, how to, interview, bespoke, suits, gentlemen, fabric, cloth, Sastre, sarto, tailleur, Schneider, 裁缝, Cáiféng, hanger project, Kirby Allison, Savile Row, Tailor, Elite, Fashion, Suits, Manhattan, NYC, Trending, YouTube, Retail, Shoe Polish, shoe shine asmr, sartorial talks, elegant oxford, Top 10, reaction video, kingsman, cutting room, huntsman and sons

Id: 6VmxRoInFAk

Length: 55min 30sec (3330 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 16 2019