Articles by matjnewton

Hi all

It seems to be a very common experience for people travelling to Bangkok, Vietnam or various other countries to get some clothes tailored for them.

That’s great but you must do your research or else you will be ripped off. At least 90% of the Bangkok tailors will take you for a ride. When I was there - last October - the amount of dodgy operators I saw was simply staggering. Westerners lose their pricing perspective when they go overseas - everything’s meant to be so darn cheap, right? But the old adage holds true : you get what you pay for. If you want a cheaper version of the cheap suits back home by all means go ahead. But in my opinion, you should take advantage of the price differential to buy yourself a truly good suit.

If you’re going to Hong Kong, Bangkok or Vietnam I can tell you where to go. I know which places have the good reputation. Feel free to use me as your friendly information resource. I can help on pretty much any country by asking the right people on your behalf.

A couple of lessons for the intrepid traveller:

1.) Avoid the places that sell tailoring packages such as one suit, five shirt sand five ties for $200. They’re all bad news.

2.) Don’t listen to fellow travellers. They are probably getting ripped off too.

3.) If they say they can do it in a day, don’t walk - run! I’m serious. A good tailor is a craftsman who takes pride in his work. You will need three fittings to get the suit right.

4.) They’re telling you they have Zegna or Boss fabrics? Notwithstanding the fact that Boss fabrics are crapola anyway, they’re lying. The fabric alone in a Zegna suit costs hundreds of dollars. That goes for ‘100% cashmere’ suits as well. Don’t touch them.

5.) A good tailor has good word of mouth and hence, no need to solicit your business. So if they’re trying to drag you in off the street, they’re bad news.

6.) Finally, do some research. In many places it’s quite hard to tell whether a tailor is dodgy or not on face value unless you really know what you are looking for. Use Google, StyleForum, Virtualtourist.com and Tripadvisor.com

(Declaration : my first suit was black.Black suits are almost everywhere in Melbourne and I’m sure that’s the case amongst most cities around the world.

You may not be aware but a lot of fierce debate has raged all over the internet (Style Forum has 600 posts) about whether they are acceptable or not. Technically, they are against the ‘rules’ but… most readers wouldn’t care about the rules, let’s get on to reasons.

There’s several reasons for the man in business to avoid buying one.

1) Firstly, it’s unimaginative. Every Tom, Dick and Harry has one. Show a little personality.

2) Black suits look cheap. Why? Black suits are generally worn by people who can only afford the one suit (in case they have go to funerals.)

3) Black suits are hot . If you’re going to be wearing a suit all day you’ll want to be wearing a suit that’s comfortable.

4) Black suits are the servants’ uniform. I feel horrible saying this, but it’s true. Think waiters, think limousine drivers, think bouncers, think butlers.

5) They look horrible in photos. They swallow up the light.

Visitors to MatNewton.com may notice that it is no longer re-directing to this blog. That is because my blog will now be shifting over to there but I am currently setting this up.

Thanks for your patience!
Mat.