The best tailor in Bangkok: Why getting the right fit is harder than you’d expect.
I recently had two suits tailored in Bangkok and I decided to write a post about my experience. I did a lot of research about tailors in Bangkok and generally found it difficult to decide on a tailor. I also learnt a little bit more about suits in the process. I hope this post helps others trying to decide who to get to tailor a suit or shirts in Bangkok.
The first thing to realise is that according to most people in more high-end forums, Hong Kong is a better place to have clothes tailored. Fabric and quality of workmanship seem to be better there. But having said that, you can still get a decent suit or shirt made in Bangkok, but unless you pay a high price, you’ll need to know exactly what you want.
Types of tailors in Bangkok
There is no shortage of tailors in Bangkok. As a rough estimate there are over fifty on Sukhumvit between the Ploen Chit and Asok BTS stations alone. That’s just a rough guess, the side streets often have tailors too.
After my research I determined that there are three kinds of tailors in Bangkok.
1. Cheap and nasty.
These will often have a tout and a sign board out the front advertising prices. They generally emphasise low cost and very fast turn around (a suit in 24 hours!). These guys are also unlikely to be tailors themselves, rather they take measurements and send them to Thai tailors who do all the work. Expect to pay up to 10,000 baht for a suit and between 500-1000 for shirts.[PHOTO]
2. Moderately priced and decent.
These are less likely to have touts out the front, though it’s often the case that these shops don’t contain trained tailors either. That’s not to say they can’t make a good suit, just that they are probably better at marketing and measuring than tailoring in the traditional sense. They won’t do a suit in 24hrs but can probably do one in three or four days. Expect to pay between 10,000-20,000 for a suit and between 1,000 to 1,500 for shirts.
3. High end.
These are the real tailors who typically require more time to tailor your suit. From a couple of weeks to over a month depending on how busy they are. Expect to pay between 30,000-50,000 for a suit and between 3,000 to 5,000 for shirts.
On fabrics
One thing to remember is that one of the primary determinants of price for any tailor is the fabric. Cheap synthetic (polyester or microfiber) or woollen made in China fabrics are cheapest.
Most mid range suits will be made from imported fabric material but produced in Thailand or Korea. Ignore what the strip on the fabric says as one (honest) tailor told me that they just write anything on there. [PHOTO] So that 180s wool and cashmere from Italy you’re getting in your 8,000 baht suit is most likely cheap Chinese wool mixed with some synthetic.
The most expensive fabrics are brand name fabrics from Europe.
I’m not an expert on fabrics so at the end of the day, you have to go with something you like the feel of, forget about what the fabric says. It’s always good to ask to see cheaper and expensive fabrics, then compare the two. Also consider where you’ll be wearing your suit. You’ll obviously want a heavier fabric for colder weather and vice versa.
On fit and cut
Most of the cheap and nasty and moderately priced tailors have a standard cut they will give you unless you specify something different. Even if you do specify something different, you’ll likely have to double and triple check that they actually produce what you ask for, since most will default back to the standard house cut.
What you need to choose when tailoring a suit
When choosing a suit, there are many things to consider, such as:
– Fabric
– Style
– How many pieces (two piece or three piece)
– Lapel style
– Buttons
– Pockets
– Liner style
Style and fit
For the style and fit, best guide I found is here:
[link to art of manliness]
Stages of tailoring a suit
If you’re semi-serious and don’t want to just waste your money, the best advice anybody will give you is to allow for at least 3 fittings. If you’re never tailored a suit before, it basically happens in several stages.
1. Getting measured: You select your fabric and style and get your measurements.
2. First fitting: You come in for your first fitting. The first fitting is the rough fitting where they will basically hold the very basic cutting of the material against your body to check shoulders (important!) and other aspects of the cut.
3. Second fitting: By the second fitting, the suit will be starting to take shape. The pants will pretty much look finished while the jacket (and vest if you went three piece) will be about 80% complete, lacking the final collars, buttons and other finishing touches. This is an important fitting so pay attention to this one. You want to get closer to your final desired cut and be careful about going too hard in any area as if you lose too much it’s hard to add it back.
One thing that annoys me about the cheap and moderate tailors (or at least the one I experienced) is that by the second fitting, they were already telling me it looked great and asking me what you wanted changed. My problem with this is that I’m not a tailor and while I know I want a modern, slim fitting suit, I don’t necessarily know what it looks like until I’m wearing it. So when they’re saying “great, looks perfect” or responding to requested changes with “ok, if that’s what you want”, it kind of makes me frustrated.
4. Third fitting: By the third fitting the suit should look finished, all the stitching, lining, lapels, collar and buttons should be done. By this point you’re looking for final touches. In my case I found the sleeves on the jacket and the pants a little bit long. I also wanted the jacket to cut in more against my upper rib cage so it had a more fitted look and less of a straight down look to it. Once again, at this stage the shop I went to (Raja’s Fashion at Nana) was telling me it looked perfect and they wouldn’t change a thing. But in my mind I’d always wanted, and told them so, a slim fitting suit. To my eyes it didn’t quite look well fitted just yet.
5. Fourth fitting: You should have sorted everything out with the third fitting and so the fourth fitting is mainly to do a final check before you take the suit and pay the balance owing.
The shops I checked:
Siam Emporium – Liked his choice of shirt fabrics and he seemed nice, just lacked any online reviews so I was nervous to try.
Crown Tailors – These guys had good reviews from some but they didn’t have the colour I wanted. The guy I spoke to was the most upfront of any regarding fabrics. Before I’d even asked he was telling me what it really was and where it was from, despite what the fabric claimed to be based on the label.
Raja’s Fashion – Couldn’t go past the volume and quality of reviews. These guys are good and the service is excellent. I did feel the process was a bit rushed only because they are so busy. Overall the suits came out very good but with a lot of attention to detail by me, against their insistence at each stage that it was perfect and didn’t need adjustments. I also found that despite my requests for a modern European style slim fitting suit, I basically got the same house cut as everybody else.
One near near Asok Station, next to the Aspire Fitness and the small door going up to a massage place. These guys have good fabrics upstairs and quoted me about 12,000 for what I paid 15,000 at Raja’s for. I have a feeling they would have done an ok job but again, with no reviews, Raja’s got my business.
Narin Cotoure (Interestingly, even Bobby at Raja’s Fashion called Narin a ‘real tailor’). Narin is constantly mentioned as one of the better, if not best, tailors in Bangkok. He just couldn’t do something in my time frame (about 2-3 weeks but over Christmas and new year) and the price was more than I wanted to spend.
I hope this rough guide to tailoring a suit in Bangkok helps somebody else. Overall it was a somewhat frustrating process if only because of the abundance of tailors and the information asymmetry I faced. If I were back in Bangkok I would probably try others before I went back to Raja’s Fashion. This is mainly because I’d rather a place that wasn’t quite as hectic as Raja’s Fashion tends to be. I also think that you can find places with similar fabric and quality for up to 20% less, though you probably won’t get free Heinekens and peanuts!
If you want to avoid looking around though, Raja’s Fashion will do a nice suit for a reasonable price, just make sure you know what you want and how you want it to fit. I would also recommend writing down your own version of what you asked for so you can check this against the suit they make.
