Having your very own custom tailor can be life altering. You'll have the opportunity to wear clothes that actually fit you properly. When you look better, you feel better. And when you feel your best, you get to live life to the fullest. For this reason, it's in your best interest to find a tailor that can help you not only putting together a completely custom suit, or custom shirt, but one that can also make alterations to the clothes you buy from your favorite department stores. Not all tailors are created equally, though, so use these tips to find the best.
Find a Local Custom Tailor
The good news is that there are tailors in just about every city – no matter how big or how small. The bad news is that a lot of them just don't cut it when it comes to having clothes properly altered. If you want to make sure you find a really great tailor, make sure you consider the following: 1. the tailor's rankings on the common rating sites, like Yelp.com and merchant circle. 2. His or her regular availability – if they're not open when you can use their services, they won't really be able to help you. 3. The types of tailoring that he or she specializes in – not all custom tailor shops can handle all tailoring projects. There's better news, though – you can find a tailor that travels, and most of the best do this on a regular basis. Also make sure that you and your tailor can agree on pricing. Fashion really is not something you should lose sleep over and neither is pricing, and it shouldn’t be your primary incentive when looking for a great tailor. The facts are pretty simple! Good tailoring is worth paying more for, and bad tailoring is a waste of your hard earned money entirely. One thing you should certainly do is a bit of comparison shopping. You really shouldn’t settle with the first tailor you find. If a tailor is charging four or five times as much as other tailors in your area, it’s worth asking yourself what he or she offers that justifies the price. That said, a truly great tailor who satisfies both your clothing needs and your shopping expectations is a rare treasure, something that many people spend years looking for. If you find one, don’t let the price stop you. You should always get an estimate on the time needed by the tailor to perform the alterations that you need done. The truth is that the best tailors are in constant demand for very obvious reasons, expect their schedules to be full most of the time. A sensible expectation for your basic, minor adjustments should be anywhere between 2-3 days to a week, two weeks at the most if the tailor is very busy and they are completely booked up. Larger repairs or any complicated adjustments could take a month or more, so yes, patience is important here.
Find a Custom Tailor the Has National Tours
It's unlikely that you knew that most tailors spend a good portion of their time travelling between major cities. The best hit all of the major metropolitan areas, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and more. It doesn't matter where you're located – a world class tailor is going to be visiting you some time soon. When you find a custom tailor that makes these trips regularly, you can be sure that he's going to be one of the best. Your average tailor can't risk the expenses associated with setting up these tours, because he's just not good enough. When the word gets out that he's travelling around the country and providing shoddy services, you can be sure that his reputation would be ruined forever. If you find a custom tailor that travels, don't hesitate to stop in and check him out. The best tailors not only visit your local city, but once they have your measurements they can handle your orders for alterations and custom clothing from their office. All you have to do is pick up the phone and call – some will even accept their orders from email.
The Best Custom Tailor Looks Out for You
There was once a tailor that went above and beyond the rest. He travelled not just to all of the major American cities, but also throughout the world. Once per month he would ship his customers a new set of suits, shirts, pants, and other items that were already pretty close fits. He would include a note, telling his customer to send everything back – just separating what was liked from what wasn't. He would then make the necessary alterations for his customer, and ship them back. If they didn't like anything at all, there would be absolutely no charges. Now, you can't expect your tailor to go to this level of customer service – most of them just aren't able to do these sorts of things. But if you find a custom tailor that looks out for you by helping you keep with the current fashion trends, you'll be in great shape. Therefore, it is important that the custom tailor that you choose is a person that you are able to work with on an ongoing basis. Look for traits like those you gravitate to with your close friends. Your custom tailor needs to have that type of relationship with you. Your custom tailor will be a business associate and mentor, so you must be able to spend a prolonged amount of time with them.
Your custom tailor will be there to help you turn your style dreams into a reality. Look for someone who can create a quality custom fit. Then find someone whose style aligns with yours. Finally, find someone who will mesh with your personality. Your custom tailor will be a person that you work closely with on an ongoing basis. Choose your custom tailor wisely and then focus on bringing out your inner style personality through custom design.