The most important fitting you should have and always insist on, no matter how skilled the tailor says he is or how important the firm might think they are, is the BASTE fitting – for both jackets and waistcoats.
It will make it a more pleasant experience for customers and will vastly reduce any problems that might arise further down the line.
As a result, we have a minimum of one fitting, we normally like to have two fittings and if there is good reason we may have a third fitting – and these, with a description and photograph of each, are listed below.
A very unglamorous first fitting which is quite literally the cloth basted together using white basting cotton. This fitting is important for two reasons – firstly, because you can check the tailor is actually doing the work. But secondly, so you can check together that he is going in the right direction.
Duration: You should normally expect this first fitting within four-five weeks of placing the order with your tailor. But we can always speed things up with our Express service. Cost: Our suits are from £1795.00, our waistcoats from £415 and our shirts from £195. Please note we have to add VAT.
On this occasion, the second fitting, the suit will look much more finished – but there is still work to be done! Again it is a good way of measuring the progress of the suit, but it is also an opportunity to finalise some important choices – width lapels, buttons, more shaping (or less depending on your consumption in the month before!) and so on.
Duration: You should normally expect this second fitting to be ready four-five weeks after the first fitting. But we can always speed things up with our Express service.
The fin-bar-fin, or the ‘nearly there‘, fitting. After the second fitting, it may have been agreed between the tailor and the customer that all is well and all is good for the suit to be finished and shipped. However, if the customer has an unusual figuration, or some other good reason, we have a third fitting. At this stage, the suit should almost certainly be in a state that you will be supremely happy to wear proudly for the rest of your life.