Trousers, blazers and separates

Tailored trousers

Trousers are where off-the-peg fails most visibly, because the waist, the seat and the rise are three independent measurements and a size band treats them as one. Cut properly, the waistband sits without a belt doing structural work and the leg hangs from the seat rather than from the hips.

• Waist, seat and rise measured and drafted independently
• Pleated or flat front, cuffed or plain, specified by you
• Leg line set against the shoe you actually wear them with

Blazers

A blazer is a jacket without a matching trouser, which makes cloth and construction the whole decision. It is worn more often than a suit jacket and usually harder, so how the chest is built matters more here than anywhere else in a wardrobe.

• Canvas construction, the same as a suit jacket — ask which kind
• Patch, flap or jetted pockets, chosen for how formal you want it
• Cloth with enough texture to read as a blazer rather than an orphaned suit top

More on blazers, and the construction argument is set out under bespoke suits.

Overcoats

Most overcoats we cut are not for this climate. They are ordered by people going somewhere colder, which is a genuinely good reason to have one made in Bangkok: the cloth is available, the fitting happens while you are here, and it arrives before the trip rather than during it.

• Measured over a jacket, because that is how it will be worn
• Coating cloth by weight and destination, not by what looks warm
• Length decided against your height rather than a house standard

More on overcoats.

Waistcoats

A waistcoat is the cheapest way to change what a suit you already own is for. Cut to your pattern it closes without pulling and sits below the trouser waistband, which is the detail that fails on a bought one.

More on waistcoats.

Why a separate is harder than a suit

A suit jacket and its trousers are cut together from one length of cloth, so they agree with each other by construction. A separate has to work against whatever is already in your wardrobe, which is a harder problem and the reason off-the-peg separates so often look almost right.

Two things make it solvable. The first is that the pattern is yours and is kept, so a blazer ordered a year after the trousers is drafted from the same measurements rather than from a guess about how you have changed. The second is that cloth is chosen with the existing piece in the room or photographed beside it, rather than from memory. We would rather tell you a match will not work than sell you the near miss.

Fit

Because separates are worn in combinations, fit has to be right in isolation rather than flattered by the rest of a suit. That is decided at the pattern stage, and the pattern is kept on file so later pieces agree with the earlier ones.

• Trousers: the seat is the measurement that decides whether the leg hangs or drags
• Blazers: the shoulder ends where yours does, and no alteration moves it afterwards
• Overcoats: cut over a jacket, so the chest is measured with one on
• Waistcoats: length set against your own trouser rise, not a standard one

An overcoat measured over a shirt is the single most common mistake we are asked to correct, and it cannot be corrected — the armhole is already cut. It is worth the extra five minutes at the first fitting.

Cloth

• High-twist and tropical wools for trousers worn here year round
• Texture — hopsack, flannel, tweed — for blazers that must not read as suit tops
• Heavier coating cloth for overcoats going somewhere with a winter

More on cloth and construction.

Measurement

Measuring happens where you are, and takes about twenty minutes. For separates we record the same full set as for a suit even when you are ordering one piece, because the next order is cheaper in time if the pattern is already complete.

The whole sequence is on how a fitting works.

Questions we are actually asked

Does Thailand have good tailors?

It has both, and the gap between them is wide. What separates a good one is whether the garment is cut from your own pattern and tried on before it is finished, rather than adjusted from a stock block in an afternoon.

Is Bangkok good for tailored suits?

Yes, with the same caveat. Ask how many fittings are included and how the jacket is built. A tailor who answers both plainly is telling you what you are buying.

Can I order trousers without the jacket?

That is what separates are. Trousers, a blazer, an overcoat or a waistcoat can each be cut on their own — and because the pattern is yours, a jacket ordered later will still match the trousers you already have.

Can you match a jacket I already own?

Often, within limits. We can cut trousers to sit with an existing jacket, and we will tell you honestly when a cloth cannot be matched closely enough to be worth doing.

Do you make overcoats in Bangkok?

We do, and most are made for somewhere else. Customers order them for colder destinations rather than for this climate, which changes the cloth weight but not the process.