Artisan Made Clothing

It usually happens sometime in a man's thirties. He makes partner, gets the big job or realizes that his business is a success. His closet has the basics and the question becomes he goes from here with his clothes?

If the man cares about clothes, by this time he's probably already having some of them made for himself. Certainly his shirts, because everyone should have their shirts made. Maybe a made to measure suit or two from a quality maker like Kiton or Oxxford. But now he's ready to try the best. And the best is artisan made clothing.

What I call artisan made clothing may be made partly by people operating machines, but it can only come from an individual artisan who fits the customer personally and then leads a team that does the important parts of the work by hand. That's because both hand work and personalized fit is critical in the finest clothing. The graceful curve of the sole on a hand made shoe cannot be duplicated by shoe-making machinery. The collar, shoulders, and armholes of a jacket must be sewn by hand or it won't move fluidly with the wearer.

Hand fitting by the individual artisan is just as important. A shoe may need a bit more room in the toe, or a jacket may not fit closely at the neck on the first or second try (unlike the perfect fit of Jimmy Stewart's coat in the Hitchcock film Rope). Vass shoes are made by hand, but they are not individually lasted and may not fit a particular pair of feet. Fitting is also where the best efforts of the factory-based suppliers can break down. A local fitter often lacks the skill level of the craftsman at the factory.

If a choice has to be made between tailored clothing and bespoke shoes, the benefits of tailored clothing are normally considerably higher. Unless a man has unique feet that require a custom fit, bespoke shoes can be a periodic luxury. Few men will be happy with ready to wear, on the other hand, after wearing their first bespoke suit or odd jacket.

A personal relationship with a couple of artisans requires a considerable investment unless a man lives near a city such as Paris, Naples, London, or New York. Some artisans travel, but not everywhere and usually only twice a year at best. So the customers have to travel themselves, unless they are willing to wait a year or more from order to delivery. That's given rise to a new type of traveller, who combines holidays with fittings.

At a certain stage of life, artisan made clothing becomes worth the trouble.