The center button has been pulling on the last three or four jackets I have received from Thomas Mahon, and whatever adjustments are being made may not be getting back to my pattern as the next coat in line seems perpetually to have the same issue (no RJ, my weight hasn't changed). As Exhibit A I give you the grayed blue flannel in the photograph.
Now if it were only the button I would simply wear the jacket closed to the bottom for the current season and have it fixed when the weather turns too warm for flannel once again. Unfortunately, the line of the left trouser leg does not seem quite right either, so though we will see what Thomas has to say when he visits next week it seems like the thing should go back to the maker.
That is too bad of course, for nothing shows off a nice pair of suede shoes like flannel in my opinion, I had pulled out a pair of fox colored Edward Green semi-brogues for the trial run, as well as a nailhead shirt and an old unlined sixfold silk necktie. But it will be a while before this combination appears again.
Problems of this sort are easy to fix when a man lives in the same vicinity as his tailor, or has the time and means to travel to him whenever something is amiss. Those of us who rely on visiting tailors unfortunately pay a hidden price in terms of the extra three to six months required to address minor issues. I have written before that the solution I have arrived at over the years is have only one garment in the queue from any maker, and to keep two or three of them working on this or that specialty. It seems as though one of my three always has some temporary thing going on that delays his deliveries, while the other two will be problem free. Were all my custom concentrated in the hands of one of them, whenever something went amiss there would be no new clothes for that season.
Better to have several tailors.
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