Process
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At Dylan & Son, we take pride in being a small-scale tailoring house with a tight-knit family of staff members. There are no roaming salespersons, fitters or stylists. You will be attended to personally by Dylan, every single time. It is important to be consistently served by the same person, as the very nature of tailoring is a long-term relationship built upon familiarity and mutual understanding.
Consultation:
On the day of your appointment, you will begin with a general consultation. This is where we talk about your needs, lifestyle and style preferences. You will be shown a variety of fabric options and be advised on colour and other stylistic details.
First Fitting:
After all the measurements have been taken, you will come back into the shop around 3-weeks later for your first fitting. It is our unwavering belief that only the cutters of your patterns should be allowed to perform the fittings, as only they will have the intimate technical understanding of your physique. At this stage, you will try on a temporary ’shell' of your suit, which is held together with loose stitches.
Based upon the cutters’ eye for drape and proportion, markings will be made with pins and chalk. For instance, the jacket sleeve might be removed to check the armhole and a shoulder pinched to address the angle of slope. Elsewhere, the trouser back-piece might be pinned to clean up the drape and knee curved in to accommodate for a slight bow-leg.
Following this, the garment will be returned to our workroom and be taken apart. The necessary adjustments will be worked in and it will then be assembled once again, awaiting your second fitting.
Final Fitting:
On average, 2-3 fittings are required for the first commission. Once those are done, the garments will be fully made up. This largely hand-made process requires a lot of time, patience and sincerity. We usually need around 5-6 weeks to finish, depending on our work load during that period of time.
Collection:
Once we are all satisfied, you will then take home your new bespoke suit. However, the work for us is by no means finished. After your collection, we will go through your paper patterns again and ensure that all adjustments are accurately accounted for. Our cutters might also make a note of things to fine-tune for your next commission. Finally, the patterns will be hung up and stored in our workroom. Having these hard-copy blueprints of the client allow us to refine and slowly build upon what was initially created. This, we believe, is what makes your bespoke journey a truly unique and rewarding experience.
IMeasurements:
Once you have decided on the fabric and style, measurement-taking will commence. Besides the usual bodily measurements, your posture and the way you stand is observed and documented. This is of great significance as it will influence how we cut your garments later on.
Here, the roles of the Trouser Cutter and Jacket Cutter have always been distinct. This skill-specialisation allows our small team to remain methodical and precise in our process.
Trouser Cutter Dylan will cut your trouser patterns and prepare a baste fitting. Assisting him in the workroom is Mr. Chew, who has over 30-years of experience in the cutting and making of both trousers and jackets.
Jacket Cutter Mr. Yan, who started his tailoring career in the 1980's, will be on hand to record down all the details of your jacket commission. He will draft the patterns and prepare a baste fitting in our workroom, taking into consideration your unique postural nuances.
Second Fitting:
This will take place about 2-weeks after the first fitting. At this stage, the garment would have taken on a more definitive shape. You will be asked questions regarding comfort and how you feel about the garment thus far. Further changes can be made based upon your preferences - a little more suppression in the jacket waist or a fuller trouser leg, perhaps.
At your final fitting appointment, you will try on your finished bespoke garments. All 3 cutters will be present to help examine the drape and overall fit of the suit. We might still make some small adjustments, such as taking up the sleeves a touch or trimming down the leg-opening half an inch.
