Many moons ago, I had discussed some of my thoughts and experiences of shopping. How the world has evolved with changes in technology and taste.
I had always liked to believe that I was not much of a spender, but I am sure like everyone else, the temptations are sometimes too great.
Unfortunately, I like to research a lot as well and leads to a much deliberation - more so with whether I can live with the cons and see what other's user experience has been.
One of the more recent ones has been for suits. While it still has it's place as a staple in some office environments, I always had a fascination with it when I was looking at photos or watching movies where the suit was a much more common attire. I had heard that going to the movies meant dressing in a suit, rather than jeans and a t-shirt! The realisation is that I probably need to give up the comic t-shirts at some point in my life - and that time is drawing to be sooner - much sooner!
Of course one can buy off the rack, but unfortunately as we are all quite different, I have found off the rack suits rather difficult to fit well as it really depends on their "house" cut which ends up requiring many alterations. This has led me down the path of tailoring - as I worry less about labels and more about fit.
My journey in tailoring only had started recently, and traced back to recommendation by a relative. Also as I was growing up I had seen some of the tailors who went to people's office, which I had thought was very cool at the time! So over the years I had built up and tried a few tailors and made a few suits. Tailoring means that it suits your body shape at that time - and unfortunately I have not been able to keep my body shape size static. My earlier commissions have been retired from service and they were cheaper and less well made in terms of detail, stitching and comfort, and cloth selection. Over the years I learned (mainly through a friend) about the reasons for the pricing differences - and progressing from fused to full canvass, functioning jacket buttons (yes some jackets have sleeve buttons which don't actually open the jacket), different lapels, button stances, side tabs for pants, vent positioning,.... the list of details goes on, leading to a dazzling permutation of combinations to choose from, not to mention fabric choice.
Unfortunately, after experiencing the positives of good tailors, cutters and fabrics, the decision to go back is a hard one, as the details would gnaw at me. However, the cost of this hobby has really only gone one way, so as one who loves a bargain I have been searching for other ways to get close to similar quality, without paying overs. This has led me to trying to search for fabrics and take that directly to the tailors, finding cheaper tailors. Of course this can lead to varying results but so far it has been fun, but time consuming, to say the least! Travelling to various places to get things done, researching and building contacts - all of this takes a whole lot of time. But the results can be quite satisfying as I slowly build up knowledge and experience in the area. It's different to see a swatch of cloth, vs a bolt of cloth, and going to a building full of various tailors - my version of a kid in a candy store! I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up, given I have been quite time poor - but the experience is certainly has been pretty cool and hopefully the results get even better!
