Budget, Fittings and Lead Time

What you are paying for

A bespoke quote covers three things: the cloth, the hours, and the house. Cloth you choose and can control. Hours are set by how much of the garment is made by hand, which is the real difference between a modest quote and a large one. The house is everything else: the premises, the archive, the name.

That is why two honest tailors can quote very differently for what sounds like the same suit. Neither is overcharging. They are selling different amounts of handwork.

What bespoke actually costs

Starting prices, taken from the tailors themselves rather than estimated.

The costs people forget

The headline price is for a two-piece in the house's own cloth. Four things commonly move it.

• A second pair of trousers. Worth it on a suit you wear weekly, because trousers wear out at roughly twice the rate of the jacket.
• A waistcoat, which turns a two-piece into a three-piece and adds a meaningful percentage.
• Cloth above the house book, which is the single biggest variable in any quote.
• VAT and local taxes, which some houses quote inclusive and others do not. Ask which you are looking at.

How many fittings, and what happens at each

Two to three fittings is normal for a first commission, and the first one will look alarming if nobody warns you.

Why it takes weeks

Between fittings the garment is taken apart and re-cut, and that work sits in a queue with everyone else's. Most of the calendar is waiting, not sewing.

Among the Dubai tailors we list, quoted lead times run from two weeks to ten, with four to six weeks the most common answer. Twenty-nine of the 57 have given us a figure at all, which is itself worth noting: ask, and get it in writing.

The fastest quotes usually mean a shorter fitting cycle, which for a first commission is a trade you may not want to make. A pattern that has been corrected twice fits better than one corrected once.

How to be useful at a fitting

A fitting is the one part of the process where you affect the result, and most people undermine it by being polite. The cutter needs to see the suit as you will wear it and to hear what is wrong.

Stand as you normally stand. If you square your shoulders for the mirror, the jacket will be cut for a posture you do not hold, and it will pull the moment you relax.

Do not adjust the garment before looking. The instinct is to tug the jacket straight, which hides exactly the drag lines the cutter is looking for.

Describe sensations rather than solutions. Saying it pulls when you reach forward is useful. Saying the shoulders need taking in is a diagnosis, and it may be wrong.

Say if you dislike something. A jacket length or a lapel width can be changed at the first fitting and is expensive to change at the last.

Deposits and paying

Most houses take a deposit at the order, commonly around half, with the balance on collection. The deposit covers the cloth, which is cut for you and cannot be sold to anyone else.

Ask what happens to it if you change your mind after the cloth is cut, and ask whether the balance is due at the final fitting or at collection. Both are reasonable and they are not the same date.

If a house asks for the full amount upfront before any fitting, ask why. It is not unheard of, but it removes your only real leverage if the suit needs re-cutting.

Working backwards from a date

If the suit is for an event, treat the tailor's quoted lead time as the best case.

• Take the quoted lead time and add a month for a fixed date you cannot move.
• Book the first appointment before you choose cloth, because the appointment date is what actually starts the clock.
• Ask for the second fitting to fall at least three weeks before the event, so there is room to re-cut.
• If you are travelling, be home for a final try-on rather than collecting on the way to the airport.

Next

The last decision is the house itself, and the questions that separate one from another: thebespokeindex.com/guides/questions-to-ask-a-bespoke-tailor

If your date is tight, you can filter the Dubai directory to houses quoting four weeks or less: thebespokeindex.com/city/dubai?lead=le-4

For a fuller breakdown of London prices, read our London cost guide: thebespokeindex.com/guides/bespoke-suit-cost-london