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Originally Posted by BigNumbers
Interested in the cost for a suit from each, and your experience. Looking to do the same shortly.
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Here is the best advice I can offer you for suits and how to maximize the value from both tailors I have used.
Giovianni: A good quality fabric will probably run you $1100 for a 2 piece suit. I always get a 2nd pair of pants made and a vest as well. Generally speaking the pants on a suit you wear frequently will probably wear out quicker than the jacket. Getting an extra pair of pants can extend the life of the suit significantly. Getting a vest made as well offers a really nice classy look as a 3 piece and it allows you to look good without a jacket or in the summer months. Not wearing a jacket in the office or wherever went its not needed also extends the life of the jacket since the elbows don't wear out as quickly. The suits I get including extra pants and vest run about $1700 or so depending on fabric. I find fabric from England is very high quality and reasonably priced. Italian fabric is excellent but I find there is almost an extra cost since everybody associates Italy with "fashion"
Get a price from Giovianni and then offer to pay cash afterward you get price. He will probably knock a bit off such as the GST or more. Grind, don't worry about offending as its business.
Huey Lam: He has cotton suits starting from about $400. They are entry level suits and can be a great way to get into custom made suits or for someone who needs something new and affordable.
He has some nicer fabric that will probably bring the cost of a 3 piece suit to $700 or so. There is some obvious levels of cost cutting from a construction perspective between the tailors but the price difference between the two isn't small. Don't forget that a place like Huey's and other Asian style tailoring houses get their suits made at substantially lower costs and wages. Giovianni's shop has been around since 1976 so he is at the tail end of his career.
I haven't gotten any shirts made at Huey's place his prices appear very good and friends have said the fit and quality is good. I think a shirt will run $70 or so which is pretty decent.
Like I mentioned earlier with Giovianni, offer to pay cash afterwards and you may save a few bucks. You probably can't grind too much with Huey since I suspect he has to pay the duties on his merchandise coming from Vietnam so that eats into his margins.
Any more questions, just ask. Sorry about the long post!
