Golden Eagle Shirt Review - Part I

Mr Allan Lo's bengal stripe button-down collar shirt. @shirtingfantasy seldom posts shirts worn on figures other than his narcissist self - but this collar is exceptional enough to warrant an exception.

Winter is coming. Time to turn up the heat on tailoring, obviously.

A while ago I covered the mystery Mirador maker which, because of intricate reasons, decided to stay anonymous. On the other end of the spectrum, there are Mirador makers who are making the transition from "OEM" production to establishing their own brand. Golden Eagle is one of them.

Retro style logo. The interested reader may visit Golden Eagle's original website - which Allan admitted to not having been updated for quite a while; well, a while.

Rumours suggest that craftmanship level goes up with the floor level in Mirador Mansion; since my friend shirt-maker @wongmanhoi1025 operates also on 16/F, I am not going to refute that. Nevertheless, in the very intense competition in this compact building, the price that one is able to consistently charge usually has some bearing on that product or service he or she is able to deliver. The "Shanghainese" craftsmanship in shirt-making, epitomized by local makers such as Ascot Chang (see review Part I and also Part II) typically features narrow French seams, higher stitch density and a more classical cut as compared to the Canton style that has aggressive waist suppression. And did I mention that they usually charge a bit more? 😉

Another Mr Lo - the Lo (羅) brothers together operate the Golden Eagle. Allan said his brother has no English name, "maybe you can call him Bill, if you want". "Bill" is in charge of the workshop, and oversees the actual making process.

1715. The end-of-day routine is similar across shirt workshops: to cut and prepare fusible interlining for the next day.

Cornstarch glue is still in the Golden Eagle workshop. It's a pity that they discontinued the offering of non-fused construction due to the lack of market demand, years ago. In case the reader is curious: the natural glue is still useful in the top-fused (collar and cuffs) construction processes - to serve as a temporary glue for certain areas before actual machine stitching occurs.

The enthusiast - be it Hifi lover, or classic-car lover¹ - is always flattered when his hard-earned insider knowledge (often patchy and partial) and eccentric requests (always of no functional purpose other than to show-off his specific know-how) gets the maker's approval. @shirtingfantasy is not immune to this boost of self-esteem. When Allan asked the self-proclaimed shirt enthusiast to bring along his "best shirt, for additional reference", the pathetic enthusiast gladly complied.

To be able to study the product of an overseas "competitor" with the eyes of an eagle - and remain undistracted by the 25-step-handmade - is perhaps the prerequisite for one to do shirts as a business.

The bespoke process at Golden Eagle, strange as it may seem, began with Allan's aggressive inspection² of @shirtingfantasy's Italian handmade shirt by D'Avino Napoli. While the jacket-maker, Tailor Ho, who occupies the next bench in the same small room, exclaimed about how the shirt must have taken many hours of handwork - apparently a craftman's obsession - Allan was taking multiple measurements off the D'Avino shirt. Almost certainly, Allan was not doing this merely for @shirtingfantasy. It was only until Allan has finished studying the proportions ("You see? This front is wider than the back... this Italian guy is interesting...") and accessory placements ("Do you notice how this cuff button is placed close to the edge? It allows you to perfectly close the cuffs while maintaining the shape of the lower part of the sleeves... this Italian guy has brains...")...

... it was only after Allan had finished his Italian study could the measurement session begin. For this first bespoke project, @shirtingfantasy had a few objectives in mind:

1. To test out Golden Eagle's overall craftmanship (stitching, pattern-matching etc.): when you claim the "Shanghainese" title, it's your obligation to defend it.
2. To test out any "house specials" that the maker is willing to offer: in this case, the button-down collar - with the gentlest of prompting, Allan went on to talk about how special their button-down collar is, how they used a light fusible interlining to achieve the same liveliness as a traditionally non-fused OCBD collar, and so forth.
3. To test out the recently popular Thomas Mason collections that @shirtingfantasy has steered clear of all along: rugged denim and Oxfords...

Albini (Albiate) "Victoria" line of washed denim. The lighter shades (e.g. FM304593, FM304599) are being popularized by Permanent Style (PS) as the everyday denim which one can wear to relatively formal occasions.

American Oxford. It is bewildering how the Oxford shirt became an ingredient of the American Ivy League style - but it's even more bewildering when one ponders why this robust fabric is considered one of the very few fabrics to get the feel right even by expert weavers such as @giancarlo_bonfanti of Bonfanti Tessuti (and they, therefore, don't have any). Simon Crompton of  PS went as far as commissioning his own run of Oxford shirting from Canclini. 

As the pattern-less denims did not have stripes to match, @shirtingfantasy's obvious choice was striped Oxford. The fineness of the stripes is expected to create significant difficulty for pattern-matching: but this should be Allan's concern, really.

Finally, some measurement photos to close this first part - yes, @shirtingfantasy brought along his other "best shirt" by Mr Masanori Yamagami (@yamagamishirt). This is what happens when you ask an enthusiast to showcase his jewels...

During the measurements, @shirtingfantasy repeatedly mentioned how very beautiful shoulders Mr Yamagami engineered into his shirt - guess it must have been a bit of distraction/ irritation. Fortunately, Allan did not ask @shirtingfantasy to take off his shirt for another hour of inspection.

To show the measuring process - and also the back of the Yamagami shirt, obviously.

Allan mentioned that the shirt would be ready in a couple of weeks, and he would "try to incorporate some of the Italian cut" he absorbed from his studying of the D'Avino shirt - which really was not specifically asked for³, but would obviously be more than welcome, if done well.

Until then, goodbye!

Footnote:

[1] Yes, pun intended.

[2] In @shirtingfantasy's view, bringing one's best-fitting garment for reference is always a good idea - unless your sole purpose is to screw up everyone.

[3] One may argue that, by bringing along the D'Avino shirt, @shirtingfantasy implicitly invited that imitation. But it really wasn't the whole point. A maker who is willing to copy is often better than self-proclaimed prodigies trying to create something "truly custom made" and "no two pieces are the same".

Shop information:

Golden Eagle Custom Tailor & Shirtmaker

https://www.facebook.com/GoldenEagleShirt/

Mr Allan Lo

A15, 16/F, Mirador Mansion, Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong tel +852 9738-7322 (by WhatsApp appointment)

Minimum order: no minimum order

Price range: HKD 850+ for CISTES (the famous European fabric marketed by the local merchant Loo's - search for the trademark here if interested), HKD 1,250+ for Thomas Mason fabric

CMT service: Yes. HKD 360 (inclusive of 2.5 mm MOP buttons).

Handmade option: No.