Jantzen Tailor - The Handmade Shirt (Part II - the fitting)

How often do you have a fitting shirt when you do bespoke in Hong Kong, China?

Ascot Chang would give you one. Tai Pan Row would give you one. Some others would fake one - they basically finish your first shirt and improve on your next, so your first shirt is effectively your fitting. Suffice to say, while shirting cotton does not vary quite as much as the wool / cashmere / thicker cotton fabric for suits and coats, using an all-purpose medium-weight fabric to approximate the general case for your shirts is the reasonable thing to do - something like a 100/2 cotton poplin, for example; to achieve perfection for some particular fabric such as thick linen, denim or very sheer voile, a particular fitting for the particular material may be preferable, but the additional expense in time and manpower in arranging such would be beyond the normal operation of most shirtmakers...

Back to the original question: even as a shirt enthusiast myself, I don't often expect fitting shirts - unless I am placing a big enough order for at least a few shirts - since the cost of arranging such would eat into the amount you pay for your HKD 1000/3 shirt package [1]. When a shop does offer it, it is likely because of the prospect of future orders...

On another fine Sunday afternoon I was back to Jantzen went they informed me the fitting shirt was ready. I would say it does look like a special arrangement - so please don't come to expect this as a standard treatment if you are going for HKD 400 CMT "100Hands-style" shirts 😈

Glorious as usual

Even during the trough of activity, the number of shirts pending pickup at Jantzen is likely 10 times more than what you see at the "artisanal" young shops these days. 

Ricky trying to make back still cleaner. It's customary for makers to leave a small amount of excess fabric during fitting so it can be adjusted further on the spot / be used to demonstrate the fitting skills. 

As can be seen from the photo, @shirtingfantasy has a slightly depressed right shoulder. Ricky decided to take away a bit more fabric at the front. Shoulders and other areas of the shirt seem to have more than decent fit. 

The fitting was done using a semi-finished shirt - similar to the Ascot Chang way - and theoretically would reflect the actual drape of the cotton. Samson (see previous post) also mentioned that the fabric has been pre-washed before making, and any shrinkage would be minimal. We have to see how these translate to the final result.

More importantly, we will have to see if Jantzen delivers the ground-breaking handwork as promised. using the Sannino shirt as a reference, they should be aiming at a level of craft never before produced by Hong Kong shirtmakers. 

Until then, goodbye!

Footnote:

[1] Reader Darthsid commented on the review Part I, asking "Curious as to why you would counter with a higher price?". Well, as the SF saying goes, "you get what you pay for..."

Jantzen Tailor

https://www.jantzentailor.com/

Minimum order: 1 shirt

Price range: pending further clarification

CMT service: Yes (but not recommended)

Handmade options: under evaluation

Room D-E, 5th floor., On Lok Yuen Building, 25-27 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong. tel/+852 2810-8080 or +852 2570-5901