Hi! I'm Antonio Centeno. I'm the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today I'm going to be answering a reader's question and he emailed me back and he said,
Hey, Antonio, I'm working with a tailor and I find that it's really difficult to communicate with him. He made me a custom jacket, didn't turn out exactly how I wanted. Is there a way that I can better talk to him, better communicate with the gentleman here who's making my clothing?
Now, about once a month, I hear these horror stories. Somebody worked with an online custom clothier, somebody worked with the local tailor. And it just did not come out right. They took their clothing, their shirt to a seamstress and she basically tore it apart. They look at it and they're like, “Oh, this is not what I imagined.”
So in this article, I'm going to be talking about how you can better communicate with your tailor so that you get what you want and you avoid that frustration and wasted money.
So number one, when communicating with a tailor — Actually, before we get into that, why?
Why A Relationship With Your Tailor Matters
Why does this matter? Well, whenever you have poor communication between you and a seamstress, tailor, a custom clothing shop, you're going to find that mistakes are usually due to miscommunication.
It's not like they're purposely trying to ruin your new suit or tear this up. I mean, they don't want to do this. So it is almost always due to miscommunication. In addition, it cost both parties.
You think it cost you money?
Well, if you're the tailor, you're actually having to go back and spend to redo this, not only tear it apart.
But then you're hoping the customer is not going to want their money and you're going to have to either, if you have a return policy or you don't, you're going to have to decide what happens next.
In addition, the relationship. To be honest, most clothing companies, we want return customers. Maybe there's one or two out there that I don't know that don't want this.
But I can tell you it's return customers who are happy, who pass on our company to other people by word of mouth. That is how we build a legitimate business.
#1 Get The Alterations To Be Done In Writing
So we do not want to ruin the relationship. So number one, when you're communicating with a tailor, get it in writing. Now, I'm not saying that you have to have him sign a contract.
What I am saying, if you're giving them a lot of things that you want, make sure that it is not only perhaps in an email but everything is summarized. I like to use Google Docs. I've also seen it where you actually have a written — If it's a good organized company, they're actually going to have a form in which you're going to fill out or they're going to fill out for you exactly what you're asking for. You want to have it in one place.
Having multiple emails is not, I would say — It's okay but it will lead to confusion because basically the more items that we're having to look at, the more confusing it's going to be.
So try to have it in one document. I recommend Google Docs. Or if the company is organized, they should have a sheet. So oftentimes I've worked with a traveling tailor. He's actually going to have a full sheet and you'll be able to see and look at what he's writing down. Ask for a copy of it. Take your smartphone.
Take a quick picture of that so that if there is a discretion, if you've asked for a certain type of pocket, slanted pockets, that you can actually say, “Hey, I've got this right here. Remember?” And there's not going to be any type of confusion because it's clearly right there black and white.
#2 Keep a Copy of The Agreement
Okay. So number two is have them basically send it back to you. And this is what I was talking about. Make sure you get a copy of the receipt.
Make sure that you have some way that they have agreed that this is exactly. And so that's where maybe taking a smartphone picture with your signature on it or something like that.
The best I've ever seen a gentleman do this, Bobby Narin, he runs Narin Couture over in Bangkok. I remember talking to him. He was building out a suit for me. And he listened, he wrote it out and then he actually sketched out what he was going to build for me. To me, that is a mark of an amazing craftsman.
By the way, I highly recommend Narin Couture over in Bangkok. He's a good friend. And that guy is, I think, one of the best tailors in all of Southeast Asia, if not the best.
So he basically drew it out. And that is, in a sense, what you want is to make sure that they understood what you were talking about. Again, you're getting this in writing so it's very similar to number one.
#3 Keep The Alterations Simple
Number three, keep it simple. If this is the first order with a new tailor or the first time you're taking a shirt to a seamstress to get it adjusted, only take one item.
Do not take her ten shirts and get them all adjusted only to find out that she didn't understand this and that she brought them in way too much and you put on the shirts and you'll look like it's skintight on you and that is not the look you want. No, start off small.
Keep it simple. If you're working with a custom clothier — I understand some custom clothiers want you to buy a package. Well, start off with one jacket and one shirt. It shouldn't make the entire order for you. You want to have that one item since it's a lot easier to fix one item than it is to go back and try to fix three jackets or five jackets or ten shirts.
If you are looking to dress well at age 60 or above then having a tailor help you with medically necessitated alterations might well be a process of discussion and iteration.
#4 Check The Return Policy
Okay. Last thing — this is kind of a bonus one, guys — is check the return policy and how they work with refunds and things like that before you buy, before you hand over the money.
Once you hand over the money — And I'd have to say, I'd like to say that my industry is one in which everyone always honors their word.
But when it comes down it, once you handed over the money, there are some less than respectable vendors out there and they will, they have a no return policy. They understand this is a custom product and they are not going to take a loss on this. And they're not scared that you're going to write a bad review.
I know that's something that you can go back. You don't want the relationship to deteriorate to that point.
And you want to make sure, and in my opinion, whenever I'm going to recommend a company or if I'm going to talk about them or if I'm even going to deal with them, I always make sure they've got a good return policy because, to me, that's the hallmark of a solid company.
Again, over communicate with your tailor. If you're watching this and you're a tailor, try to always over communicate with your clients and use local if possible. That's a really nice thing if you could actually go in and face to face meet with your tailor or your seamstress.
Some of you guys, I know, you're maybe in rural areas and it's going to be hard to be able to find someone good locally but it is something that if you can work locally do it. Okay, guys? All right. So take care.
