Quote Originally Posted by figheadair View Post
What's your opinion of Meyer & Mortimer as an alternative?
I was in there just a couple of weeks ago as it happens! Although they are thoroughly nice gentlemen who are perfectly capable of making a suit, I would hesitate if I was considering anything with military connotations/styling. The only two true military tailors left that make everything in-house are Gieves & Hawkes and Dege & Skinner. Although we have many military customers we generally only handle the alteration of their military wardrobe and the making of their civilian suits. Given our location (Berkshire, and only 5 minutes from Sandhurst), most of our military clients use the on-base tailors or Goldings for their uniforms, although many of them are looking to the chaps on Savile Row more and more now that everything at Goldings is outsourced. Again I only ever recommend G&H or D&G for their commissions.

Another point of concern with Meyer & Mortimer is that their pricing is very similar to that of the chaps on the Row, despite outsourcing much of the construction of each commission. There is not anything technically wrong with the outsourcing itself, nor does it make a garment any less 'bespoke', it is very commonplace for construction and canvassing on garments to be performed in Leeds or elsewhere in Yorkshire (or even in some cases overseas, particularly Portugal and India); in my opinion as long as the quality is there it makes no difference - HOWEVER there is a very real problem in my opinion when those that outsource (particularly to overseas) charge the same as those that make in-house. Our canvassing and stitch work is handled in Leeds but we keep initial pattern work, alterations and finishing in-house. This allows us to take on many more commissions but subsequently we charge far less (this is also obviously governed by location and name to some extent). If you're going to spend £4-5000 on a suit, why not commission from someone like Chittleborough & Morgan or Henry Poole? M&M simply don't have the same clout. Also as much as I hate to say it, some of their work that I have seen more recently has either been cut carelessly or simply has not been dressed well on the mannequin - either way this is inexcusable in our line of work.

For me the most impressive work I've seen recently, especially for the money, is the work done by Cad & The Dandy on the first floor of number 13 Savile Row. Very reasonable prices, all work performed in-house with some very talented cutters and tailors, and a very beautiful style that is sharp and unique without being audacious. Again however, I would avoid commissioning anything military with them as it's simply not their forte. They do however do country wear particularly well.