Tailors in BKK - please help!
 

Hello Fodorites,

My fiance and I want to get tailored suits while in BKK. It seems that Cotton House is the place to go for women. But for men I have seen both Monet il Sarto and Rajawongse Clothiers recommended. Any opinion on who is best for us to use if we want suits and shirts, and a tux (for the wedding..if possible)?

The problem is that we were only going to spend 2 days in BKK at the beginning of the trip and 1 day at the end. But is that not enough time to do the proper fittings? Would it help if we added a day to BKK at the beginning or end?

In general, how much time do we need to allow for this, and how many fittings will we need? If our time in BKK is limited, should we arrange appointments in advance if we definitely know we want to do this?

We are thinking of staying at Sukhothai and I was wondering if anyone knows of a good tailor near there.

Lastly, does anyone know of a tailor that's good for both men and women so that we don't have to run around to 2 diff places?

Thank you all in advance for your help!

Marianna

In my experience, you are best advised to choose one tailor for men's clothing and a different one for women's clothing. The recommendations you have received are excellent ones.

You do not have much time in Bangkok. It strikes me that all of your time will be consumed with having clothing made. Also, I think it is always wise to have enough time for chnages to be made after the "final" fitting. The more fittings you have, the more likely you will be happy with your purchases. I consider three fittings to be a minimum. If you could add an extra day at the end it would help.

The Sukothai, while many people find it lovely, is not well-located for shopping. You really want to be close to a Skytrain station. While taxis are cheap, at many times of the day particular areas are simply in gridlock. It's such a delight to zip along in the skytrain above the traffic on Sukhumvit!

Ifyou search the thread for tailors for men and womens clothing you will find it is not easy to find all in one. Jack does NOT do a very good job on womens clothing so my wife found out on several items made. The only really stand out woirk were a few women's suits of Canali medium weight lined szuits but some pant suits were a big disappointments. My suits, jackets and slacks were fine but you need to know that 180 superfine canali Canali and Valentino slacks that sell for $400-$450 in NYC were $90 at Monet. But, for a follow up order I wanted to make Jack was to send me samples and they never arrived on 2 mailings Jack said he made. While we purchased $2000 for ~$7-$7500 cost in NYC Jack did not seem to want follow-up business.

My wife recently had clothes made at Cotton house. She was delighted.

I had a few suits made at Rajawongse, plus some shirts and a cashmere coat.

I was very very impressed both with the quality and the service. I am going back in September with an empty suitcase!!

I had clothes made at Monet Il Sarto and at Maxcoco, in OP Place. Maxcoco's materials were significantly better than Jack's at Monet, although Jack did a good job of fitting. In the past, I've also had clothes made at Raja's Fashions. I haven't sen Maxcoco discussed here, but I was very pleased with the service and materials. They're on the 2nd floor of the OP Place shopping center.

All of the tailors I've used in Bangkok provided decent (and sometimes very very good) value, but none of them are in the same top echelon as, say, WW Chan in Hong Kong. But I'm happy to get very good slacks in Bangkok for $50-75 compared to superb slacks in Hong Kong for $300.

Frankly, I'd choose tailor by the location of where I'm staying. If I'm staying on SUkhumvit, I'll use Raja's or Rajawongse (haven't used them myself, but I've seen their finished products, and they're comparable to Raja's). If I'm staying on the river, I'll go to Maxcoco. If someone were staying at the Marriott resort, I'd recommend to them that they use Monet il Sarto.

Thank you all - so helpful!

Since it sounds like I will need at least 3 fittings, do you think the tailors will be able to do that if I have 2 days at beginning and another 2 at the end of the trip? I don't know how fast they work but that means I would go to tailor on day 1 and they would need to have something ready for day 2. And then I would do a fitting of an almost final product on the day before my last day in BKK.

Is this way too rushed? I am guessing they must be used to fast turnarounds but not sure if what I am thinking is TOO fast.

Kathie - you are right, the suits won't leave much time for BKK. I am grappling with that since I really want BOTH!

In terms of hotels - since Suhkothai does not seem like the right option for us - any recommendations on where I should stay to be close to Skytrain? Someone told me to just stay at Peninsula since it's so nice and convenient. I was hoping to spend a little less in BKK but if that's the best option all around then I am willing to do that. Any other suggestions?

i think you would be taking a chance...it really is not enough time...any chance of one day in the middle of your stay??

my wife has been very pleased with jack's tailoring on many occasions...

i think for overall quality that raj. is superior, but so are his prices...

go early on day one, expect first fitting late that afternoon and maybe two the next day....same on your return to bkk..

west, south, west i think

sorry wrong thread

Here is a related question: Bangkok will be my first stop on an Asia trip next winter. I would rather not carry new clothing with me on the subsequent legs. How feasilbe is is to have the tailors ship the clothes back to the US? Or better to do this myself?
How?

What about sending other purchases home...handcrafts and the like? Years ago I used to send things through the Bangkok Post Office and had no problems..would this still be a reliable option?

Thanks!

We had Jack send us about $1,500 (US) worth of clothes back here to the US and had no problem. I forgot how much shipping was. I think around $50. Jeffrey

the general PO on new road has a packing service....

it is very expensive to ship things, but it might be worthwhile...

i shipped a 20 kilo box last fall for about $150....a 10 kilo box the year before for $90---both air freight by united parcel

Sorry to bring everyone back to the suits...But I didn't even think to ask about price differences between the tailors b/c for some reason I figured they would be in the same ballpark..Is Jack much cheaper than Raj?

Also, rizzuto mentioned Maxcoco and Raja's Fashions - has anyone else used them? (Sorry rizzuto, it's just the first time I see those names so I wanted some more opinions)

Last Q - is anything close to Oriental? Or is staying there even less convenient b/c it's on the other side of the river? (a friend offered a corp discount sooo...)

I hsad 9 slacks, 2 sport jackets, 1 mebs suit, 2 womens suits and 3 women's casual pant/jacket outfits shipped (cost ~$1300) shipped by Jack 3 days before we were due to return to US and it arrive 6 days after we arrived home. Jack estimated cost would be $100-$120 and I paid $50 of the cost assuming his charges for clothing was fair. It worked well though as said earlier my wife was not satisfied with her outfits except her suits and I was very satisfied with my purchases. I have heard from others he is better at men's tailoring afyer my return in April '06.

Just to add I think 2 fittings one AM (10-11 AM when he opens, arrange by email in advance) and one last fitting the morning of your last day would work fine but suits or jackets or tux needs the extra day. It is better to purchase the tux shirt for $75+/- in the US.

Thanks for the PO information. I am sure it will come in handy for me next winter!

swinggal - the owner of Raja's is a brother or cousin of the owners of Rajawongse - the two stores are close to each other and I have heard that pricing is about the same.

Cotton House is very near (in OP Place - right behind) the Oriental. Monet Il Sarto is reachable from the Oriental via the Oriental and Marriott boats. The Oriental and Penn are both well situated. The Penn's boats run more frequently. To get to Rajawongse take the Penn or Oriental boat to Taksin Pier and hop on the skytrain.