The Bespoke Experience

The Most Personal Thing You Can Have Made

Quite possibly the most personal thing you can have made. An individual paper pattern is created by our Head Cutter and, over a period of some fifty man-hours, your garment is pieced together and finished by hand.

Something Of Your Character

With bespoke, we can advise, but you are central to the process. The result is a garment that will naturally reveal something of your character and fit exactly as you want it to.

THE BESPOKE TAILORING PROCESS

Up to ninety hours in the making, a bespoke Richard James garment is cut from your own individually created paper pattern and pieced together and finished entirely by hand.

1. FIRST MEETING

On our first meeting we help you select your cloth and determine the style and detail of your garment. You are then measured, so we can create your paper pattern. If you are not sure what you want, we can help you decide. We make suits, jackets, overcoats, evening wear… The best results are achieved through collaboration. You won't be difficult. We don't have difficult customers.

2. Pattern

Every measurement we've taken is translated into a paper pattern, prepared individually for you. We draft it by hand, checking it against your proportions and posture, and keep it on file - so that every garment you order from here on begins with something that is entirely your own.

3. CUTTING & MAKING

Your pattern is laid onto the cloth you have chosen and cut by hand by your cutter. From here your garment moves to the workshop, where it is pieced together by hand - a process that typically takes between fifty and ninety hours, depending on what you're having made. Nothing about this stage is hurried.

4. FIRST FITTING

Referred to as the baste fitting, this is the moment when we see your garment on you for the first time and make any necessary adjustments. The garment is then stripped down, re-marked and re-sewn ready for either a second fitting or finishing. Second fittings are the norm for a new customer, but are unusual for returning customers.

5. SECOND FITTING

Where a second fitting is needed, this is your opportunity to see how the previous adjustments have translated into cloth. We check balance, drape and length, refining anything that isn't quite right. By this stage, your garment will be starting to feel like your own.

6. FINISHING

With the fit agreed, your garment goes back to the workshop for finishing - buttonholes, linings, canvassing and all the other fine details that remain largely unseen but make the end result all the more personal. This is the point where the garment stops being cloth and starts being yours.

7. FINAL ADJUSTMENTS & COLLECTION

Now you try on your garment and we check that any adjustments made as a result of your previous fitting are correct. If everything is as you want it, you can take your garment away with you. If any further adjustments are required, they are quickly made.