Background

My Discovery of the "British Approach" to Custom Tailoring Became My Career Inspiration.

While living in Bombay India in the late 1960's I had some suits made which gave me a look of success like I had never seen before. Although I didn't realize it at the time, I had stumbled on the the authentic, now nearly extinct, approach to custom tailoring as it had been taught by the British to the Indians and the Chinese, when they colonized their countries.

For centuries, custom tailors had learned the art of drawing a pattern to address the unique posture, shoulder line and distribution of separate measurements of an individual client. It was during the 1960's that tailors in the Western countries (England, Italy, Canada, America, etc.) began shortcutting their apprenticeship by modifying standard (off-the-rack) "block" patterns, a process that has come to be called "made-to-measure." Our trial orders to tailors in Europe, all who now use this short-cut approach, have never met the "fit" standards which I experienced in India and that we have developed to state-of-the-art.

That was the inspiration upon which I based my business in 1968; the ability to deliver a perfect fitting suit without fittings or alterations. We studied why some suits fit better than others and developed formulas and methods which enabled us to direct our tailors and to utilize their craftsmanship and technical skills without depending on their "taste" or "judgment."

Today nearly forty years later, literally thousands of clients have built incredible wardrobes often from across the country, all from an initial set of measurements taken 20 or 30 years ago (with size changes incorporated from order to order) without ever requiring a single alteration or fitting!

A SMARTER APPROACH TO CLOTHING!

When buying clothing the logical approach is custom tailoring. Both men and women invest thousands of dollars in their clothing, with less knowledge of what their money is buying than in any other investment they make. Moving pre-made merchandise through a costly distribution system to the point of sale, costs up to 90% of the final price of an article of clothing. A $1000 suit costs little more than a $100 to manufacturer; fabric and labor costs! Clothes have to made cheaply, usually fused, to allow for 200-300% mark-ups... value is compromised! Buying off-the-rack puts the burden on the customer (whose time is often worth more than the cost of the merchandise). Most people haven’t been exposed to true custom tailoring, or if they have it’s often been a short cut “made-to-measure” suit, mistaken for custom-made tailoring. At Greg Chapman's Executive Tailored Clothes, an entirely different (and very logical) approach to clothing has been enjoyed by many successful people across America. With our unique personalized pattern technique, you can get custom made clothes that will fit you and your style perfectly, delivered to you anywhere in the world within weeks. We can easily alter your pattern for weight changes, so even years later you can just pick up the phone and order new clothes with confidence...

The Art of Custom Tailoring

Began in Europe in the 12th to 14th centuries. Clothing was regarded as a means of concealing the body during the Middle Ages, but the Renaissance brought to light the accentuation of the human body. Clothing that was once worn loosely over the body in the form of large pieces of cloth was cut and sewn together to outline the body by the first tailors. By the middle of the 17th century, tailors were not only outlining the body, but the precise cutting and attention to detail given to fabrics allowed tailors to improve and idealize the human form. To this day, the same skills learned and perfected by tailors in the mid-17th century are being used by Greg Chapman's tailors, many of whom have been tailors for over 50 years, and excel in the making personal garments fro each client's "personal" patter. Remarkable!