FAQ

With so many tailors to choose from, the best advice is often from a friend or family member. Otherwise, an Internet search coupled with a review of their reviews should reveal a suit you feel comfortable with. It is always a good idea to choose a tailor close to your home or workplace so that you can easily make changes.

Tailoring is the creation of a suit or shirt using a hand-cut pattern, with measurements adapted to each person individually. The tailor starts from an already existing pattern and makes the corrections desired by the customer . At My Tailor, we only start cutting the fabric of your garment when your order is placed and your specific measurements are confirmed.

A good suggestion is to always visit as many tailors as possible and familiarise yourself with all the styles and fabric choices available. A customer should not feel pressured by a tailor to make a style. Instead, think about the type of fabric and colours that would be most suitable and remember that there are no good or bad choices. A good tailor will never be bothered by questions.

There is a confusing difference between a bespoke and ready-to-wear suit. Ready-to-wear consists of pieces sold as a finished product and not made to measure. It is traditionally opposed, for women, to haute couture and for men to bespoke. It refers to the transition from

hand-made sewing and bespoke garments to the standardisation of sizes which allows mass production.

A ready-to-wear suit consists of buying a suit in a shop and then adapting it to your morphology, whether it is to shorten the sleeves or to shorten the bottom of the trousers.

A bespoke suit is made from the choice of fabric, materials and personalisation options which is cut and coupled with hand-made interventions. The bespoke suit is made according to your individual measurements. This implies more time to realise..

Customers often don’t really distinguish between bespoke and half-measure. Unfortunately, brands take advantage of this to put forward commercial arguments that are not always very accurate. However, the difference is relatively palpable both in the process and in the final result.

In concrete terms, a bespoke (Grande mesure in France, Bespoke in the United Kingdom and s- mesura in Italy) requires the tailor to create a new pattern specially made for each customer. The large measure is made from fabrics (a set of patterns assembled piece by piece) mounted directly on the customer in order to carry out the measurement. Corrections are made directly on the customer. When the measurements are satisfactory, the master tailor can then cut each element of the costume and shape them entirely by hand. This service is aimed at men who are not short of time.

Once the pattern has been designed (it takes about 2 intermediate fittings to adjust it) the costume is entirely hand-made according to a traditional assembly: i.e. entirely interwoven with a wide range of sartorial finishes typical of the art of tailoring. The traditional costume is one of the garments that requires the most complex know-how in the world (it is the equivalent of haute couture for women), there is no less than eighty to one hundred pieces of work for a piece made entirely by hand. It usually takes two to six months (from your first appointment) to complete the work.

By contrast, half-measurement is a manufacturing process that involves at least half of the work being done by hand and the rest by machine. The tailor starts from an existing pattern and makes the corrections desired by the customer. During the fitting process, the specialist adviser makes all the modifications that respond to the anatomical particularities (inverted, arched, short sleeves, drooping shoulders, etc….) as well as to the customer’s tastes (curved couple, cigarette trousers, etc….). Furthermore, this method allows the customer to imagine his garment in a concrete way.

In addition, this method allows the customer to imagine his garment in a concrete way. The manufacture is also done industrially with hand-made finishing operations. With the half-measure, everything is adjusted in a maximum of one hour in the shop. Then, three weeks later, we deliver a perfectly fitted garment, in the fabric you were missing, with all the customised configurations you want, and as a bonus your embroidered initials.

Half measures are nowadays a new way of dressing, responding to the lifestyle of modern societies, which demand quality, personalisation and are pressed for time.

Choosing a bespoke suit means choosing a style and cut that is the most comfortable and flattering for the person wearing it. There is no right or wrong – just preferences. The suit should fit proportionally to the wearer’s body and be comfortable to wear.

For the creation of our tailor-made suits and bespoke suits, we offer a choice of 4500 references renewed each season. Our fabrics come from the world’s greatest weavers, including Vitale Barberis Canonico, Holland & Sherry, Ermenegildo Zegna, Loro Piana, Dormeuil, Hundersfield , Reda , Dugdale Bros , Brisbane Moss, Carnet, Escorial and Standeven

Our suiting fabrics include wool and wool/cashmere blends ranging from Super 100 to Super 200, as well as seasonal weight blends. We also offer exceptional 100% cashmere, alpaca and vicuna fabrics for blazers and overcoats.

Our shirt fabrics are typically 100% Egyptian cotton and are available in thousands of patterns, styles and colours.

The quality of a wool is the set of criteria used to describe the wool fibre, i.e. the hair of the sheep (here we are talking about the fibres, not the yarn that will be made from them later).

Wool is nowadays classified in its raw state, just after shearing. The characteristics taken into account are:The origin of the animal: the sheep producing the finest wool are of the Merino breed. The age of the animal: the fibres are generally thicker and thicker with age.

The chemical treatments applied to the fleece

The presence of hair: a fleece is made up of hair and down (look at a cat or dog’s fur to distinguish the two: hair is the long fibres, which form the “outside” of the fur, while down is the shorter, softer fibres, which remain “inside”. Only down fibres can be used).

Colour: the whiter the wool, the more suitable it is for dyeing in light colours.

The presence of stains (to be removed from the fleece)

The average length and average diameter of the fibres (objectively evaluated by portable optical diameter measuring devices, or by sending samples to the laboratory for analysis with a device called Laserscan).

The “crimp” or “crimp” of the fibres: sheep’s wool is naturally crimped. The number of twists in the fibre per unit length is estimated, bearing in mind that the more crimped the fibre is, the finer it is overall, and the more suitable it is for spinning fine yarns. Lightly twisted fibres have a tendency to naturally felt (i.e. clump together), making them unsuitable for spinning.

The mechanical strength of wool (elastic strength), which determines the ability of the wool to undergo spinning, weaving and finishing treatments. The less resistant wools produce a lot of waste during carding and combing, so they are used instead for the production of felts, or in mixtures with other fibres.

As you can see, there are many criteria to take into account when sorting wool into homogeneous categories. This sorting is carried out by specialists, just after the shearing of the animal. We do not sort whole fleeces, but parts of them. Indeed, these characteristics are different depending on the location on the animal. During shearing, these different parts are carefully separated and all are evaluated independently.

Following this initial classification, the fibres are assembled into relatively homogenous bales of wool, whose format is strictly standardised, and which are sold at auction. The bales are subjected to a second fibre analysis in the laboratory by coring the bale. This evaluation then specifies the average diameter observed, as well as the coefficient of variation around this diameter.

The names super 100’s, 120’s, 140’s… always refer to pure wool fabrics or blends of so-called superior wools such as alpaca, angora or cashmere. In reality, these designations indicate the fineness of the wool pile and not the quality of the fabric.

Indeed, a Super 100’s wool will be thicker than a Super 130’s and of course a Super 150’s wool will be finer than a Super 120’s wool. A finer fabric has a softer, silkier feel and catches the light better. On the other hand, the fabric will inevitably be more fragile.

Finally, a Super 80 will give a much thicker wool and therefore a suit more suitable for winter. On the other hand, get closer to Super 150 for a lighter and much more breathable wool.

This may seem like a trivial question, but it is absolutely crucial to analyse your needs. It seems obvious that the fabric differs according to seasonality. You don’t wear a heavy fabric under a blazing sun or a light fabric in freezing cold.

It is for this very reason that the grammage plays a key role in your final choice. Is it an everyday suit or exclusively for special occasions? These are all questions that need to be answered in order to target which fabric is most suitable.

WHICH FABRIC SHOULD I CHOOSE FOR MY BESPOKE SUIT?

This may seem like a trivial question, but it is absolutely crucial to analyse your needs. It seems obvious that the fabric differs according to seasonality. You don’t wear a heavy fabric under a blazing sun or a light fabric in freezing cold.

It is for this very reason that the grammage plays a key role in your final choice. Is it an everyday suit or exclusively for special occasions? These are all questions that need to be answered in order to target which fabric is most suitable.

Yes, we make everything bespoke for women; suits, dinner jackets, blazers, trousers, skirts, dresses, coats and blouses. The fabrics we approach come from the best weavers in the world. And we pride ourselves on the impeccable quality of our garments. Everything we make is finished by hand. We don’t design a range that suits every woman, but allow every woman to design a range that suits them.

Yes, just like dads, we make bespoke suits for children from 8 years old. As tailors, we understand that one of the most difficult tasks for any parent is to make the right choice and as the child grows up, they may have difficulty finding the right size and style of costume. Growing boys often feel the need to have a say. So we believe that philosophy taught from childhood provides a sense of good taste and a label that becomes a guide for life.

Yes, we consider that valuing the person behind the garment is important when wearing a uniform. Know-how and technical mastery are put to work to meet specifications with requirements ranging from the simplest to the most complex. Through the choice of materials, cuts and colours, all our expertise lies in the art of knowing how to compose a wardrobe that is both durable and trendy.

The notched lapel is the most common. Its simplicity has enabled it to conquer almost all cuts, especially in ready-to-wear. This notch is called Straight, Simple or Sport notch, because it has its origins in riders’ jackets. It is therefore a rather informal collar. It sometimes has a tab on the straight notch, allowing the collar to be buttoned on cold days, a tradition it inherited from its rural origins.

The pointed lapel is historic and is still used for dinner jackets and other morning wear. It is possible to find it on suits, but it often passes for conceited or showy cuts, which is wrong, if it is worn well. It is called Sharp Cran because of its sharp shape. It is also almost exclusive to cross-over jackets.

The dinner jacket lapel is called a shawl collar. It is not much used anymore except for some dinner jackets. That said, it had a fine career with the Brandenburg indoor jackets, clothes, waistcoats and dressing gowns.

The Smalto lapel is a French peculiarity that can be found mainly in the large tailor’s shop or in some luxury ready-to-wear stores. This model is called the cran Camps, because it was originally designed by the tailor Camps de Luca de la Madeleine. But it would be more appropriate to call this cut cran Smalto, because it was Francesco Smalto who invented it when he was a tailor at Camps. It is also called “cran parisien” or “cran tailleur” by extension. The cup is a successful combination of sport and high-pitched grit.

Note also that the width of the lapel can vary and will depend on the client’s morphology.

A floating fabric is a coarse piece of fabric, often made from hemp or similar yarns, cut to the size of the fabric and placed between the fabric and the lining of the wetsuit. The coverall fabric is sewn to the canvas. Although it does not float around the suit, it gets its name “floating canvas” by moulding itself around the body over time to provide the best possible fit.

When talking about the construction of a jacket, it is important to talk about the canvas underneath. The chest and lapel (front of the collar) are reinforced with interlining and horsehair fabric. This construction gives the suit a thicker shape and better complements the wearer’s body.

Traditional costumes use canvas to cover the entire front of the costume. As times change, half-canvas suits have been introduced to provide a lighter feel and reduce costs.

With the advent of fused canvas, manufacturers began using chemicals to melt the interface of the jacket to give volume to the suit. This not only significantly reduced production costs, but also the life of the jacket. Compared to horsehair fabrics, fused fabrics begin to pucker after two years of dry cleaning and become unbearable afterwards.

A lining is the smooth, silky fabric that makes up the inside of your jacket. It acts to separate the woollen fabric from the body and provides comfort for the wearer. Often, custom customers choose their lining fabric to adopt a more flamboyant colour as a style choice and for fun.

A buttonhole, from the French word “boutonnière”, is often used to describe how to place a small flower, floral decoration or a pin placed in the lapel hole of a jacket.

There are a wide variety of buttonhole styles, but the Milanese buttonhole is a popular choice. This style of buttonhole comes from Milan, Italy and is a longer style of buttonhole or lapel hole. Due to the way it is sewn, it is placed slightly higher on the fabric of the coverall and gives the appearance of being more visible. It is a style that takes longer for a suit, sometimes up to two hours per buttonhole.

The cutting and sewing costs are fixed. The difference in costs is essentially the difference in fabric prices – there are, for example, major differences between cashmere and lambswool in terms of price. There are also upgrading options in terms of interlining, linings and trimmings.

Yes, we encourage appointments so that each client receives the attention they deserve.

It all starts with an initial contact that usually lasts 45 minutes. We will take the time to discuss your wishes and needs. You are more than welcome for a consultation, without any obligation. For your convenience, you can also send us an e-mail, we will be happy to respond.

Appointment to take action. As a rule, this visit takes about 90 minutes for the design and measuring process. Of course, this varies considerably depending on the customer and the nature of the order.

We are open every day.

Monday: 09:30 am – 06:30 pm

Tuesday: 09:30 am – 08:30 pm

Wednesday: 09:30 am – 06:30 pm

Thursday: 09:30 am – 08:30 pm

Friday: 09:30 am – 06:30 pm

Saturday: 09:30 am – 06:30 pm

It is important to note that we operate by appointment only.

Yes, we do. If you have a busy schedule, we come to your workplace or home, or if you are passing through Belgium, we come to your hotel, at your convenience. So you will have no time constraints.

Yes, we do. We are happy to travel all over the world to take measurements in order to bring our expertise to a wider clientele, who have a strong demand for bespoke tailored suits and shirts with beautiful fabrics and durability, which means that investing in a good suit is much more profitable over time and corresponds to an ethic and values in the way men “consume” fashion.

It is all the quality services that are not found in other tailors in Brussels that have distinguished us and enabled us to export. Over the years, we have built up a privileged relationship with our customers throughout the world. Our know-how and the quality products we produce are highly appreciated by our customers abroad. And they return it to us so well: they are the ones who recommend us, today, to their friends and acquaintances! A virtuous circle of which we are very proud.

My Tailor offers a wide range of payment methods in order to provide our customers with a simple and secure payment experience. My Tailor accepts all major credit cards including Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, American Express, Carte Bleue, Diners Club. My Tailor accepts payments in the following currencies: Euros, Pounds Sterling, US Dollars.

Yes, this VAT exemption also applies to purchases of goods and services made in Belgium by diplomatic missions, consular posts or even their staff, for their official use or persons within the limits and conditions set out in the article of law.

Yes we do. In the case where the client makes the request after finalising the payment. For this, we need a photocopy of your passport, address and bank details. You will receive an invoice with all the products purchased from My Tailor. The invoice can be returned to us by post or email and must be stamped with the Customs seal. The refund will then be made by bank transfer within 7 to 10 days.

After each wear and tear, hang your suit outside the wardrobe overnight so that moisture and odours can escape from the fabric. Hang your trousers long at the bottom hem with a hanger – this allows the weight of the garment to come off the pleats naturally, reducing the need for re-growth.

Your suits should only be dry-cleaned if they are physically dirty and should generally not be cleaned more than a few times a year. If your garment is not visibly soiled but needs freshening, use a hand-held steamer or have it hand squeezed by a reputable cleaner.

Although dry cleaning itself (if done properly) will not damage the garment, too many cleaners fail to maintain their equipment properly and often use dirty chemicals in the “cleaning” process. In addition, poor quality pressing can make your suits look old, tired and damaged after just one pressing. Invest in the best quality dry cleaner in your area to take care of your suit. Although a good dry cleaner is expensive, they will keep your suit looking good for much longer than their mediocre competition.

Unlike suits, shirts can be washed with water, but dry cleaning is also an option. Shirts should be washed with warm, not hot, water and pressed by hand with a hot iron. Find a cleaner who makes his or her shirts in-house, as most send them to large commercial laundries that use very hot water and strong chemicals for soil removal. This rigorous process will extend the life of your shirts.

Refrain from using any starch on your shirts. This will weaken the cotton fibres, which can cause the fabric to wear more quickly. Be sure to remove your collars before sending them to the cleaning lady. Stays will leave burn marks if the shirt is pressed with the remains still in the collar. Of course, a good cleaner will remove your collar bottoms before washing and replace them after pressing, but why take any chances?

If you have problems with armpit stains, surrounding the collar, using food, etc., apply a stain remover as soon as you take the shirt off and have it washed as soon as possible. The longer a stain remains on the fabric, the more difficult it is to remove it.

Keep in mind that some shrinkage will occur in new shirts. After one or two washes, a new shirt will shrink by about ¼ to ½ inch from the collar and sleeve length. This amount is already built into your measurements. If your shirt looks very big at first glance, don’t worry.

My Tailor has set itself the objective of striving for total customer satisfaction by delivering made-to-measure clothing within 3 calendar weeks from the order and depending on the availability of the fabric. This lead time can sometimes be increased if the order is placed during a holiday period. For extremely urgent requests, the delivery time can be shortened to two weeks.

Yes

Yes

Absolutely. We stand behind every garment with a complete satisfaction guarantee. If you are not satisfied with the fit of your garment (and you let us know within six months of making the garment), we will modify it to suit your needs or redo it free of charge.

Because our garments are made especially for each customer, we cannot accept returns or give cash refunds (unless of course we have made an irreparable error, which is extremely rare but mistakes do happen…).