Our August made to Measure Shirt Offer

We are pleased to announce a very special offer during the current month of August. A superb Made-to-Measure shirt for just £90 including delivery to your home address. The shirt is available from your visiting consultant if you are within our service area, and for those outside we are able to extend this offer to you by telephone, where you supply us with your measurements.

The shirts are made in England from Thomas Mason Queen range fabrics to our usual exacting standards complete with the best quality pearl buttons.

Go to our webpage at http://www.shirt-style.co.uk/august_offer.html for more details.

The price of a Bespoke Shirt

I just got off of the phone from a person that had left his details for a call back to make an appointment for a shirt fitting. He had come via our website and the first question I was asked was what are the prices and when i told him, he basically ended the conversation there.

My question is, and I did not ask him, what price did he expect to pay?

I believe the quality bespoke shirt market is suffering in the same way that bespoke suits have with so many companies offering so called bespoke-shirts from an online website and a few drop down menus. People do not realise that the shirts from these companies are 9 times out of 10 a totally different beast than genuine quality bespoke shirts. They are £45 or so for a reason! below I try to list a few of the reasons, which it is best to understand before deciding where to buy you bespoke shirt.

1. Quality of Cloth - A shirt for less than £100 is very unlikely going to be made from top cottons such as Albini, Alumo and Monti. If they are then the shirt has definitely not been made in the UK, more likely the far East in the shape of Hong Kong or Thailand in a factory operation. More than likely the cloth will come from India or China and will have a percentage of microfibre mixed in. Use of a good cloth will add £20 or so to the cost of making the shirt.

2. Quality of Interlinings for collars and cuffs - The collars and cuffs of a bespoke shirt tell us so much about the quality of the rest of the shirt. Cheap shirts will have the interlinings fused to the collar and cuff material, making the collars stiff and lifeless. A quality bespoke shirt will be made without fusing and the interlinings will be hand stitched making for a softer, natural looking collar and cuff. Good interlinings are more expensive and hand sewing takes longer than fusing.

3. Personal Patterns - A qality bespoke shirt will require a personal pattern to be made for you; a cheaper version will be made by working off of standard blocks. The extra time and cost of the pattern making adds to the shirt cost but ensures that the shirt fits you and is exclusive to you.

4. Details - Cheap online bespoke shirts are unlikely to have Mother of Pearl Buttons without paying extra; pattern matching is unlikely on a cheap shirt; contrast collars and similar are likely to cost extra on a cheap shirt, but are generally included in the cost of a quality bespoke shirt.

If you really want to pay less than £100 the you will be better off getting a better quality ready to wear shirt from the likes of Hackett, Aquascutum or Jermyn Street and getting it altered to fit better around the body.

3.

Bespoke Shirt Newsletter Published

Our first edition of our new newsletter was published yesterday. For those not on our mailing list, we have made it available here http://www.shirt-style.co.uk/newsletter1.html

Latest Products

We have just added two new ranges of Ian Flaherty cufflinks from their Premium Range. Both series are available in nine different colours of crystals. A fantastic accessory to complement your Sartorial Executive Bespoke Shirt.

See the full range in our shop at http://shop.sartorialexecutive.com/

Hats off to the Social Season Hatters

We don't sell hats (yet) but we do believe that not enough people wear hats (and I don't count a baseball cap as a hat).
I came a cross a delightful hat stall at the recent Cotswold Show in Cirencester last weekend. The stall, run by Peter and Jilly Sinclair-Knipe went by the name of 'Social Season Hatters', an apt name for a setup that sells its wares at numerous shows and fayres across the country.



The hat I bought was a Baileys of Hollywood panama, an american creation with an absolutey fantastic Cream and Brown grosgrain band and bow, with a stylish manufacturers logo. Looking on the Baileys website at http://www.baileyhats.com/ it appears the model that I purchased is called a Carnegie.


The hat is a fantastic addition to my wardrobe and something that goes fantastic with some of my bespoke shirts.


Why not treat yourself to a new hat by checking out their website at http://www.skhats.co.uk/ and meeting them at one of the events at which they have a trade stand.

Looking after your bespoke shirts

Let's face it, a bespoke shirt is an investment. At around £100 to £200 a go you want it to last longer than a few months. To help you on the way here are a few tips to keep your bespoke shirts in tip top condition.

1. Wash your cotton bespoke shirts in a washing machine at 40 degrees - any hotter and you will reduce it's life
2. Iron on setting number 2. Yes, i know setting 3 says Cotton, but it is too hot, cotton will iron fine with less heat - but do use steam or ensure shirt is slightly damp.
3. Hang the shirt up after each wear. If it has creases but you want to wear it again before the next wash then run the iron over the body again.
4. Remove collar bones after wearing.
5. Check all buttons for security before hanging, and repair or replace ny that need it.
6. Don't eat spaghetti whilst wearing your bespoke shirt.

That's all, not much too it, a good quality cotton bespoke shirt almost looks after itself.

new cufflink collections

We are now able to bring you cufflinks from designers Ian Flaherty and Denison Boston. ideal to wear with your bespoke shirts. look out for more detail on the website.