made to measure in Japan
There has been an awakening in made to measure offerings and if you are passionate about tailored clothing but lack the funds to go bespoke this is really a wonderful time to be alive and stylish. The likes of Suit Supply and Spier & Mackay offer great value and discovering them was what initially triggered my quest here in Japan, as finding well fitting suits for someone with my proportions proved to be a difficult and expensive endeavour.
To be fair I have had some luck buying off the rack in Japan. Stores such as United Arrows, Beams F and Ring Jacket has a lot to offer and all three do offer custom services, although at a higher price point.
At the time of writing this I must admit I am going back and forth between buying off the rack and made to measure, so there is definitely merits to both.
My conclusion based on what I’ve seen and or bought is that the end goal for me is going custom at Ring Jacket. I think in terms of quality they are probably the best there is, quite possibly on the world stage as well.
In Japan there are countless options when it comes to made to measure tailoring. Shirts, pants, suits, jackets and coats are all available from a variety of stores in different price ranges. Because the different stores offers options based on their base catalogue the best approach is to get a sense of their off the rack offerings and pick the one most fitting to your needs. Of course, it all comes down to price so that’s where you’ll have to make compromises.
With the exception of the three aformentioned, which at the time were all out of my price range for MTM, stores like Kashiyama, Universal Language Measure’s, Hanabishi, Global Style and Quality Order Shitate all have reasonable offerings. In the end my decision went with Universal Language Measure’s. At the time they had several campaigns and seeing as I had prior experience with them through trousers and an off the rack suit I had bought, I had an idea of what to expect.
The other stores are listed in an approximate rating from best to, well, “less best”. I find Japan in general to be in a different league when it comes to quality and customer service so I wouldn’t really call any of them bad per se, but as with everything else in life; you get what you pay for. That being said, Global Style, what the hell are the guys at marketing thinking? I was bombarded with ads from Global Style on Facebook and, although I do not claim this in any way is emblematic for their quality and what they have to offer, their ads were displaying some atrocious suits I don’t even think would make the cut for a yakuza comedy. Pin stripe suit with a jacket so short it could be mistaken for a crop top. Purple lining, low rise trousers sported with a gold belt. I mean, sure, that might be a testament to what their average buyer wants, but for anyone seriously passionate about tailored clothing the damage is irreparable. All PR is not always good PR.
Back to Universal Language Measure’s. I’ll be honest here as well there were a couple of bumps in the road.
First of all, I was almost discouraged from bothering with them even before I had started thinking about made to measure suits. At one of their stores in Tokyo the staff, after avoiding me for 20 minutes, seemed rude, condescending and not at all interested in helping when I approached him. I am always aware of the fact that some people get really nervous around foreigners and I do attribute a fair amount of “bad” experiences to either cultural differences or language barriers on my part. But seeing as I speak Japanese fluently and have lived here for several years I also do know when a situations occurs completely irrespective of that. This was one of those cases. You also have to take into account that Japanese are service minded at a different level so you get thrown off quite easily if someone doesn’t live up to that standard. In general people working in retail always go out of their way to help. But fair enough, the guy might have just had a bad day.
Secondly, to my disappointment, throughout the order process I discovered that ULM does not offer everything from the off the rack catalogue in their made to measure service, at least not down to the fine details. They quite literally have every detail I would wish in a suit through the itmens they offer in their store so it is somewhat regrettable they haven’t added all those options to their MTM service. I would say that this is more of a suggestion to them than a complaint, because I am very satisfied with the suits I have ordered from them and I did so knowingly after all. So in the end if it was a dealbreaker I obviously would not have continued my business with them.
When I finally decided to schedule an appointment I ended up in one of their other stores.
I was greeted by a couple of polite and helpful staff-members which was very pleasant. My second experience was completely polar to the one I had prior. I was introduced to their MTM service through a neatly put together catalogue thoroughly explained by a staff-member. You have to give it to the Japanese for really making sure their customers understand and make sure satisfaction is achieved. I had quite a clear image of what I wanted so before anything we had a look at some pictures I had saved on my phone to give a better understanding of what I was looking for and he was instantly on the same page.
The process is quite straight forward but a general description for those unfamiliar:
After deciding on which suit model you want you are presented with a variety of fabrics to choose from. This part will probably be determined or at least influenced by whatever campaign they have going or any preferences you might have iterated.
The measuring part was pretty straight forward and as one would expect. Seeing as I speak Japanese and as such am able to convey whatever preferences I have, unfortunately I’m not sure what sort of obstacles other foreigners whom do not speak the language might encounter but I think all in all with the level of helpfulness and dedication the staff provides there shouldn’t be any issues.
Unviersal Language Measure’s offers about six or seven base models of jackets mainly in Italian or British inspired styles. As for trousers I was mainly interested in high rise in which they had two models, but all in all I think there are seven models there as well. From choosing the jacket and trouser style there were an abundance of changes, add-ons and detail choices offered. In my case I was after a casual suit, so I was already determined on patch pockets, but flap and jetted pockets were of course options, as well as ticket pockets. Single or double stitching, belt loops or side adjusters or none, one, two or no back pockets. In the end I must say that I was very happy with the options available and the staff was not just knowledgable but very passionate about what they do which was very inspiring. As for the details I would have liked them to include that I mentioned earlier one is the length of the flap, or fastener on the waistband. On their odd trouser model that is most similar to the one I chose for my suit the fastener is about 5cm longer, which I think creates a more refined look. Adding that length helps draw the focus point away from the waist, as opposed to the shorter flap. Of course seeing as I already went with quite a high rise, perceived hight as such is not the biggest concern and as I mentioned, in the end not a dealbreaker.
Click the picture above for further comparison of Universal Language trousers.
The other detail I would have added is wider lapels. To be fair, they do have the option to widen them about 0,5cm which results in about 8,5cm wide lapels. So it’s not like we’re talking about skinny H&M lapels here. God forbid. While on the subject of lapels, they offer both notch and peak lapels.
Making the suit takes about three weeks give or take. When you order they will provide you with a receipt that usually says about 4-5 weeks from the order date but I recon this is just a precaution if any unforeseen delays occurs. A I have more experience with them now I can assure you that 3 weeks is the longest you will have to wait.
In my case I like my trousers quite tapered but on the first order we decided on adding a little to the the general fit of the trousers. If you are living in Japan and have the time wait I would suggest to maybe do so as well, especially if it’s your first time. Although I ended up going with my initial preference in the end, depending on the model of the trouser I can easily see why the staff suggested doing this. Your preferred measures might have a different look depending on the model so it’s better to be safe than sorry.
As for pricing, this depends a lot on what campaigns they have going. I would definitely wait if special offers aren’t on the table because there will be a campaign just around the corner. From what I’ve seen Usually there are either 10% or 30% discounts available quite often. Other campaigns include ordering two suits with the second as low as ¥10.000, or the campaign I most recently took advantage of; two suits for the price of one.
So although these campaigns change all the time I hope this gives you an idea of what you can expect.
In conclusion I would definitely recommend Universal Language Measure’s to anyone looking to get into MTO here in Japan. As a side note they also have a lot to offer off the rack, especially in the trouser section so go have a look!
My experience there has really helped me understand what I like and to expand my knowledge and even though I am aware that I am there as a customer I would go as far as to say that I have developed a relationship with the staff that in itself makes a visit to the store worth it.
If anyone has experience with other MTM services provided I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.
