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Ready
To Wear!
A superb range of styles with a modern twist.

So what are you buying into exactly?
Well, aside from a few seasonal tweaks the style of suit remains
the same; three buttons on the front; four buttons on the cuff and working
button holes; narrow lapels (6cm); suppression on the waste of the jacket;
long side vents; slightly slanted jacket pockets with flaps, plus a ticket
pocket; hand stitched edges; good quality coloured lining; straight legged
trousers without pleats; side adjusters on the waist band and front pockets.
Now, do a lot of those features sound familiar? Like a bespoke suit? Now
you understand what, for me, clinches the deal. In the era Adam recreates
reasonably priced tailors were plentiful in London – most often
Jewish immigrants - and any man worth his salt had one. Bespoke was necessity
not luxury.
One final detail, which rates this shop above others, is the very, very
tailored cut. As Adam points out; “Cut is the most important
thing. Most off the peg retailers are trying to fit a guy who’s
sixteen stone and a guy who’s fourteen stone in the same suit”.
Sizes here range from 34 to 46 inch chest. But for 34, 36 and 38
Adam does a small fitting. So, if you’re a guy of about 5ft.6 /5ft.7,
of slight build and normally swamped by even small sizes off the peg,
With Adam’s suits you should get a really close cut suit. Speaking
for myself, I am yet to find a sharper, more closely fitting suit off
the peg - and I look very hard.
Look at the above to the left, those suits are not pinned at the back
to make them fit that manikin. That is the genuine cut of the suit.
And the average price for a suit? Without alterations, £300.
Think of England
Another feature that floats my boat is the use of English
cloth for the suiting. Adam believes English cloth to be the best in the
world, “In Japan it sells for £150 a meter. England has been
making beautiful worsted fabrics since fifteen something”. As far
as he’s concerned, Italian cloths are too limp, whereas English
cloth is easier to work with and harder wearing.
As to the range, he offers pure wool, kid mohair and wool (Tonik) and
a selection of wool/mohair and polyester blends and a small selection
of polyester and viscose. If you’re currently turning your noses
up at the thought of a polyester and viscose suit, Adam put it bluntly
to me, “there is polyester and viscose, and then there is polyester
and viscose. There are some nasty cloths out there and some you would
never guess”. As one prone to cloth snobbery, on inspection
I couldn’t tell the difference from the pure wools.
You can’t have too much of a good
thing
To complete the look Adam stocks a good range of shirts
and ties. They come in plain colours, stripes and various patterns; are
100% cotton and come in at £45-£60. While stocking standard
collars and cuffs, he predominantly carries tab collars. As to the fit,
they’re tailored (as opposed to slim) with darts at the back. Sleeve
length is slightly long, so a 15.5 inch collar has a 35 inch sleeve.
My particular favourite was a navy blue Bengal stripe, single cuff with
small yellow flowers on the body and cuff, perfect underneath a regular
suit or with jeans. The ties are silk, skinny and come in plain colours,
dots and stripes, selling for £19.
As a final touch Adam makes splendid Overcoast in pure wool also incorporating
classic 60’s features; 4 buttons, ticket pocket, long centre vent
all with velvet collar and coloured linings. He carries black, navy, small
and large checked cloth and all for an average super price of £200.
Never mind the bo***cks
I asked him why he does what he does. Adam refused to
pull his punches,
“I just want to see guys dress better. If you look at how men are
dressed in the UK, then they look quite shabby. They wear really badly
fitting clothes. And sometimes they like to call it fashion, but it’s
not. The art of fashion is subtlety and something fitting correctly. If
the cut is wrong forget it, don’t even go down that road”.
Who could argue with that.?
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