american prices and a change to my us tailoring process
Published: Sunday, December 9th 2007
I had my first trip to America to see if I could do anything there just over a year go.
In the twelve months that have passed since then I have returned to America five times and added Atlanta as a regular destination!
The past year has been a steep learning curve as visiting the US so frequent is fine if you do not make your own work.
But as a cut and make tailor I have struggled with the schedule to maintain such a frequent US presence and keep my UK clients fully serviced.
So next year 2008 I shall only be visiting the USA three times within the year.
I did cap my suit prices earlier in the year to try and make it a fairer playing field for my US clients, there is nothing wrong with this, but the price has to be correct.
My suit prices were fixed far too low so I am now uncapping my prices I am keeping the same price in the USA as I receive from my UK clients.
Delivery costs of finished garments to the USA also have to be added to the suit balance.
I shall continue to offer an adjusted price for US ( and UK ) clients who provide me with their own fabric for me to make up, but the cloth must be posted by the client to my workroom in the UK.
I can't bring cloth lengths back in my luggage as I keep getting stiffed by the airlines on the weight of my bags!
I am of course more than happy to be paid in UK Sterling.
Even with this change my suits are still much cheaper than my competitors by a long way, as good as most of them, and much better than some.
After reading the above please remember that you are commissioning a suit from a tailor that will be making your suit from start to finish with no out workers, which is the purest form of tailoring there is.
Compare this to the way other tailors make your suit, with many out workers involved in the whole process.
I am also changing my fitting process for US clients, instead of a SKELETON BASTE, I shall be going straight to a POCKET FITTING, this is in between a skeleton and a forward.
I shall still be giving two fittings to clients if I think they need two.
The reason for this is simple, I have not turned my US garments out quicker by visiting the US more frequently, in fact the reverse has happened, it has slowed the turn around down.
I would like make it clear to anyone that has contacted me ALREADY about meeting me on my next US trip, which will be January, there will be no price increase, anything ordered will be at the OLD prices.
I am also close to not taking on any more US clients at the moment, so PLEASE let me know at your earliest if you would like to meet me while I am on my US travels.
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