I have "fired" clients from my financial planning practice, so I have no doubt that a tailor would do the same. Some people are just intolerable.

Top 20 Ways To Get Fired By Your Tailor

1)  Walk in without an appointment carrying a shopping bag from Tip Top and demand a discount for supplying your own cloth

2)  Introduce yourself and then mention your message board screen name, adding, "I'm like a freakin' god on the fora!"

3)  When discussing costs, try to negotiate a lower price by mentioning you're also considering tailors in Viet Nam who will work for dirt

4)  When that proves ineffective, ask if he'd be interested in bartering for an encyclopedia and a cd on how to dress

5)  As a last resort, say you can fix him up with a woman named Malinda 

6)  Proceed to unfurl an exhaustive accordion-like list of 479 items, solicited from the message board fora, which you want incorporated into your suit

7)  Inform the tailor you've been referred by an anonymous friend from the fora

8)  Inquire of the tailor if he has any limitations on fittings.  When he responds not as long as it's within reason, ask if 30 fittings would be considered reasonable. 

9)  State your strict policy of not paying any deposits as it would be insulting to your integrity

10)  Ask the tailor to demonstrate, in mind-numbing detail, how to make a spalla camicia

11)  Confide in him your secret fantasy of being a tailor yourself and offer congratulations on his good fortune that you will be collaborating with him on your new suit

12)  Ask the tailor about his level of tolerance for pain in case your overbearing and obnoxious character, supercilious and boorish personality, and complete lack of personal style will prove grating on his nerves

13)  Be totally indecisive, constantly changing your mind regarding what you want your suit to look like, resulting in a monstrosity that is a complete abortion.  Finally, because the tailor won't cowtow to your every whim, you shout obscenities at him in a juvenile outburst

14)  Demean the tailor's wife by suggesting she's merely an unknowledgeable office manager selling $450 shirts to anyone who wants one, not recognizing her accomplished career in the high-end apparel industry

15)  Insult one of the tailor's closest friends and his daughter by implying they would compromise their impeccable reputation in the international bespoke community by being represented in the US by an unknowledgeable office manager wanting to sell anyone a $450 shirt

16)  Ask the tailor if he's the type who would be annoyed seeing you in the elevator on a daily basis also going to every other tailor in the building

17)  Ask him about his policy of repairing the botched suits made by every other tailor in the building you go to

18)  Tell the tailor you just came from a sartorial show but, unfotunately, you were only given a 1-way ticket and you wondered if you could apprentice to make enough money to get back home, turning down your other option of drilling holes in shirt buttons.

19)  Ask the tailor what his house style is

20)  Ask him to discuss, in excruciatingly intricate detail, how his house style compares with that of Raphael, Corvato, Logsdail, Nicolosi, Hunstman, Anderson & Sheppard, every tailor in Italy named Caraceni, and every PERSON in Italy named Caraceni

Last edited by Marc Grayson (2007-02-23 17:27:22)

tailors who have dealt with this element wind up seeking refuge in Syracuse or in far away regions. They also change numbers with high frequency.It's called the tailor protection plan.

I really don't see anything wrong with a client wanting to collaborate with his/her tailor, especially if:
1.He or she is a designer/creator of their own look and is simply looking for a craftsman/artisan to implement the design.
2.The clients knows precisely what they want, so long as it's in keeping with a style with which the tailor is familiar.
2A.The self-aware/knowledgable client hates having his style dictated to him by someone else.
3.The clients(politely)makes his desire to collaborate known at the outset and (possibly) offers the tailor the chance to decline the opportunity to work with the client on such matters(And yes, I know that the very idea of choosing one's own cloth, cut, style, etc., is a collaboration in itself,...).

Last edited by BCL (2007-02-24 13:28:40)

Last edited by Marc Grayson (2007-02-24 14:00:34)

No, no, no, that's not what I meant. What I meant was
1.Someone who's designed his own personal wardrobe.
2.Someone whose designs are in keeping with the tailor's established HS.
3.Someone whose designs call for only a miniscule 'tweak' on what the average client requests.
EXAMPLE: Slant pockets instead of..., a fuller(GR?) belly on the lapels; single pleat as oppsed to flat front or double pleats, etc., etc.
Some of us can make these requests from memory, etc. Some of us like to write things down because our memory SUCKS.
There's a difference between knowing who you are, what you want and being a complete nuisance.
Of course, knowing precisely what works best on you in terms of cut, fabric and coloring goes a long way towards short-circuiting any problems before they can begin as well as just reducing the time spent in the initial selection process, leaving more time for the tailor to work on your ensembles, as oppsed to spending more time talking about them. I like saying "ensembles". I don't know why.....

Last edited by BCL (2007-02-24 18:59:02)