That is slightly disingenuous, Marc is talking of the general public rather than himself so lets keep this civil please Hermes.

You are crediting the public with more skill than they possess, most customers can't tell the difference between cloth other than from the immediate appearance. Substitution is a fact of life and it can be countered to an extent by keeping a swatch of the original material with which to compare the final product. This is a mostly a problem with solid colours but once you get back to remnants where there are fewer reference points there is a problem once again.

Today chinese cloth is mediocre, it's not always bad but the finish isn't there yet and the quality is not consistent. If the market is big enough they will fix this over a few years and come up with serviceable cloth, the only question would be whether it was commercially worth doing.

Although I have to say that my tailor loves some old world cloths for their innate quality but to my eye they do not keep up with modern sensibilities of elegance. I dont mind an occasional Old Skool outfit but I prefer keeping in step with the modern mien.

Also, Corvato soaks every fabric in freezing cold water than hangs it to dry in the belief that any shortcomings in quality will shine through early on from this process and negate a waste of time and further money.

Cloth quality  takes a long time to appreciate.

I spoke to an owner of one of England's last remaining mills that manufacture high grade suit cloth. He has been in the business for 50 years or so, and he still has trouble explaining to people how to tell good cloth from bad. A lot of it is simply developed from experience and, unfortunately, a lot of the problems only come through from repeated use. Whixh is why, years after i have a suit made, i regret not having yards more of a good fabric, while other things that seemed good at the time of purchase (and on a certain level are good quality) are just not good to wear.

An example. I bought this triple stripe fabric because of its design. The fabric seemed very hard and unyielding, and I wondered about its enduring quality and comfort. And it is, but somehow it never fights with my body, and it wears like iron. It always makes me look crisp and it is comfortable to wear and sit in. Of course, i only had the one length of it. I could get more but I have too many lengths of cloth already!

Another fabric like this from a different cloth merchant which seemed so promising is surprisingly uncomfortable and though the quality is excellent, i dont like the feel. The cloth is so strong that it fights my triceps, and I have 4 different suits of this cloth! Probably if your physique has no musculature to it or you dont fluctuate in weight, the fabric is excellent.

Ya just never know sometimes.

Marc, I agree with what you say about a good tailor should be flexible, but just like any of us, tailors have an (often strong) opinion of what looks good.  One trained in the Huntsman-Row tradition would likely find a looser "Neapolitan" or even A&S look sloppy, even if it may make more sense to the client.  This has been my experience with the cutters of two highly renowned Savile Row houses with different ways of seeing things.  This is less of an issue when patronising smaller artisans like Raphael, Corvato, etc, who are less interested in maintaining an institution and a certain outlook, and more interested in creating a beautiful suit for the client, but still they have their own preferences.

gordon is the contact at GRM. He saw the light sveral years ago and left the employ of the well known and self named fabrix czar. The cloth is woven by the well regarded edwin woodhouse and also Bower & roebuck