Plenty of s
tores in New York will part you with your money in exchange for a new suit. But as the long-legged, broad-shouldered, or well-built among us will attest, sometimes off-the-rack doesn’t cut it.
Tailors in New York City, Limo Services
Bespoke tailoring doesn’t come cheap, but if you have the means, you can often get a high-end suit for much less than retail by cutting out the middleman. And fit matters: an ill-fitting suit is a bad suit, no matter what it cost. Having a suit tailored is a big investment, and it’s worth talking to a couple of tailors before you dive in. But if you’re looking in New York, you should be talking to some of these guys.
Saint Laurie
Founded in 1913 by Samuel Kozinsky, a Jewish immigrant originally from Poland, Saint Laurie started out in Williamsburg but soon moved to Manhattan, and is currently located in Koreatown. Saint Laurie nearly became a casualty of technology, when dressed-down Silicon Valley style invaded New York in the 1990s and demand for suits plummeted.
Saint Lucie kept going partly through its long relationship with film TV, and Broadway, providing clothes for shows like the musical Jersey Boys, and the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. A near-death experience in no way diminished the tailor’s love of tradition: its centenary collection has a rugged British aesthetic and extols the virtues of tweed and worsted.
Martin Andrews Bespoke
Trending a little younger than some of the others on this list—okay, a lot younger—Martin Andrews Bespoke boasts “We are not your father’s custom tailor”. Nor is this a tailor afraid of color—fuschia ties, purple corduroy, and bold blue seersucker suits clamor for attention among more traditional tuxedos and tweeds. Martin Andrews himself is a former lawyer who couldn’t get the city’s tailors to make the kinds the suits he wanted—a common refrain among the city’s newer entrants—so he started making them himself.
Bhambi’s Custom Tailors
While Bhambi’s website coyly says its clients hail from “all walks of life,” they’re being too modest. Lal and Harry Bhambi’s elite clientele is said to include not one but two James Bonds—Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. They also outfitted Senator John McCain, and in a campaign where he took fashion criticism for everything from his shoes to his running mate, his suits quietly did the job. ‘James Bond’ and ‘Presidential candidate’ are phrases that give you a fair idea of where the Bhambis are coming from.
Duca Sartoria
Duca Santoria’s Max Girombelli says his uncle discovered “a young and talented designer named Gianni Versace,” and be that as it may, and there’s an Italian sensibility to what’s on offer here, with a combination of classic tailoring and bold, contemporary color choices. For those with extreme attention to detail, Duca Santoria also makes monogrammed underwear with shirt fabric.
Brooklyn Tailors
Brooklyn Tailors is the brainchild of a husband-and-wife team from California. Like Martin Andrews, Daniel Lewis first went into the business out of sheer frustration that he couldn’t find a suit that he would want to wear. Lewis and his wife Brenna moved from their Clinton Hill apartment to their current Williamsburg storefront when they couldn’t keep up with demand.
Their style is true to their neighborhood—think hipster at a wedding, using cotton, slim fits, and unstructured jackets for a look that’s a compromise between work and play. Brooklyn Tailors have a customizable ready-to-wear collection, but also work with customers one-on-one creating garments from scratch. They’re doing well, producing a line for GAP’s Best Menswear Designers of America collections.
In New York you have plenty of outstanding choices of tailor. If you happen to be looking for a suit for a wedding, we might be able to help with some of the other details—check out our weddings page.