Bespoke tailors
Savile Row · Est. 1921
Bespoke / From conversation to collection
You bring a life to dress for. Ruth brings thirty-six years at the cutting table. You are not expected to do her part.
Let’s get the figures out
Half on ordering.
Half on collection.
Cloth can change the price. Ruth tells you before you choose.
| Two-piece suit | £6,400 |
|---|---|
| Three-piece suit | £7,600 |
| Jacket | £4,600 |
| Trousers | £1,500 |
A suit takes around sixty hours of hand work by four people, and at least three fittings. Alterations to your Pellow & Vane suit are free for its whole life.
The making / Allow 12 to 14 weeks
The wait for a first appointment is currently about three weeks. Once we have measured you, allow about twelve to fourteen weeks to collection. If you have a date in mind, mention it when you ring.
What do you do all day? Where will you wear this? A first proper suit and a suit to play the trumpet in have different jobs. Ruth needs to know yours.
The conversation and measuring take about an hour. Bring the shoes you’ll wear with the suit. You don’t need to arrive with all the answers.
First appointment · About an hourRuth cuts your pattern in brown paper. It belongs to your shape, rather than a number on a rail. The cloth is cut from that.
The paper stays here for ever. When you come back, we’ll have somewhere to start.
Filed in the cellar · Kept for everYou try on a basted shell, held together with white thread. It is supposed to look unfinished. At this stage, it is.
Now Ruth can see the cloth on you. This is where the paper record begins its argument with the person.
The suit is further along. You put it on again; Ruth looks again. Tell her how it feels. Wearing it is your part of the work.
There will be at least three fittings before you collect. They are part of making the suit, not interruptions to it.
A final fitting, collection, and the remaining half of the bill. Then the suit goes off to do whatever you told Ruth it needed to do.
If you change shape later, bring it back. Alterations are free for the life of the suit. We expect to see it again.
Collection · The beginning of wearing itA note on speed. Someone once offered Ruth double for a suit in two weeks. She said no. “You can have it fast or you can have it right. We only know how to do one of those.”
Before you ring
No. “You need to know what you do all day. I’ll work out the rest.” That is Ruth’s starting point. Tell her what the suit needs to do for you.
Bring the shoes you’ll wear with the suit, and allow about an hour for the first conversation and measuring. If you’re uncertain about anything else, ask Ruth when you book.
Ask Ruth when you ring to arrange your appointment. You can settle that on the same call, before you make the journey.
People do. The rule on the cellar door is “Measure twice. Cut once. Measure again on Tuesday.” Alterations to a Pellow & Vane suit are free for the life of the suit, whatever its age.
Start with the figures above. Tell Ruth what you have in mind before choosing cloth. She will explain what changes the price before you choose, not after.
Yes. Ring about your own or an inherited Pellow & Vane suit. Alterations to other makers’ bespoke suits are also possible, by arrangement.
Ruth also takes appointments in New York twice a year. Dates are announced by telephone to customers on the list. Ring to ask about it.