Tailors:
Bangkok has Tailors all over the place. It is hard to walk down the street without seeing several of them or being offered a new suit by them. You will see many signs offering a complete suit with an extra pair of pant, a couple of shirts and some ties for unbelievably low prices. Unbelievable is key word here. The signs are just "Come On" to get you in the door. The material offered is horrible and the workmanship will be unbelievably bad. Once they get you inside the door the hard sell starts. It is better to just avoid these tailors altogether.
Everyone has an opinion on which tailors are good and which are bad. Like everybody else I have my opinions also. My opinion has been formed from years of experience and trial and error. Although I have been coming to Thailand for a while, not as long as some but longer than others, I use to visit Thailand about three times a year for a couple of weeks at a time. I did this for about four or five years and finally ended up moving here about Four years ago. So here are some of my experiences about Bangkok Tailors.
James Tailor: STAY AWAY. STAY AWAY. STAY AWAY. When I first started coming to Bangkok I ended up calling James Tailor, I can't for the life of me remember where I heard of them. They sent someone to my Hotel to pick me up and take me there. The shop as I remember was very nice and very busy. They had pictures of the Who's Who that were supposedly customers of theirs. True or not I do not know, but after my experience there I hardly believe it. The prices I believed at the time were good, but later after visiting several other Tailors I realized that they were not. They delivered the suit to my Hotel and I distinctly remember the delivery man insisting I write something positive about my experience with them.
Majestic Tailors: SUPERLATIVE. SUPERLATIVE. SUPERLATIVE. Kevin and Mr. Singh, Kevin's Father, own and run the shop. They both have years of experience and stand behind their workmanship. They do not strong arm you when you visit but are always willing to give an honest opinion on Material and Fittings. I first started going to Majestic right after my visit to James Tailor. On my trip to Bangkok when I discovered Majestic I returned home with probably twenty shirts and 5 Suits. Kevin then visited my hometown on his US tour a little later that year. I had absolutely no hesitation in bringing a lifelong friend and business associate with me to see him. Since my first experience with them I have returned many times and with many friends and family, everyone has been extremely happy with the service and quality. Majestic's prices are set, they do not barter, they are a bit more expensive than some but still less expensive than places like James Tailor. But after trying many tailors and nothing fitting perfectly, Majestic's prices are more than fair for the quality they provide.
Majestic Tailors
110-110/1 Sukhumvit Road (Between Soi 4-6
South Nana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Tel: 66 (0)2 656-8227-8 Fax: 66 (0)2 656-8226Stylos Tailors: OK, OK, OK, OK. Stylos is an average tailor for Bangkok. They start with a price that is much to high. After you start to walk out the door they come back to you with a more reasonable price. As most tailors they like to fit everything extremely snug, even if you tell them to make it looser. Overall they are an average Tailor.
Forchang Tailors: Traditional, Traditional, Traditional. Forchang's was reccomeneded to me by a very successfull Doctor here in Bangkok. Most of his clients are Local successful Thai's. It is a smaller shop with a limited amount of material on hand. Although he can get just about any material he will push you toward what he has in stock. He does stock most of the basic Materials and styles. I believe he does all the stiching in house unlike any of the tailors mentioned so far. This doesn't mean that the quality of the stiching is better than any of the others but it does mean that a turn around time on a shirt is about 7 - 10 days instead of 24 hours like the others. I have not had a suit made here yet but I am sure it would take about the same amount of time, vs, about 3 days at the other shops. Also as everything is done in house if you want a monogram on the shirts he has to send it out and that attributes to the lengh of time.