How far would you travel to watch your next bespoke shirt being made?
Some craft-conscious customers will hop over to
“We get a lot of customers, actually. They like to come and see us,” says Varvara Jain, cofounder of
The only thing we care about is quality. That’s been our mantra from day one.
The Jains are at the forefront of a new movement in luxury
We’re focused on making things in the best place that we can get it made,” says Peter Middleton, whose New York City–based label
But for every
“The ambition was always to make the finest shirts,” says Jain, dialing in from Amsterdam, where she and her husband met. That meant crafting made-to-measure and bespoke examples exclusively by hand, which is what led to the brand’s name: Fifty skilled individuals are involved with the production of every shirt. Customers can buy its ready-to-wear at 145 stockists across the globe, including
“In both cases, we hand-draw the patterns and hand-cut [fabric] individually,” Jain says. “In the Black Line, we hand-sew the fronts, the collar attachment, gussets, and the sleeves. In the Gold Line, we [hand-] sew everything that we think is beautiful to show.” Which effectively means that nearly everything is done by hand and the quality of stitching is so fine you can struggle to see it without a magnifying glass. Black Line shirts start at $345 and require around 16 hours to produce, while a Gold Line shirt—yours for $495 or more—benefits from up to 36 hours of handwork. (The esteemed Parisian shirtmaker
In addition to quality, 100Hands is also committed to retaining staff. Rather than being paid per piece—which is common in Indian clothing manufacturing and incentivizes speed over quality—employees are salaried. Pensions are provided for all staff, and health-care coverage extends to their immediate families. Clearly, it works: The business has developed so robustly that the couple have started to build another factory.
Some of India’s luxury-menswear operations have taken a longer route to competing on a global scale. In the case of
The pair set up a workshop in Chennai, a city on India’s southeast coast, and dispatched London tailors to teach the new hires. The plan wasn’t without its challenges. “It took a long time to get to the point where we were really happy with the quality,” Suresh notes.
Yet after four years of training their Indian team and getting the product just right, the brothers made the Chennai workshop the production facility for the company’s Classic Bespoke garments, whose component parts are cut by hand in Mayfair and sent east to be sewn. Prices for a two-piece suit start at $4,100. (For clients who want everything made in London, it also offers what it calls a Savile Row Bespoke alternative that starts at $6,500, even though the brand is not located on tailoring’s most famous street. For comparison, the suits from
The Ramakrishnans attribute their success to a sort of workroom buddy system. Of Whitcomb’s 28 tailors in India, around half are now experienced master tailors who each supervise one or two apprentices, which encourages staff to pass on knowledge. It also helps to ensure maximum consistency for clients, who can place orders in London or get measured during one of the team’s regular trips to New York, Boston, and Beverly Hills.
“We have complete control over quality and our method,” says Mahesh. “We always try and keep the same coat-maker for the same customer—if the customer’s happy with the coat, we always try and keep that.”
To keep the staff happy and focused on the highest level of craftsmanship, the company offers salaries, as well as health care and similar benefits to those of 100Hands. “If we pay a piece rate, subconsciously, staff are motivated to produce more, and quality takes a back seat,” Mahesh says. “The only thing we care about is quality. That’s been our mantra from day one.”
India’s up-and-coming luxury brands can dress you from head to toe. Founded in 2011,
Kolandaiveedu’s environmental-studies focus has come in handy for increasing the business’s efficiency and eco-friendliness. “I started a project early on to make us a close-to-zero-waste factory,” he says. Now, 93 percent of Bridlen’s raw materials is either recycled or repurposed, and the factory doesn’t create any chemical waste. “I was able to call up the right people to make sure that these products had a proper end-of-life disposal system,” Kolandaiveedu adds.
What Bridlen has achieved in a relatively short period is impressive. Its made-to-order goods, which are sold online directly to consumers, borrow from the aesthetic and construction of true bespoke shoes. Take the
Their business model allows for the flexibility to do just that, at the same time keeping prices relatively low. Whereas a Western heritage brand such as
“Mr. Watanabe kept reminding me, ‘Don’t expect to be
Set against the full landscape of India’s clothing output, these brands are just dots on the map, but they reinforce a valuable lesson. “Don’t paint a whole country with one brushstroke,” says Suresh Ramakrishnan of Whitcomb & Shaftesbury. “There will always be pockets of excellence.”
For centuries, the fashion industry has relied on “Made in Italy” or “Made in England” labels to imply a garment’s superiority, as though only Italians can produce good shoes or Brits can tailor fine suits. In a globalized society, it’s an entirely reductive view of luxury menswear.
“People said the same thing about Italian wine,” Suresh notes. “They pooh-poohed that and then did the same thing with Californian wine until it won the blind tasting Judgment of Paris—it took a blind tasting to open people’s eyes.” Fortunately, you can see just how good India’s burgeoning menswear is with your eyes wide open.