Tailors?

[joggarn]

Hia!
New to this forum. Been in BA for a month and planing on staying another. Do you guyses know if there are any englishspeaking tailors in the city? And if so, how much would it set you back to get a business suit sewn.

 

[sergio]

Are you talking about made-to-measure suits? If the tailor speaks English he will charge you a LOT more than he would a local. The only possible way to get a fair price for made-to-measure suits is to go with an Argentine who is willing to negotiate and even then it will be tough because the tailor will know that you, a foreigner, can pay more. Why don't you go to any of the James Smart branches around town? You can get a very nice ready made suit for under 1,000 pesos.

 

[Elpanada]

Lets for a second assume that this is the case that this tailor is going to acctually do that, charge you a bundle more then he would a local brother of his then simply have some Argentine call him before hand tell him his size more or less and what he wants ask for a price and then end the conversation ohh yeah this is for my friend....

 

[sergio]

It seldom works that way. If you call the tailor is likely to say "come in" and we can discuss it. If you press him for prices he will give vague numbers but say that it depends on the fabric, various details etc. Even if he give some price he will very likely later come up with a justification for a higher price - the cheaper fabric is not in stock, etc. You can argue that it doesn't work this way however it usually DOES work this way.

 

[Elpanada]

It seldom works that way. If you call the tailor is likely to say "come in" and we can discuss it. If you press him for prices he will give vague numbers but say that it depends on the fabric, various details etc. Even if he give some price he will very likely later come up with a justification for a higher price - the cheaper fabric is not in stock, etc. You can argue that it doesn't work this way however it usually DOES work this way.

If it does I'd love to go through that bs and to waste that tailors time only to say Ahhh gracias adios.

 

[joggarn]

Thats exactly what I was trying to avoid. I´ll check out the James Smart instead for sure. Cheers mate.

 

[VMSmith]

There is a tailor shop down on 25 de Mayo, just a few doors south of Corrientes I believe, that appears to make bespoke suits. I've walked by a few times and seen the guy drawing patterns on bolts of wool and cutting patterns with scissors, so I assume that's what they're doing.

 

[RWS]

V. M. Smith is right. The shop is Carbone Hmos., the oldest tailor's in Bs.As. and one of the best: "Lito" cuts very well. Equally good is Cheverny, in Cerrito, near the French embassy. Prices for the making of clothing are clearly posted in each shop and are pretty much identical between the two; to them, one need add only the cost of the cloth (the customer may furnish his own): so, at least in the best tailor's shops, there's no real need for concern that the customer will be cheated.
If anyone's interested in details, he may read my review of porteño tailors on the website, < www.thelondonlounge.net >.