For myself, it's difficult to deal with ordering a jacket without being able to try it on. It's usually the way the shoulders fit...and one manufacturer's 42 regular isn't the same as another's. I understand that stuff can be sent back...but that can be difficult just within the continental US, let alone overseas. There's the possibility of getting a tailor to alter things but my experience with a lot of them is that they do not want to mess with the shoulders of a jacket...somehow that's really difficult, even when you ask them to take some of the padding out of them to avoid that "Clark Kent" look where the shoulders of the jacket look exagerated. And it's easy to say, "Find another tailor," but I have to tell you that this has been my experience with just about every one that I've spoken to...who wants to make finding a tailor a full-time job?

Do any of the "Hong Kong" tailors operate like they used to twenty odd years ago...they guy that my family used would send out postcards ahead of time and announce when he'd be in town and where he'd be staying (usually for several days). You'd make an apointment, show up, get measured and look at fabrics and order your stuff. A couple of months later it would show up in the post and it was usually top-notch. Perhaps somebody should try to work something like that out: send a representative on a tour of the US with samples and a tape measure and take orders.

Like a lot of people, I don't mind spending money on something that's worth it...I just don't want to get into a situation where I'm going back and forth and searching for alterations. I haven't got the time or the patience.

best

Auld Argonian