Bespoke suits
Two fittings and two to three days: a bespoke suit in Bangkok
How many fittings a suit needs, what happens at each, and how long the whole thing takes. Numbers, not adjectives.
- 4.8 from 22 Google reviews
- Tailoring in Bangkok since 2011
- Suits from 6,000 THB
01
Two fittings as standard
Two, not one. One fitting tells you whether a suit fits; two tell you whether the correction worked, and those are different questions. Both fittings happen in the shop, in the order every bespoke suit cut from your pattern follows:
- Measure and draft the pattern. You are measured, and the measurements become a paper pattern drawn for your body — nothing adjusted from an existing block.
- The basted fitting. The suit is tacked together with temporary stitches and you stand in it while corrections are marked in chalk, on you, before anything is sewn.
- The second fitting. The finished suit, checked for length, break and balance with the shoes you will wear.
- Collection. The finished suit, pressed and ready.
The basted fitting
A basted fitting is the suit before it is sewn: the pieces held with long temporary stitches rather than permanent ones, so a shoulder or a sleeve can still be opened and moved. You put it on and stand in it while shoulder, chest, collar, sleeve hang and trouser break are looked at and marked in chalk, on you rather than guessed from a measurement. It’s the garment tacked together and adjusted on the customer, and it is where the real corrections are found — cheapest to make here, before anything is sewn.
What happens at the second
The suit is made. What is left is length, break and balance — judged on a body, with the shoes you will wear. If something larger is still wrong, this is when it is caught rather than after you have taken it home.
Measuring can happen away from the shop if that is easier — being measured where you are staying covers what that changes and what it does not.
Both fittings are at the shop, and the walk to it is set out on a page for each place nearby: MBK Center, BACC, Siam Discovery, Siam Center, Siam Square and Siam Paragon.
02
Two to three days
Two to three days on the bench once the pattern is cut. A pattern is drafted and a basted fitting corrected before the bench work starts, and both of those take time. That is the making; the calendar around it depends on when you can come back for the fittings. Most people are measured on one visit, fitted a few days later and collect after the second fitting. If you have a fixed date — a wedding, a flight, an interview — work backwards from it and tell us the date at the order rather than at the end.
Where the time actually goes: the cutting and the bench work are the fixed part, and the fittings are the variable one. A suit for someone who is in Bangkok all week finishes sooner than the identical suit for someone who can only come back on Saturday, and nothing about the garment is different. The calendar is set by your availability more than by the work.
If the finished suit still is not right, if it does not fit sets out what happens next. Alterations to a garment you already own run on their own timetable: how quickly alterations come back.
03
When it can be faster
It can be a great deal faster. The shop runs a twelve-hour express for people who are flying out, and it is a real service rather than a slogan: a suit made inside a day sets out what happens inside the twelve hours and, more usefully, what is not skipped. Speed costs you the second fitting, and a second fitting is the thing that catches what the first one missed.
04
Booking the first one
You do not need an appointment to book the first one; it takes three steps.
- Walk in at BTS National Stadium, exits 3 and 4, open 10am to 9pm every day.
- Be measured and choose the cloth.
- Agree the date of the first fitting before you leave.
Messaging first on WhatsApp is still worth it if you are on a deadline, coming as a group, or want to ask something before you travel — see what to bring.
Our bespoke work
Questions people ask
- How many fittings will I have?
- Two as standard. The first is on a basted suit whose seams can still be opened and moved, and it is where the real corrections are found. The second is on the finished garment, where the work is measured in millimetres and the length and break are settled with your own shoes on. Both of them are in the shop. If your dates only allow one, say so at the order rather than at the fitting, so the first one is treated as the last chance to catch anything structural.
- How long does a suit take?
- Two to three days on the bench once the pattern is cut. The calendar around that depends on when you can come back for the fittings: most people are measured on one visit, fitted a few days later, and collect after the second fitting. If you have a fixed date, work backwards from it and say so at the order rather than at the end. Shirts and trousers ordered at the same visit cost almost no extra time once you have been measured, which is why a second garment is worth considering while you are there.
- Why not just one fitting?
- Because one fitting tells you whether the suit fits, and two tell you whether the correction worked. Those are different questions. Skipping the first means the finished suit is the first one anybody has seen on you, and every change after that is an alteration rather than a cut. For anything with a date attached, that is the wrong trade. The first fitting is also where a correction is cheapest: a seam that can be opened and moved costs nothing, and the same change after finishing is an alteration.
- Can it be done faster?
- Yes. The shop runs a twelve-hour express for people who are flying out, and it is a real service rather than a slogan: your own pattern is still drafted and you are still fitted before the suit is finished. What you give up is the second fitting, which is the one that catches what the first one missed. Tell us the flight time as well as the date when you ask, because an arrival at nine in the morning and one at nine at night are different plans entirely.
- What happens at the first fitting?
- You put on a deliberately unfinished suit. The tailor looks at how it sits across the shoulders and chest, where the collar meets your neck, how the sleeve hangs and where the trouser breaks, and chalks the corrections on the garment while you are standing in it. Say what feels wrong at the time. Tight, loose, high and short are all useful words. Move your arms, sit down, and do up the jacket. A suit that fits standing still and pulls when you reach is a suit that has not been fitted properly.
- What should I bring to a fitting?
- The shoes you will wear with the suit, every time, including to the second fitting. Wear the kind of shirt you will wear under it. Bringing different shoes to each fitting is the commonest reason a trouser length ends up wrong. If a waistcoat is being made, it is fitted with the jacket over it, because what matters is where it ends relative to the trouser waistband.
- Do I need an appointment for a fitting?
- A date is agreed at the end of the previous visit, so you will already have one. If you need to move it, message on WhatsApp rather than just arriving later in the week, because a fitting that slips pushes everything behind it. The shop is open 10am to 9pm every day at BTS National Stadium, exits 3 and 4.
- What if I cannot come back for the second fitting?
- Say so at the order, not at the first fitting. If we know from the start that there is only one visit left, the first fitting is treated as the last chance to catch anything structural and the finishing is planned around that. Discovering it late is what turns a comfortable timetable into a rushed one. That is also the cost of the twelve-hour express, where the second look is the thing you gave up rather than the construction.
4.8 from 22 reviews on Google
What a customer said
5 out of 5 stars
We stumbled upon The Loft Tailors getting off the sky train going to MBK. The price of the suit was very competitive and the craftsmanship was great. My son went to the fitting appointment and needed slight adjustment. When we came back to fit again it was perfect. They also are very fast.
Visit the shop
BTS National Stadium Station Exit 3 & 4, Rama I Rd, Wang Mai, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330.Open 10am to 9pm, every day.