Report from Traveling Tailor Washington, DC – by Derrick Nguyen

Photos and write-up by Derrick Nguyen

I made an appointment for 8:00am on Wednesday initially, but with the fear of the incoming snow, I made another appointment for Tuesday at 8:15am. I was about fifteen minutes late as the DC Metro is probably the worst public transit system in the world, and therefore you can never count on it. Anyways, I showed up and they asked me for my name to check me in. I had to wait about 10 minutes before I was taken upstairs. While I was waiting they had coffee and other pastries along with some custom cups with “INDOCHINO” written on them. I forgot to snap a picture.

As I’m waiting, Nicole asks me a couple questions. She’s a world traveler type but she’s been with the company since December. She lives in Shanghai, where I think their second office was opened along with the manufacturing side. We’re discussing suits and she asks me about the flap that showed up on some of the latest pictures for their “Storm” line of suits. I told her that I didn’t like the addition, nor did I see its function. She asks me how many suits I have from their company and I surprise her, along with everyone when I tell them “7,” including the “Performance” line. I was ordering Indochino suits when I was still wearing an ETA based watch! I digress.

I go upstairs and Shayla(sp?) takes my initial measurements. She’s from the Dominican Republic, where I’ll be traveling to this Thursday, so we immediately start making small talk. She doesn’t work for Indochino, she’s a local consultant that they’ve hired for their Traveling Tailor. So she fits me for an initial jacket so we can make further adjustments. Chris is the “master tailor” in the house. He’s a younger guy that’s really tall. He comes over and introduces himself to me. He tells me he works out of the Vancouver main office and of course he’s dressed in a Vincero suit. The suit on him looks perfect so immediately he gains credibility when talking to me about fit. I peak down at his timepiece and shockingly he’s wearing a Guess watch.

I figure I’ll take his advice when it comes to fit but will closely monitor his style suggestions. He makes the additional adjustments and confirms Shayla’s measurements. He asks things like, do you sit down a lot, do you wear a watch and so on. It’s a great experience and he tells me that I have the “prototypical” body of how a suit is envisioned. I smirk because little did he know I did 100 pull-ups that morning. I’m now done with the measuring portion of my visit and I meet with Jabrari(sp?). He basically runs through the different types of suits and fabrics they have, but I stop him somewhat short. I know I want one of the new Nanotech suits, and I know I want charcoal with pinstripes. I see the sample they have hanging up and it’s perfect (http://www.indochino.com/product/the-gray-indigo-pinstripe-suit). The pinstripes are really subtle and it’s just what I’m looking for in a new suit. From the selection of the suit, we go onto the customizations. At this point, you’re basically going through the same process that you do online. I ask Jabrari’s opinions on some things and try to pull in anyone I can see. I’m not that flashy of a guy, so I stick to mostly basics. One thing to note is that for everyone that made an appointment got a free shirt with a suit purchase. This isn’t the best deal, but it’s something. I’m just glad I get a chance to get fitted by one of their tailors.

Jabrari walks me downstairs to their cashier which is the area I was originally greeted. I had some issues with my credit card accepting the charge because of the Canadian point of sale, but they wait while I call my card carrier and get it sorted out. While I’m on the phone with my credit card one of the associates hands me a utility kit with a tie(black), tie bar, measuring tape, cufflinks and a white pocket square. It’s a nice gesture, and I don’t tell them that I have three of these sitting in my closet at home. I’m not sure if all the visitors got one or just me. I’d like to think I was special but I highly doubt it. All in all it was a great experience. It took a little longer than I expected, about an hour, but it was well worth it.