Thomas Mason fabrics and the impressive development of Indochino

Indochino is developing quickly. Just a few days ago, they introduced Thomas Mason fabrics for their shirts. Only a few years ago, the Indochino guys themselves didn't really know if their fabrics were wool or polyester. They sold their suits below $300 and talking about Reda or Thomas Mason fabrics would have been inconceivable. I remember readers were already protesting loudly when there was no coupon for a free shirt, a free tie and 20% off available for a few weeks - and I agreed with them, back then. 

How things have changed. Look at Indochino today: digital cutting, professional pop-up stores, Reda fabrics, suits that sell for $600 (Vincero Line) and now Thomas Mason shirts for $149. That company is developing fantastically. They surely lost a number of their bargain seeking clientele along the way, but they successfully tapped into new customer groups, willing to pay more. 

There have been a couple of major improvements that are perhaps not that obvious, but still very much worth mentioning, especially when you compare it to just a few months ago.

1. All linings are now made of Bemberg. Previously, Bemberg lining has been only available for the Vincero line. In the normal suits, the lining used to be polyester until a few weeks ago! A big improvement, Bemberg is a far more breathable fabric and just much higher quality.
2. BWF collar felts on all suits. Again, this is a major improvement.
3. Real bullhorn buttons. A bit of a grey area before, at least for me. Clearly declared as bullhorn now.
4. Helsa shoulder pads from Germany. Not sure what was used before, but Helsa has a really good name in the industry. Indochino's shoulders were always a bit of a problematic area, but this should really be solved now.
5. Construction. Now using Freudenberg components (I guess the interlining). Well, this is a little bit more tricky. Remember Indochino uses their own kind of method, somehow between fusing and half-canvas. Well, it is still unique and now - I am sure the components are of good quality, but why not offer a proper full canvas upgrade? They also mention the construction is lighter now, there have been some issues reported on the forum lately about just that (thread 1, thread 2).

Together with the most recent overhaul of their website, they are without a doubt the major player in the online MTM tailor business by a very long stretch. The website has two main new parts:

Indochino Suits:
Learn everything about how Indochino works, their fabrics, customisation options nicely visualised and much more.

Indochino Shirts:
Same for shirts, go through the customisation options, check how the monogram will look like - really well done.

The shirt bundle deal is still available and now it an altered version also applicable to the shirts. Use SHIRTBUNDLES at checkout to get two premium shirts for $269 or three regular shirts for $229. Also, watch out for a Black Friday sale, I hear they have something nice in store for everyone this year. 

What do you think about the new shirts and the general development of Indochino?

New Vincero suits and paisley shirts from Indochino

I've been missing out on a couple of introductions to Indochino's suits and shirts lately, so let's take a look and see what happened in the past few days.

Indochino Paisley (and patterned) Shirts - who would dare wearing it?

Paisley Shirts - wearable or not?

Unwearable in my opinion, both as a dress shirt and as a casual shirt. The tie with the clip in combination with the pattern just looks out of place. What do you think? Is that a look someone could pull off and I am perhaps just too conservative? Very interested in hearing your thoughts on these shirts. 

Vincero Collection gets expanded to 13 suits in total - worth the price?

The Vincero Collection has developed in an interesting way - when they started, I didn't give them much chance, thought they were overpriced. They ran a couple of promotions on it and I saw that as a sign that they were selling slowly. However, Indochino kept introducing more Vincero suits over time and by now the selection has grown to 13 suits. As mentioned in an earlier post, I had ordered one of the Vincero suits and received it 2 weeks ago. I have since worn it 3 times and it's probably going to be my new favorite suit - the fabric is extremely nice. Will have a review up sooner or later - hopefully rather sooner!

Indochino Brown Vincero Suit - 599$

Anyway, they added a couple of new Vincero suits again, you can check the whole selection here. Of the new additions I somehow really like the Brown Vincero Suit a lot. Sure, at 599$ it is not exactly cheap, but if you don't have any fit issues, the great fabric, Bemberg lining etc. is quite worth it in my opinion.

What else happened?

Indochino (just like me) discovered Pinterest and ran a competition. As you know, their Traveling Tailor is coming to Calgary on March 6th and judging from their Facebook page, it's going to be overrun - at least 460 people are going to get measured up. Double-breasted suits should come with one of their next collections and the spring collection (most likely again linen suits) will be released towards the end of March. Lots of things to look forward to!

Indochino Vincero suits and the "Rat Pack" make a comeback

Do you remember the 2011 Indochino Vincero Collection (covered on my blog here)? It generated quite a bit of buzz last September. Vincero stands for premium Italian Reda fabrics, Bemberg lining and collar felts sourced from Germany. Vincero also stands for the highest prices Indochino ever asked for their suits, the most expensive one initially sold for 829$ - a couple of Vincero deals with nice discounts surfaced soon after.

Indochino Vincero Charcoal Prince of Wales Suit - 599$

It seems that at the end, sales of the first Vincero Collection were quite ok after all, or Indochino just decided to give the premium line another shot and test the waters again. The new Vincero suits introduced earlier this week are priced more competitive at 599$. You are probably asking yourself if it's worth it. I guess there is no simple answer for it. Reda fabric is top quality, there is no doubt about that. Bemberg lining is something you might notice too, it should breath better than the standard polyester lining, especially in hotter climates. I am not sure if or how one would actively notice the better collar felts. If you got your fit down and you can afford it, these are surely great suits. 

Especially the Charcoal Prince of Wales and the Mini Houndstooth have a great and timeless pattern that stands out from the many solid colored suits. However, if you are just starting to build your wardrobe, you might be better of with a suit from their Essential collection. The fabric is not bad either, sourced from China, but from what I hear Chinese fabric mills have greatly improved in quality over the last years.

Indochino Vincero Mini Houndstooth Suit - 599$

In addition, there is also a nice Vincero pinstripe suit and also two pants made from Reda fabric that might be of interest to some of you - a pair of brown dress pants and a pair of gray ones.

The other new suit is a is a pretty cool blue one, The Blue Sharkskin Suit. In case you were wondering, here's a bit background on sharkskin fabric. As you probably guessed, it is luckily not made of endangered shark's skin, the term merely describes a special way of weaving the wool. Sharkskin suits were made famous by the Rat Pack in the early 1960s, went in and out of fashion and it seems the fabric en vogue again these days. I could swear I read about it just some days ago in GQ or Esquire, can't remember. If you want to know more, there is a lot of information on quora.com.

Indochino Blue Sharkskin suit aka. the Rat Pack Suit - 399$

In any case, in my opinion the Indochino Blue Sharkskin Suit is really cool and at 399$ also quite affordable. Now that I'm thinking about it, an Indochino Rat Pack collection could actually be interesting, right?