Sauce
Well-Known Member
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Tie it over his hair when its windy?
Unbiased Feedback: The DressedWell Reviews Thread
- Thread starter Grand Potentate
- Start date
formby002
Identifies as a Barn Owl
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See it as a stylish accessory.
I've originally allocated funds for 3 ties when my annual budget was exceeded by 150% pre-tie.
Unfortunately Sarto has identified my weakness of having very little self-control. I can't narrow the purchase to under 7 ties despite exercising great restraint. But I now pledge that I won't be adding anything to the order, even if any of my chosen fabrics is out of stock.
I've probably worn ties less than 10 times in the past 2.5 years but this supposedly harmless adventure has reignited my eager to wear ties. Several wedding hosts have already specifically told me not to wear a tie but I'll do my best to wear them more. If that means I have to wear ties at home then so be it
Unfortunately Sarto has identified my weakness of having very little self-control. I can't narrow the purchase to under 7 ties despite exercising great restraint. But I now pledge that I won't be adding anything to the order, even if any of my chosen fabrics is out of stock.
I've probably worn ties less than 10 times in the past 2.5 years but this supposedly harmless adventure has reignited my eager to wear ties. Several wedding hosts have already specifically told me not to wear a tie but I'll do my best to wear them more. If that means I have to wear ties at home then so be it
Sauce
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Ha, its not just me then. I was going to order 3 the first time but Sarto cunningly kept sending more pictures of cloths. Think I ended up with 6 and another two cloths saved. Then he got me with the madders. Thinking about it now, thats 5 of the madders and the two saved on order. Is this your first order with him LeFoo? Did you go with 3 or 7 folds?I've originally allocated funds for 3 ties when my annual budget was exceeded by 150% pre-tie.
Unfortunately Sarto has identified my weakness of having very little self-control. I can't narrow the purchase to under 7 ties despite exercising great restraint. But I now pledge that I won't be adding anything to the order, even if any of my chosen fabrics is out of stock.
I've probably worn ties less than 10 times in the past 2.5 years but this supposedly harmless adventure has reignited my eager to wear ties. Several wedding hosts have already specifically told me not to wear a tie but I'll do my best to wear them more. If that means I have to wear ties at home then so be it
This is my first time with him. I chose the fabrics but I haven't exactly ordered yet - Sarto is checking the stock. I've told Sarto to go 7 fold, unless any fabric I've chosen benefits from having other constructions, and he seems to think 7 fold is just the best. But with this purchase speed I'll probably have to buy the cloths and fold them myself.
Originally I was just randomly asking if he's still making ties to keep up with the news. He then contacted me saying he does - then I thought to give it a go and get 3 ties for shipping discount just for laughs (camel tie!!!) and to share with you guys. From the old posts I feel like he probably knows what he's talking about, just very crazy. And I want to believe he's a good person deep down that probably could use some support.
Then he just kept sending me pictures of cloths. The photos are good enough to spark interest, but unclear enough that you have to really stare at them to try to guess the textures and colours. I almost suspect this is intentional. Next thing I know I'm spending 3 hours daily looking at his pictures, making excel spreadsheets, and doing research.
Also, he doesn't carry something that's exactly what I wanted. This means I don't have a few things to just pick up and leave. I ended up having this huge pool of things to choose from. I'm already lucky that I am quite adverse to big / distant patterns and bright colours, but narrowing down from 40 ties to 3 is just impossible.
I ended up not choosing the camel tie because it just looks super thick in the pics, and I already have other options in hand. A little unfortunate that I can't find Shantung or cashmere that I like. My strategy now is to grab one from each fabric type so that I can actually feel how they behave in real life. I've taken some risks in my choices, hopefully it ends well.
Sauce
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The silks are super airy, really nice ties. I think you'll enjoy them.
Well they must be really good since you've ordered the second time already!
fxh
OG Party Suit Wearer
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fxh
OG Party Suit Wearer
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I have over 200 very nice silk ties. Two years ago i separated them so that the top 10 are the only ones out.
I now haven’t worn a tie at all for over 6 months.
fxh
OG Party Suit Wearer
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Happy to post pics but I suspect overseas post would be a killer
fxh
OG Party Suit Wearer
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I suspect no future for ties.
100%. Probably should move to the tie thread though.
Pimpernel Smith
Tone Deaf Daddy
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Haven't seen anyone in a tie, except for myself, since the start of lockdown.
It's not looking good on the shoe front either, unless you believe white sneakers are actually classed as oxford brogues.
QuandoDio
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It is indeed on the way out. Last time I wore a tie was five weeks ago for a wedding of about 200 guests.
I was one of three people wearing a tie. The groom wasn't even wearing a tie!!
Sauce
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When I'm in my local theres two or three guys in ties in. Oddy the same number as those in trousers and not jeans.
Grand Potentate
Supporter of Possible Sexual Deviants
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Yessssssssssssssssss
RepeatingPattern
Well-Known Member
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Agreed. Sad, but if it means less “fun” ties, I’m all for it.
Sauce
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Just got a copy of Plaza Uomo *no.15. I only got it to satisfy my curiosity and wasn't really expecting a lot, due to being very disappointed with mens fashion magazines in the past.
Its really good. Well written and interesting articles. Couple of fuff pieces, Peter Zottolo's how to dress down the suit is pretty novice (PU give his occupation as Journalist, fair play to him if he's got out of the building game.) Niklas Nystrom's, One Year in Menswear is also quite novice with advice on bespoke choices, though to be fair the title would suggest the article is aimed at someone venturing into bespoke for the first time.
Great articles on; Cad & Dandy, Simon Cathcart, Alexandru Mafteis, Antonio Liverano, a San Fran tailoring outfit called Tailors Keep, Jacques Marie Mage, Crowley Vintage, NYC and interesting fashion shoots. A great "coffee table" magazine.
All in all really enjoyable.
Its really good. Well written and interesting articles. Couple of fuff pieces, Peter Zottolo's how to dress down the suit is pretty novice (PU give his occupation as Journalist, fair play to him if he's got out of the building game.) Niklas Nystrom's, One Year in Menswear is also quite novice with advice on bespoke choices, though to be fair the title would suggest the article is aimed at someone venturing into bespoke for the first time.
Great articles on; Cad & Dandy, Simon Cathcart, Alexandru Mafteis, Antonio Liverano, a San Fran tailoring outfit called Tailors Keep, Jacques Marie Mage, Crowley Vintage, NYC and interesting fashion shoots. A great "coffee table" magazine.
All in all really enjoyable.
fxh
OG Party Suit Wearer
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- 8,738
some bongo player
Well-Known Member
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- 134
I like The Windsor - Tie Rack.
Agreed. I also like the navy with small white squares. The Gold Jazz one also looks very cheap, but it may have potential. Not sure.
Disappeared for a long while. After 4-5 months and 160+ email back and forth, I've finally received my ties from Sarto.
But I'm too disappointed to take clear pictures now so only uploading the first pic I took of them out of the box.
Might give a more detailed write up when have time and motivation.
Disappointment stems from the fact that it's not what I want at all.
My problem statement is that I'm a short, and my torso ratio is very short. This means standard ties don't work well for me, and even "short" ties are not necessarily short enough. My goal is to have nice ties to do four in hands with; I could do slightly larger knots with other ties but sometimes it's bulkier than I'd like for what I'm going for. Based on my calculation I need ties to 135-140cm; to be conservative I asked for 138-140cm (a range since I know it won't be 100% precise). The ties arrived at 144-150cms. With this length there is no reason for me to go bespoke, especially for what I've gone through (briefly mentioned below). My guess is he wrote "140" on his note and misunderstood his own writing as "146". Width is correct though.
I've told Sarto this with some bad measuring pictures and he has just replied saying he'd pay for shipping to get if fixed (received reply midway of writing this).
Brief comments:
Fabrics: all very nice. Silk ones are at least on par with, and probably better than my Hermes ones.
Handwork: I'm not an expert so not sure what to expect. Can tell they're clearly hand folded due to tie tip not being perfectly centred. Many spots look "imperfect". Below are some more noticeable ones.
- The narrow part of the pink one seems to be folded in unevenly.
- The wool one is more off centre than others; you can almost tell for sure the mistake is one side being folded in too much and pressed; reason being the back of the blade wants to expand itself and you can see that it's "correct" when one side of the blade is folded in less.
- The navy one (best length at 144cm) has a "hook" in the tip of the front blade. This happens because one side is folded in way more than the other. Looks ridiculous.
To be honest I don't really have high standards and am not too bothered by these imperfections. All I want is ties with decent length. Even the stupid navy hook I might turn a blind eye if the length was good.
Cut: can't say if it's special, but pretty nice.
Construction: Probably the nicest thing next to the fabric. Ties are light and feel elegant. Because of the thinness, larger knots look less bulky than other ties, so the ties are not unwearable for me at this length, just not what I want.
Others: From the pics I thought the pink tie was red. The grenadine tie I ordered burgundy but it came looking more like brown.
Ordering process:
In short, Sarto is a very nice guy. If you treat it as an experience you'd be mildly amused/annoyed; if you treat it like a purchase you'd be infuriated. I'm the former and still don't dislike Sarto.
Every issue you can expect to happen in a small business has occurred so many times it's almost comical. I live in a city and work in finance; I can't imagine what the business model is for these things to happen. I think Sarto literally works in a dungeon. With no exaggeration, if the whole process happened via letters + pigeons cross continent it wouldn't have been any less reliable or efficient. I don't have time to detail everything that has happened so I'll write briefly.
Initial communication: quick turnaround and reasonably good explanation of process for a sole proprietorship.
Fabric picking: extremely cumbersome. There is no way to track which fabric is in stock so many fabrics I picked went out of stock, so there was many re-choosing. Scanned swatches are slightly better; pictures he sends are so unclear it's impossible to tell colours / textures for sure. This process took very long, I literally thought of flying to Naples and teach him build a warehouse management methodology and communication tool. It's so time-consuming and inefficient I worry more about Sarto's business than my order.
Actual ordering: Unexpectedly hard. I've sent over my order details 5-10 times and somehow he keeps forgetting and I keep needing to correct him. Even at the final moment he was showing me completely wrong fabrics asking me if these were mine.
Delivery: Unexpectedly hard. For some reason he's asking for very personal information that are not required. Something wrong with the person helping him export items. In the end it got delivered without those information.
To be fair, he informed me one of his seamstresses had some major family incidents which had impact on the production timeframe, and many other mistakes might have been contributed to that. Sarto is also always very apologetic and willing to respond about every inconvenience or mistake. These being said, what happened happened. The process is not for the faint-hearted and much improvement is needed for the business to sustain.
But I'm too disappointed to take clear pictures now so only uploading the first pic I took of them out of the box.
Might give a more detailed write up when have time and motivation.
Disappointment stems from the fact that it's not what I want at all.
My problem statement is that I'm a short, and my torso ratio is very short. This means standard ties don't work well for me, and even "short" ties are not necessarily short enough. My goal is to have nice ties to do four in hands with; I could do slightly larger knots with other ties but sometimes it's bulkier than I'd like for what I'm going for. Based on my calculation I need ties to 135-140cm; to be conservative I asked for 138-140cm (a range since I know it won't be 100% precise). The ties arrived at 144-150cms. With this length there is no reason for me to go bespoke, especially for what I've gone through (briefly mentioned below). My guess is he wrote "140" on his note and misunderstood his own writing as "146". Width is correct though.
I've told Sarto this with some bad measuring pictures and he has just replied saying he'd pay for shipping to get if fixed (received reply midway of writing this).
Brief comments:
Fabrics: all very nice. Silk ones are at least on par with, and probably better than my Hermes ones.
Handwork: I'm not an expert so not sure what to expect. Can tell they're clearly hand folded due to tie tip not being perfectly centred. Many spots look "imperfect". Below are some more noticeable ones.
- The narrow part of the pink one seems to be folded in unevenly.
- The wool one is more off centre than others; you can almost tell for sure the mistake is one side being folded in too much and pressed; reason being the back of the blade wants to expand itself and you can see that it's "correct" when one side of the blade is folded in less.
- The navy one (best length at 144cm) has a "hook" in the tip of the front blade. This happens because one side is folded in way more than the other. Looks ridiculous.
To be honest I don't really have high standards and am not too bothered by these imperfections. All I want is ties with decent length. Even the stupid navy hook I might turn a blind eye if the length was good.
Cut: can't say if it's special, but pretty nice.
Construction: Probably the nicest thing next to the fabric. Ties are light and feel elegant. Because of the thinness, larger knots look less bulky than other ties, so the ties are not unwearable for me at this length, just not what I want.
Others: From the pics I thought the pink tie was red. The grenadine tie I ordered burgundy but it came looking more like brown.
Ordering process:
In short, Sarto is a very nice guy. If you treat it as an experience you'd be mildly amused/annoyed; if you treat it like a purchase you'd be infuriated. I'm the former and still don't dislike Sarto.
Every issue you can expect to happen in a small business has occurred so many times it's almost comical. I live in a city and work in finance; I can't imagine what the business model is for these things to happen. I think Sarto literally works in a dungeon. With no exaggeration, if the whole process happened via letters + pigeons cross continent it wouldn't have been any less reliable or efficient. I don't have time to detail everything that has happened so I'll write briefly.
Initial communication: quick turnaround and reasonably good explanation of process for a sole proprietorship.
Fabric picking: extremely cumbersome. There is no way to track which fabric is in stock so many fabrics I picked went out of stock, so there was many re-choosing. Scanned swatches are slightly better; pictures he sends are so unclear it's impossible to tell colours / textures for sure. This process took very long, I literally thought of flying to Naples and teach him build a warehouse management methodology and communication tool. It's so time-consuming and inefficient I worry more about Sarto's business than my order.
Actual ordering: Unexpectedly hard. I've sent over my order details 5-10 times and somehow he keeps forgetting and I keep needing to correct him. Even at the final moment he was showing me completely wrong fabrics asking me if these were mine.
Delivery: Unexpectedly hard. For some reason he's asking for very personal information that are not required. Something wrong with the person helping him export items. In the end it got delivered without those information.
To be fair, he informed me one of his seamstresses had some major family incidents which had impact on the production timeframe, and many other mistakes might have been contributed to that. Sarto is also always very apologetic and willing to respond about every inconvenience or mistake. These being said, what happened happened. The process is not for the faint-hearted and much improvement is needed for the business to sustain.
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Pimpernel Smith
Tone Deaf Daddy
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- 10,809
Didn't know that G-Star was a Dutch brand, but took a chance on these and they didn't disappoint:
www.g-star.com
www.g-star.com
They're slim fitting, but plenty of room on the thigh and high rise too. Sure they've got logos and G-Star written on the back, but with a polo looks good.
On the basis of the above, I decided to get these as well, as they look like pants the Y.M.O. would be wearing circa '81/82, a real 80s vibe:
www.g-star.com
Again didn't disappoint, they're not pants I'd wear to go anywhere, but around the house, double comfy.
Bronson 2.0 Slim Chino | Beige | G-Star RAW®
Chino Bronson 2.0 is de nieuwste G-Star RAW interpretatie van een slim fit chino. De naden langs de zijnaden versterken de slim fit. Een coin pocket is naar het midden verplaatst en in de tailleband is er een extra zak verborgen. Steekzakken met een brede bies maken de chino look compleet.
www.g-star.com
Bronson 2.0 Slim Chino | Groen | G-Star RAW®
Chino Bronson 2.0 is de nieuwste G-Star RAW interpretatie van een slim fit chino, verstevigd met speciaal ontwikkelde zomen die aansluiten op de zijnaad. De coin pocket is naar het midden geplaatst en in de tailleband is er een extra zak verborgen. Ruime paspelzakken maken de chinolook compleet.
www.g-star.com
They're slim fitting, but plenty of room on the thigh and high rise too. Sure they've got logos and G-Star written on the back, but with a polo looks good.
On the basis of the above, I decided to get these as well, as they look like pants the Y.M.O. would be wearing circa '81/82, a real 80s vibe:
Unisex Worker Chino Relaxed | Groen | G-Star RAW®
De Chino Worker heeft een loose fit en een ruime, geplooide voorkant. Aan de opening van een van de insteekzakken is een coin pocket verborgen. De vierkante achterzakken hebben een opgenaaide knoopsluiting. De broek heeft omgeslagen pijpen. Uitvouwen voor normale lengte.
www.g-star.com
Again didn't disappoint, they're not pants I'd wear to go anywhere, but around the house, double comfy.