We are constantly asked the question, is a suit made in the UK better than one made abroad, and the answer is always assumed to be yes, but it’s just not that simple.
The reason it’s always assumed to be the UK is down to price and perception. Made in the UK tends to be more expensive, and there is a false sense of quality given to garments made in the UK owing to that higher price tag as well as misconceptions about the general quality of items made abroad.
Let’s look at the reasons for the price difference and we’ll talk about which is best later. So the reason for the price difference between the UK and having an item made abroad might be first and foremost because of the service level that you’ve chosen.
If you’re buying made to measure AKA semi-bespoke or custom (and by the way sometimes referred to as Bespoke – we’ve written an article to clear up the difference you can find here) then it is highly likely that your item will be being made abroad. And so it’s natural, that those items would cost less than full bespoke items, whether that full-bespoke item was made abroad or in the UK. So the service level for one might be the reason why an item made abroad costs less. Also, it might be the case that a bespoke suit made abroad would actually be more expensive than a made to measure suit made in the UK.
The second thing is the price of labour. The price of labour abroad, might be, and is quite likely to be, less than the cost of labour in the UK. Which brings us on to the third thing, which is the cost of living. It’s not necessarily the case, that the price of labour is lower because the quality of labour is lower. Actually, often the reason the price of labour is lower is because the cost of living is lower.
So for instance, in some Eastern European countries, you can live on an average British wage for five months, as opposed to just one month in the UK. So, we’ve covered off the perspective of the employee, the tailor, but what about the cost of doing business in a foreign country? Well owing to less bureaucracy, red tape and better scales of economy and sometimes even better standards of technology this can also represent a saving which is passed onto the end consumer in the form of a lower price.
So let’s cover off some misconceptions. There really is NOT a skill imbalance, as far as I’ve been able to tell over the years. It is not the case that a product made abroad is somehow not as good as a product made in the UK, when comparing apples with apples. When comparing a made-to-measure suit from abroad with a made-to-measure suit from the UK, or a bespoke suit from abroad with a bespoke suit from the UK. There doesn’t tend to be a skill in balance.
The bottom line is there are good examples of suits made abroad, and there are good examples of suits made in the UK, whilst there are many bad examples of suits made abroad, similarly, there are many bad examples of suits made in the UK – trust me I’ve seen them. In fact I’ve kept some particularly bad examples our customers have given us in the store room for reference. We’re also often asked about specific countries. No specific country is any better than any other so far as I can tell. A tailor, is a tailor, is a tailor, no matter where they’re from. And in fact, many of the tailors working in some of the top Savile Row houses are poached from abroad.
So unfortunately this is a debate that will rumble on and on and on, and is almost as old as tailoring is itself. I can’t give a definitive answer, anymore than the next person can. But what I can say is that it is imperative that you invest your time and energy into a tailor that helps you compare apples with apples, and helps you make the decision for yourself. After all many tailoring houses have a made abroad, and a made in the UK option, including most of those on Savile Row and us.