Harley Earl, who ran styling at General Motors, chose Eliel and Eero Saarinen to design the Technical Center. He wasn’t an architect. He knew precisely what he wanted the place to say and found the people who could execute it, which is a different and underrated skill, and it’s the skill a man needs when he orders a custom suit.
What the customer supplies
Intent. What the suit is for, how often it will be worn, what room it has to work in, what he has disliked about previous suits. That information is worth more than any preference about buttons.
What the maker supplies
Everything else. Ben takes twenty measurements himself, and the cloth comes from Reda, Zegna, VBC, Marzotto or Style Biella; narrowing five mills to one bolt is a job for someone who handles them daily.
The division of labour
Custom starts at $599, with two or three fittings and Roman, master tailor at Lincoln Tailor, on site in our store, at the last; its length depends on the cloth, production scheduling and the fittings, so ask Ben for the current timeline for your date. It goes wrong when a customer tries to art-direct the construction, and it goes right when he states the brief clearly and then gets out of the way.
More on custom suits, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
