Robb James Pollard, and the house he built with a tailor in Brittany
Mr James is a European tailoring house at 221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey. Robb founded it in 2010 with Max, the house's French atelier, who has made every garment since in Southern Brittany. Sixteen years, the same two pairs of hands.
How it started
I am Robb Pollard. I am originally from England, and setting up and running Mr James has been a labour of love.
The house began in 2010, when I went into it with Max. Max is a tailor in Southern Brittany, and he is the reason any of this works. He makes every garment we sell — not a factory, not a partner workroom that also supplies four other labels. One atelier, in France, that we own.
I came to Los Angeles in 2015. We opened in Playa Vista in 2017 and moved to Playa del Rey in 2021, which is where you will find us now: a storefront on Culver Blvd with free parking in front and behind, which in this city counts for something.
The name is Mr James. The website is bespokemrjames.com only because that was the address available when we came to build it.
Why we say European rather than English
My training and my eye are English. The making is French. As far as we know that makes us the only genuinely European suitmaker in Los Angeles — not a house that imports cloth, but one whose garments are cut and made in Europe and fitted here.
There are other fine tailors in this city and I would happily send you to several of them. I am not going to pretend otherwise. What I do not think anyone here can match is the combination of the three things: our own atelier in France, full canvas as standard, and a two-piece that starts at $1,795.
Full canvas, and nothing else
Every suit we make is fully canvassed and fully bespoke. That is not a tier or an upgrade; it is the only thing we do.
A fully canvassed jacket has a layer of horsehair and wool floating between the cloth and the lining, attached by hand. Over the first months of wearing it takes the shape of your chest and then holds it. A fused jacket has that structure glued in. It looks much the same on the rail, it costs a good deal less to make, and it never moulds to anybody.
We do not offer made-to-measure. It is not that I look down on it — it is that a full-canvas bespoke suit from our own atelier starts at $1,795, which is where a great deal of made-to-measure already sits. I would rather make you the better garment.
Who you actually meet
Ben and me. That is the house. Whichever of us you see at the first consultation is one of the two people who will see the suit through to delivery, and you will not be handed to a salesperson and then to somebody else with a tape measure.
The first appointment takes an hour and costs nothing. We talk about what the suit is for, then you choose — cloth first, with the price of each one in front of you, then linings, buttons, detailing and a monogram if you want one. Then around thirty measurements, head to toe, and three photographs: front, side and back. Posture matters as much as dimensions. Most men stand with one shoulder lower than the other, and a pattern that ignores that produces a jacket that never sits right no matter how many times it is altered.
What it costs, plainly
A two-piece from $1,795. Three-piece from $2,045. Tuxedo from $1,795. Overcoat from $1,200. Odd trousers from $450. A custom shirt is $295. Alterations are $80 an hour, and free for the first year.
In the finer mills: Drago from $2,995, Zegna and Holland & Sherry from $3,495, Loro Piana from $3,995.
Price is set by the cloth. The making is identical at every level, unlimited fittings are included, and there is a year of complimentary alterations after delivery. Four to six weeks in domestic cloth, six to eight in imported Italian and English.
I publish these because almost nobody in Los Angeles does, and a man deciding where to spend two thousand dollars deserves to know before he walks in.
What I actually care about
How a man feels in the suit. That sounds soft for a trade built on chalk and shears, but it is the whole of it. A well-fitted suit changes how someone carries himself across a room, and I have watched it happen at the final fitting more times than I can count — the shoulders come down, the chin comes up, and the man in the mirror is the one he meant to be.
Whether it is your wedding day, a meeting that matters, or simply walking into a room and being seen properly: nothing beats a man in a suit that fits him and no one else.
Come and see us
We are appointment only, seven days a week, roughly nine until six, and we ask for forty-eight hours' notice. 221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey, CA 90293. Call 310-503-3592, or book a consultation. We also visit homes and offices anywhere in Los Angeles for $300, bringing cloth, linings and finished garments with us.
More on the process and the full price list is on the bespoke page. For black tie, see tuxedos. Grooms should start with wedding suits.