Corporate and Team Suiting in Los Angeles

Mr James dresses teams as well as individuals. A law firm putting its partners into something consistent. A hotel or restaurant group that wants front of house to look like one house rather than seven. A brokerage whose agents are photographed constantly. A leadership team flying to a conference, an investor day, an awards night. The work is the same in each case: every person is measured on their own, has a pattern drawn for them, and is fitted until the garment is right.

We are a European tailoring house at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey, founded in 2010 and in Los Angeles since 2015. Everything is full canvas and fully bespoke, made by hand by Max, our atelier in Southern Brittany, France. Group and team commissions are quoted on the whole order rather than garment by garment, and that figure is settled in the first conversation. The bespoke process does not change because there are twelve people instead of one.

Who this is for

Partners whose suits have drifted apart over a decade of separate buying. Front of house at a hotel or a members' club, where a jacket is worn for nine hours and must survive it. Realtors and brokerage teams, who photograph more in a month than most people do in a year. Executive teams assembling for a photoshoot or an annual meeting, where six people stand in a line that is looked at closely. None of this is a wedding party, which sits on our groomsmen suits page. A corporate commission has different problems: daily rotation, and people who are not all shaped alike.

How a group commission actually runs

It runs one of two ways, and the choice is a question of diaries rather than tailoring. The first is a single visit to the showroom. The team arrives in sequence, half an hour or so apiece, and each person is measured and talked through cloth. Roughly thirty measurements are taken and three photographs, because a camera catches posture in a way a tape does not.

The second is that we come to the office. A conference room for a morning, the cloth books brought with us, and the team measured between meetings. For most firms this is the version that actually happens, and the terms are on we come to you. A visit includes travel and the full cloth selection. Either way a client meets Robb or Ben, and whoever measures you is the person who fits the garment later.

Keeping a team consistent without making it a uniform

This part is usually got wrong in both directions. Buy everyone the identical suit in stock sizes and you have a uniform that fits two of them. Let everyone choose freely and the photograph falls apart.

So we fix some things and leave others open. One cloth, or one colour family, across the team, with a common lapel width and button stance, so the jackets read as the same jacket from across a room. Then we leave alone whatever is governed by the body: jacket length, trouser rise, shoulder treatment, how much the waist is suppressed. A tall person with a long back and a short, broad person look as though they belong in the same company, because each pattern was drawn for the body inside it. We dress women as well as men, and a mixed team is handled on these same terms.

Cloth that stands up to daily wear and travel

A team suit is not an occasion suit and should not be chosen like one. We steer these commissions towards mid weight worsteds with a firm finish and some life in the yarn, which lets a jacket come out of a garment bag and settle rather than hold a crease. High twist worsteds are the workhorse for anyone who flies. Plain navy and mid grey carry the most weight for the least thought, and a quiet birdseye gives depth without reading as pattern. We will talk you out of very fine counts for daily wear: they are beautiful and they do not last five days a week. The same thinking applies to shirting, set out on our custom shirts page.

Lead time, and planning backwards from a date

Turnaround is four to twelve weeks from the first fitting. If the photoshoot is in April, the measuring wants to happen in January, which leaves room for the fittings and for the one person whose travel collapses the schedule. Book the measuring day first and settle the cloth second: cloth can be decided in a week, eleven diaries cannot. Where a team is spread across the city we will do the showroom for whoever is nearby and an office visit for the rest, as with much of our work across custom suits Los Angeles.

New starters, and the second suit

The pattern stays with the house. Once a person has been measured and fitted, that pattern is on file, and a second suit or a replacement after four years of wear does not need the process starting again. For a firm this matters more than anything else about the first order.

A new starter is measured on their own and made in the cloth the team already holds, provided it is still woven, which for standard worsteds it reliably is. If a mill discontinues one we say so and offer the nearest honest substitute. Unlimited fittings are included, and one year of complimentary alterations on garments we made. We do not take in work made elsewhere, and we do not offer made to measure.

What happens at the fitting

The jacket arrives in a state that can still be moved, and it is put on, looked at, chalked and taken apart again. Shoulders first, because everything else hangs from them, then the back, the sleeve pitch, the collar, the waist, the length. Trousers are fitted on the shoe the person will actually wear, so we ask people to bring it. A team is fitted one at a time, and consistency is checked across the group at the end rather than assumed at the start. Two or three fittings per person is normal, and nobody is hurried.

Questions we are often asked

How many people make it a group commission?

Three or more, commissioned together. Below that it is simply several individual commissions.

Is there a different price for a team order?

Group and team commissions are quoted on the whole order rather than garment by garment. The figure is settled in the first conversation, once we know the people, the garments and the cloth.

Can you measure everyone at our office?

Yes. An office visit includes travel and the full cloth selection, and a morning in a conference room is usually enough. The terms are on our office and home visits page.

How long does a team order take?

Four to twelve weeks from the first fitting. Work backwards from the date that matters and allow room for the diaries.

Will everyone look identical?

No, and that is deliberate. We fix the cloth and the visible details and let the cut follow each body. The team reads as one house without looking uniformed.

What happens when someone joins later?

They are measured on their own and made in the cloth the team already holds. Their pattern then stays on file.

Do you dress women on the same terms?

Yes. The house dresses women as well as men, and a mixed team is commissioned and fitted exactly as described above.

Do you take in alterations on suits we already own?

No. Alterations as a standalone service are discontinued. One year of complimentary alterations is included on garments Mr James made.

Start with a conversation

The first meeting is an hour and free, with Robb or Ben. We will want to know how many people and the date you are working towards. By appointment at 221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey, CA 90293, a storefront with no suite number and free parking front and back. Monday to Sunday, roughly nine to six, with forty-eight hours' notice.

Book a consultation, or telephone 310-503-3592 if you would rather describe the team first.

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