Custom Suits for Encino

Mr James is a European tailoring house. The shop is at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey, and Encino clients are seen there or at home or in an office, whichever is easier. A two-piece is priced at consultation, every garment is full canvas and fully bespoke, and every one is sewn by hand in Southern Brittany, France. A visit out to you anywhere in Los Angeles is quoted by location.

Encino sits in the southern San Fernando Valley, part of the City of Los Angeles, covering 91316 and 91436. Ventura Boulevard runs the length of it, the 101 crosses it, and the 405 comes down to meet the 101 at the eastern end. Balboa Park and the Sepulveda Basin lie to the north, Tarzana is west, Sherman Oaks east, and the Santa Monica Mountains close the southern edge. From Ventura Boulevard to our door is about eighteen miles, almost all of it the 405 south through the Sepulveda Pass.

The thing most people have never been offered is a second fitting

A suit bought off a rail is tried on once, pinned at the waist and the sleeve, and collected. If it is still not right, that is generally the end of the conversation. Here the fittings are unlimited and they are the actual method, not a courtesy attached to the end of it.

It runs like this. The first appointment is an hour and costs nothing. We talk about what the suit is for, you look at cloth, and nothing is asked of you at the close of it. If you go ahead, we take around thirty measurements and three photographs. The photographs matter more than people expect: measurements record size, and the pictures record posture, which shoulder sits lower, how you carry your weight, whether the head comes forward. A tape cannot see any of that, and it is usually posture rather than size that makes a jacket look wrong.

From that a paper pattern is cut for you alone, and it is yours from then on. Max, the house's French atelier, who has made every garment since 2010, builds the chest by hand from horsehair and wool. That is what full canvas means: a layer that takes the shape of you as it is worn, rather than a fused lining glued in place. The stage by stage account of a fitting sets out what happens at each appointment.

Then you come back. The first fitting is the big one, with the garment part made and the seams still open, and this is where the balance of the coat is settled. The second takes smaller amounts, usually the collar and the sleeve pitch. A third is common. A fourth is not a problem and costs nothing extra, and the pattern is corrected each time, so the next commission starts from a better place than the first did. After delivery there is a year of complimentary alterations on garments we have made.

We do not take alterations on garments made elsewhere. There is one service in this house and it is the whole of it: full canvas, fully bespoke, cut from your own pattern. We do not offer made to measure, and the difference is laid out on made to measure Los Angeles.

Where the fittings happen, and who comes to whom

We keep no address in Encino and have never implied one. Clients drive to Playa del Rey, or the house comes to Encino.

The drive is straightforward and unusually predictable for Los Angeles: the 405 south through the Sepulveda Pass, off at Howard Hughes or Jefferson, and in along Culver Boulevard. Eighteen miles or so. At nine in the morning the Pass will decide how long that takes, and at two in the afternoon it is a short run. Number 221 has no suite number, and parking is free in front and behind.

If the Pass is the obstacle, and for a working week it often is, a visit is the better answer. For a visit fee quoted by location, travel included, we bring the cloth table to a house or an office: suitings, shirtings, linings, buttons and the mill books, with the prices on the page as you choose. The measurements and the photographs are taken there, and the fittings come back to you the same way, so a commission can be finished without you driving anywhere. What a visit includes is on tailor home and office visits Los Angeles.

We are open Monday to Sunday, by appointment only, roughly nine until six, and we ask for forty-eight hours' notice. East along Ventura Boulevard, custom suits Sherman Oaks describes the same arrangement, and west past Tarzana custom suits Woodland Hills goes into cloth weight for the hotter end of the Valley.

What it costs

A two-piece and a dinner suit are both priced at consultation. A three-piece is priced at consultation. An overcoat is priced at consultation, odd trousers are priced at consultation, and a custom shirt is priced at consultation. A home or office visit is quoted by location.

Above that the number follows the cloth and never the making. Drago is priced at consultation and is the least expensive of the four mills, with Zegna and Holland & Sherry priced at consultation and Loro Piana priced at consultation. Half is paid when the cloth is chosen and the balance on delivery. Unlimited fittings and the year of complimentary alterations are included at every price. A rush is twenty-five per cent more. Each mill is priced out on bespoke suit cost Los Angeles.

Turnaround is 4 to 12 weeks in domestic cloth and toward the longer end of that range when the cloth comes from Italy or England. A shirt is two to four weeks. For a coat, the Valley gets cool enough in January for one to earn its keep, and the shapes worth knowing are set out in bespoke overcoat styles.

Who you will be dealing with

Robb Pollard founded Mr James in 2010 with Max in France. Los Angeles since 2015, Culver Boulevard since 2021. Robb is front of house, and you will meet him at the consultation and see him through to delivery. Nobody hands you on.

The house has always cut for women as well as men, on the same patterns, by the same method and at the same prices. The stages of a commission are on bespoke suits Los Angeles, and the whole of what we make is on custom suits Los Angeles. As far as we know we are the only genuinely European suitmaker in the city, and there are several very good tailors here we would gladly point you to if what you want is not what we do.

Weddings and black tie

Six months ahead of the date is ideal, three is comfortable, and six weeks we will still take as a rush. Wedding parties and groups come down by twenty per cent, fathers and brothers counted in, and the unlimited fittings are worth most on a group, where one man is always travelling and needs his appointments moved. The planning is on wedding suits Los Angeles. A dinner suit is priced at consultation and costs no more than a plain two-piece, and shawl against peak, braid and barathea are covered on custom tuxedo Los Angeles.

Questions we are often asked

Is there a bespoke tailor in Encino?

Not in Encino itself. Mr James is a European tailoring house at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey, about eighteen miles south over the Sepulveda Pass, and we come out to homes and offices anywhere in Los Angeles (visit fee quoted by location). A two-piece is priced at consultation and every garment is full canvas and fully bespoke.

How many fittings will I have?

As many as the suit needs. Three is typical: one with the garment part made and the seams open, one for the collar and the sleeve, and one to confirm. A fourth or a fifth costs nothing extra and is not treated as a complaint. The pattern is corrected at each fitting and kept, so a second commission begins further along than the first did.

What is the drive from Encino to the shop?

The 405 south through the Sepulveda Pass, off at Howard Hughes or Jefferson and in along Culver Boulevard, about eighteen miles. The Pass sets the time rather than the distance, so the middle of the day is kinder than the morning. Parking is free in front of the building and behind it, and 221 has no suite number.

Will you come out to Encino?

Yes. A visit to a home or an office is quoted by location anywhere in Los Angeles, travel included, and it brings the full cloth selection with it, suitings, shirtings, linings and the mill books. The thirty or so measurements and the three photographs are taken there, and the fittings come back out to you, so the whole commission can be done without the drive.

Why do you take photographs as well as measurements?

Because measurements give size and photographs give posture. Three pictures record how you actually stand, which shoulder is lower, how the weight sits, whether the head carries forward. That is what the pattern is cut around, and it is usually posture rather than size that makes a jacket look wrong on someone.

What does a bespoke suit cost for an Encino client?

A two-piece and a tuxedo are both priced at consultation. A three-piece is priced at consultation, an overcoat priced at consultation, odd trousers priced at consultation and a custom shirt priced at consultation. Finer cloth costs more: Drago is priced at consultation and is the least expensive of the four, with Zegna and Holland and Sherry priced at consultation and Loro Piana priced at consultation. The making is the same at every price, full canvas throughout, with half paid at cloth selection.

How long does a commission take?

4 to 12 weeks in domestic cloth, toward the longer end of that range if the cloth travels from Italy or England, and two to four weeks for a shirt. A rush at twenty-five per cent more will pull a suit forward. Unlimited fittings do not extend that: the appointments sit inside the window rather than after it.

Do you alter garments you did not make?

No. Alterations as a separate job are no longer something we take in, and we do not work on garments made elsewhere. The year of complimentary alterations after delivery applies to garments this house has made, and it belongs to the commission rather than being a service we sell.

Come and see us, or let us come to you

221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey, CA 90293, seven days a week by appointment, roughly nine until six, free parking front and back. Book a fitting, reserve an hour directly, write to mrjames@bespokemrjames.com, or telephone 310-503-3592. If the Pass is the thing standing in the way, say so and we will come to Encino instead.

Nearby: custom suits Sherman Oaks · custom suits Studio City · custom suits Woodland Hills. Reading: what happens at a suit fitting · bespoke overcoat styles.