Custom Suits for Glendale

Mr James is a European tailoring house, and the shop is at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey. Glendale sits inland and north east of us, on the far side of the Santa Monica Mountains and about twenty five miles by road. A two-piece begins at $1,795, every garment is full canvas and fully bespoke, and every one is sewn by hand at the house atelier in Southern Brittany, France.

Glendale is one of the largest cities in Los Angeles County and it is laid out between two ranges, the Verdugo Mountains above it and the San Rafael Hills to the east. Brand Boulevard runs north through the middle of it, Burbank is immediately west, Pasadena is east, and Griffith Park and Atwater Village lie along the southern edge. Three freeways cross inside the city limits, the 134, the 2 and the 5, which is why so much of the week in 91203 or 91206 is spent pointing in a direction somebody else chose.

The quietest hour in the week is on a Sunday

We are open Monday to Sunday, by appointment only, roughly nine until six, and we ask for forty-eight hours' notice. That matters more for Glendale than it does for an address on the Westside, because the drive here is a different proposition at the weekend than it is at half past eight on a Tuesday.

The line is the 134 west to the 101 south, then the 405 over the Sepulveda Pass and out towards the ocean, and Lincoln down into Playa del Rey. On a Saturday or a Sunday morning that is around forty minutes and an easy piece of driving. In the thick of a weekday it can be twice that. So if the choice is open to you, take the weekend hour. Number 221 is a plain street front with no suite number after it, and the parking is free both outside the door and round the back, so there is nothing to circle and no desk to sign on the way in. The first hour costs nothing and nothing is asked of you at the end of it.

The coat that coastal clients leave out

There is one garment we make more often for the inland towns than for the beach, and it is the overcoat. Glendale sits higher and further from the water than most of our addresses, and against the Verdugos the evening comes down cooler in January than it does at the shoreline fifteen miles away. A coat is the piece a coastal wardrobe skips and an inland one actually wears. An overcoat is from $1,200, cut on the same full canvas method as a suit, and the detail of length, cloth and closure is on custom overcoats Los Angeles.

For the suits themselves the inland summer argues for weight and weave rather than another jacket: a high twist worsted in the nine to eleven ounce range, which breathes, holds a crease across the lap through a day of sitting and comes back on the hanger overnight. A mid grey flannel earns its keep here in the cooler months in a way it does not at the water.

Or we come to Glendale

We do not keep a Glendale address and have never suggested otherwise. What we do instead is drive. A visit to a home or an office anywhere in Los Angeles is $300, travel included, and we arrive with the whole of the cloth table: suitings, shirtings, linings, buttons and the mill books, with the prices sitting on the page as you choose from them. Around thirty measurements are taken, three photographs record how you actually stand, and the finished garments come back the same way for the fittings. What a visit includes and how it is arranged is set out on tailor home and office visits Los Angeles.

Immediately west, where the question becomes how a cloth behaves under lights, custom suits Burbank covers that side of the line. East along the 134, custom suits Pasadena sets out the same two arrangements for that end of the valley.

What it costs

A two-piece starts at $1,795 and so does a dinner suit. A three-piece is $2,045. An overcoat is from $1,200, odd trousers are $450, a custom shirt is $295. A visit to a home or office is $300.

Beyond that the figure follows the cloth and never the making. Drago begins at $2,995, Zegna and Holland & Sherry at $3,495, Loro Piana at $3,995. Half is paid when the cloth is chosen and the balance on delivery. Unlimited fittings come with every commission, as does a year of complimentary alterations afterwards on garments we have made, and a rush is twenty-five per cent more. Each mill is priced out line by line on bespoke suit cost Los Angeles.

One service, and it is the whole thing

Everything that leaves this house is full canvas and fully bespoke. There is no second tier and no shortened version of it, so the decision at the cloth table concerns weight, hand and mill rather than how the garment will be built. We do not offer made to measure at all, and the difference is laid out plainly on made to measure Los Angeles.

A pattern is drafted from around thirty measurements and three photographs, so that posture is recorded and not dimensions alone, and a canvas of horsehair and wool is built into the chest by hand. Robb Pollard founded Mr James in 2010 with Max, the house's French atelier, who has sewn every garment the house has sent out since. We came to Los Angeles in 2015, opened first in Playa Vista in 2017 and have been on Culver Blvd since 2021. Sixteen years in, the method has not changed. As far as we know we are the only genuinely European suitmaker in this city, and there are several very good tailors here we would happily send you to.

Turnaround is four to six weeks in domestic cloth and six to eight when the cloth travels from Italy or England. A shirt is two to four weeks. The stages of a commission are described on bespoke suits Los Angeles, the full range of what the house makes, for women as well as men, is on custom suits Los Angeles, and if you are weighing up who to go to, custom tailor Los Angeles sets out what to ask.

Weddings and black tie

Six months before the date is perfect, three is comfortable, and six weeks we will still take as a rush. Twelve months out we would rather you waited, because a body does not stay still for a year. Wedding parties and groups come down by twenty per cent, fathers and brothers counted in, and a party spread between Glendale and the Westside is the clearest case for a visit: one evening in a single living room measures all of them. The planning side is on wedding suits Los Angeles. A dinner suit starts at $1,795, no more than a plain two-piece, and the detail of shawl against peak, braid, barathea and mohair is on custom tuxedo Los Angeles.

Questions we are often asked

Is there a bespoke tailor in Glendale?

Not in Glendale itself. Mr James is a European tailoring house at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey, on the coast side of the Santa Monica Mountains, and we also come to homes and offices anywhere in Los Angeles for $300. A two-piece starts at $1,795 and every garment is full canvas and fully bespoke.

What is the drive from Glendale to the shop?

The 134 west to the 101 south, over the Sepulveda Pass on the 405, then towards the ocean and down Lincoln into Playa del Rey. Around forty minutes on a weekend morning and a good deal more at either end of a weekday. Number 221 has no suite number to hunt for and the parking is free in front and behind.

Are you open at the weekend?

Yes. We take appointments Monday to Sunday, roughly nine until six, and ask for forty-eight hours' notice. For a Glendale address the weekend hour is usually the better one, because the 134 and the 405 are a different road on a Sunday morning than they are on a Tuesday.

Will you come out to Glendale?

Yes. A visit to a home or office anywhere in Los Angeles is $300, which includes travel and the full cloth selection brought with us, suitings, shirtings, linings and the mill books. Finished garments come to you for the fittings the same way, so a commission can be completed without the drive at all.

Do you alter garments you did not make?

No. We no longer take alterations in as a separate job, and we do not work on garments made elsewhere. The year of complimentary alterations after delivery applies to garments Mr James has made, and it is part of the commission rather than a service we sell.

What does a bespoke suit cost for a Glendale client?

A two-piece starts at $1,795, a three-piece at $2,045, a tuxedo at $1,795, an overcoat at $1,200, odd trousers $450 and a custom shirt $295. Cloth from the finer mills costs more: Drago from $2,995, Zegna and Holland and Sherry from $3,495, Loro Piana from $3,995. The making is identical at every price, full canvas throughout.

How long does a commission take?

Four to six weeks in domestic cloth and six to eight if the cloth travels from Italy or England. A shirt is two to four weeks. Three fittings is typical and fittings are unlimited. A rush at twenty-five per cent more will bring a suit forward, though we would rather not hurry it.

Do you cut for women, and who will I meet?

Yes, by the same method, on the same patterns and at the same prices: the house has always dressed women as well as men. You will meet Robb or Ben. There are two of us, and whichever one you see at the consultation sees the garment through to delivery.

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, with free parking at either end of the building. Reserve an hour, write to mrjames@bespokemrjames.com, or telephone 310-503-3592. If the drive is the obstacle, say so when you call and we will come to Glendale instead.

Nearby: custom suits Burbank · custom suits Pasadena · custom suits Studio City. Reading: what black tie optional actually means · suit fabric types explained.