Smart tailored clothing makes an instant impression. When you’ve chosen everything yourself from the style and fabric to the colour of the lining and had it tailor-made to fit you, you feel like a million dollars – and look like it. Thankfully it doesn’t have to cost a million dollars.
Rahila Abbas of Pins Bespoke Tailoring has been making and fitting suits for the smart people of Yorkshire as a mobile service for a number of years and is now establishing the service in her own fitting studio in Skipton.
Celebrating Yorkshire’s wool trade heritage, Rahila works with 100{afd41c4ab3623e68baffe29f6190c4c16e77cb65ef9a747ad10afe8b083b250d} Yorkshire fabrics woven in our woollen mills. Worsted, cashmere, mohair, jacquards and tweeds feature among hundreds of different fabrics that clients can choose from at the new studio in the Rendezvous Hotel on the outskirts of the town.
“Every garment is handmade from start to finish in Yorkshire”, Rahila explains. “There is no need for us to import fabrics from abroad when we have top quality materials here on our doorstep.”
The word ‘bespoke’ is from the verb bespeak, meaning to ask for or order something. It is an English term for clothing made at a customer’s behest, and exactly to the customer’s specification. It originates from Saville Row, dating back to the 17th century when tailors held the full lengths of cloth on their premises. When a customer would choose a length of cloth, it was said to have ‘been spoken for’.
From business suits to smart-casual jackets, evening or shooting wear, Rahila’s bespoke garments all feature a level of quality over and above off the peg garments available from retailers. With an eye for smart contemporary styles as well as traditional lines, she helps clients to find a look to suit them – if you’ll pardon the pun.
“We are all different, not just in terms of our own likes and dislikes, but no two bodies are the same, so expecting a standard size shop garment to completely fit is unrealistic. Most likely it might be tight here or baggy there, the sleeves a bit too long or a little short. People generally ‘make do’ and compromise as long as they can fit into something. We are about creating garments that fit the individual from top to toe. No compromise! It’s not just a case of us making comfortably fitting suits, it’s about enabling you to make the most from what you wear so that when you walk into a room people notice you. We give people an edge.”
“Often when clients first come to Pins, they don’t really know what they want, so during the initial consultation we establish the type of garment and the intended purpose, then suggest options which will complement the client’s figure and personality. Clients can choose the style elements down to the very last detail, right down to pockets, buttonholes and stitching.”
To ensure a perfect fit, many measurements and figuration details are taken initially, with a second fitting after the cloth has been cut and loosely stitched. Clients can either visit the Pins studio or Rahila will offer fittings at home or their office if that is preferred. From start to finish the bespoke service is generally 5-6 weeks.
Pins clients include professional businessmen and women, bridegrooms, ushers and country gentlemen. Well-dressed figures at the races, summer balls and shooting parties may well have been attired by Pins.
Alongside bespoke tailoring, Rahila also offers formal menswear hire at the Pins studio. This service is popular for weddings and school proms. The garments available include suits, waistcoats and kilts, with smart accessories including silk ties, cummerbunds and handkerchiefs. Rahila explains “For people who only want a formal outfit once in a while this is the most sensible option. Fashionable styles are changing all the time, so hiring enables the occasional suit wearer to look up to the minute, rather than bringing out a suit that has been gathering dust in the back of the wardrobe for years since the last time.”
Tailored alterations and repairs are offered as a service for clients with clothes they have bought elsewhere. “Often a client will have garments which are still perfectly serviceable but there’s just something ‘not quite right’. We can sort out those little niggles – shortening sleeves, adding a tuck and so forth, which make such a difference”. Over and above the service offered by dry cleaners, clients try the garments on while Rahila ‘Pins’ them to fit.
A collection and delivery service is available on all the work undertaken by Pins, which is perfect for the busy professional, but with easy parking at The Rendezvous, many clients may prefer to call in anyway. The kettle’s usually on.