Like many young men in Shanghai, Stephen was a first-timer when it came to having suits custom mae for him. Like many first-timers, Stephen went to the place he'd heard about: the famous Dong Jia Du fabric market, home to super cheap tailors and fabric. Like many Dong Jia Du customers, Stephen was very disappointed with what was presented to him in the end.
It didn't fit right, it didn't have the pocket or button styles that he had requested, and the lining which was already coming undone made it all too abundantly clear that this was not high quality work.
He flipped through some magazines looking for an alternative. He found a few names and tried a few of the shops, and his experience there was far better than Dong Jia Du, but he was still unsatisfied with the quality of work.
A friend told him about a charming little shop in the French quarter called Dave's Custom Tailoring. "Oh, I've seen his store at the Ritz-Carlton." said Stephen.
"Watch out for those guys." replied his friend, "Fake Dave's are everywhere."
Stephen made his way down to Wuyuan Road and into Dave's store. He talked with the tailors, flipped through the swatch books, chose a style and left with a smile on his face. He couldn't be sure that this tailor would be better than the others, but already he had a good feeling about this.
A week later, he returned for his fitting. His suit was covered in chalk lines and big ugly stitches, and it only had one sleeve! For a moment he panicked inside. The other tailors had at least given him a completed garment to try on. What was going on here?
The tailors explained that this was only a rough assembly of the pieces and that this crude form allowed them access to all of the individual pieces for marking and pinning. Only in this way could they insure a perfect fit. Stephen hesitated at first, but his fears were assuaged by the professional demeanor and confidence of the staff.
Another week passed and Stephen once again found himself at Dave's, this time to try on the finished product. He was stupefied. Drawing on his previous bad experiences, he looked over every part of the garment looking for flaws but found none at all. The fit was perfect, the stitching was flawless, and every tiny detail that he had requested was exactly as it should have been.
Over the next year, Stephen replaced nearly his entire wardrobe with suits, shirts, and pants made by Dave's tailors. Pretty soon, the only items from elsewhere were his jeans, sweaters, and socks. Eventually Stephen returned home to London. Even on Savile Row he could not find better quality than Dave's (let alone the price) and continued to order his shirts and suits from Shanghai.
The following summer, Stephen was to be married. His brother wanted to buy him a famous designer tuxedo, but Stephen wouldn't hear of it. "Thanks," he said, "but no designer suit is ever going to fit me the way these tailored suits do. Not to mention that for that amount of money, we could fly to China and have clothes custom-made for both of us."
So the two of them made the trip together, spent four days seeing the sights, and returned home for the wedding looking more dapper than ever before.
Stephen went on to have a successful career and a loving family. He watched his children grow and develop into fine young adults themselves. When his oldest son, Philip, graduated from college, he needed his first business suit for interviews.
There was no time to take a trip to China, so Stephen called the tailors at Dave's for guidance. "Just send his height and weight," they told him, "and two photos: one front and one profile. If you can send some clothes that fit him well, that will be a big help too." To Stephen's surprise and delight, Philip's suit fit as well as any he had had himself.
When it came time for Philip to get married, he wanted to wear his father's wedding suit. He wasn't quite as big as his father had been at the time, but Dave's had both of their measurements on file. With a little help from international express mail couriers, Philip had Stephen's wedding tuxedo perfectly altered to fit him and with plenty of time to spare before the wedding.
Many years later, Philip found himself in China. Although he didn't need any new clothes at the time, he simply could not be in Shanghai without paying a visit to Dave's. All was exactly his father had described it: elegant, simple, perfect.
Philip knew then that when the day finally came that Stephen and Dave were not around any longer, he and his sons would still be coming back to China for a lifetime of perfect fits.
