Casual clothes, made to measure

What we make in casual wear

Everything below is cut to your measurements rather than to a size, in cloths chosen for heat rather than for a European summer.

• Linen shirts, short or long sleeved, in a cut that is loose enough to work without a jacket over it.
• Chinos and casual trousers, in cotton, linen or a blend, cut to the waist and seat you actually have.
• Unstructured jackets — no canvas, no shoulder padding, often unlined. The most useful garment on this list in this climate.
• Shorts, tailored rather than bought, which mainly means a length and a leg width you chose.
• Resort and holiday wear, including camp-collar shirts and pull-on trousers in linen.
• Copies of something you already own in a different cloth, which is the most reliably satisfying thing on this page to commission because the fit is already proven.
• Women’s casual pieces are cut here too — dresses, linen trousers and separates are covered under women’s bespoke tailoring.

Unstructured, and why it matters here

An unstructured jacket has no canvas in the front, no padding in the shoulder, and often no lining at all. What holds its shape is the cloth and the cut rather than a layer built underneath, which is why it drapes from the body instead of standing away from it.

That matters in this climate more than anywhere. A structured jacket is three or four layers across the chest, and every one of them is a barrier between you and moving air. Take them away and the same cloth in the same weight becomes a garment you can stand to wear outdoors at four in the afternoon. It also packs flat and recovers from a suitcase, which a structured jacket does not.

The trade is honest: an unstructured jacket is less formal, less forgiving of an asymmetric build, and it shows the body underneath rather than shaping it. For a wedding or an office it is the wrong choice. For dinner, for travel, and for almost everything anyone actually does on this island, it is the right one — and it is cheaper, because there is less inside it.

Cloth for a beach climate

Weave decides comfort more than the fibre name does. Hold a length to the light: if you can see through it, air moves through it, and that is the whole test.

Linen is the coolest cloth available and creases immediately and permanently — on casual clothes that reads as character rather than neglect, which is why linen belongs here and struggles on a formal jacket. Cotton in an open weave breathes well and creases nearly as much without linen’s reputation for it, so it simply looks rumpled. Linen-cotton blends split the difference. Seersucker and open basketweaves hold themselves off the skin, which does more for comfort than dropping a weight does.

Pale colours reflect rather than absorb, and the difference in direct sun is something you feel within minutes. The full comparison, including what each cloth costs you rather than what it gives you, is in which cloth handles the heat.

How long it takes

Casual pieces are the quickest thing made here. Most pieces are ready in 24 to 48 hours over two to three fittings, and a linen shirt or a pair of trousers usually needs one fitting rather than three, because there is no structure to correct. The busy months change how easily the appointments can be booked rather than how long a garment takes.

An unstructured jacket sits between the two — quicker than a canvassed one, slower than a shirt. Order several things together if you can: the measuring session is the part that takes time and it covers everything at once. Tell us your dates and we will say what fits inside them.