Suit Made in Delhi

My Kind of Shopping

At first, I think you can gather, I didn’t find shopping here to be that enjoyable. The stores I’m used too back at home, where I know exactly where to go to find exactly what I want, were nowhere to be found. The first markets I was taken to was on the day following the pre-Diwali terrorist market bombings, and the experience was more unnerving than exciting. Following that I was dragged to the street markets at Janpath with a couple of girls from my company, where they shopped for inexpensive jewelry, purses, bed sheets, pillowcases, and all other sorts of things I couldn’t really give a damn about.

Finally I found something fun for me as a guy to shop for. The main thing, which I do every weekend, is make trips to the tailor. It didn’t seem that exciting at first, in fact the picture I had of my head was a stuffy establishment old businessmen lined up for an 80-year old tailor to fit them for a tux. I had intended to have something made here, but was planning on putting it off until the end of my trip. After a day of shopping at Janpath, my companions decided to stop by a tailor to “get a shirt copied”. That didn’t sounds so interesting- what’s the point of getting a copy of a shirt you already have? We walked into the Grover’s Tailoring House at Khan Market, a narrow shop with a long counter on the left, and stacks and stacks of cloth on the right and left. Mostly wool and cashmere on the left if I recall, and fabrics for shirts on the right. One of the salesmen brought out two buttoned shirts, one with a label and one without. The shirts were completely different in cloth pattern and texture, the main similarity being in the overall manner in which they were sewn. One of the girls dropped off another store-bought shirt and asked, “Can you make one like this, but make the collar bigger here, and the waist smaller here,” indicating a couple of places on the shirt she wanted changed in the new copy.

I realized this was perfect for me- I’d be able to walk out with not just a copy of what I already had, but something completely new, with a shirt I brought as a foundation for how to make it, but customized to how I want it. I’m a hard guy to fit; tall with long arms and wide shoulders, but a narrow waist (narrow again thanks to my new diet in India, and from food poisoning back in December). Shirts bought from home end up either having sleeves that are too short, or long enough sleeves but are too poofy at the waist. Neither look is what I’m going for! So I brought in some Express Men shirts, with designs I like- the way the collars are shaped, French cuffs, and some with double-buttoned collars and longer cuffs with two buttons that both fasten lengthwise along your wrist instead of one. The way they were made was what I wanted to keep; but I also had them take measurements and make the sleeves a bit longer and the waist a little smaller. I also have them made in different fabrics for work, for going out at night, or for both; they don’t resemble each other, other than in how they’re made. Finally nice shirts that I don’t have to spend all day tucking into my waist because they’re too big around for me! The price- somewhere around $30 - $35 US each. Not cheap by standards in India, but about the same price as I’d pay for an ok-fitting shirt back home, in a plainer material.

I’ve also had a suit made here from 100% merino wool. Everything about it is custom to how I wanted it- I started off looking at some designs from a catalog, and choosing the features I wanted; then from my shoulders to my ankles they measured and made it to fit me. It cost around $350-$400 US, and a suit could be purchased at most department stores back home for that, but not one like this.

There are a couple of other tailors I patronize here as well- the finish isn’t quite as exacting, but for $12 a shirt it’s a steal. Plus the hotel laundry will f’ up your clothes here sometimes- break buttons, or they’ll get worn around the edges- so I’m saving some of my Grover’s-made shirts until I get home to Atlanta. And there’s something I didn’t envision having made that I enjoyed getting- a custom leather jacket with a motocross-style collar. I started with a magazine photo of a jacket I liked, and they took my measurements and made a well-fitting jacket based on the picture. That place is Ravi Leather at Palaka Bhawan, if anyone wants to know. Palaka Bhawan is not nearly 1/10th as attractive of a market as Khan Market, and when someone took me there I asked “what the hell are we doing here?” but in India, like anywhere else (but maybe more so), you pay for the location, and when you venture out from where only the foreigners shop, you can find good prices. I’ll probably go back and have another jacket made. Someone else is getting leather pants made, that’s a little too out there for me… but who knows, I've got a month left to change my mind.