King and Allen Suits - www.kingandallen.co.uk.

I decided to purchase a bespoke suit for my daughter's wedding. Searching the internet I found King and Allen. From the first meeting I felt assured that I had made the right choice. On the day of the wedding I felt a million dollars so relaxed with everything about the suit. Compliments where forth coming from many people. Thank you King and Allen for wonderful service from start to finish.

Just purchased a suit from King & Allen. Initial measure up fine, first fitting similalrly fine. Some alterations were needed. I made an appointment for a second fitting two weeks later. Attended the fitting well non fitting as the suit was not there but it hadn't been returned after its alterations. Two hours wasted no offer to reimburse my costs of a 60 odd mile round trip or a token discount on the suit.

From my first contact to collecting my finished suit I was treated in a very profesional way and nothing was to much trouble, The suit I chose was everything I had hoped for and more, The service I recieved was in my opinion first class, the suit its self was a three piece prince of wales pattern with a burgundy paisley lining and waistcoat back with a matching tie, I also went for the spare pair of pants and had a shirt made to all of which they fitted to me with lots of patients, all in all I couldnt be more pleased an so was my daughter on her wedding day. so thanks to all involved, 

I recently went through the process of ordering a bespoke suit to wear at the 2014 Goodwood Revival from the King & Allen shop in Wilmslow, Cheshire.

As the event is set between the years of 1948 to 1966, I was after something in keeping with that period and not a suit with a modern cut: I was particularly taken with the suit Sean Connery wore in Goldfinger, the style of which has now become known as the ‘Goldfinger Suit’.

I went to the Wilmslow branch after a conversation on the Telephone armed with a print out of the suit style I wanted: after an initial consultation, where I was guided through the various fabrics and combinations etc. I was measured and the suit ordered. This whole process fell into two categories, as follows….

Good points:

I was very appreciative that they fully took on board the style that I was after even though I am an entirely different body shape to that suit in question; I feel I got a very close representation to the style I was after, no question. I pointed out the various nuances of the style such as the cut of the bottom of the waistcoat, whether the trousers were pleated or not or had a turn up and the length of the lapels, the number of buttons on the jacket and sleeves etc…all of which were taken on board and fulfilled.

I also felt that when choosing the combination of fabrics that I was well guided not to get a combination of outer and inner colours that didn’t go well together or clashed.

Additionally, despite a number of K&A suits getting a fair old bashing in the reviews for quality in the past, I have to say I am absolutely delighted with both the quality of the fabrics and the apparent quality of the sewing; in fairness, I have only worn the suit a few times over the course of a weekend so will have to wait until after wearing it a few more times before I ultimately find out whether it will actually fail! I doubt it will though!

The suit, and especially the trousers, is very comfortable to wear and feels great when moving around: certainly very different to when wearing an off the shelf suit.

Not so Good points:

Having watched a good few programmes that have included scenes from Saville Row and other Tailors from around the UK, I had a certain mind-set in my head as to what goes on when being measured for a totally bespoke suit; not necessarily the physical measuring process, more all the courtship that would ultimately see me being content to part with a fairly substantial amount of cash, £819, for an experience that one wouldn’t necessarily expect to encounter on that frequent an occasion.

On the four occasions that I went to the shop, my initial consultation, a measuring, and two fittings, not once was I offered any refreshments, Tea, Beer or otherwise…despite there being a fully stocked fridge at my feet, so I’m not entirely sure why that was there!

Additionally, before going for my measuring, I checked with head office to make sure that I didn’t have to pay for the suit up front which they said I didn’t; one can imagine then, that I wasn’t especially pleased to have to pay the full amount up front after all, before the suit could be ordered.

Also the website states that you can have ‘….the style of suit you want at no extra charge….’ As a larger than average sized chap, though not, I don’t think, completely gargantuan, at no time either on the website, during my call with head office or at the shop was I made aware that actually, there is an additional, hidden charge for having a chest size larger than the sizes that K&A ‘go up to’.

Quite what sizes K&A call normal, where this is illustrated, or what the pricing structure is for this, I don’t know!

So, Bottom line:

Would all the above discourage me from having a repeat order? No it wouldn’t, absolutely not!

I will certainly be going back next year for a repeat order of some description, but will be a little wiser and a little more forceful in how the process will progress.

In conclusion: Suit, attention to detail etc., great, very good: the measuring and fitting process - there’s room for improvement for me.

Whilst digressing a little, the thing that ultimately matters is the final product: there is no doubt that the suit cut, quality of fabric and method of construction etc. is undoubtedly excellent.

I would be disappointed if the niggles I have had with my experience dissuaded anyone from having a K&A suit from the Wilmslow branch in future - it is outrageously good though I just need to find more opportunities to wear it more often!

The staff were very friendly and helpful. The informed my decisions on aspects of my suit that I wasn't familiar or hadn't thought about and were very amenable to the changes that I requested. This is my first tailored suit and the service ensured that I was comfortable and at east throughout what could have been a fairly intimidating process.

The quality of the suit seems very good to me, although I haven't worn it 'out' as yet.

I also liked the fact that there wasn't a 'hard-sell' to spend more money. The staff asked certain questions and gave me the options and were very accepting of my choices; I didn't at all feel like I was under pressure to spend more.

I was a bit apprehensive about tailors who outsource as there are plenty out there with awful reviews (and a few horror stories!) however I was reassured by the number of positive reviews for King and Allen and again by the professional attitude shown during the consultation.

I was also a little apprehensive as I'd left it somewhat late to get a tailored suit before my wedding but I decided I'd take the plunge anyway!

Given the time constraints I went for an express option which meant the first fitting would be in six weeks. It was ready on time for this and it already fitted better than plenty of the off-the-peg suits I'd tried on in the past. We decided on a few alterations and I came back a week later for round two. I have to say I was expected another bunch of alterations but everything we decided on worked first time and it fitted beautifully.

I'm very happy with my suit, especially as it was ready before my wedding! ;-)

Based on my experience, I would definitely recommend. I will certainly be returning next time I want a tailored suit. Thanks, guys!

We found K&A after an internet search and after reviewing the online comments we made an appointment to be measured for our wedding suits. The service and the people were excellent and the details around our chosen design we carefully explained so we knew exactly what we were getting. A number of weeks later we had our second appointment to check the initial fit. A few alterations were required but was not an issue and we arrange final collection a number of weeks later. On getting the suits we were very pleased with the quality and overall presentation, we had got exactly what we had asked for!

Our wedding day was a great success and everybody commented how smart we looked, we will wear the suits again in the future for formal events so actually great value for money.

Thank you to all the staff especially Karl for their efforts.

We will definitely use King and Allen again.

I certainly feel the serivce is great value for money. Since getting my first suit, which fits like a glove, i really wondered why i bothered going to a normal highstreet outlet only to pay more for it to be modified to fit me properly. I've been back to K&A for more, the choice of cloth and linings is great and when my schedule changes K&A are more than happy for my suit to be transfered to the closest location for a fitting. I treat the suits as an investment and they certainly stand and out compared to normal highstreet clothes. I only wish i'd gone for these before.

I should say, the suit was excellently cut, and the material nice.

The down side, was that I ended up (for £900) with 2 'identical' trousers which were a quarter inch different in length, some stitching coming apart at the arm (very minor, but noticeable on first wear outside fitting room), and 2 weeks later, the stitching on jacket top button hole has come away.

These could all be repaired, and I believe K&A would absolutely repair them for free (after all the suit is brand new!) However, the final downside - even a simple repair means a minimum of 2 weeks without the suit. I have struggled to keep an appointment to get this repair due my travel schedule - slightly exacerbated by K&A running late by several days on returning the suit, and then failing to return phone calls and messages. On reflection there were a couple of other small promises not kept - custom pockets not made (and again, correction was going to add weeks to an already lengthy process), and forwarding a suit care information brochure.

It is is such a nicely cut suit (and the longer trousers are the perfect length) with great measuring service and material - let down by these points means I will not be back unless some things change.... Shame - so close, but swing a miss.

That said, given how well the good things went, I am sure many people have a great experience - perhaps I was just unlucky with my string of minor fouls.

My vision was to have a suit made to my very particular design and that is exactly what I got! From start to finish the whole experience was wonderful. I was anxious that I might not get exactly what I wanted but with the support, encouragement and professional advice of the staff I need not have worried. Everything I wanted was achieved , the suit fits perfectly is extremely comfortable and makes me feel a million dollars. I loved the amount of choices available to me from the suit fabric to lining and thread colour, buttons, pockets and lapel width. All in all I can't fault one bit of the whole process