Mohan’s Custom Tailors Suit Review

I have long been curious about some of the NYC based custom suit shops. The ones that have been around for years; before this whole online made to measure revolution. Stores like LS, Mr. Neds (that review will be finished eventually…), Bhambi’s and Mohan’s. I had the good fortunate of receiving an email from some of Mohan’s Custom Tailors (also known as Mohan’s NYC and Mohan’s) associates a few months ago asking if I would be interested in meeting with the shop and possibly doing a review on them. I eagerly obliged. In a few weeks time I made my way up to NYC to meet with Mohan’s in their midtown store which is conveniently less than a 2 minute walk from Gran Central (60 E 42nd st, ste 1432).

I met with KJ Singh, who is one of Mohan’s salesmen (fortunately, he knows his stuff – we all know that I am not typically the biggest fan of in store salespeople). Before getting into the fitting and suit selection I asked KJ about the history and operations of Mohan’s, a subject he obliged to enlighten me on.

Mohan’s was fonded in 1972 in New York City by Mohan Ramchandani.  It has been in its current location since 1980.  However, prior to that Mr. Ramchandani spent time in Hong Kong learning the trade and craft of suit making at his family’s factory. Mr. Ramchandani is originally from India, however. All of Mohan’s suits are made in its Hong Kong factory, and that factory only makes suits for Mohan’s.

Much like MyTailor, Mohan’s walks a line between made to measure and bespoke. They can honor pretty much any request related to specific measurements and details on a shirt, jacket or trousers (more on this later); which put them close to bespoke territory. But traditionalists would not term them a bespoke house because the goods are not made on property, not hand padded lapels and there are no standard basted fittings; among other things.

The fitting and measurement process is brief but thorough and efficient. One of Mohan’s tailors first took my measurements and then had me try on a few sample jackets and then I dictated all of my special requests and requirements, which as you can imagine were somewhat extensive (again, more on this later). KJ told me that Mohans’ keeps each customer’s measurements and pattern on file, so for subsequent suits one does not have to come back in for measurements unless there has been significant change with their body.

After some discussion with KJ we decided to make me a tuxedo (thanks to Scott from Jack Erwin for taking the photos). I have long been in need of a simple black tux. However, I could not settle with just a simple black tux. My tux was to be made of Minnis Fresco (which is one of my favorite fabrics of all time) with the lapels and pant stripe of satin. My primary reason for going with the Fresco fabric was to allow me to wear the tux in warmer weather (ie summer weddings) with greater comfort, as it is a more breathable fabric than your normal wool suiting fabric. Yet Fresco wrinkles very little and maintains a formal appearance and texture, somewhat unlike linen, which has a similarily open weave and breathability.  Furthermore, Fresco has a nice matte appearance which contrasts nicely with the sheen of the satin.

Given that Fresco is a more expensive fabric my tuxedo would sell for around $2,000.  But keep in mind that Mohan’s suits start around the $700 mark.  The suits are half canvassed and can be fully canvassed.

In about two months time I returned to Mohan’s to try the suit on. I was told that they can do basted fittings if needed, but it is usually unnecessary. In my case it was unnecessary, as the jacket fit exceptionally well out of the box. We only had to shorten the sleeves and pant legs slightly and take in the waist a little bit. All of the alterations were free of charge, but what really impressed me was that Mohan’s will make alterations to a suit for the first few years of ownership at no cost (and I am sure you could get them past that if needed). Anyway, I came back the next day to pick up the tuxedo to wear to a wedding that night.

The details for the jacket are as follows: 1 button front, peak lapel, 2 vents, 4 sleeve buttons (non working), satin lapels, fully lined (black lining), high gorge on the lapels, lower buttoning point, 3.75” wide lapels.

The details for the pants are as follows: no pleats, no belt loops, side tabs, no cuffs, extended slide tab closure, suspender buttons.

All of the details were met without exception. The only issue was that I did not request a lapel button hole for a boutonniere, so the jacket is without one for now (I could always have one added). But as a bonus the one button on the jacket has a jigger on the back side, which is a subtle detail I love.  But on to the details…

In summation, my tuxedo from Mohan’s is one of, if not the best, tailored pieces I have had made for myself.  KJ and his staff were able to nail the fit on the first go while still meeting all of my special requests.  Which is impressive.  Although my tuxedo would sell for around $2,000 (Fresco is expensive fabric), Mohan’s suits and tuxedos start around the $700 mark.  My only real negative of the tuxedo is the lack of button hole on the lapel, but that is an amendable thing and even without that I still love the tux.  For those in the NYC area looking for an NYC based custom suit house and your budget is above $700 I recommend you start your search at Mohan’s.  If you have any questions, thoughts or experience with Mohan’s I encourage you to hit the comments section.

–JLJ

PS – Big thanks to Scott at Jack Erwin for taking the photos of me wearing the tuxedo.  Photos were shot outside The Plaza.  The shoe featured in this post are Jack Erwin’s Joe (review here).

Note: FYGblog did receive this tuxedo for the purpose of review.  As always, the utmost effort was taken to maintain and unbiased stance on the product and brand at hand.