Like many of the reviews on this blog, the following review of Ravis Custom Tailors is a long time coming and also overdue. For which I owe the brand an apology. But more importantly, let’s get on with the review.
Ravis Custom Tailor is not a brand that I have seen talked about on other blog. There are, of course, a few threads on the brand on AAAC and SF; the consensus seems to gravitate toward the less favorable side of things. Which oftentimes makes me more curious about a brand and its products. Overall, my impression of Ravis has been more favorable than what I have read on them elsewhere.
First, a bit about the brand. Ravis is a traveling tailor; they have representatives that travel across the US to fit and meet with customers, their list of locations is rather extensive. I met them in Wilmington, Delaware. Their operations and production are based in Thailand, however. Their suits start at $250 and range up to around $1,500. This puts them on the low end of the price spectrum of all brands that I have reviewed here on FYG. Their garments can either be fused or canvassed. And they can accommodate many special requests (more on that in a bit). If you take one look at their website you can tell that it needs some work. However, Ravis is not a web based brand so I suppose that is not their biggest concern.
At the time I met with Ravis I has been longing for a brown linen suit for the summer and early fall. Fortunately, they had a decent selection of linen fabrics for me to choose from. They also had a plethora of worsteds, cottons and flannels. Although you will not find some of the big name mills like Holland & Sherry, VBC, Loro Piana and others; Ravis does have some decent fabric on offer. I suppose this is one way they are able to keep their prices down.
Anyway, as you can see, I selected a nice dark brown for my suit. The details for the suit were as follows:
Jacket: Notch lapel, 2 button, hacking pockets (slanted), side vents, half lined, wider lapels. Additionally, I also specified a certain buttoning point and notch height. Both of which were not done properly on the first jacket that Ravis made for me, so they did remake the front of the jacket.
Trousers: No cuffs, no pleats, side tabs, extended slide tab closure and suspender buttons.
Given the price of the suit, I was not expecting much on the construction quality front. Although the construction is not top shelf, it is still good for the price.
In conclusion I am happy with my suit from Ravis. Although I have noted a few things that I would change or that could be done better, I have to keep in mind that this is a $300 suit, and thus my expectations can only be so high.
In this case, my expectations were met. I believe that if I were to have another suit made from Ravis and all of my notes were taken into account, my expectations would be exceeded. The fact that Ravis promises to accommodate nearly any special request is something that greatly appeals to me, as we know that I can be rather particular. At the end of the day, the fit is more important than the fabric and construction of the suit. The fit of the suit, although not perfect, is still good and something that I am happy to wear and expect to get a lot of use out of. This all said, I do recommend you check out Ravis Custom Tailor if you are in the market for a custom suit and your budget is under $450. If you have any questions, comments or experience of your own; please feel free to share in the comments.
–JLJ
Note: FYGblog did receive the suit being reviewed in exchange for a review. As always the utmost effort was taken to maintain an unbiased view on the product and brand at hand. For those more interested in Ravis working conditions, please refer here.
Dear Mr Jeffers,
Excellent documentation of a courageous experiment from whose details much can be learned!
What about the social question of the work conditions and wages of the human beings wherever who wove the cloths and tailored the suit?
Interested Reader : I think I must be a real skeptic because I wouldn’t even ask about work conditions and simply assume the worst. I don’t think an article of clothing can be made at that price while paying decent wages, with decent hours and environment. I think such things are relative though. The folks doing this work may see a huge improvement over what their life was before. Then again I bet Upton Sinclair would have a comment or two on that. Let’s hope whatever conditions are now, they at least continue to improve.
Dear Joe,
If you mention Upton Sinclair as thinker for a better understanding of how a just society must be thought, I’m sceptical about the depth of his thinking. But it’s clear that developing technology can be misused by individuals to destroy.
In this blog Mr Jeffers has been subject to criticism about his contribution to society, and I understand his initiative to express his desire to use his privileged position to show how human beings can cooperate socialaesthetically.
Thank you Young Master Justin!
I will certainly have a look at their webpages.
Pretty sure I will order a linnen summer suit in grey or blue
quite soon.
You did not mention the lining of your suit? 100% silk?
Thank you for the good reading.
Keep up the good work.
Rgds.
I wonder how your new jacket compares with a Oliver Brown linen jacket off the peg especially in regard to design, cut?
I found the shirts to be quite nice as far as stitching goes and overall quality. The shirts look and feel like a hand tailored shirt.
CST,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
-Justin
I think if you only have a budget of 300 dollars you should wait a while, save up and buy a decent european suit! Looking at those pics in the review i think the shape of the lapels is ghastly….just compare it with an Italian cut jacket; there’s little or no lapel roll, and the sleeve head looks like something from an American Football player’s wardrobe. If u mix in anything like sophisticated society you wouldn’t touch that with a barge pole (as we say in UK!)
I suspect you got away lucky. Others weren’t so lucky given this review:
http://www.styleforum.net/t/252697/ravis-custom-tailors-review-avoid-them
An insightful and informative review. I noted many similar issues with my RCT suit, but as you said, for under a thousand I couldn’t hope to get something half so good with all of my individual specifications. All in all, the suit does turn heads on a night on the town, and it is a comfortable fit. I appreciate a well made suit as a work of art, and while I wouldnt can this suit high art purchase, it’s much like a having a designer come in and spruce up your home on s budget with some paint, new tables, light fixtures and furniture, art prints, and flowers. I had hoped to browse gentleman’s clothing forums for reviews on online custom tailoring among people who similarly appreciated the art of the suit, but it seemed to just be snobs sniping away and using words like “ghastly” and “civilized” at every turn in ways that I’m sure are far more affected and cheapened than a Donald Trump necktie.
Jim,
Thank you for your thoughts. That’s a good comparison about Ravis. For what it is, its not bad. Although I think it could be better for what it is as the same time. Nice to hear you had a good experience with them. They do get a lot of shit on forums.
-Justin
Ravi Tailorshttps://www.ravistailor.com/online-tailor-women-and-men-custom-suits is a scam operation. Set up an appointment with their visiting tailor and then they attempt to charge more on your card .then you agreed to. Their $75 jean became $175. What a laugh! Claim to tailor out of Hong Kong and then you find you are being charged out of Bangkok. Supposedly needs cash because of exchange premiums. When you ask for your cash deposit back they supposedly can’t because they cut their chinese cloth and had to dispose of it.The tailor gives you a false Anglicised name and then in my case it turn out to be a Sindhi named Vinay.
Switch and bait scam artists. Visiting tailor supposedly needed US $ 100 cash which I was gullible enough to give him. Stated that a pair of custom tailored jeans would be $75 and then attempted to charge me a 100 more on my card. Refused to refund my 100 dollars. Ravi Tailors presents itself as from Hong Kong but fraudalent overcharge attempt was from Bangkok. Never sent me my measurements. Some Bespoke tailor. LOL! This con man was a Sindhi called Vinay. No wonder they do not use Paypal.