Top 5 Best Custom Suit Tailors In Phuket Thailand

Without further ado, our selection of the best tailors in Phuket are as follows:

1. Exclusive Tailor – excellent fabric selection, customisation options, and service.
2. RK Fashions – modern shop, with wonderful tuxedo cloths
3. Star Tailor House – a large selection of fabrics for some fun dinner jacket options
4. Magnifique – fantastic lining options, with exquisite unlined jacket finishing
5. Suit Master – although Peter sadly passed away and his business has closed, we have decided to posthumously keep him in this guide.

All five of these houses offered something slightly different, excluding the one most important common thread in that they were all great people. I’d highly recommend all of them and you can read individual and detailed reviews of each one via the above links! Otherwise, as a bonus mention, we’d recommend Louis Collections if you’re also passing through Bangkok!

Even though they were not the cheapest on offer, they did offer by far the best value for money. More on that later.

Review Process

We first selected ten of the most highly rated tailoring houses in Patong based on Trip Advisor and Google Reviews. We then went to each shop and bought garments from custom shirts to tuxedos [and in the process massively blew out our budgets! When in Rome…].

What To Consider When Buying A Suit In Thailand

When buying a suit in Patong, Thailand, or anywhere in Asia for that matter, there are several key things to consider:

1. Timeline
2. Needs
3. Fit
4. Budget

We’ll explore all four in a little more detail below. You can use the links above to jump ahead.

Your Timeline

Don’t clock watch, try to leave enough time to enjoy the custom suit experience.

Back in the USA, a custom suit typically takes four to six weeks from initial measurements and ordering. Not all of us are away that long on vacation, so these guys crank them out quickly to ensure that they’re ready during your stay!

I believe all of our top 5 have their workshops within the city of Patong itself, and some additional production facilities and fabric stores in Bangkok.

Some tailors can even offer an “overnight” service, but I’d strongly recommend against this if it can be avoided.

The five houses above all go through 2 – 3 fittings to get the jackets, trousers and shirts just right.  This is needed to make tweaks, especially for the first suit you have made, as this can be used as the template that you can order additional garments from in the future.

Your Needs

I honestly can’t help myself, the struggle is real!

If you’re like me and become an instant kid in a candy store as soon as you enter a tailor shop, you’ll need a plan or have an additional “fun” budget to satisfy your sartorial appetite.

When you’re “accustomed” to paying well over $1,000 per suit, and can now have them in the $300 – $500 range it’s quite easy to get carried away.

With Magnifique’s owner Nick, a great guy like ALL the tailors / owners we met and worked with.

Our recommendation is to go with the basics if you don’t have a strong “smart” wardrobe. You can never go wrong with a navy blue or charcoal grey suit. Then, if you have those covered, a black or more fashion-forward navy blue tuxedo might be worth adding to your list.

Finally, if you’ve reached this point, the sky is truly the limit! For example, I ended up getting a purple short suit, and Trevor got an ultra light-weight unlined travel blazer.

There are two costs to each suit: fabric cost and construction cost. The one thing I would say, and this is directed to the already custom suit veteran, don’t expect super high-value fabrics for this range as it’s just not economically viable.

Therefore, making a suit from four to six meters of $100 per meter fabric can’t make a $300 suit.

After all, they have a business to run. In such a case, some of the shops do offer higher grade fabrics so you can take the lower-cost labour opportunity to have a little fun and order something a little crazier than you usually would!

Furthermore, to add to the two “cost components” above, all the jackets were fused chest pieces, and none offered a floating canvas. Technically, a full floating canvas is better than a half canvas.

A half canvas is often regarded as ideal since the garment still “floats” and conforms to your body shape better than a fused option without being significantly more expensive.

Additionally, if poor quality glue or canvasing material is used, you may start to notice the garment begin to bubble after wearing and cleaning.

Again, for the price point and turnaround times, I find this to be an acceptable compromise. Nevertheless, be mindful of the $100 – $250 price range as too many corners have to be cut on both the fabric and construction.

Getting The Optimal Fit

All men are NOT created equal. Although Trevor and I are both over six foot, we could not be more different. I, on the one hand, am a larger set gentleman, with a “pronounced” stomach, and not a butt to speak of, whereas Trevor is a Slim Jim with a big rump!

Thus, we are not going to look our best in the same cut, fit, and pattern clothing [adjusted for our size]. I’d highly recommend you read our 15 Minute Guide To A Correctly Fitting Suit, and if you have time read some of our more specific guides on what clothes suit your individual body style.

Even with that being said most of us men have other common “irregularities”. For example, most men do not have evenly sloped shoulders [Trust me. Walk down the street, and you’ll be shocked when you actually “see” this for the first time].

The Suit Master tailor nailed my armhole and sleeve pitch, bravo!

So with these two things in mind – both body shape and any individual irregularities – a custom tailor can work wonders to get you looking your best.

BUT, and a big but, you should come prepared with some idea of what you may want and how you may want it to fit. These Patong tailors fit hundreds of guys each year, all with different tastes of what the ideal suit is for them [even if they are quite frankly wrong!].

Further to, it can be hard to achieve certain elements of a well-fitting suit without meeting your tailor in person. The big advantage of getting a suit made right here in Patong is that you’ll actually get to interact with the tailor!

I, for example, have forward sloping shoulders and often have issues with excess chest piece fabric. However, being able to articulate this in real-time with the tailor eradicated this issue.

Stick To Your Budget [Unlike Me!]

I know budgets are meant to be broken! Or is that “rules” I’m thinking of? Maybe it’s both…

Regardless, it is quite easy to get carried away. Unlike in the USA and UK where most of the cost creep is in up-selling higher-end fabrics, here the risk is more of getting more suits!

Long story short, set a budget based on both your lifestyle needs and income, then go from there. In any case, you’re going to get a great deal, but don’t ruin that “value” by making overly extreme purchases that make no sense to you!

For me, I’m 100% okay with $300 on a purple short suit, but for someone else that only gets dressed up for weddings and funerals, that’s most likely not the best use of $300 while travelling around Asia.

Best Value For Money – Final Recommendations

Both enjoying our custom blazers outside Wynn Macau

For me the best value for money was not the cheapest or the fastest but a mix of these four:

1. Fit: Always the #1 consideration, no matter if it’s a $5 suit from Goodwill [which I’ll happily wear], or a $10,000 true benchmade bespoke suit from Savile Row
2. Fabric selection
3. Cost
4. Service / People

From reading what must have been several hundred reviews, and personally trying out the “Top 10” in Patong, with the right game plan in hand ALL of our Top 5 Patong Custom Tailors shall get you suited and booted in the right direction with enough spare change for a cocktail or two down on Bangla Road.

As a quick reminder, remember that these will take 3 – 5 days, cost about $300 – 500 [or more for higher-end fabrics], and have fused construction of the suit jacket’s chest piece.

I’d stick to these Top 5 we recommended or others from other rating sites. Be wary of a deal that seems too good to be true, as some of the competition is in a race to the bottom where you’re the one that ends up losing!

The best “things” in life aren’t free, but they can be a little cheaper and more fun when buying a custom made suit in Patong Thailand!

Please click the following links for our full review on each of our favourite tailoring houses:

• Exclusive Tailor
• Suit Master
• RK Fashions
• Star Tailor House
• Magnifique