Fitting with Zaremba Bespoke in Warsaw
Before summer I commissioned a new suit from Zaremba Bespoke. This is my second suit I have ordered from Maciej (the owner of Zaremba Bespoke) and I have also previously commissioned a waistcoat and matching trousers from them. The fabric for this suit is a 360g green finmeresco with golden undertones from Smith & Co. The weave is very open in order to breath nicely. Due to the open structure of the cloth it’s probably most suitable for spring/summer wear. It will however work fine during the fall, but will probably be to cold for winter.
Maciej normally travels to Stockholm on a regular basis and we did the first fitting of the suit in Stockholm a while ago. However he and his wife are currently expecting their first child which makes it hard for him to travel from Warsaw at the moment. I didn’t want to wait for to long for my next fitting since as previously mentioned it’s not suitable for winter wear, and I want to get the most out of it before it gets to cold.
Maciej is a true gentleman in every aspect and made sure I had a really good time in Warsaw, picking me up at the airport and showing me around the city. After we had eaten breakfast and checked in at the hotel we went to the Zaremba Bespoke store for the second fitting of my suit. There is actually quite a bit of history inside of this shop. Zaremba Bespoke has been around since 1886 and there are diplomas and articles that has been published about the store throughout the decades hanging on the walls in the shop and dressing room.
We were discussing milanese buttonholes because of the fact that my jacket’s lapel will have one and I was at the same time shown one on a vintage tailcoat from the early 20th century made by Maciejs grandfather. It’s actually really impressive that a polish bespoke house made that already back then when internet etc wasn’t available, a true testament to their skill and craft.
Afterwards it was time to have the fitting of the suit. The trousers didn’t really need any changes thanks to a beautiful pattern the Zaremba team has created for me from my previous ones (one of the perks of bespoke is that you are able to alter the existing pattern in order to improve the fit each time). The only change we have made to the pattern for this pair is to raise the waist a bit and lengthen the end of the trousers to give them a bit more break than my previous ones, which is something I want to try to see what option I prefer the most. The pants had a very nice drape but we choose to make them about 1cm slimmer in the thigh (personal preference, not a necessity).
At this stage they choose to try on the jacket without any sleeves in order to get an appropriate shoulder fit (very important). Most of the hand stitching were already made with a slightly darker green thread than the fabric of the suit. This is something I personally find appealing since the hand stitches becomes more visible without looking fashion oriented as a thread in a completely different color e.g. white would look like. Due to it being unlined I was able to notice that the jacket was finely finished even on the inside with hand stitching. The part that keeps each piece of the back together was entirely hand sewn which is something that doesn’t in any way affect either the fit or function of the jacket. Maciej explained to me that unlined jackets are actually more expensive to produce than lined ones. This is mainly because it requires a higher level of finish from them on the inside of the jacket since all the seams are visible, not allowing them to use machine stitching or a bit more sloppy hand stitching. This is mainly done to satisfy the customer. The fit of the jacket was good and we only made a few minor changes to it.
The suit was afterwards sent to his workshop for the alterations that had to be made till the next day so I could have a third and final fitting.
The next day after breakfast we went to the workshop to have the final fitting of the suit and also a fitting for a bespoke safari jacket in a brown linen fabric from W. Bill I ordered a while back. Today the sleeves were attached to the jacket so the right sleeve length and fit could be determined. This time both Maciej and the head cutter were present and together discussed the fit and the final required alterations in polish (at least that’s what I think they discussed, might as well have been about me needing a shave!). I was already quite happy about the fit at this point but yet some alterations were made, so I can’t wait for the final results!
After the fitting of the suit was complete it was time to try on the safari jacket. This is a new product Zaremba launched earlier this year in a very classic design of course. The trousermaker often helps Maciej in developing new products for the company and was also part of the equation in designing this one. He therefore assisted Maciej with the fitting of it replacing the head cutter who went back to his work station to cut some fabric. The jacket didn’t have any details on it yet and it was therefore very hard to get an idea of what it would look like at this point. It had no sleeves, lapels, chalks marking the pockets etc. But they will use my normal suit pattern for it so I’m confident I will be very pleased with the final result.
Worth noting is that the average time it takes to make a jacket by the Zaremba team is 72 hours and three working days for a pair of trousers. In other words it takes about 100 hours for them to produce a suit which tells you a lot about the craftsmanship and dedication that goes into each product they make.
I’d like to thank Maciej and his entire team for their hospitality. They made my stay in Warsaw very pleasant and I look forward to going there again in the future. I’d also like to thank you all for taking the time to read this post. The tie in the picture is our E.G Cappelli - Solid Burgundy/Brown Grenadine and the pocket square is the Rampley & Co - Venice: The Basin of San Macro on Ascension Day. Both available at our website of course.
Sincerely,
Thomas Bodfält
Founder
