Our Neighbour, James!

James works one store over. He's one of the trusty bike mechanics who I see test-drive their clients' bikes around the block every so often.

It was a nice surprise to see a familiar face walk in.

"I need a suit for my friend's wedding," said James with a big smile.

"Oooooh," I shot out of my chair wide-eyed and grinning. "This is going to be fun!" I thought. The reason is because I've never seen James in anything other then his very casual work clothes or without grease on his hands. Haha!! I knew it would be a total transformation.

Because of James' naturally thin body frame, I knew immediately he would look perfect in a slim fit suit.

Lo and behold, the black suit we made for him was indeed the perfect style and fit on him! I also really dig his high-shine shoes.

We were all pretty excited... Actually, it was impossible to contain our excitement. We were happy. James was happy. He was soooo happy that he ran over to the bike shop to show his colleagues, haha:

I love my job. I love seeing the smiles on people's faces when I first show them their suits and then watching the smiles grow even bigger once they try on their suits.

Thank you for modeling for us, James! You look so awesome in that black skinny suit. Speaking of awesome, I have this to show you all. James showed it to me on his phone and it made me laugh:

On certain phones, voice messages can be transcribed into texts. The quality of the texts is dependent on the caller, the background noise and the microphone.

James showed me a message that someone at Balsam Tailors left on his phone. What shows is that "awesome Taylor" called. Obviously it was "Balsam Tailors". Imagine how confused James was when he got this message. :P

Charcoal Suit & Cognac Shoes

There is always a story to every suit we make. I like Dale's.

He came in one day with an off-the-rack suit that had details he really liked and didn't like. He couldn't decided if it was the right suit for him. I asked him to put it on so I could make an assessment.

It was a medium grey suit that was fitted through the waist, hips and tailored through the thighs. He liked the overall look of it. I immediately noted that some adjustments were need in order for the suit to fit perfectly. With the alteration cost plus the purchasing cost, his suit would run him close to a price that would be the equivalent of one of our custom suits.

Having made that calculation, we decided that a custom suit would be a smarter choice: Firstly, a custom suit would be cut to fit his unique body shape and secondly, he could pick the details he wanted on his suit that he liked from the other suit he brought in. You know what the best part about this story is? ... Dale's new custom suit would cost him less than the store-bought suit with the alterations! :)

Take a look at Dale's suit up at the top. He picked a rich dark grey that is very popular with the gents. When he came in to try on the suit, he happened to be wearing this season's most popular shoe colour: cognac. They pair up quite nicely, don't they? :)