Cutter, Tailor, Luxury and Simply High Price Products

“I’m not a tailor; I’m a cutter” 

Leonard Burling (Mark Raylance) takes offence upon being called a tailor. He is the owner of the  tailor’s shop in Chicago in the movie ‘The Outfit’.

The movie begins with a voice in the background and somebody entering into what looks like a tailor’s shop:

To the naked eye, a suit appears to consist of two parts’

A jacket and trousers

But those two seemingly solid parts are composed of four different parts

Cotton, silk, mohair and wool

And these four fabrics are cut into 38 separate pieces

The process of sizing, forming, conjoining those pieces requires no fewer than 228 steps

So the first step is measurement

But measurement doesn’t mean, uh, just reacting to your tape, 

You cannot make something good until you understand who you’re making it for.

All clothing says something,

I’ve bad gentlemen walk into my shop and boast, ‘Oh, I don’t care about what I wear.’

And assuming that’s true, doesn’t that say something too?

So, who is your customer? And what are you trying to say about him? 

What about him can you observe?

Leornard, is he timid, hunched over like a midday clock?

Or does he stand with confidence at 6.00 and 12.00?

Is this a man of springtime pastel, clamouring to be noticed?

Or is he a man of gray and brown blending into the hurried crowd?

Is this a man comfortable in his station?

Or does he pine for  grander things? And who would this man like to be? And who is underneath?

Luxury’s association with high price or sometimes exclusionary price is historical. This is rooted in rarity. At the surface level this rarity comes from rare materials like leather (Louis Vuitton) or stones (Tiffany) or innovation (Rolex or Omega) or idea (Chanel) or product (Burberry) or craft (Cartier). 

In the emerging markets like China or India luxury is most likely to be equated with price. The price is the most obvious sign of luxury. But mind, it is only a sign not the substance of luxury. 

But merely being able to buy a luxury brand is different from enjoying  luxury. Being able to buy tells more about your station on the economic or wealth spectrum. It is a declaration of arrival. As more and more people arrive, the value of price is robbed of its meaning and thereby significance. 

A piece of expensive jewel is merely a declaration about eligibility but is devoid of internal meaning. The same could be true for someone who drapes herself in a Chanel Black dress. It is just a piece of expensive clothing and nothing more. This leads to the question what is a customer  seeking. What is the intent? 

An expensive jacket is not the same as ‘the expensive jacket’. The protagonist in the movie Outfit, upon his arrival is seen to do a couple of things: brushes his table, oils the scissor, uses the ruler and pencil, intently marks on manila paper like an engineer,  rolls tailor chalk, develops a complex web of angular and circular lines, and  cuts the fabric with surgical precision. The voiceover informs the audience about his knowledge not only about clothes, cutting and conjoining but insight about potential customer: ‘who this man would like to be and who is underneath’. The visuals in the background show the process how cloth comes alive in dwelling appropriate for the dweller. 

The outer shell of a bespoke suit hides wizardry and craft mastered only by a few. It is this elevation of cutting and conjoining which operates in the realm of craft not art that render a piece of clothing luxury. The process is elaborate and painstaking: fusing of horse hair canvass to produce firm and crisp lapels, darts to create sharpness, basting stitches, placing pockets and button positioning. A lot of it is hard work. The most important here is cutting, sewing is for lesser mortals. It is a joint project between tailor and customer. The knowledge is the key: the fabrics, construction, shapes, purpose and terminology.

An absence of nuanced understanding can render an expensive piece of luxury, a means of signaling, a symbol devoid of essence. What one appears to others can be source of satisfaction. This may be more in societies or economies where wealth is being discovered. The orientation is towards money and spending it on expensive things.  True luxury is about taste. It is a nuanced ability to discriminate, implying who you are beyond being rich. Luxury is creating a story that people want to take refuge into to protect themselves from the psycho-social-cultural frictions and contradictions. So wearing a tartan check is different from tartan called Burberry. A trinity ring is a trinity ring but when it is a Cartier it is in a story.  A watch is a watch but a Rolex is a celebration achievement. 

What your brand stands for besides a good product is the question to find an answer for. Rarity is fine but rarity of what? 

So Leonard Burling says I am not a tailor who hems and fixes buttons ; his art is cutting , a craft which is rare. The question is: do people have taste for craft? 

If not, educate potential customers and then market luxury. Wade away from shallow waters ; anchors can only be lowered in deep waters. Isn’t it?