Madison Avenue's Finest: Featured Establishment

Fine Custom Clothier & Haberdasher

Contact us: Custom@CustomShirt1.com
Fine Custom Clothing and Accessories Custom Made for Ladies & Gentlemen

WHO ARE THEY?
Long known worldwide as a top custom shirtmaker, Alexander S. Kabbaz and his wife and partner, Joelle M. Kelly, use only the finest Swiss and Italan fabrics in the construction of the fewer than a dozen handmade shirts they produce each week. With such notables as Tom Wolfe, Leonard Bernstein, and the Rockefeller family amongst their aficionados, Kabbaz and Kelly rarely take on new clients. Cotton shirts range in price from $750 to $1050. The dynamic duo can be relied upon to produce the best that can be made anywhere.

HOW DO THEY WORK?
This site goes into great detail on the following pages describing their continuing pursuit of quality in a world where it is all too often left behind in quest of greater profits. But ... as most people today have no time for lengthy reading ... they have prepared this quick summary of their procedures and policies: (Or, for the Full Story, Go Straight to the Bottom of this Page!)

"Thank you for your inquiry. We would welcome you as a client and have prepared the following as a summary of our work. We no longer maintain a shop in Manhattan but I do come in to visit clients at New York's Regency (61st & Park) each Wednesday evening. Other arrangements can be made when the necessity dictates.

"At our first meeting, measurements are taken and styling determined through an intensive discussion. We then design and strike your individual paper pattern from which we cut a try-on shirt. A week or two later, faster if necessary, we meet again for you to try on this laundered sample. This is not a shirt you keep; it is merely for pattern corrections. You criticize, we criticize and pin-fit. These fitting steps are repeated and repeated if necessary. When we consider that we have accomplished our initial goals, we make the final alterations to your pattern and, a few days later, send over a real shirt. This you wear for a day or two thus insuring that you like everything about it. Once your pattern has been finalized - and only then - we cut your order. We are not interested in one-time clients. Perfecting your pattern is absolutely essential. After that, you literally never need see us again to order shirts as we have your pattern and shall gladly furnish swatches by mail. FYI, our definition of custom differs somewhat from those shirtmakers who custom-size one of their standard designs. We don't do that. Each client's pattern begins as a blank paper, not an alterable template. Our definition is simple: "Custom means exactly what the client wants it to mean". Yes, we have the temerity to opine when we believe the client's choice is lacking in expertise ... but it is not we who decide. It is you.

"What will we do? As far as shirts, blouses, or furnishings, virtually anything. We will design originals (our preference), copy your old favorites, or work from photos or sketches. In the arena of fabrics, we stock more than 3000 of the best Swiss or Italian woven, Egyptian-grown cottons and the finest Silks from Europe and the Orient. Our preferred cottons are the 140 count, 170, and 200 count 2x2’s. Shirt prices range from $750 (average $850 - 1st time minumum of 8; thereafter 2) depending strictly on the selected fabric. Delivery varies seasonally and depends (the first time only) on your availability for fittings. We can, if you come stay locally on any Monday through Wednesday, complete the shirt fitting process in just two days/one night and deliver an order within a week, but this is not our preference. Quality should not be rushed! Monograms, if desired, are done here by hand and are charged. All work is done here on the premises. No exceptions; no qualifications - we farm out absolutely nothing. Our ethic is simple...perfect, or corrected without question. "

In addition to making fine custom shirts, Alexander Kabbaz and wife Joelle Kelly are also the top online retailers of some of the world's finest men's and women's luxury furnishings and outerwear including the incomparable Zimmerli of Switzerland, England's famous Pantherella socks, and are now introducing the incomparable new Seaward & Stearn necktie, pocket square & scarf collection. Links to these appear at the bottom of this page.