Emmett London: Review and Introduction
Today, I’m happy to announce a new advertiser for This Fits: Emmett London.
Founded in 1992 in London’s Chelsea neighborhood by tailor Robert Emmett, the company has built a reputation for excellent ready-to-wear shirts made with high-quality materials. In 2006 Emmett London opened a shop on Jermyn Street, introducing a made-to-measure service and joining that thoroughfare’s storied list of retailers that represent some of the finest modern contributors to England’s rich menswear tradition.
Along with meticulous attention to detail, Emmett London’s well-known for the contrast fabric they use inside their shirts’ cuffs, as well as an appreciation for exclusivity: each shirt is produced in a limited run of 25 to 50 total.
There’s a lot of hearsay on the Internet about where exactly their ready-to-wear shirts are made, so I made sure to have that cleared up by my contact at Emmett. Most Emmett London shirts are made in Germany, with the rest made in Poland, Switzerland, and Italy. They hold their manufacturers to high standards, and choose locations based on which is the best for a given fabric.
Emmett London sent me a Slim fit sky blue shadow check shirt for review. They pride themselves on sourcing some of the finest material in the world, working exclusively with shirting mills in Italy and Switzerland. My shirt’s 55/45 cotton-linen fabric came from the fabled Thomas Mason mill in Albino, Italy. It’s lightweight and soft, with just a hint of linen’s signature nubbiness. Not surprisingly, it felt great to wear during a recent hot spell.
The stitching on the shirt is even and very fine; I counted roughly 18 stitches per inch on the side seams and 22 per inch at the cuffs (and went nearly cross-eyed doing so). The shirt features no handwork that I can tell (that’s generally considered the domain of the Neapolitans), and the side seams use twin needle stitching. However, Emmett does use single-needle stitching for their made-to-measure shirts.
The collar of the shirt stands up well with or without a tie. Emmett London attaches the lining on the inside of the collar band, which helps keep the collar from splaying. The collars also have two sets of stiffeners, with one removable pair and a second sewn into the collar itself. Emmett London offers around 90 collar styles for their made-to-measure shirts, and rotates through about 20 of those styles for their ready-to-wear shirts.
The buttons on their shirts are made from Australian mother-of-pearl, cut from the thickest part of the shell for better durability. The cuff buttons are sewn in with a second buttonhole, allowing you to use cufflinks for the shirt if you’d like.
Emmett London ready-to-wear shirts normally retail for as much as £125–nearly $200– but late last week their sale discounted shirts to as low as £47, or about $75 (including VAT discount for non-EU countries). Word is out about the sale, though, and it ends when stock runs out, so be sure to visit Emmett London now.
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