Molly Bloom knows style

One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is “Can you make me a jacket?” (The No. 1 question I’m asked is “Are you going to be on Project Runway?”) Well, I can make me a jacket. But I don’t do menswear, sorry chaps.

Dress Monkey will make you the jacket — for less than $200. I don’t know how they do it, but here they are, selling custom sport coats and blazers on the internets, made to your specs. You can choose a style and then go through selecting fabrics or you can use their ideas. I like that you can chose which side you want the cellphone pocket placed. Neato.

I haven’t seen these jackets. A $150 blazer is not the same as a $1,000 custom job from a tailor you visit in person, who makes a jacket on you. I wonder who’s sewing them and and where and how their labor is so cheap (but the partner who lives in Shanghai leads me to believe the answer is China). I certainly can’t be making anyone a custom anything for less than $200; my hourly is more than $10/hour, not to mention materials and pattern-making and cutting and fitting. So this is low-end custom, the H&M of the made-to-order genre. I think most of my readers could use a new spiff coat. Somebody order one and tell me how it goes.