One hour · Thursday to Saturday · no charge

Fitting

Sizing is the only question worth answering properly, so this page answers it twice: the centimetre tables for the six ready sizes, and what a made-to-measure coat changes that a size cannot reach.

Find the workroom
Camel and oat cloths pulled loose across the bench at the start of a fitting, ready to be compared

What the hour actually consists of

01

Eleven measurements, taken over your own jacket

Chest, waist, seat, back width, back length to waist, shoulder, sleeve from the centre back, shoulder slope on both sides, neck and the finished length you want. Wear what you normally wear under a coat; measuring a shirt-sleeved figure and then adding guesswork is how coats end up tight across the back.

Cheviot check tweed with a horn button laid on it, one of the cloths offered at a fitting

02

The cloth, flat on the bench rather than in a book

Eleven coatings and six shirtings live on the shelf behind the table. We take down three and put them next to each other in daylight, because a navy that looks right under a bulb rarely survives the window. You leave with a cut corner of whichever one you choose.

Rust and camel coatings folded against each other on the bench so their colours can be compared

03

A basted coat, two weeks later, pulled apart again

The second visit is twenty minutes. The coat is tacked together in white thread with no lining, and we chalk on it, take it off you and unpick it the same afternoon. That fitting is the whole reason a made-to-measure coat cannot be returned and does not need to be.

Sizes, in centimetres

Every figure below is a body measurement. Garment measurements for an individual piece are on its own page.

Ready sizes
Made to measure
Body measurements the six ready sizes are cut for. Measure over a shirt, not over a jumper.
SizeAlso markedChestNatural waistSeatSleeve, centre back to wristHeight suits
XS3484–8870–7488–9280.5162–170
S36–3889–9875–8493–10082.5166–176
M4099–10385–90101–10685.0170–180
L42–44104–11391–100107–11487.0174–184
XL46114–118101–108115–12089.5178–188
XXL48119–124109–116121–12791.0180–192

Between two sizes on a coat? Take the larger.

A coat is worn over a jacket. The chest figure has to swallow both, and a Halstock coat is cut with 16cm of ease over the body measurement for exactly that reason. If the larger size is then loose at the waist, we take up to 5cm out of the back and side seams — free in the first month, twenty minutes at the bench, and it is the single most common thing we do.

Between two sizes on a jacket or shirt? Take the smaller.

A jacket goes over a shirt and nothing else, so the same ease would read as a borrowed one. Order the smaller size and let out the 3cm sitting in the side seams if you need it. Sleeve length is never a reason to size up or down: cuffs shorten by up to 4cm and lengthen by 2cm, and that is a cheaper fix than a chest that is wrong.

Not sure at all? Measure a coat you already like.

Lay it face down, flatten it, measure across the chest one inch below the armhole and double it. Compare that number with the garment table on the piece you are looking at. It beats measuring yourself every time, because it includes the ease you have already decided you are happy with. Send us the number and we will tell you which size, honestly, even if the honest answer is that nothing here fits you.

A length of chalk cloth lying across the sunlit end of the bench, waiting to be marked out

No charge for the hour, and no obligation at the end of it. Most people leave with a corner of cloth and come back in September.

Most often ordered from the bench

The Thornleigh overcoat laid flat, navy melton pocket and oxblood horn button in view

Thornleigh Overcoat

Ink navy melton, 740g · made to measure or six ready sizes

£1,180 4 fitting slots left in March

The Bywell jacket cuff laid flat on chalk paper, three navy hopsack buttons in a row

Bywell Jacket

Navy hopsack, 420g · made to measure

£860 Cloth in stock · 6 week lead

The Allendale ulster folded on the bench in camel herringbone with the collar turned back

Allendale Ulster

Camel herringbone, 820g · made to measure

£1,340 Cloth in stock · 7 week lead

Book an hour at the bench

Fittings run Thursday, Friday and Saturday between ten and five. We answer by email the same evening with two times to choose from.

This is where the two proposed times arrive.
Optional. Used only on the day, if the Newcastle train is late.
In centimetres, measured over a shirt — for example 102. Leave it blank and we will take it on the day.
A coat you already like is the most useful thing you can bring.

Coming to the workroom

14 Priestpopple, Hexham NE46. The green door between the ironmonger and the bank; the bell is the lower one. Up one flight.

Thursday to Saturday, ten until five. Closed the first fortnight of August, when the mills close too.

Eleven minutes on foot from Hexham station. Two hours of free parking behind the Forum. Step-free entry is through the yard — tell us and we will meet you there.

Telephone 01434 555 0147 · post to the same address · we read email in the evening.