Article by Honeycombers Singapore Editorial Team | Source For special occasions when you need a sharp suit or a perfectly tailored gown, visit these fine dressmakers and tailors in the city It’s true what they say: Once you go bespoke, you never go back. Shopping off the rack is perfectly fine, but on special occasions (say for example, a black-tie affair or your wedding day), it’s wise to enlist the help of pros to get you looking your absolute best – whether it’s fashioning a three-piece suit from scratch or altering a dress to perfection. Here are our picks of expert tailors and seamstresses in Singapore who have made the cut. Este Bartin Offering contemporary tailoring services with quality fabrics at a reasonable price, Este Bartin is the go-to tailor shop if your man needs a new tailored shirt. At Este Bartin, they aim to provide you with shirts that fit perfectly – each creatively customised to suit your lifestyle and profession. Apart from shirts, they also provide tailoring services for pants and suits. What’s more? All the fabrics available at the boutique are specially handpicked, giving customers the best quality material ever. Also, alteration is always free!

Este Bartin is proud to be featured on The Straits Times, Sunday Times on 17 March 2019 as one of their preferred tailors Excerpt from The Straits Times, Sunday Times: Co-founders Barry Lim, 39, and Justin Loy, 37, are walking advertisements for their business. For the interview at their label’s tiny showroom at a light industrial building, Mr Lim is clad in a flashy silver brocade jacket with matching bermudas, while Mr Loy jazzes up his plain shirt and pants with a graphic jacket featuring bright orangey red koi. Both admit they had no tailoring background and got into the business as they are clotheshorses. Being in sales, they were aware of the need to dress well and their interest in good tailoring led them to take up courses to learn the basics. Este Bartin was born in 2013 on a freelance basis, but has now grown to two outlets. It is also expanding into womenswear by investing in a new label, 3eighth, founded by tailor Sheryl Yeo. Mr Loy says the brand manages costs with in-house production and by sourcing fabric directly from manufacturers. There is a team of four seam- stresses and a new technical direc- tor to oversee drafting and quality control at their production facility. Prices start at $599 for a suit, $89 for a shirt and $109 for pants. Clients get an initial consultation session, where they are walked through fabric choices – between 300 and 500 to pick from – and need to return for a fitting before the final product is delivered. Mr Lim says: “Off the rack is quite limited. We offer range and customisation.” They have broken down the process of customisation to make it easier for clients – customers are presented with a menu of collars, buttons and thread options. Mr Loy says regular customers simply call or e-mail subsequent orders as the company keeps clients’ measurements on file. —– Where: 04-09 Braddell Tech, 15 Lorong 8 Toa Payoh Instagram: @estebartin Info: www.estebartin.com Source: BUDGET BESPOKE © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction

(Photo taken from The Straits Times on site) Owners of tailor shop Este Bartin, Justin Loy (right), 33, and Barry Lim (left) , 35, together with their employee, Benedict Teo (center), 23, at their boutique in Toa Payoh. Walk into any HDB mom-and-pop shop and chances are there will be an elderly uncle or auntie behind the counter. The heartland enterprise scene is often associated with old shopkeepers plying traditional trades such as sundry stores and medical halls. But this is morphing as a younger generation enters the scene. Their average age is 48, down from 50 five years ago, said the HDB. And many of them are breathing new life into the heartlands by setting up cafes, ice-cream parlours and gentleman barber shops.