Every Haldane suit begins as a brown-paper pattern 
drawn for one body, then is basted, fitted three times 
and finished by hand.
- Twelve weeks from the first measure to collection
- Around eighty hours of hand work in every coat
- Your pattern kept on file for as long as you wear us
Four hundred cloths. One of them is yours.
The library holds bunches from mills in the Scottish Borders, Huddersfield and Biella: flannels, worsteds, tweeds and the odd bolt bought because it was beautiful. Handle them in the workroom, or have cuttings posted before your first fitting.
Order cuttings by postGrey flannel
Yorkshire · 13 oz
Navy worsted
Huddersfield · 9 oz
Bottle-green twill
Scottish Borders · 11 oz
Houndstooth
Scottish Borders · 12 oz
Brown island tweed
Outer Hebrides · 15 oz
Windowpane check
Biella · 10 oz
Three fittings, twelve weeks
No coat leaves the workroom on a first try. Each fitting moves it closer to the way you stand, sit and reach, and each is booked around your diary.
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Measure
Step 1Twenty-six measures and notes on how you stand; your pattern is drafted by hand that week.
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Baste
Step 2A coat held together with loose white stitches, opened and chalked again on you.
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Forward
Step 3Pockets, lapels and sleeves in place; the balance and the collar are set.
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Finish
Step 4Hand-sewn buttonholes, a last press, and the suit goes home with you.
Three pairs of hands in every coat
You meet your cutter at every fitting. The coatmaker and the finisher never see you, but they sign the inside pocket.
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Isla Rennie, head cutter Drafts every pattern by hand and runs all three fittings; twenty-two years at the board.
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Morag Duthie, coatmaker Builds the canvas and shapes the chest of each coat, mostly by hand.
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Anh Tran, finisher Sews the buttonholes, the pick stitching and the linings, one coat at a time.
The Haldane cut
Our house style is close and soft: room where you move, none where you don’t. Four things you will feel before anyone sees them.
Soft shoulder
A natural line with light padding, so the coat follows your shoulder instead of building a new one.
High armhole
Cut close under the arm, so you can reach for a glass without the collar leaving your neck.
Long roll
A lapel that rolls down to the button rather than being pressed flat.
Clean back
No drag and no ripple across the shoulders: the balance is set at the second fitting.
Commissions
Prices include cloth from the house bunches, every fitting and a year of free alterations. Rarer cloths are quoted at the first fitting.
Two-piece suit
Twelve weeks · three fittings
from £3,400
Three-piece suit
Twelve weeks · three fittings
from £3,950
Sports coat
Ten weeks · two or three fittings
from £2,450
Overcoat
Fourteen weeks · three fittings
from £3,800
Trousers
Six weeks · two fittings
from £980
A deposit of half secures your place in the cutting book.
Ask about rarer clothsWe travel with the cloth
Twice a year we pack the bunches and bring the fittings to you. Book an hour: the first measure happens on the spot, and later fittings follow on our next visit or in Edinburgh.
London
Mayfair · 4–6 November
Book a slot in LondonManchester
Spinningfields · 13–14 November
Book a slot in ManchesterCopenhagen
Indre By · 21–22 November
Book a slot in CopenhagenNew York
Upper East Side · 2–5 December
Book a slot in New YorkGlasgow
Merchant City · 15–16 January
Book a slot in Glasgow
Your pattern stays with us
The brown-paper pattern cut for your first suit hangs in our archive for as long as you wear Haldane. Reorder by letter, have it adjusted after a change of shape, or hand it down.
- Reorders with a single fitting
- Free alterations for the first year
- Repairs and repressing at cost, for life
Questions before a first fitting
Anything else, ask us at the workroom or by email; a cutter answers.
fittings@haldane.exampleHow long does a suit take?
About twelve weeks from the first measure, with three fittings three to four weeks apart. A second suit from the same pattern takes around eight.
Do I need to come to Edinburgh?
No. Our trunk shows bring the cloth and the fittings to London, Manchester, Copenhagen, New York and Glasgow twice a year.
What makes it bespoke rather than made to measure?
Your pattern is drawn from nothing for you, not adjusted from a standard block, and the coat is basted and refitted on you before it is finished.
Can you copy a suit I already own?
We can take its details as a starting point, but we always cut a new pattern for you rather than tracing the old one.
Do you make for women?
Yes. About a third of the cutting book is suits, coats and trousers for women, cut from the same house style.
Come in
A first fitting takes an hour, and the kettle is always on
Workroom
1 Example Street
Edinburgh EH1 0ZZ
Hours
Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00–18:00
Evenings by appointment
Call
+44 131 000 0000