On the Great Wall of China

Watch the Video of my walk on the Great Wall of China:

Chamber Leadership trip to China

Mayor John Peyton and myself at the entrance to the Summer Palace in Beijing
(Click on image for closeup)

Last week I was in China with the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce for the International Leadership trip. It was extremely positive 10 day trip from March 7th - 17th. We travelled with a 35 person delegation including the Mayor of Jacksonville, and were treated like absolute royalty while we were there!! I especially gained a great deal of knowledge from the trip in as well as some connections there that could prove invaluable to me in the clothing business, not to mention 34 great new friends! China is very impressive with some of the most massive cities I have ever seen. We visited Beijing, where this Summer's Olympics will be held, and climbed the Great Wall of China. We then spent three days in Shanghai where the size and scope of the city boggles the mind. You can buy anything you want in Shanghai, and it is manufactured right there. We then visited Hong Kong for three days and I must say it is the most beautiful and efficient city I have ever seen. I spent some time with a few of the famous Hong Kong Tailors, and learned quite a bit while I was there. Hats off to the Chamber here in Jacksonville for creating one of the most memorable trips I have ever had, and one that promises to pay great dividends for me (and my clients), and an experience I will never forget! - AMV

If you would like to see all my pictures Click Here for Album

Why you should buy every suit with two pair of pants

In short, because you can! The idea of two pair of pants with each suit is nothing new. It used to be that having two pants made with your suit was always an option. These days many places don’t even offer the option, or if they do, they do not suggest it. Because of cloth utilization advantages, and because so little extra work is required to make an additional pant while already making a coat and pant, it has always been fiscally sensible to order one extra pant with your suits. And just think of all the advantages:

One of the great parts of having two pants for a suit is the ability to travel wearing the suit, and bring along the second pant. It’s like bringing two suits! You also will essentially double the life of your suit if it has two pants, as the wear and tear is greater over time on the pants than the coat. You will dry-clean the coat less often, therefore you will dramatically lengthen the suit’s life span by having two pants. You can always have one pair of pants at the cleaner’s being pressed and the other pair at the ready, fresh and pressed and good to go. The effective impact upon your wardrobe is like adding two suits to your rotation in terms of wear and tear, yet only costs an additional 25-30% more than the suit cost with just one pair of pants. It’s really a no-brainer when you’re going to the expense of having a nice suit made to get that extra pair of pants cut when you order it. And besides, think how glad you’ll be if you tear a hole in one of the pants accidentally.

by Alan M. Vinson

Haberdasher

Actual Cloth Bolts - A new wrinkle in our business

While I was at the clothing show in Las Vegas I picked up 7 (particularly nice) bolts of cloth to bring back to Jacksonville with me. So, now I have 4 bolts for suits and 3 bolts for Sport coats at my office. These fabrics were just too good of a deal on too nice of a piece of cloth to pass up. Here's what it means to you. If you were to have a suit or sportcoat made from one of these that I own the cloth for, you would get an incredible value. These 7 cloths are available at a 30% discount from their regular price. If you have any interest, contact me and I will come to your office or you can stop by to see the actual bolt of cloth. What this also means is that you can see a very large piece of the fabric rather than the usual 5" x 7" swatch. I anticipate ordering more fabric this way in the future. It allows customers to see a large piece of the cloth before ordering and I can give a better price on these fabrics which I have already "landed". Stay tuned for more details.