An overcoat is a coat that is made to be worn over a jacket or coat. A classic or traditional overcoat that we cut often in the shop is a town coat. Town coats are often single breasted. We love to cut them long so they offer the most protection from the wind and winter weather. This is also sometimes described as a dress coat when cut from a more formal feeling, solid coloured cloth. Dress coats can also be cut double breasted with a peaked lapel and usually feature a nipped-in waist for a sharp line and formal feeling silhouette. Ask your tailor about options like button-on fur collars that can elevate these pieces.

Both top coats and car coats offer a feeling of shelter in a piece of clothing. Usually cut oversized and boxy, they incorporate features like back belts and large back pleats. They are usually a wide, overlapping double breasted style with a high break point, wide curved peaked lapels and a wide collar in an naval or peacoat style. Features like oversized pockets and what we like to call stadium pockets (pockets at chest level that let you cross your arms and put your hands in to keep extra warm) are usually lined in flannel to keep you cozy. The boxy silhouette of car coats allows for lots of layers underneath including additions that are possible in our Toronto studio like button-in fur liners.

We love working on Balmacaan and other more casual coats often made in tweeds and cut with a raglan, a half raglan or a split raglan sleeve. A raglan aleeve is a more difficult draft and construction of a sleeve as the seam extends from under the armhole towards the neckline on an angle rather than coming straight up to the shoulder tip. A raglan sleeve was originally developed for Lord Raglan who had a shoulder injury. It was developed to make it easier to put on and take off. Other features often found on Balmacaan coats are a single breasted front,  hidden button placket on the coat front and a Prussian style collar that does up all the way to the neck. This style of coat is also usually cut slightly shorter than town coat or dress coats to just above the knee, but can include any variation of design details.

Trench coats are generally more of a transitional season coat. Traditionally cut from a densely woven cotton in a twill gabardine, it will naturally resist some water due to the density of the weave. Trench coats are cut with yokes that are made with an additional layer of fabric over the shoulder to resist rain. Trench coats are made with long, high, inverted box pleats on the back of the coat giving it a very wide sweeping silhouette when left unbelted. This style of pleat means that there is no actual opening in the back of the coat for rain and other inclement weather to get in. Trench coats in our studio are also often constructed with additional wool vests that can be buttoned in or buttoned out, extending wearability into cooler temperatures. Trench coats are usually double breasted with a wide curved peaked lapel and a high stand collar that can do up to the neck, with waist belts and storm tabs on the sleeves that buckle tight to keep you dry. Ask our tailors about waxed cotton and selvedge cotton options to make this style of rainwear a truly unique and weather-hardy piece.

Peacoats, duffle coats, other naval or military style coats, as well as blanket coats are all great overcoat styles that can be explored in our Toronto tailoring studio. Peacoats are traditionally worn on deck by Navy offices. They are cut short, high to mid-thigh in length, and double breasted with a high break. They feature a classic pea coat collar that has a wide curved peaked lapel and a wide collar with a high stand. Here at our studio, we will work with you through fittings to ensure the coat can be done up all the way to the neck and that the wide collar can be pooped up and fit nicely high around your neck and over your ears to get you through gusty winter mornings. A pea coat is often classically cut in a navy blue wool melton, which is a densely woven, heavy wool cloth that has gone through some sort of felting of fulling process that makes the cloth even denser to block wind. But it can also be cut in other colours, textures or materials. A duffle coat is similar in length to a peak coat but with a hood and toggle closures, sometimes also featuring raglan sleeves. Other military style coats tend to follow the peacoat style but are cut much longer

We have a specialty walking foot machine that allows us to make leather garments. Under a regular sewing machine, leather sticks, bunches and is often too thick to be sewn. This machine allows us to produce things like motorcycle style jackets and bomber jackets in lambskin and suede. We have many hardware options. Snaps, buttons and rivets are all attached using specialty dyes. We can also produce more classic jackets or casual coats in leather. Ask our tailors about garments that mix leather and other types of cloth like varsity jackets.

We make workwear jackets and coats, denim jackets, trucker jackets and chore coats. Ask our tailors about details like flannel linings. Read more about these overcoat options on our Custom Denim/Workwear page

We cut our wool overcoats with a full front canvas. In overcoats, the canvas provides the same supports and structure as a bespoke suit, but we often take a different approach with the canvas material. For example, we like heavy winter overcoats and can offer heavier woven canvasing that will add to the weight and warmth of a finished piece.

We usually line overcoats with kasha back lining, which is a satin lining that has a flannel backing that provides an additional layer of insulation. Pockets are usually lined with flannel offering a warm and cozy place to put your hands when it’s cold outside. We also offer suede back interlinings that block the wind from your torso and keep you extra warm. Anything is an option on an overcoat including the addition of extra layers like button-in vests made in wool or fur.

We have an antique Bonis  fur machine. This lets us produce fur trims and accessories that can be added to your winter overcoat. Options include button-in fur collars and vest liners that can be added or removed based on the temperature, or fur gloves and mitts that finish off your winter look. Fur is a versatile material that is easily reused. If you have an old fur coat, it can often be used for some of these trims. We source new fur ethically and sustainably through a Winnipeg trading post.

A lot of hand sewing goes into finishing bespoke overcoats from a hand sewn gore line, to hand sewn armholes. Ask our tailors about other hand finishing options like handmade button holes and prick stitching. Learn more about the hand finishing that goes into bespoke tailored items on our Bespoke Suits page under Bespoke Suit Construction

Every bespoke overcoat starts with our consultation. Our tailors will ask about what conditions you intend to wear your overcoat for, and what some of your general preferences and concerns are. After this briefing, a consultation usually moves on to looking through material. Your choice of fabric can help us narrow down details and how they might best be used. After narrowing down cloth options, our consultation will turn to design elements and the cut of your overcoat. Once we have defined your style, selected fabric, considered details and provided a quote, we will take your measurements and book the first of four fittings. Expect the bespoke overcoat consultation to take approximately one hour, and allow 8 to 12 weeks for the completion of the overcoat. A deposit of 50% will be taken to start with the balance due when your pieces are complete. From here, our tailors will start drafting patterns for your pieces. If your timelines are tighter, we’re always open to considering a quicker turnaround.

The mock-up of your bespoke overcoat in a test material is a unique and important part of our shop’s process. It allows us a physical form of communication before actual cloth is cut and details become more concrete. You will be able to see and try on a rough draft of what we discussed at our consultation. It’s a chance for our tailors to work through technical fit, but also adapt proportions to your body. It’s also a chance for you to see and try details that you might be unsure of. It is not in the real cloth so major changes can still be made. We recommend you bring or wear the types of garments you want to wear under you overcoat to all fittings so it can be bult to accommodate them.

Your tailor will take the changes identified in your mock-up fitting and adjust your patterns based on these notes. Our first fabric stage is created in the final cloth but still in the rough. Sleeves have not yet been attached to the jacket, leaving the shoulders open for us to fine tune adjustments like padding and asymmetry of the body. Sleeves are hung in the fitting to the angle of your arm. Finer adjustment to length, waist suppression (how fitted or loose you prefer the shape of your overcoat) and lapel shape can still be made at this stage. We will make sure you can pop yout collar and that it fits around the back of your head and over your ears during cold weather. It’s in the first fabric fitting that we choose things like lining and buttons that can change the look and feel of your overcoat.

At this stage, your bespoke overcoat is starting to look like a finished garment and you can really see how it has come together. The sleeves are set, the collar and lapels are attached and linings have been added. Any fur trims, collars or button-out liners have been put in place. There is still a chance at this stage for us to get back inside and make small tweaks before the whole overcoat is hand-sewn closed, button holes are set and buttons are sewn on. Overall, this fitting is focused on ensuring there’s a sense of harmony in all of the overcoat’s elements.

You can expect to take home your bespoke overcoat after our final fitting. Here, you are trying on the finished piece. There is sometimes some back and forth between our irons and your body to get the final moulding perfect. We stand by the pieces we have made in our shop for the life of the garment. Repairing and mending pieces we have made is something our shop takes pride in. We want to make items to last and will work with you to extend the life of them.

The cost of a bespoke overcoat varies depending on the fabric, construction, design details and scope of the commission. We provide a quote after your consultation once we understand what you would like to create. A lined, structured and canvased wool overcoat starts at $5,200 and unlined, unstructured chore coats and denim jackets start at $1,600

After your initial consultation, expect approximately four fittings throughout the bespoke process, from the mock-up through the final fitting.

Around 10 to 12 weeks from first consultation to final fitting, across roughly four appointments. More time is required for more complicated designs and during our busy season from March to September. If your order is more rushed, it never hurts to reach out.

We follow a similar process for making bespoke leather jackets. The one exception is that we might actually create two or three mocks ups of your leather coat before moving into leather. We do this because once leather has been sewn, the holes that a needle puts into it are permanent and means there is less chance for alterations or adjustments once it’s been made up in leather. We rely on our specialty walking foot machine that allows us to deal with an otherwise stretchy, sticky and thick material that doesn’t move easily through a normal sewing machine. Did you know that the seams on a leather jacket cannot be pressed open with heat and steam? Instead, we use a rubber mallet and rubber cement to hold seams open.

Yes, most consultations start with browsing our Ruby Room stock fabric library and our books of fabrics options that can be brought in from international mills. If you have a special piece of cloth you’ve purchased on you own, we can even make your pieces using that. We also have options for custom woven fabrics.

We make many period inspired pieces and have a library of historical and period drafts available to browse during your consultation. While we are happy to reference a vintage paper pattern, our preference will be to cut a pattern specific to you and use the vintage reference as inspiration.

Yes, our background in costume means we are well versed in cutting a variety of period shapes including 17th century, Victorian, Edwardian, early-to-mid-20th century and other historical silhouettes. Ask our tailors about your period interests. We also cut many period capes and opera-style coats.

Yes, we make bespoke overcoats for women, men, trans and non-binary people. We can cut for all body types and all genders regardless of fit and design preferences.

Yes, our tailors will walk through all of the details with you. Expect to discuss coat shape and button structure, single breasted, double breasted, one, two or three buttons and more. We will talk through a variety of gore line heights and lapel shapes but can accommodate any style. Shoulder structure, sleeve style and canvasing are adaptable. Pockets and stitching details, linings, special trims, interlinings and detachable vests are all details that can be discussed with your tailor. Don’t get too overwhelmed or feel like you have to do lots of research before you come in. We can guide you through the process, but, by all means, come in with something specific in mind and we will be happy to make it in collaboration with you.

All of our bespoke overcoats are made in our Toronto tailoring studio in Toronto’s west end, in the Junction neighbourhood just north of Dundas West and Keele. When you visit our shop, you can see right into our workroom and our tailors at work.