An oft-repeated quote by Oscar Wilde states: “One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art.” For those who like the idea of wearing a work of art that does not break the auctioneer’s hammer then the Bombay Shirt Company store in Central Park Towers, DIFC, may be of interest. It is a store where shirts are custom-made to exact specifications, in terms of fabric, colour, style be it a slim or regular-fit shirt, a tuck-in or tuck-out shirt, a formal shirt or a Kurta style. Clients can also choose the embellishments; such as the collar style, cuffs or even the colour of thread with which to sew the buttons.
The BSC began life in 2012, as India’s first online custom-shirt brand. Made up of a young and energetic team, the BSC’s ambition was to marry contemporary product design and technology with old-school tailoring techniques. In the short time since, the brand has accumulated an impressive list of accolades from critiques and customers alike.
While most clothing brands base their identity on their creative founders, the BSC draws its identity from its city of origin. Bombay, the metropolis of today was founded on the back of the textile trade during the British Raj. Textile and its related industries are still a significant part of the city’s economic landscape.
For those customers who insist on the ‘touch and feel’ experience, the brand opened its first retail store in Bombay in 2014. Now they have retail stores in every major Indian city, with Dubai being the first one outside India, followed by one in New York City. Why the need for retail outlets?
“Before spending, people prefer to touch and feel the fabrics. While the listings in the online stores are limited, retail stores display more than 3,000 fabrics that are sourced from different parts of the world such as India, Japan, Turkey and Europe. With well-trained and knowledgeable store staff, we render guidance through stylists with a master tailor at hand to help customers find the perfect fit according to their body type,” explained BSC founder and creative director Akshay Narvekar to The Hindu in 2017.
Of the wide selection of fabrics on display at the BSC store in Dubai, varieties of linen and cotton are the flavours for the summer months.
Linen is among BSC’s most luxurious fabrics. It has the perfect weave to wear during the summer months because it is lightweight and has excellent airflow, helping to keep the body cool while the mercury rises. Among the varieties of cotton, there is Poplin Cotton whose fabric is tightly woven with little texture to give it a thin, lightweight and soft feel, and Fil-a-fil Giza Cotton is woven with two different colours for a subtly irregular yet luxurious texture.
A custom-made shirt usually takes up to a week to stitch.
Open from 10 am – 8 pm Saturday to Thursday, and 11 am – 8 pm on Fridays.
