Who we are, why are we doing this?
Dan & Melissa, Dan wearing a purple velvet jacket with Thai silk shirt. Melissa is in a fabric-button blouse in Chinese silk with floral detail.
Dan and Melissa first spent time overseas together in 2004 – traveling all around Southeast Asia. It was about their tenth date they’d ever gone on. They greatly enjoyed their adventure and vowed to try to travel back to Asia every year. For flavor, they decided to try spending more time in fewer places and attempt to live in one place for a month or two – getting a taste of what it feels like to be local. One year they taught English on Bali for a couple months. Another year they chose the historic fishing village of Hoi An, Vietnam, staying for a couple months, renting bikes and enjoying the town’s offerings.
Every man should have at least one good looking, nice fitting suit.
They’ve been returning to Hoi An regularly now, falling in love with the place and people. In addition to many positive characteristics the city has to offer, the town just happens to specialize in custom tailor shops – building made-to-measure clothing for the many western bodies that travel through this part of Vietnam. There are literally hundreds of different shops. Dan and Melissa, both being creative by nature of their person and profession, began designing their new wardrobe. With their wedding approaching back in 2007, they planned ahead and ordered custom wedding clothes for themselves and several other coats and suits for friends and family. They both learned the skill of taking and recording measurements and knowing how best to interface with the tailors who make the clothes. Hundreds of clothing items later, they are still working with many of the same tailors to build custom clothes – this time for all their friends back home who can’t make the trip. Dan and Melissa meet with you in the USA, show you samples of the styles and quality available for order, and then take your custom clothing requests right there at the sizing session. They’ll take the order with all the notes and special requests with them on their annual trip to Hoi An and essentially act as your personal apparel enabler.
Dan and Melissa encourage every guy out there to get at least one suit. They are nice to have in the event you need to go to a funeral or wedding, or even a court appearance. Getting two is a nice idea because you can get a conservative one for court and then maybe a blue velvet evening suit, maybe with a silver satin shirt (of course) – for New Year’s Eve. The possibilities are endless.
Here’s what a recent reviewer wrote about Ruby Threads Clothiers:
- “Here’s a genuine opportunity to have a very fine suit and / or coat custom made expressly for you, at an astoundingly good price. Dan and Melissa have created a win-win network for fair trade exchange in creating these finest quality suits, and the event is guaranteed to be fun, too. It works like this: you come to the event and have a look at the elegant fabrics and sample suits / coats, and get an idea for the prices. If you decide to order one, your precise measurements will be taken, and you’ll pay for the order. Over the next few months, Dan and Melissa will travel to Southeast Asia to have the clothing made by highly skilled tailors who have become friends of theirs. These self-employed craftsmen and women get paid very good wages for their part of the world. Your fine garment will be brought back by Melissa and Dan on their return, and you will receive your custom made clothes at a great value, and help support both the tailors and these 2 fine folks (who make their living as both entrepreneur artists and farmers). I’ve seen examples of these suits, and they are an excellent value, something you’ll really enjoy wearing. Especially nice if you have a big, formal event coming up.”
- Margot, Paonia, Co
