Suits focus: Tom Murphy Menswear, Cork

When investing in a suit you'll benefit in going to a place where the staff invest time in producing a top-notch service. Cork's Tom Murphy Menswear perfectly fits the bill.

Just because Tom Murphy have been providing expert sartorial help to the men of Cork, and beyond, for more than 70 years it’s certainly not a company that rests on its laurels.

Yes, you’re getting experience, but the team at Tom Murphy make regular trips to Italy in order to make sure that the advice they give is up to date and includes insider information on the latest trends in tailoring.

This year’s suit, for example, could well be in cobalt blue or in a silvery grey – both very much ‘on trend’ for 2011.

And Tom Murphy were the first suit specialists in Ireland to launch an e-commerce site www.tom-murphy.ie, giving people the chance to buy suits on line – particularly useful if you’ve already bought a suit from the Tom Murphy team and know which style, brand and size works well for you.

The website also acts as a virtual shop window regarding what’s on offer in store – which goes some way to explain why they attract first-time customers from across the country.

Then there's an extremely popular Facebook page at facebook.com/tommurphymenswear

The current ‘Tom’ is, not surprisingly, a descendent of the original Tom Murphy. Generations of the Murphy family continue to work side by side in the shop with the current Tom's father still involved in the business. Among his customers are regulars who have been visiting the St Patrick's Street tailor for decades, many of whom now send their own children (and grandchildren) to Tom Murphy to get kitted out.

“You have guys coming in whose fathers and even whose grandfathers would have come to us in the past. I think it’s fair to say that we’re very well know in Cork,” Tom says.

Benefit

As a suit specialist, customers get the benefit of being looked after by staff whose focus is suitably specialist. You may pay a little more for a Tom Murphy-bought suit, but the suit you buy will be more durable.

You’ll get good value, but also the sense that your custom is valued.

“Smaller stores that concentrate purely on suits will always be looking for repeat customers, and the best way of managing that is through the service you give,” Tom says.

“If you give a good, knowledgeable service that leaves the customer pleased with their purchase, then they will want to come back to you.

“Staff in a suit specialist would be more up-to-date in their knowledge of suit trends. They’ll have a good grasp of what fabrics and cuts are popular at a given time, but most importantly they’ll have the expert knowledge to know what suits the customers shape and their requirements."

“We’ll know how a suit should look and how it should hang. You’re not going to get the level of professionalism and knowledge from some young lad who’s working a summer job in Debenhams," says Tom.

“The brands that specialist suit shops sell tend to come from manufacturers who are suit specialists themselves and they tend to be expertly made and a higher quality product.”

Among the brands stocked by Tom Murphy are Irish suit makers Magee, high-quality Dutch brand Van Kollem and German brand Wilvorst, whose suits are particularly popular with men looking for a wedding suit.

While some customers have been coming to Tom Murphy for several decades, the shop is also doing brisk business in attracting the smarter, more-discerning younger customer.

“Younger men will often go for slimmer jackets and will want the jacket tapered,” Tom says. “To do that correctly you really need to know what you’re doing.

“A lot of the bigger shops don’t offer tailoring beyond maybe shortening the legs, but for us we see tailoring as an important part of ensuring that anyone wearing one of our suits looks their best. We can offer a full tailoring service as part of the overall package.

In fact, when it comes to providing well-fitting suits for the Irish market, there’s one delicate issue to bear in mind – we come in a variety of shapes and sizes that rarely exactly matches what you’ll find ‘off the peg’.

Experts

Unless you’re buying a bespoke suit, any suit you’ll buy will need to be altered – something which is best left to the experts.

“A lot of Irish men don’t quite fit into your standard off-the-peg suit,” Tom concedes, “meaning that before someone can wear a suit they’ll need to get it tailored. Things like tapering the legs of trousers and adjusting the waist may be vital if you’re going to get a perfect fit.

“We have guys coming from across the country to be fitted for a suit – it’s the sort of thing that people will travel for in order to get it right.”

When people do make the effort to travel to the shop, they are met with a level of customer care that you struggle to find in the 21st Century. Tom Murphy may well have embraced the internet, but that doesn't mean they've turned their back on providing a high quality personal service to any man stepping over the St Patrick's Street threshold.

"In our store there’s a movement back to traditional service where there's a bit of banter between the customers and the staff," Tom says.

"Because our store is niche, we’re the sort of place that does well from repeat custom and from word-of-mouth recommendations.

“I think that there’s a great enthusiasm here. The range of products we offer is extensive – from good value, good quality suits that are perfect for younger customers who need a suit for a first job interview up to premium and made-to-measure suits .”

“We try to cover the full spectrum of the market. A few years ago when the Celtic Tiger was riding high a lot of people made the move towards the high end of the market, and we needed to provide high-end suits to match their expectations, but now there’s a move back towards the middle ground – suits that might cost a little more than high-street stores such as Next and Top Man but which are a definite notch up in quality.”

Tom Murphy is situated at 58 St Patrick's Street, Cork. Tel: 021 4272401 or visit www.tom-murphy.ie