75 Years Of Tailoring LEGACY

We start from 40 years of tailoring precision and refine each element through testing and adjustment, creating shirts made for everyday life – more relaxed in form, still exact in detail.
Personal details, from size and length to button choice, can be adjusted, making each shirt something built with you.

Our Craft

We work with Singapore’s top shirtmaker, whose 40 years in tailoring have shaped our standards of construction, proportion, and balance. Together, we test and refine every decision — keeping what works, and improving what can be improved.

 

Each shirt passes through practiced hands, each mastering one operation: collar, body, sleeve, or cuff.

Collar: Collars are hand-shaped, with interlining placed by hand. The interlining is stress-tested with our suppliers to ensure lasting structure through wear. Each collar is pressed in three calibrated stages to keep pressure even when heat is applied. Roller and spring presses lose tension over time, causing bubbling — ours stay sharp and flat.

Body: Panels are hand-cut following an in-house pattern. Shoulder slope and armhole are shaped until the front and back sit in natural balance. The yoke is then aligned and stitched precisely, allowing the shirt to move naturally with the body.

Sleeves: Constructed in three stages — armhole join, sleeve seam, and permanent tape press — for a clean, wrinkle-free finish. The seam allowance is reduced to ⅜ inch instead of the usual ¾, creating a finer line that is harder to execute.

Cuffs: Cuffs are hand-shaped and reinforced with the same stress-tested interlining as our collars, ensuring lasting structure and consistency through wear.

Other precise details bring the shirt into final balance:

Stitching: We use 16 to 18 stitches per inch using custom German point needles that are paired precisely to thread thickness, so that each hole is filled cleanly without shrinkage or puckering.

Buttons: Shank buttons are chosen for both thickness and clearance, ensuring smooth fastening and a placket that lies flat. The last buttonhole is set horizontally to absorb tension at the hem, where movement creates the most strain, keeping the placket straight.

Side gussets: Reinforced side gussets, hand-cut and sewn for durability.

Pressing & Finishing: Each panel is pressed before and after assembly. Heat and pressure set the memory of the fabric, so form is retained through wear.

Finally, button alignment and tension are checked before every shirt leaves the workshop. Every shirt is inspected by the shirtmaker and his wife, whose 40 years of experience guide the final check.

Built For the Builder

We take our cue from the second son — the one who steps into the arena and does the work. He learns through doing, hones his craft through repetition, and takes quiet pride in getting it right.

That is the spirit behind Second Sons. Built for those who keep at it, who measure life by what is built.