Suiting Up

After getting passed the equator it was time to start thinking about our planned “gap” in the trip. I had agreed to join Ross with the caveat that I needed to go on a North American wedding tour in July and this seemed to correspond with Ross’s need to renew health insurance in South Africa after almost three months away. Though we had made plans to park the car at Kakira Sugar in Jinja we had not sorted out some of the final details, for example: after eleven weeks driving across Africa, did we have any remaining clothes respectable enough to wear on an airplane? Also, after re-reading one wedding invitation I realized the event was a black tie event and none of my current suits would work. It was time to make a plan.

We had always had it in the back of our minds that fine bespoke tailoring of unique African fabric would be a nice souvenir from our trip. But now, with my wedding tour so formalized and Ross determined to dress to impress during a few MBA scholarship interviews, it became an imperative that we locate a fabric shop and find the finest tailor in all the land. The fabric shopping was easy enough – we only had to cross the “Great Barrier Reef Taxi Stand” without being maimed or robbed and then choose from one of the 100+ fabric shops selling a variety of homespun (read: from China) and other unique (read: wax paper clothes?) fabrics to choose from. Fortunately, we had help from our Vets Without Borders friends from Mbarara.

Fabrics selected, we again crossed the taxi terminal (and again made it financially whole) to initiate the process of selecting the best tailor we could find. One particular street close to the main market in Kampala seemed to be where all tailors congregate. The muddy half-paved half-pothole filled street was lined on both sidewalks with rickety tables holding precariously balanced sewing machines. Behind each machine a man worked the electric foot pedal sewing furiously to stitch together shirts, dresses, trousers, suit coats and more. Behind the tailor, ropes and wire were strung along the wall bearing hangers of finished wares. We walked the entire street talking to assorted tailors and inspecting their finished merchandise. After some discussion between Ross and I debating the finer finishing details of one such tailor, we determined that we would move forward with him to the next stage. Our chosen tailor, Mr. Mathias, was happy to then show us his actual shop which was on the top floor of an adjacent building. It seems the tailors on the street are only the front man for a business that has an entire back end structure. Before we could ask too many questions, it was time to get measured up.

With measurements completed, we only had to finalize pricing. With no printed price list it took around ten minutes of tough negotiation in order for Mr. Mathias to agree to 90,000 UGX per suit. Considering we paid 35,000 UGX each for the fabric it was starting to add up. Neither Ross or I had owned a six figure piece of clothing before. And so we departed ways with our money and Mr. Mathias with instructions to return in one week for the finished ensembles hoping the new fashion collection would be finished prior to our planned trip break. He did not disappoint and we are happy to show a few stills from our first trip fashion show.