Cego Custom Shirtmakers

I have been wearing custom shirts for almost 15 years now. I have tried many different places. Two from Hong Kong, and four different places in New York. I can honestly say that you are in good hands with CEGO. He will do his best to make a shirt that fits you. He will also guide you away from patterns or styles that may not flatter your shape. You get what you pay for with him. The shirts last for years and generally look great.

Carl is not only a pro shirtmaker, he is an amazing guy. I have been getting custom shirts made for most of my adult life in 3 or 4 different countries and CARL, IS THE BEST. Precision, fit and attention to detail. Carl has one of the largest selections of fine fabrics and if you don’t see what you want there, he will find a way to get it for you. There is nothing in the shirting world that this man can’t do. Thanks again Carl!

I started going to Carl for my shirts soon after I arrived in NY. Over the years I have simultaneously used other shirt makers but now my shirt wardrobe is almost exclusively Cego. I consistently kept coming back because he has given me unparalleled service and over this year his operation has only gotten better and more efficient.
He is forward and forthcoming but will always accommodate your requests. My advice is to listen to him and then work from there. He has an extremely vast knowledge of tailoring and cloth, so much that he was the first to point out the Achilles’ Heel of a certain French chambray. I would recommend no one else.

Carl is fantastic. Don’t hesitate to go to him. It doesn’t matter if you are spending $ 125 a shirt or $ 400 a shirt, the service is the same. He spent a lot of time making sure my fit was correct and I was happy. The shirts were delivered on time. He gave me a break on certain fabrics. I will be going back again.

Timely delivery: ²⁄₁₀
Quality: ⁶⁄₁₀
Professionalism: ³⁄₁₀
Price: too high
I had ordered shirts for my brothers wedding in January for February 21. The shirts were ready February 20^th (that’s only because I called everyday). Shirts were way too tight but they didn’t want to fix it.
Carl told me that I asked for «tight» fit. I asked for slim fit not «tight» fit.
His office is in some crummy old building, I was actually offered fake Louis Vuitton bags on my way out.
I do not recommend this place. You can get much better shirts for the price

Let’s just say the quality of the shirt means nothing if the customer service is horrible. I, like many, got a custom shirt for my wedding and Cego’s office and myself were in agreement on the importance of the timing of acquirement. Never got the shirt on time. What a shame, I hear he’s good.

Carl is great. Made me a shirt for my wedding, and it was just what I was looking for the first time around. Fit me perfectly. Carl was helpful and nice – I really enjoyed the process. Shirt was a great value for the money.

I have been using Carl for 15 years.
His price is much better than you will find elsewhere and he has a great selection of fabrics.
The fit of the shirt will be good, but you should talk to him about how tight you want it — so a tight fit will be very tight on your body –it is a custom fit. If you have a shirt that you like the way it fits you wear it to the the fitting so Carl can make your shirts fit similarly.
He can do anything, but is not the best source for design advice.
Pick up some boxers while you are there — made from left over material from shirts — they are high quality and unique.

Love my custom shirt! Never had the experience before, but I wanted a nice shirt for my wedding and a friend told me that custom was a better investment than something off the rack from a fancy designer. I looked around at a few places, but really had no idea how to find a good shirt maker except for a recommendation. The Cego name came up a few times from separate friends so I decided this is who I should go see for my first custom shirt and I wasn’t disappointed.
I was very happy with the service and timeline to make the shirt. I also liked the follow up fitting and adjustment to make sure it really fit correctly.
It’s definitely pricier than I’m used to for a shirt, but knowing that it’s made to fit just me and not just your average Medium makes me love it even more and if I get any other custom shirts in the future I’m going here. Thanks Carl!

CEGO rocks! Always music in the background, always tons of fabric hanging, always people working busily cutting, sewing, ironing, sewing, and cutting. I’ve been a customer of Carl’s for about 20 years now, and while I can be a bit picky he always comes through for me. No pretense, no BS, no arrogance — just the best shirts (and pocket squares!) you can get at any price…

Great choices of fabrics, years of experience and Carl is the man. He’s straight up, no PC hipster conversations in here. If you value the fit, feel and uniqueness of having a custom tailored shirt, then go see Carl.

I am now more than three years in to using CEGO exclusively for all of my shirts. I couldn’t be more pleased. Carl has become a friend and I absolutely love my shirts. Those I bought three years ago are still going strong (wore one from my first order today, in fact).
Highly recommended.

Before buying my first custom made shirt, I spent roughly 10 hours over the course of a few months researching, reading reviews like this one, heading into places like Brooks Brother trying to decide not whether I was going to get a custom shirt made (in the hopes of getting many more), but rather who was I going to entrust with my money that would provide me a dress shirt with a better fit than anything I’ve had to date.
I settled on CEGO for a few reasons — someone always answered the phone when I called, priced reasonably, solid reviews and the shirts are made in the USA (Newark specifically)
First time I came in, I had to wait about 20 minutes, but once Carl is working with you, he gives you his full attention and takes into account all the physical minutia in order to produce a great American made shirt. I recommend having some sense of what you like and don’t like, but Carl will be able to guide you.
Have ordered 3 shirts over the past year ranging in cost from $ 125-​$ 165 and they’ve taken roughly 4 – 6 weeks. I recommend them as a great option for American-​made custom shirts.

Prices: ⁵⁄₅
Service: ⁵⁄₅
Quality: ⁴⁄₅
Delivery Time: ³⁄₅
I had an atypical shirt design that only 3 shops in Manhattan would be willing to make. Two of them quoted $ 200-​$ 300 and said it would take 4+ weeks. Carl said he could do it for $ 175 in under two weeks and he seemed like a good guy so I went forward.
Two weeks later I was called in to try it on. It didnt fit well so he remeasured it and sent it back across town to be fixed. A week after that i was called again to come back and it was much better. Im very picky and asked for one more adjustment to be made which he made on the spot while I waited. After that, I had exactly what I wanted.
There are some very very minor details that I wish were different when it comes the way it was stitched but its minor.

At the moment, things are going well.

Shirts were to be ready in three to four weeks. I wanted to be polite and didn’t check in until four weeks had passed. By week 10-​ish the shirts were ready. (Ordered 3÷3÷10, Ready 5÷13÷10)
I told Carl that the shirts were too tight. his response was «you asked for a trim fit.» True. But Carl, a «trim fit» doesn’t mean that when you move the slightest bit that the front of the shirt becomes taught and starts stretching around the buttons. He told me to take them home and see how they wash out. Well, they didn’t stretch, thats for sure.
The price is good for what you are supposed to be getting (3 shirts was $ 400). While the shirts are nice quality, the fact that they didn’t fit well ruined my experience. The other measurements were pretty good. The style (collar, button holes, stitches, etc.) were spot-​on to my order. Also problematic was that my watch… which he had measured for… didn’t fit in the sleeves.
At the end of the day, I do wear the shirts, but only two out of the three of them (one is worse than the others). I can wear the shirts if I don’t need to impress anyone. To sit behind my desk is fine. To go out and walk and move around – I won’t wear them. Way too tight. I also hate having to leave my watch at home.
I am sorry that I sucked it up and ordered three shirts as a first order. I should have listened to everyone who told me to just order one. Maybe now that the first order came out so poorly he would get the shirts right, but these travelling Hong Kong tailors do the same job – quicker, and cheaper. And they get it right the first time. At least I have those shirts to wear to court.
Some people on SF badmouth the guy, but I believe that he was genuinely friendly and helpful with deciding on colors, collar style, cuff style, etc. when I went in for my fitting. He will not upsell you or push you to order anything you aren’t comfortable with. When I returned he had an attitude, but admittedly he was busy fitting two people at the moment.
I just don’t find it acceptable that when I said the shirts were cut too tight that blame was shifted to me. I asked for a shirt that fit– i.e. one that didn’t look like it came from Brooks. We discussed this explicitly. Sure, I could probably go back and ask him to fix the shirts-​he might even do it, I don’t know. I’m not sure that I care to find out, because three weeks would turn into ten again.
If you must try CEGO, order one shirt. If you are happy, go back. I wasn’t.

My experience with custom made shirts has been brief — I’ve only patronized two other tailors for a total of 3 shirts so take this review with a grain of salt. That said, I can heartily endorse CEGO as the best experience thus far. Carl is extremely accomodating, listens to your needs (he replicated a collar style that I requested), and produces your shirt within the time frame promised. Most importantly, he is outstanding at taking measurements and the shirt REALLY fits. You will want to wear it all the time.
Final thoughts:
–These shirts, strictly speaking, are produced from an array of pre-​existing block patterns that are modified by a computer pattern program to accomodate individual customer’s measurements. Therefore, they are Made to Measure and not Bespoke. With Bespoke, an individual pattern is drawn up for each customer. Bespoke still exists but there are only a handfull around, their services are prohibitively expensive, and the final product does not necessarily offer a superior fit.
— When you go to a tailor, you have to know what you want. Bring a shirt you like or a picture of a shirt you like. Be clear, otherwise you will end up with the tailor’s default style which may not be to your taste.
— I’ve found that any custom shirt you get, regardless of the tailor, is made from markedly better fabric than all but the most expensive store bought shirt. This results in a garment that is easier to iron and substantially more durable. I wear each of my CEGO shirts once a week and the fabric has yet to shows signs of wear or fading. Definitely worth the investment.

When you want to look like a put together man you will go to Carl and he will make you a shirt that fits. Not like a tent, not like a huge trashbag like even the «fitted» off the rack shirts fit, but like a shirt was meant to fit. If you need slim fit, this is the place.

CEGO is an amazing place. The craftsmanship on the shirts is top notch, and Carl has an incredible eye for fit and style. If you’re on the thinner side, like myself, CEGO is a godsend, as there is nothing else like this place in NYC. Moreover, once Carl has your measurements on file, all you have to do is pick from his hundreds of patterns, all of which are guaranteed a perfect fit. However, be warned, once you try on your first CEGO shirt, your brooks brothers’ shirts will feel like baggy disasters, and will be relegated to the back of your closet, where they will await their inevitable fate of becoming charitable deductions.