Chalkline
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Made to your measurements, four floors up on Juta Street

Bespoke suits, jackets and trousers cut in Braamfontein, and the cloth to make them. Fittings by appointment.

See the cloth

Fittings by appointment

Tuesday to Friday 09:00 to 17:30. Saturday 09:00 to 13:00. Closed Sunday and Monday. 011 403 2276 · Fourth floor, 44 Juta Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. A first fitting runs about an hour. We measure, you go through the cloth books, and we put the next date in the book before you leave. Parking is off De Beer Street and the lift is on the left.

Cloth, and what we make from it

Suit Length, English Worsted, 3.2 m
Cloth

Suit Length, English Worsted, 3.2 m

Three point two metres of mid-grey worsted at about 280 grams, which is enough for a two-piece with a spare trouser front left over. Plain weave with a faint chalk line through it, so it reads solid across a room and only shows its stripe up close. Buy the length now and book the fitting when you are ready — we write your name on the roll and stand it on the shelf. Cutting and making are quoted separately once we have your measurements.

R3 400.00Add to cart
Mohair Hopsack Jacket
Jackets

Mohair Hopsack Jacket

Cape mohair blended with wool and woven as an open hopsack, which is the only jacket cloth we would put on a body in Johannesburg in February. Half-lined through the back, two buttons, patch pockets, and the lapel rolled and pressed by hand rather than fused flat. The sizes below are our block — the fitting is where it becomes yours, and the first alteration is included in the price. Give it a fortnight on a broad hanger before you decide anything about the sleeve.

R6 900.00Choose a size
Flat-Front Wool Trousers
Trousers

Flat-Front Wool Trousers

Charcoal worsted, clean flat front, side adjusters instead of belt loops so nothing bunches under a jacket. We leave six centimetres in the hem so you can decide about a turn-up after you have walked in them. Lined to the knee at the front and finished with a curtained waistband that will take two rounds of letting out. These are the pair people buy first and then come back for in navy.

R2 400.00Choose a size
Grenadine Silk Tie
Accessories

Grenadine Silk Tie

Navy grenadine woven on a shuttle loom, textured enough to hold interest across a table without being a pattern anyone has to have an opinion about. Cut at eight centimetres, tipped in the same silk and rolled by hand, so the knot stays small and sits firm all day. It goes with every jacket in this shop, which is rather the point of it. Untie it properly at night and it will outlast the suit.

R780.00Add to cart
Box-Cloth Braces
Accessories

Box-Cloth Braces

Woven box cloth with bridle leather ends and solid brass fittings — how trousers were held where they were cut to sit, long before anybody thought of a belt. Button ends as standard; say so in the order notes if your trousers have no buttons and we will send clip ends instead. Adjustable from roughly 1.65 m to 1.95 m, and the leather darkens the way leather does. Wear them with the flat-front trousers and stop tugging at your waistband.

R950.00Add to cart
Rolled-Edge Linen Pocket Square
Accessories

Rolled-Edge Linen Pocket Square

Washed Irish linen, forty centimetres square, with the edge rolled and stitched by hand so it holds a shape in the breast pocket instead of collapsing into it. Off-white, because off-white works with everything already hanging in your cupboard and a printed silk does not. Press it once and then leave it alone. If you have never folded one, come up and we will show you in two minutes.

R320.00Add to cart
Cotton Twill Chinos
Trousers

Cotton Twill Chinos

Heavy stone twill cut on the same trouser block as our worsteds, so they fit like tailoring and wear like a Saturday. Belt loops on these, plain hem, and a deeper rise than the chain shops cut. They soften after three washes and hold the crease anyway. Wash them cold and inside out, and leave the tumble dryer out of it.

R1 690.00Choose a size
Bone Linen Overshirt
Outerwear

Bone Linen Overshirt

Unlined linen cut as a light jacket rather than a shirt — squared hem, patch pockets, worn open over a T-shirt from November through to March. Belgian linen in bone, which creases the moment you sit down and is meant to. It is the one thing in the shop you can buy off the rail and wear the same afternoon. Cold wash, line dry in the shade, and do not iron the life out of it.

R1 850.00Choose a size

Where it gets cut

Chalkline has been on the fourth floor since 2011 — three rooms and six people, two cutters, three tailors and Nomsa on the phone. Nothing goes out to a factory. The pattern is drawn on paper for every customer and kept on the shelf with your name on it, so the second suit takes half the time the first one did. We buy cloth twice a year, mostly English and Italian worsteds and mohair off a mill outside Uitenhage. If a length is on the shelf you can see it and hold it before you commit; if it is only in a book we will tell you honestly how long it takes to land. Four to six weeks from first measure to final fitting, longer in November, because everybody remembers December at the same time.

I brought in my father’s jacket and asked for one like it. They kept the shape and lost forty years. Sipho Mahlangu, Kensington

Everybody remembers December in November

Four to six weeks from first measure to final fitting. We stop taking new suits for the festive season at the end of October, and we say so rather than promise something we cannot cut.

Start with the cloth

On the shelf, no appointment needed

Suit Length, English Worsted, 3.2 mClothSuit Length, English Worsted, 3.2 mR3 400.00Add to cart
Mohair Hopsack JacketJacketsMohair Hopsack JacketR6 900.00Choose a size
Flat-Front Wool TrousersTrousersFlat-Front Wool TrousersR2 400.00Choose a size
Grenadine Silk TieAccessoriesGrenadine Silk TieR780.00Add to cart
Box-Cloth BracesAccessoriesBox-Cloth BracesR950.00Add to cart
Rolled-Edge Linen Pocket SquareAccessoriesRolled-Edge Linen Pocket SquareR320.00Add to cart
Cotton Twill ChinosTrousersCotton Twill ChinosR1 690.00Choose a size
Bone Linen OvershirtOuterwearBone Linen OvershirtR1 850.00Choose a size

Tell us what you need made

Fourth floor, 44 Juta Street, Braamfontein. 011 403 2276, or WhatsApp the same number. Tue to Fri 09:00 to 17:30, Sat 09:00 to 13:00.