Clerical dress: Getting your suit hand-tailored by a monk

By Joern Perske Nov 10, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Berlin - The task of sewing the brown cloaks worn by Franciscan monks wasn't enough to satisfy brother Gerhard Busche. So the master tailor began to sew exclusive tailored suits made from fine material at the monastery in Fulda, central Germany, where he lives and has built up quite a following.

Busche's shop is at the Frauenberg monastery where customers are welcome to browse more than 2,000 samples of material. The most expensive is cashmere that costs 740 euros (1,012 dollars) per metre. Customers have to be well off to order even the cheapest of his two-piece suits - they start at 2,000 euros.

The most expensive garment he's ever made was a cashmere coat that cost 3,500 euros. His hourly wage, however, is only 30 euros, which certainly doesn't put him among the high earners in the profession.

In 2010, Busche won the Golden Scissors prize, an industry award given at a federal congress of tailors in Bad Homburg. It is the highest award given in the tailoring profession in Germany. For the competition, Busche created a checked golf suit made in a 1930s style coupled with a black smoking jacket.

According to the German conference of religious orders in Bonn, not all orders have their own tailor. The skill has been gradually retreating behind monastery walls, as members age and because the skill is not being passed down to the next generation.

Busche, originally from Frankfurt, became a Franciscan monk in the early 1980s and has lived at the Frauenberg monastery since 1986. He's been tailoring for customers beyond the religious community since the mid 1990s and that portion of his business is now about 70 per cent.

Busche also makes clothing for women, but not wedding or cocktail dresses. His customers in the region keep him busy - there is a minimum 10-week waiting period for a garment. He makes about 20 men's suits per year and perfection is his guiding principle.

When Busche needs more time to finish a suit, he doesn't charge extra for it. 'When I give a price at the beginning, it sticks - on principle. That's something that has always bothered me about other tradesmen. At the end it always turns out more expensive,' he said. 'I can't stand that kind of cheating. Honesty is more important to me.'

When he negotiates a price he doesn't need a lot of arguments to convince his customers. 'People believe that it is so expensive because I live in a monastery,' he said. On the other hand the location doesn't exactly spur on business: 'There is an inhibiting factor about going to a monastery to buy a suit.'