I designed the perfect shooting vest - and tried to get it tailored in Vietnam
Travelling and shooting
The avid reader of gracefulinsights.space knows that I love travelling (especially South East Asia) and that I love shooting (especially clay targets). In Februar 2026 I travelled to Hoi An, a charming coastal town in Central Vietnam, famous for its tailors. Getting a tailored suit or dress is a typical tourist activity in Hoi An. Surely, I had to get some custom-made clothes.
I own a sporty Rizzini shooting vest but I always fancied a more elegant style for the range. Searching online did not bring the desired results. Having a tricky body shape (slim waist, big butt, long torso), I knew it would be difficult to find something off the rack. Therefore, I opted for a bespoken shooting vest. Shooting vests have some special features distinguishing them from normal waistcoats, such as big patch pockets to store ammunition and reinforced shoulder pads for recoil attenuation.
Designing the perfect shooting vest was easy - getting it tailored not so much
BeBe Tailor was my second choice, after Yaly Couture, my first choice.
I sat down and designed the perfect shooting vest on paper. This was the easy part, has I had a clear vision of my perfect shooting vest. Finding a tailor in Hoi An however, was challenging. I researched many tailors, reading reviews of former clients and checking their social media.
This was the picture which made them change their mind.
My first choice was Yaly Couture. Considering their own fancy designs, I thought they would be the ones. At 8 am sharp, I showed up at their workshop. Upon entry, I was barely greeted by their bored salesperson, trying to sell me some of their ready-made ballroom dresses. I tried to explain that I wanted a bespoken piece. She sent me to the 2nd floor where an equally bored girl looked for 2 seconds at my sketch and shook her head. I then tried for a super easy T-Shirt and a long lace dress. Well, even that did not work out. You can read about it here. Disappointed, I moved to my second choice, BeBe Tailor.
The girls at BeBe Tailor, clearly more awake and motivated than at Yaly’s, shook their head, when I showed them my sketch. So I moved on to my lace dress and my T-shirt. After getting down the details on those, they started talking me into getting a women’s suit or a waistcoat. Well, I told them, I wanted a shooting vest and gave it another try with my sketch. My sketch must have been very confusing. Once I showed them a picture of the shooting vest that I found online, which I like but wanted a few details changed, they both nodded their heads. Now we were talking!
Psychological Warefare
The design of my Rizzini Shooting Vest is rather sporty. For the new vest, I wanted a more elegant design.
I knew that this was gonna be psychological warfare! I pulled out my Rizzini shooting vest and showed them. Again, I got “we cannot do it” as an answer, because “we do not have this kind of fabric”. My Rizzini vest is a sporty style, made of normal black fabric and ruff netting/mesh.
They finally seemed to get it when I circled back to the picture and told them that I wanted THAT vest, and the Rizzini vest should just give them an idea of how a shooting vest looks, how I wanted the pockets and how it fits me. I do not like the shoulder pads of that vest in the picture (see picture). I showed them a different picture with different shoulder patches. I managed to get one of the girls to draw a sketch of the vest that looked exactly like the shooting vest in my sketch. When I asked for suede, fake suede (e.g. amaretta), velvet or anything similar, they showed me some generic black fabric. Insisting seeing their choice of velvet I found within 30 seconds the perfect two fabrics.
I went back to the pockets. At this point, I was willing to compromise and go for normal, smaller pockets. I gave it a last try with the accordion pockets. The issue was the press buttons: they did not have press buttons! I asked them to make the accordion pockets anyway. I added the press buttons later by myself.
I would have loved to have some embroidery on the little collar of the vest. But again I got a “no” so I decided to add the embroidery later by myself.
When she asked me if there was anything else, I went for the seam at the waist. In her sketch, there was no seam at the waist. I nearly started cheering when she finally said “yes” to at least one of my wishes. Excited, I told her to round the edges in front and make the vest a little bit longer in the back, just like my Rizzini vest. And again she said “yes”!
My very confusing sketch of the shooting vest. Their sketch ended up looking like mine.
The first fitting
A few days later I went back for the first fitting. The fit was almost perfect. There were only two flaws: The armholes were too small and the vest appeared baggy in the chest. The armholes could be adjusted but there was nothing to do about the bagging chest. The vest was loose around my waist, therefore I asked for a waistcoat cinch at the back.
I returned for a second fitting. The cinch was too low, however the armholes were a bit bigger but still felt small. I asked again for bigger armholes, which they did within 30 minutes. The vest was put through quality control before getting it shipped to my hotel. I was rather satisfied with the results. Surely, the vest needed some tweaks here and there, such as the press buttons on the pockets and an extra pocket on the right shoulder for my ShockEater recoil pad. I also accidentally chose the colors of my over/under shotgun and the pants I usually wear for shooting, so that I have now some serious color-coordination going on when wearing it. But just looking pretty is not enough. How would it do in the field, while shooting?
Field test
The vest fits perfectly!
Back home, I added the press buttons and a mesh pocket on the right shoulder for my ShockEater. From the outside, it is not visible if the ShockEater is inserted or not. The right pocket is a bit crooked so that the press buttons do not perfectly match up. But it is barely visible and it does not lessens their functionality. My vest was now ready for a field test.
The pockets are the perfect size: big enough to store enough ammo to go through a set of 25 clays but not overly big, if I decide to wear the vest on another occasion than shooting clays. The velvet has a nice non-slip effect with the material of my Rizzini’s stock. Only time will show if the velvet will fray with frequent use. I thought I would notice the bagging in the chest but I did not. The rather small armholes surprisingly did not inhibit my movements. After a while shooting, I completely forgot that I was wearing different shooting vest than my usual Rizzini vest. The velvet is quite warm, so I guess I will wear the vest only in spring and autumn, and stick to my Rizzini vest on hot summer days, as it is made of mesh. Ocassionally, I shoot in winter but then I wear a thick down jacket and the armholes are definitly too small to wear this vest over my thick jacket. Other than doing what a shooting vest should be doing, it looks very stylish.
All in all, I have to say that the tailors at BeBe’s did an amazing job with my shooting vest, having absolutely zero experience in making shooting attire. Wearing a well designed and well fitting shooting waistcoat improves performance on the field. Having my Rizzini vest as example of a well-constructed shooting vest and with my guidance, their tailors made a close to perfect bespoken piece for me, that works as it should. The bagging in the chest and the small armholes turned out not being an issue when shooting. If you are looking to get a shooting vest tailored in Vietnam, go to BeBe tailor, they now know how to do it! ;-)
At home, I added a mesh pocket for my ShockEater Recoil Pad.
The color coordination with my Rizzini Venus is perfection. The blue lining is stunning.
More about clay target shooting
Clay target shooting - «Shoot into the void to hit the target»
Women in shooting sports need their own guns - The Rizzini Venus