Made to measure men's suit - what do recommend?
March 23, 2016 11:43 AM Subscribe
Hi, I'm interested in getting a made-to-measure suit. However, I'm a little leery of paying hundreds of dollars for something I haven't seen yet from a company from whom I've never purchased a suit. Can you recommend any of the online providers of made-to-measure suits? Do you have any advice on what I should be considering when I shop for such a suit?
I'm curious about this as well - online reviews are hard to parse without clear cut information on reviewer experiences and expectations.
I've looked at this quite a bit and am probably about to be in a position where I will need to buy a few more suits. I have one from a company called Bindle and Keep which I got for my wedding several years ago and it's by far my best suit - I'm a kind of oddly shaped guy (short, wide) and it fits great.
I'm currently eyeing both Mysuit and Indochino - Mysuit has the advantage of having brick and mortar stores in my location (NYC) so you can touch and feel the material in person and be fit by their salespeople (note: they aren't tailors). My boss has a bunch of Indochino suits that seem nice enough but a little flashier than I'd prefer (that could easily be attributed to his personal style/requests more than the make but it is consistent with my impression of Indochino).
Why are you in the market for a suit? Is this for everyday wear or a special event/more occasional use?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:57 AM on March 23, 2016
I've looked at this quite a bit and am probably about to be in a position where I will need to buy a few more suits. I have one from a company called Bindle and Keep which I got for my wedding several years ago and it's by far my best suit - I'm a kind of oddly shaped guy (short, wide) and it fits great.
I'm currently eyeing both Mysuit and Indochino - Mysuit has the advantage of having brick and mortar stores in my location (NYC) so you can touch and feel the material in person and be fit by their salespeople (note: they aren't tailors). My boss has a bunch of Indochino suits that seem nice enough but a little flashier than I'd prefer (that could easily be attributed to his personal style/requests more than the make but it is consistent with my impression of Indochino).
Why are you in the market for a suit? Is this for everyday wear or a special event/more occasional use?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:57 AM on March 23, 2016
I went with Propersuit for my wedding suit and was extremely happy with the purchase. I was careful to make the suit nice enough for the wedding but also something I was happy to wear separately at the office. It was expensive, but a fully custom suit would have been double or more.
You meet a tailor in a hotel room on their travel schedules to major cities. They do a full measurement, then talk through all the swatches and styles and different customization options. Fabrics are some of the higher end italian fabrics and great quality. Build of the suits have all the requirements of high end custom suits (say compared to the mass produced off the rack) - horsehair lining, fully canvassed, best fabrics.
After that, within a month you get your suit in the mail and could not find a single thing wrong with it. It also came with a tailoring credit in case anything needed to be changed.
posted by Karaage at 12:01 PM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
You meet a tailor in a hotel room on their travel schedules to major cities. They do a full measurement, then talk through all the swatches and styles and different customization options. Fabrics are some of the higher end italian fabrics and great quality. Build of the suits have all the requirements of high end custom suits (say compared to the mass produced off the rack) - horsehair lining, fully canvassed, best fabrics.
After that, within a month you get your suit in the mail and could not find a single thing wrong with it. It also came with a tailoring credit in case anything needed to be changed.
posted by Karaage at 12:01 PM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
I had a very good experience with Raja Fashions, and would recommend them without hesitation.
Karaage's description of their process is exactly in line with my experience. I met the Raja guys in the Hilton on Sixth Avenue in NYC. It was actually pretty fun, and I say this as someone who hates trying on clothing. Made me feel like a big shot. I was happy with the price: a double-breasted bespoke linen suit for about $600.
In my case, one of the pockets on the suit I ordered was mistakenly sewn shut (or some such small error; it's been a while). I asked them to fix it and they did so with incredible rapidity and without charging me for anything, even for shipping (from Hong Kong).
posted by Dr. Wu at 12:10 PM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Karaage's description of their process is exactly in line with my experience. I met the Raja guys in the Hilton on Sixth Avenue in NYC. It was actually pretty fun, and I say this as someone who hates trying on clothing. Made me feel like a big shot. I was happy with the price: a double-breasted bespoke linen suit for about $600.
In my case, one of the pockets on the suit I ordered was mistakenly sewn shut (or some such small error; it's been a while). I asked them to fix it and they did so with incredible rapidity and without charging me for anything, even for shipping (from Hong Kong).
posted by Dr. Wu at 12:10 PM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Indochino and Suitsupply are both well regarded. Amazon is now in this space as well, and Dappered did a recent review of their suit. Here's some guidance around buying cheap suits.
posted by cnc at 12:10 PM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by cnc at 12:10 PM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Your profile says that you are in Minneapolis. Try to find the tailor who does the suits for local sports stars. There is a tailor who does that, and they are probably bragging about with photos in the lobby. Athletes are surprisingly difficult to fit - the outsized thighs on hockey players, ridiculous heights of basketball, etc.
Mr. 26.2 gets his suits made at the guy who does the suits for the Padres and Chargers. The quality and tailoring are perfect. A local person will get your measurements perfect and make adjustments if you gain a pound or two. Plus, the cost was similar to online (and there's not a concern that it's being made by some enslaved worker in a sweatshop.)
posted by 26.2 at 12:11 PM on March 23, 2016
Mr. 26.2 gets his suits made at the guy who does the suits for the Padres and Chargers. The quality and tailoring are perfect. A local person will get your measurements perfect and make adjustments if you gain a pound or two. Plus, the cost was similar to online (and there's not a concern that it's being made by some enslaved worker in a sweatshop.)
posted by 26.2 at 12:11 PM on March 23, 2016
Not sure what your budget it is but it might be worth looking into a traveling tailor who will measure you. I can recommend Pierre Mohan from Mosanti Custom Tailors in Portland, OR (he visits lots of different cities around the US).
He does good work!
http://www.mosanti.com/custom-bespoke-suits/
posted by paulcole at 12:13 PM on March 23, 2016
He does good work!
http://www.mosanti.com/custom-bespoke-suits/
posted by paulcole at 12:13 PM on March 23, 2016
+1 to Black Lapel. Got my wedding suit made with them, and their customer service was absolutely top notch. Due to me having screwed up shoulders, the jacket ended up having to be rebuilt twice, since it was something that a tailor couldn't fix. Not only did their customer support person spot the issues with photos I took, but actively suggested replacing the coat a second time when it wasn't quite perfect.
posted by themadthinker at 12:57 PM on March 23, 2016
posted by themadthinker at 12:57 PM on March 23, 2016
Response by poster: Why are you in the market for a suit? Is this for everyday wear or a special event/more occasional use?
I need to dress up for work sometimes. Not every day, but sometimes multiple times a week. I have some suits I've bought off the rack from department stores or the Men's Wearhouse, which aren't particularly good looking (with the odd exception of a suit I bought at J.C. Penney's when I was in school years ago), and some nicer suits that used to be my dad's that I had altered. Some of those older, nicer suits are headed out to pasture soon and I'd like to replace them with something nice.
posted by Alluring Mouthbreather at 1:20 PM on March 23, 2016
I need to dress up for work sometimes. Not every day, but sometimes multiple times a week. I have some suits I've bought off the rack from department stores or the Men's Wearhouse, which aren't particularly good looking (with the odd exception of a suit I bought at J.C. Penney's when I was in school years ago), and some nicer suits that used to be my dad's that I had altered. Some of those older, nicer suits are headed out to pasture soon and I'd like to replace them with something nice.
posted by Alluring Mouthbreather at 1:20 PM on March 23, 2016
This is what the tailor had to say about that. Inexpensive, modern suits don't look crappy because of the suit fabric. It's the cheap liner fabric that's the culprit. If the suit fabric is a beautiful 100% tropical weight wool, but the liner is sweaty synthetic, then you are going to sweaty and uncomfortable.
That JCP suit of yours may just have a liner of better quality.
posted by 26.2 at 1:57 PM on March 23, 2016
That JCP suit of yours may just have a liner of better quality.
posted by 26.2 at 1:57 PM on March 23, 2016
Some of those older, nicer suits are headed out to pasture soon and I'd like to replace them with something nice.
This may not be satisfactorily resolved with getting a made to measure suit. This may have more to do with styling details than fit per se.
You might consider hiring a wardrobe consultant or reading a few books about the topic. If you have a really clothes savvy friend with a good eye, see if they will give you some feedback on your current favorites and perhaps go shopping with you with an eye towards educating you.
It helps to have a good eye and to be exposed to clothing savvy people, but some of this can be learned. Different people look best in different weights of material or shiny vs nonshiny material or shawl collars instead of blazer styling, etc. Getting the wrong kind of material and the wrong styling details made to measure will still fail to look awesome, while costing more money.
posted by Michele in California at 2:19 PM on March 23, 2016
This may not be satisfactorily resolved with getting a made to measure suit. This may have more to do with styling details than fit per se.
You might consider hiring a wardrobe consultant or reading a few books about the topic. If you have a really clothes savvy friend with a good eye, see if they will give you some feedback on your current favorites and perhaps go shopping with you with an eye towards educating you.
It helps to have a good eye and to be exposed to clothing savvy people, but some of this can be learned. Different people look best in different weights of material or shiny vs nonshiny material or shawl collars instead of blazer styling, etc. Getting the wrong kind of material and the wrong styling details made to measure will still fail to look awesome, while costing more money.
posted by Michele in California at 2:19 PM on March 23, 2016
I have 3 suits from Mysuit -- one of which I wore for my wedding. I really like them. I was able to go to a brick and mortar location (in NYC), which was a good experience, so that might be a differentiator.
posted by odin53 at 3:09 PM on March 23, 2016
posted by odin53 at 3:09 PM on March 23, 2016
I had a tuxedo made while I was in college (I was a music major with multiple events per year that required one, and I was a beanpole so nothing off the rack fit without extensive – and expensive – tailoring. The advantage of going through a local tailor instead of something Internet-based is that you have a local person who not only does the initial measurements, but the final fitting, and who can handle any adjustments for you later. I'd imagine they're all sending out for the piecework though, in order to be price competitive.
But anyway: a tailor (local or visiting) will walk you through swatch books and decisions about lapels and drape and that sort of thing, and a good tailor will quiz you about what you'll be doing and how you need the suit to fit (for instance I needed to be able to hold up a folder of music without having my jacket ride up in weird ways, so they could cut the shoulders and back to accommodate that). They should do things like ask what you carry in your pockets and note if you stand up straight or slouch a bit, and then the suit should really fit you.
The biggest advantage of bespoke is the fit. If you can be fit by an off the rack suit without major adjustment, then just start buying nicer suits and you may find you don't need to go all the way to bespoke. Any gentleman's shop should be able to help.
posted by fedward at 8:16 AM on March 24, 2016
But anyway: a tailor (local or visiting) will walk you through swatch books and decisions about lapels and drape and that sort of thing, and a good tailor will quiz you about what you'll be doing and how you need the suit to fit (for instance I needed to be able to hold up a folder of music without having my jacket ride up in weird ways, so they could cut the shoulders and back to accommodate that). They should do things like ask what you carry in your pockets and note if you stand up straight or slouch a bit, and then the suit should really fit you.
The biggest advantage of bespoke is the fit. If you can be fit by an off the rack suit without major adjustment, then just start buying nicer suits and you may find you don't need to go all the way to bespoke. Any gentleman's shop should be able to help.
posted by fedward at 8:16 AM on March 24, 2016
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posted by /\/\/\/ at 11:56 AM on March 23, 2016