Nonbinary-friendly Tailor in Dallas

March 7, 2021 9:41 AM

Help me find a nonbinary-friendly source for a masculine suit in DFW, and give my friend a great positive experience.

A friend is exploring presenting as more masculine, and is in the market for a suit. I'm looking for advice on specific tailors or retailers (ideally closer to N Dallas), as well as any best practices on how to give the best chance of a positive experience for them.

What do you wish you'd known? How did your friends support you? What worked, and what didn't? How much did everything cost?

posted by cr_joe to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (3 answers total)

I had a good experience at a Men's Wearhouse - not in Dallas, but my impression was that the sales staff had training on how to sell and fit suits for people like me (AFAB, unusual body size/shape).

What worked: They were happy to sell a suit to me - if they had not been, I would have eased back out the door. They did not talk about bodies in a judgmental or weird way, and did not seem baffled or inconvenienced by my body. That's likely just their business model, but it was novel to me.

What didn't work: It was a whole lot of information. I was used to shopping women's suits, which was more about hunting than choosing. I am quite happy with what I got, but it was slightly overwheming.

Cost: Custom ended up being the best option for me - that ran about $500, and took about four weeks. There were more and cheaper options for most people (see: unusual size/shape).

Best practices: It sounded like they really liked having lead time. I had just over a month; apparently they get a lot of last-minute purchases.
posted by mersen at 9:12 PM on March 7, 2021

Mersen has got it. My wife had a great experience at Men's Warehouse (though also not in Dallas). It didn't hurt that the manager, who measured her out, started talking about his husband during the appointment. :)
posted by joycehealy at 11:30 AM on March 8, 2021

Anecdata: I have a young (~21) cousin who's been happily selling suits at Men's Wearhouse somewhere in the Metroplex since high school, and has mentioned them being friendly about fitting any/all genders. Pretty good for Texas! (I say this with as much love for Texas as I can muster, as a 4th & 5th generation native Texan ex-pat. Bless their little hearts. I'll show myself out.)
posted by nosila at 1:30 PM on March 9, 2021