do these suits fit well enough to be tailored?
I purchased an tailored grey Oliver works suit, a jos a bank suit, and pieced together a theory suit. I am considering bringing them to a tailor but I heard that they should fit before being tailored. The grey suit pants has fabric that can be let out a few inches.
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Hmm. I think #1 fits the best but I am not sure if you see it the same way I see it.
Can you split out the three each into an individual comment for easier addressing?
Also elaborate what "pieced together a theory suit" means. Pieced together...?
I bought the pants and suit jacket separately I honestly don’t even know if they are the same color. They’re both navy but the pants look very slightly darker a
Don’t mix slightly different colored separates to make a suit
Just buy a suit that is entirely cut from the color and material cloth
The only time you can piece together a suit is when you know that the cloth is identical. This is fairly rare, but sometimes a suit is sold separately (instead of or in addition as a unit.) Otherwise don't do it, it looks wrong every time
1 and 2 look extremely tight in the shoulders
1 is pretty tight in the shoulders, but 2 and 3 have a lot of bunching in the area where back meets shoulders
I have muscular shoulders and I don’t think I can fix the way it fits unless I get a completely custom tailored suit and some type of suit that is geared towards athletic builds
If I go up in size on the shoulder it starts getting big divots in the back
Have you tried an athletic fit suit to see if that helps?
I’ve tried a suitsupply suit that was 40s and it fit so good off the rack. I’ve ordered 3 suits and I’m waiting for them to come in
wait so you're talking about potentially 5-6 new suits at once?
If the cut of a suit doesn't work for your body, then you are better off not buying it. But there are plenty of well fitting suits off the rack for people with more muscular or athletic builds.
Bonobos has athletic fit jackets if you have one near you
This is it without flash and with flash on I’m pretty sure they are different
Yeah they look pretty different
These all look too small for you to my eye. #1 is best, but to me looks like waist and shoulders are too tight.
Yeah I checked the style # and they are different lol. I’m gonna try and find the correct matching pants for it on eBay.
Wanting a slim/skinny suit is fine, but look how much your shoulder protrudes beyond the padding in the top left, and how much bunching/strain there is around the buttoning point.
The thing is I have suit jackets that have longer shoulders and when I try them on I get shoulder divots
You're unlikely to find the matching pants, even if style # is the same. There is a reason that the pants and jacket are sold together.
how would it not be matching even if the style is the same?
This is only 1 inch larger and a tailor told me the point to point on the shoulder is too large which causes the divots.
The fabric can vary significantly over time, even for suits in the same style by the same brand. Plus the color of the fabric changes with time depending on wear, age, and care. If you want to try and find a match, it's your money, but there is a reason that the advice is normally to avoid buying an orphaned jacket, unless you know exactly what you're doing.
But can’t that be countered by wearing the other piece until it’s equal to the more worn piece?
I bought the suitsupply suits separately. 2 of them are brand new pieces with tags so hopefully it looks okay. I’m currently headed somewhere to purchase a full 2 piece suitsupply suit
I feel like you can save a lot more money by piecing suits together.
my advice would be stop buying so many suits if you don't know what works for you
But I’m trying to figure out what works for me that’s why I’m buying them.
but based on this thread it sounds like you've already bought 6 suits and are on your way to buy another one. are you headed to suit supply to buy a suit supply suit?
i think you need to just be a bit more deliberate, try things on, work out your measurements and what fits, instead of trying to piece a bunch of suit separates together
No I’m buying it from someone else. He’s selling it for only $60
I’ve only ever tried a suitsupply suit at a suitsupply store which is why the next suits I’m purchasing are only suitsupply
sure but you're still likely going to buy a suit made to someone else's measurements
im not suit guy by any means though i will defer to the experts here. good luck 🫡
No, that won't work at all.
You need a larger size and a cut with a softer, less structured shoulder
3 is closest but you can see how the structure of the shoulder looks awkward and artificial
What’s your ideal suit fit? Can you upload a picture. I feel like 3 seems too boxy
What's your ideal suit fit?
Great Q actually. Here's some accounts on insta whose tailoring I like
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Everyone is gonna probably say it’s too tight but I’m a big fan of this guy on YouTube. I like how his suits fit
This guy has super good fits
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If that's what you're going for, I guess you're close, but I find those extremely slim and dated
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I prefer the slim look even on normal clothes I keep it slim
Looks like you need unstructured shoulders
Something to keep in mind is that suits aren't (or shouldn't be) stretchy like athletic wear. So you need room to move
That trey guy has unstructured shoulders on his posts
If you want to show off your body suits aren’t really the move, just go for a different style
A well-fitted suit will enhance your physique if that's your desire; the too-tight look is just awkward, imo
Good suiting won’t fit like it does on that guy, and no tailor worth his salt will help you make one fit that way
Here's some (what I consider) relatively good fits on big/strong guys
Your arms are wider than the sleeve hole, thats why the divots are there
Ohhh that looks so good. The one at suitsupply fit similar to this on my shoulders
So yeah, stop buying those $60 just cause, because you are wasting money mane
I’m planning on donating the ones I don’t like
The commonality here is a good fit in the chest, shoulders, and neck, and understanding that it's a three dimensional proposition.
This is apparent here, because your shoulder/arm is extending beyond the sleevehead. The pitch of the suit's shoulder is not correctly for you, and rests awkardly on top.
additionally, the hem of the jacket would be better being a couple inches longer. As it is it awkwardly emphasizes the hips.
There's a lot that goes into good fit at the shoulder. A lot more than just the marked size of the jacket.
You can have a great fit with pretty significantly different seam-to-seam distances, but the key is that your arm needs to fit into the armhole well, which is a lot of variables. Armhole height and width/depth, sleeve pitch, structuring, are key, but not the only bits.
(1) is too tight, but it avoids a lot of the bunching seen in (2) and (3). Overall I would suggest none are a winner.
While there are exceptions to the rule, in most cases, piecing a suit together does not work... it just doesn't. The fabric and color is not consistent enough to reliably do it even if you knew the precise fabric code. Without that, not a chance.
I'm not going to prescribe a specific fix for you, like, "you need less structuring" or "you want extended shoulders." What I will say though is that you want to try on a lot of different jackets to find what fits. Some cuts will work better than others despite being the same marked size.
For example, I have jackets that have a shoulder seam to seam measurement of 16" +- a quarter inch, that fit perfectly. I also have jackets with 18" seam to seam, that fit quite well. And others in between. (And I've tried on jackets with sizes in between that just don't work.) So even within the same marked size, there's differences in cut.
Thanks for the clarification, do you have any good resources on how to figure out what type of cut I need? Or is this something a tailor can address?
I bought a great condition suitsupply for $60, what’s good/bad about the fitment?
I think I need a larger dress shirt too
And I need to get the sleeves shortened
The only good solution is to try on different cuts until you get it right. All I can say is that anything designed to be very skinny is probably not going to work well for your shoulders.
As annoying as I am sure this is to say, I think the four standard photos tend to look better. They don't make me have to freeze frame constantly to try to look at the details
Anyways, the suitsupply suit seems like a huge step up, to me, versus the other ones you showcased.
The shoulders aren't exactly perfect but they seem much better, front, back, and side. Again, I wish I saw you in the standard upright but relaxed pose, not moving...
The waist is just bordering on tight. That's a stylistic choice, seeing the cardinal button do work or not.
The upper arms are tigher than I like, but forgivable. The sleeves need a mild shortening.
The back seems fairly clean, as a whole. This is great. The back of the sleeves around the upper sections show more wrinkling than I love but again, hard to tell how much this is due to you being in motion.
Pants seem the correct length, more-or-less. Could be a touch longer. There's usually an inch or two of fabric tucked up to extend them if you like. Good choice of shoe style for the suit.
Generally this is standard suitsupply style - on the tight and slim side, but forgiveable.
The tightest part seems to be your upper arms, which again... not the end of the world. I am sure you'll bring it in to a tailor; ask their opinion. They may say, hey no problem, we can widen those sleeves up a little. For example, my usual alterationist lady charges $34 to adjust sleeves, and $50 to adjust sleeves and widen/narrow them at the same time. Or maybe they'll say, good as is.
Nitpicky: Are those jetted pockets, or tucked-in flaps? If flaps, untuck them. If jetted, either do nothing, or ask the tailor to stitch them closed (and back into being a sharp line.) Right now they're droopy. Which is not the end of the world, but it's not my favorite look. Pockets are supposed to be functional so I'm not exactly happy with the idea of stitching them back up to make them look better, but ... well, you do have internal pockets ...
Nitpicky: This can not be altered, but in the future, I'd like to see a jacket with a lower buttoning stance than this one. It seems to me like the buttons could have been lowered about an inch, inch and a half. Not a concern with this suit but maybe keep it in mind.
What I do suggest changing though is the tie. This is a classic, so-called "power tie," which is generally out of fashion since about 1990 or so. It has connotations that probably don't work for you.
To sort of spell it out, the big red power tie is associated with: ambulance chasing lawyers, money-blinded lawyers, yelling politicians, and all manner of wannabes.
Again, I want to reiterate that this is sort of social context that nobody tells you about, so there's no real way for you to know. And I promise I'm not making this shit up, or telling you what to do. It's not a judgment of you for wearing it. It ends up in movies and TV and cartoons and stuff because it's easy to work in, yet is considered not at all de rigueur ...
Good red ties are myriad. The easiest ones are maroon and burgundy, very classic, conservative. Either solid color with texture (physical or appearance), or solid color with small patterns. Cherry red can work. Bright red, you really want some sort of element that makes it not look like a 'power tie,' and even then it can be a little loud.
Thankfully ebay is full of great ties that sell for under $20, often even less.
Examples of red ties I own and might suggest:
https://imgur.com/4syujqN
https://imgur.com/JbH5chh
https://imgur.com/SHgsusp
https://imgur.com/oOdvixx
https://imgur.com/oNFHxGO - this one is a louder one
Back in ye olden days, all this shit was unwritten, and not knowing the context was used to separate people out based on class. Thankfully these days, there's entire books written on the subject of context, so you can know what kind of associations different elements have, and what to avoid ...
That’s very detailed thanks for all the explanations, I purchased a lot of ties on eBay with different colors. Those darker ties you attached look great. It’s funny I chose a red tie because of the exact reason you said.
Are there any books that are mainly specific to suits?
there are books, but generally they are older, and some of the advice would be fairly dated in the US
I seem to recall someone named Flusser having written one that is referred to often
as interest in classic menswear has declined, a lot of writing has moved to journals, articles at (eg) the new yorker and similar, and of course, online, both in blog posts and forums and forum-alternatives like reddit
some stuff stays around for decades, some stuff is here today and considdered passé tomorrow.
the bright bold plain (slightly sheeny) red tie is in the latter category, sorry to say
Do you speak French?
oh lord no
I mean, if I'm drunk, I absolutely think I speak french
but sober-me remembers that 4 years of french in high school, a fair number of years ago, doesn't do much more for me than appreciate the culture a bit and be able to get around france without needing a translator app.
Oh it sounds really cool how you incorporate those French bits into your sentences