MId-Tier OTR Tailoring in 44S?
Does anyone have recommendations for decent quality OTR tailoring that comes in short+wide sizes like 44S?
I’ve not purchased tailored clothing in a while. The challenge, apparently, is that I’m a 44S and no one seems to make that size any more. J Crew used to carry it, and I expected Sid Mashburn, J Press, or Spier and MacKay to have a good selection of it but they really don’t. Those that do only seem to carry it in solids, and I don’t want to look like I just lost the pants that belong to my suit.
So many people have rec’d MTM to me at this point, but tbh I’m not going to wear the sport coat often enough to want to dump a minimum of $1200 into it. I'm shooting for around $500-$800. I'm in NYC and would prefer to try on IRL but am open to gambling by ordering online if the return policy is good.
4 Replies
None of those have it? I'd expect J Press, probably Sid Mashburn to have something.
Burberry, John Nordstrom, Ralph Lauren (probably Polo), Brooks Brothers, and let's see... Southwick, Ted Baker, maybe Canali at various malls?
S&M and SuSu are generally cut very slim so I probably wouldn't recommend them for you
This is everything J Press has in 44S. Not a pattern in sight. PRL doesn't make it either as evidenced by the fact that when I select "Short" in their length filters, I cannot select 44. Brooks Brothers I thought had gone to shit recently, no?
Press should have 44S available in all their current season sport coats as MTO
A little more expensive than RTW but not as expensive as MTM
It's pretty hard to tell from the screenshot but to me all of those jackets are either navy blazers (not worn with a suit) or have enough texture to be an okay sport coat, though if you want a pattern then yeah obviously those do not.
BB is okay. It's not the BB of yesteryear after the bankruptcy and you should stay away from their entry / diffusion lines. But core stuff? Adequate. For $500, it's hard to get anything that's great, especially if you buy from a physical retailer who has to pay rent etc.
MTO is a great option and I did not know J Press did so. MTO's huge benefit is lack of real risk compared to custom sizing. If you say "this precise jacket except with a different shell fabric and lining" it's usually a win. Now, some fabric drapes too differently and some fabric has a very different thickness and it's a risk to order "exactly like this" when the fabric is so different. For example, if you love a wool-silk-linen jacket but want it in chunky tweed, that's a risk. Or vice versa. But if you just replace a 310g VBC 110s in navy with a 290g VBC 110s in brown windowpane, it's effectively no risk to use the same pattern. (As long as they properly align the pattern ... costs more than solids and micro-patterns.)