Opinions on the fit of this 36S suit from SuitSupply
I'm in the process of buying a starter suit from SuitSupply that I can wear to weddings and such. I'm 5'9/~153lbs or so with an athletic/slim body shape (~30inch waist, ~37? inch chest). I should probably add that I have long limbs (arms/ legs) relative to my torso size.
So anyway, I went to SuitSupply and unfortunately I didn't book an appointment with the most knowledgeable sales rep (I did like mine, though -- just relatively inexperienced), so I'd love to get some feedback here on it before I drop $600 on a suit. Here are picture: https://imgur.com/a/36s-X24InRF
So the sales rep & I agreed that the suit mostly looked good. We agreed that there were three main issues with the fit:
* Sleeve is obviously too short.
* A little too tight on the chest/ waist (you can see the X)
* The shoulders sag a little bit. The sales rep pointed this out, I was skeptical at first but looking at the pictures, I think he was right.
I'm a little unsure about jacket length (it goes basically covers exactly my butt, I'm not sure if that's a little short). And the hardest part is always "unknown unknowns" -- is there something about the fit that is bad that I'm not even aware of? Would love the opinions of some folks who are more knowledgeable than me.
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36s
39 Replies
(feel free to @ me when you respond!)
Too small, try a 38
@vish definitely too small try a 38 and/or a different cut
I actually have some pictures in a 38: https://imgur.com/a/5VbYR6j
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I feel like the 38 has too much excess fabric on the back. Can I ask what seems off about the 36? Trying to make my eye better. (FWIW I'm planning on doing the custom fit but I want to come in knowledgeable, as I find the sales reps tend to steer you towards their preferences if you don't know better)
(also fwiw I also asked this on /r/malefashionadvice and the one person who responded there suggested 36 worked better, with the caveat that the sleeve pitch/ chest/ waist need to be let out a little bit)
The 36 is too small, it's always harder to make something too small bigger. Look at how your shoulders can be seen under the fabric at the shoulders - you won't fix that easily.
It will be much easier to deal with small amount of excess fabric than try to add stuff that doesn't exist on the 36. To my eye the 38 needs the back tidying up but the fundamentals of shoulder fit and length look a bit better.
The sub is essentially useless these days, nearly everyone who had a clue left.
Appreciate the feedback. Hope this isn't annoying but I'm having a hard seeing what you mean about "shoulders can be seen under the fabric at the shoulders." If I'm being honest I barely see a difference between the 36 and 38 shoulders...
I can see the outline of your actual shoulder under the seam of the suits shoulder. This suggests the shoulder is too narrow/tight which you're not realistically going to fix with tailoring as it's so expensive to mess with the shoulders, and you can't create fabric that doesn't exist.
Ah thanks! I was looking at the frontal view, but that's a good call. I wish I took a profile view of the 38 for comparison. I'm not sure how SuSu's "custom" fits work but using 38 as a base seems reasonable
Whilst there's something going on with the 38 it looks less extreme.
Totally see what you're saying. I can't tell if the problem with the 38 is that it's just a bit too big or if maybe this particular jacket style doesn't fit with my body
also the 38 above might have shoulder padding (the 36 doesn't) so maybe that'll help clean up the look
The 38 isn't too big to my eye at all fwiw, If anything the waist/lower back still looks on the small side to me - it's not hanging clean and the horizontal lines suggest something is too tight. There could be issues with SS cut not working with your body though.
The suit jacket covers it up but I have a strong suspicion the reason the 38S has the horizontal lines on the waist/ lower back is actually because I have a big butt especially relative to my waist (which is like a 30). So if you have a jacket that conforms to my natural body, then when it hits my butt it's gonna naturally crumple at the curve
I think tugging at the suit could have straightened out the horizontal lines, though. I mean the 36 has fewer horizontal lines despite being smaller. Though obviously in the frontal view we get a clear X. I don't think we can speculate from pictures so I'll just have to make it out there and check again... you might be right that even the 38 is a bit small. Or -- more likely -- this slim fit just does not suit my body (which is weird, I feel like my body shape is very much by the slim standards)
Sort of hard to tell what's going on with the pictures in the 38 because you have your arms at that weird angle
The best way to see how a suit fits is to see it on your body when you're standing in a neutral, relaxed position, arms at your sides.
The midsection bunching up like that means the jacket doesn't actually fit your waist. If the shoulders and chest are fine then it's probably an indication that you are a 38 but you need a different cut for your body.
Basically you want to be able to stand up straight in your jacket and not have fabric bunching up like this anywhere:
Yeah, point taken. I was just reading this dieworkwear post (https://x.com/dieworkwear/status/1658239897239687169) and it seemed like a direct call out lol
I find the "good" examples in his thread to be... maybe not boxy, but I guess not-very-sleek. And I kinda expected a suit that contours/ complements my body. But I'm convinced by all of your posts that this jacket cut probably just doesn't work. I'll do another consultation appointment with SuSu but maybe look elsewhere. I'll be in NYC for a month and maybe check some of the retailers there
one side note: if this is the case, then why does the 36s not show the same bunching? if anything it should be more pronounced there, right?
Possibly because the narrowest part of the jacket is closer to the narrowest part of you. Possibly because of your pose. Both show it though.
36 is doing it, it might be less pronounced because your arms are more relaxed.
fair point. I need to just try on the 38 and not have my arms angled out like that. I assume that the "no bunching" rule mostly applies to when the arm is at rest, right? e.g. at the extreme, if I raised my arms overhead there's no way there wouldn't be some bunching?
Yeah, broadly speaking at rest and in regular movement you're looking for clean lines. This can be slimmer than eg. Dieworkwears preferred silhouette, but it's much easier to achieve without compromises and/or a very skilled tailor if you look towards a more traditional silhouette.
Makes sense. I'm taking "regular movement" to mostly be walking, extending my arm out (e.g. for a handshake), scratching my head... that kind of thing?
But either way, definitely have a better sense of what I'm looking for. Part of the SuSu appeal is convenience of it having a physical presence here in SoCal. But I'll check out some other styles when I'm in NYC. It does seem like a traditional silhouette will suit me better, maybe with a hemmed in waistline. (And maybe I gotta up my weekly run goals to ~20miles and get rid of some waist pudge, ha)
i think your build is still conducive to the kind of tailoring you want, it's just a matter of finding the right maker
people like shrimp my ride, ethan (teenage gentleman), pumaturtle and kstocks all have "traditional" tailoring or suiting fits that aren't completely figure obscuring #waywt
Yeah, thanks! Also I'm not sure if this is clear from the pictures but I was doing some learning about sleeve pitch and I also think the sleeve pitch is bad, it felt like it was rolling my shoulders forward and the salesperson basically said "well stand with a more natural posture" but comfortable with the jacket on != natural without a jacket
The consensus take tends to be that aside from S&M (online ordering seems bad on a first suit) or sales hunting, SuSu is the best option for <$1000 which is why I'd been focused on their suits. ~$800 seemed reasonable but beyond that seems questionable for someone like me who only wears suits for the occasional events. I guess I'll have to do some investigating for NYC options
SuSu (and Spier) have decent construction for the price, but if you're buying OTR for occasional wear you'll likely do better just looking for the c$5-800 100% wool suit that fits you best. The marginal improvement in longevity for half or full canvassing etc probably isn't going to matter too much if you only wear a suit a few times a year and store it properly.
That might be fair, but at this point it feels like heresy to me to buy a fully fused suit and I'm obligated (to myself) to buy a half canvassed suit
I kind of take the above message to mean "at that price range you won't find a non SuSu/Spier suit [minus a sale] that isn't fused" which... fair. At the very least I can try to find an actually knowledgeable SuSu salesperson and see if another cut flatters me before actually giving up. I mean if I'm gonna get a fused suit I don't see why I should spend $500-800 on it?
You will find other non-fused suits, but if your priority is to look good don't get too hung up on construction. It can still be worth spending that much for a nice fabric and good cut alone. SuSu and S&M are still cutting corners, they just know canvassing is a selling point to some people when it doesn't always need to be. But yes, if you can make it work SuSu is good.
Plus treating yourself and following desire lines ain't the worst thing!
I'm curious on what suits you have in mind. Like I have a friend who was really recommending a sale at Nordstrom/ Bloomingdale's for "a really nice Hugo Boss suit" and basically everything online suggests those suits are trash (I haven't tried one on so no firsthand experience), but those would be 100% wool suits available at that price range (post-sale) right?
Either way I think in NYC, besides SuSu with a better sales rep (and a more relaxed fit), Enzo Custom is at least one other option in a similar price range. I hear you on construction, I do.
Side note: SuSu is notorious for short jackets right. Did the 38 strike you as short? This is one of the few things where I don't trust my own aesthetic sense as I think my aesthetic preference for shorter jackets is bad.
Suit Supply has revamped most of their line up over the past few years and have generally moved away from the a lot of the trappings of suiting in the 2010s. The 38 looks like a good length to me but with the bunching and how you're standing it's hard to tell tbh
I'd try and stay away from poly in the suit fabrics but below the $1k mark it's going to be tough to tick all of the "quality" boxes especially if Suit Supply and Spier don't work for you. Imo tho I agree with chopper and most of the quality stuff about full canvasing and such is largely overblown esp if it's just a suit you're wearing only occasionally
Appreciate the sanity check on the length, that fits my intuition.
Aside from durability I thought one of the big criticisms of fused construction is the way it drapes off your body is not very flattering relative to having any amount of canvasing
That can be true but the only test that matters is putting it on
(at the risk of ruining it for you, "half-canvassed" is the same thing as "half fused")
but obviously no one markets it that way bc fused jackets isn't a selling point
Yeah I'm aware lol, the way discussions are framed online (as well as (selective?) pictures) is that the half canvassing makes a big difference in terms of fit
I do see your point though, fundamentally what should matter is fit, so fused construction is just one proxy for bad fit but it's not determinative
If you wanna be a suit nerd I'm all for it (I'm a suit nerd) but I think a better avenue of exploration is to buy tailoring second hand and get it tailored. You can make your money go a lot further.
Especially since you're new to this and your tastes will likely change
Fused doesn't mean bad fit! It will just drape kinda funny and perhaps will deteriorate a bit faster and drape worse overtime compared to a canvassed jacket. But if this is just for the odd wedding and similar events you'll likely never wear it enough for it to matter!
Those sorts of quality details are far more important if you're wearing the suit say weekly for most of the year every year (ie you wear suits to work). I'd be surprised if you ended up wearing that suit to 50 weddings over its entire lifetime
Yeah this is super fair. I work in big tech so (1) I have money to spend (I'm just frugal/ only try to purchase quality things, hence my suit deep dive) and (2) I don't actually need a suit besides at weddings, holiday parties, and the occasional fancy party. I can just wear my existing ugly whatever polyester fused suit my parents bought me in India 8 years ago that is at least theoretically tailored to my body proportions
I get there's a middle ground here though
Probably just says something about my own psychology here rather than anything about the logic of your post
I'd pop on ebay tbh you can probably find something and it's more important to have a good tailor to really make a suit last so you can make adjustments as your body changes over time. It's much easier to try and sacrifice a <$300 ebay suit to a tailor rather than a +$800 new one
honestly if you work in big tech why not just ball tf out
At some point it becomes a waste of money is why lol, like the arguments beans in chili / Chopper are making which are true even at the $800 mark are definitely true at higher price points. If someone told me "get your budget to $1000 and suddenly a bunch of choices open up" then that's fine, but $1500 just seems wasteful
yeah, if I'm fine punting on a suit for my June wedding (until then I'm doing too much traveling to handle getting suits shipped, then taking them to a tailor, etc) then this might be my best bet