Quote: (10-08-2011 06:28 PM)Prowl Wrote:
First: Nick Wooster is a fucking beast, even if he's 200% gay. He's 100% beast.
Anyway, I think custom for a first suit is fine, depending on the definition of "custom".
There's made-to-measure and then full-blown bespoke. If you don't know anything about suits, bespoke is a waste of time and thousands of dollars. MTM is for anyone.
The primary difference between the two is that bespoke involves the creation of an entirely new suit pattern from scratch, and involves multiple fittings in person with the tailor. MTM just modifies an existing pattern via your measurements, sizing it up or down in different dimensions, and this is what the Hong Kong/traveling tailor suits are.
You can get servicable MTM done at reasonable prices by "Thick as Thieves" and "Indochino". TaT is better by a hair, IMO.
Anyway, my preferences are as follows:
Jackets: Single breasted 3-roll-2, NO pick stitching, patch pockets, NO ticket pocket, side vents, functional sleeve buttons, suppressed waist, fairly short length.
Trousers: No cuff, flat front, frogmouth pockets, side tab adjustment (i.e. no belt loops)
Shirts: Cutaway collar, angled 2-button barrel cuff (leave 1 button off to make room for watch), no darts, no pockets, no label. I also sometimes do club collars, and in this case I'd round the cuffs. Get shirts from ModernTailor.
With any MTM on the internet, best to just send them a garment that fits and have them measure that. Getting measurements done off your body is probably not going to work out, and doesn't even sometimes work out in person unless it's full bespoke and they adjust the fit mid-construction (which I definitely can't afford, lol).
EDIT: I didn't read the whole thread, so if I reiterated other posts I apologize. Definitely suit up though, every day/every way.
Great post. Anyone know of any London based made to measure companies similar to TaT and Indochino? Googling around, I've found several full on bespoke suitmakers, but not really any MTM suitmakers in the "fashion forward" vein of TaT and Indochino.