So, you’ve decided to buy a suit but need some tips on how to approach it all? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Here’s my essential guide to buying a quality tailor made suit. Enjoy.
When it comes to that all round suit that you can wear to pretty much any event (except a funeral), then you can’t go past a quality navy blue knit. It goes with everything, too – and is essential to any man’s wardrobe.
Fabrics
High-quality menswear fabric is quite a niche market when it comes to suppliers, so be sure to establish where and what type of fabric is sourced.
If your store offers a wide range of quality fabrics, then this will indicate a solid and established relationship between store and vendor. Generally, English and Italian mills should also be in the equation here
The Trim
In the tailor made suit business, it’s the little things that count the most; those nuances that stand out and provide real, long-lasting value.
Quality trims are essential and need to coincide with the fabric on offer. This includes buttons, internal linings and zippers. Other internal trim offerings also include chest and collar canvases, collar felts, sleeve heads and shoulder pads.
There will, however, be hard to establish until you’ve worn and dry cleaned your tailor made suit a few times. If it withstands the test of time, then you can assure you have been sold some quality trims.
Handmade
Nothing beats a handmade suit, particularly in areas like the lapel, canvas, sleeves and collar.
When a tailor adds their handmade touches to these specific areas, it adds another layer of dimension to the suit and allows for greater flexibility.
Like mentioned before, it’s those little nuances that will stand out and separate a good tailor made suit from an average one.
Number of Fittings
Some tailors will have a policy for how many fittings they will offer you as part of the tailored experience. Once that number is up, though, you will begin to incur additional costs.
Be sure to clarify this with your bespoke tailor before you commit to buying from them. Usually, this will depend on your body and how well you generally fit into off the rack garments as well as how well the tailor measures you in the initial consultation.
Post-Purchase
Alterations and guarantee are key. It’s super important that your tailor has some policies in place that ensure your tailor made suit provides long-term value.
With alterations, a good tailor should allow for natural body fluctuations that occur. If you lose or gain a couple of pounds then you should be covered. This is all within a reason, of course.
Lastly, a guarantee of some sort, either money back or 100% satisfied to ensure peace of mind is essential in the tailoring process. Experienced, skilled and customer focused bespoke tailors will usually have these post-purchase offers, however, it’s always worth checking out before committing to buying from them.
CONCLUSION
Buying a suit can be one of the most rewarding and life changing experiences for a man. After all, first impressions are everything in this world, and what better way than display your confidence than rocking the perfect suit.
Invest time in learning more about FABRIC and TRIMS, and be sure to research where HANDMADE bespoke tailors are in your neighbourhood, and once you get there, not to forget FITTINGS and any POST PURCHASE guarantees and alterations that are included with your new suit.
After all, life is too short not to be the best you yourself can be.
Who knows what could happen?
Let us know how you went in the COMMENTS below!
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