- Custom suits are great, but going through the process
if you've never done it before,
or if you're still kinda new to the whole thing,
can be really overwhelming.
The things that make custom suits so great
are honestly the same things that make the process scary.
And what I'm talking about are
the sheer number of options that you have.
You know, you're spending the money,
and the last thing in the world
you want to do is to make a mistake.
That is like the absolute worst thing that could happen.
So I actually did a video a while ago
focused on tips for your first made-to-measure
or custom suit experience.
You can watch the whole video with the link up there.
I go pretty in depth into it,
but just to kinda summarize some of
the key points and takeaways from that video,
those were to number one, keep it classic.
Don't go overboard just because you can.
Second, have a game plan.
Basically do your research so you're focused
and kind of know what you want.
Third, go to an actual showroom
so you can talk with someone,
feel the fabrics, and so on.
Fourth, be open to suggestions,
especially if you're new to the whole experience.
And finally, be patient because it takes a while
once you place that order to actually
get the suit in, fitted, and tailored just right.
So that's some good advice,
I wish I had that before I got my first custom suit,
and just started to dip my toes into those waters.
But you know, I'll tell you,
even if you read all the books,
read all the articles, watch all the videos,
there's still the possibility that you're going
to do something that you regret.
I'm speaking from experience, of course.
And today, what I'm gonna do is to walk you through
a few of the biggest mistakes I've made,
and some of the things I regret most
about past custom suit decisions
so, hopefully, you can avoid those things yourself.
Let's get to it.
(chill music)
The first suit here was actually my very first custom suit.
I got it from the Quinntessential Gentleman,
which is a barber shop I used to go to
in downtown Baltimore.
They do custom clothing,
they have a cigar lounge, a bar.
It's really transformed over the years.
So in many ways, I stuck to my rules here.
I knew from my first custom suit,
I wanted something classic
that I could get a lot of wear out of,
which is why I chose this blue color.
It's not a classic navy, but it's more of a royal blue.
Still versatile.
Kinda stands out a little bit, but not in a bad way.
The cloth is actually really, really beautiful.
It's by Ariston--Super 130s.
You can see the jacket's a double-vent 3-roll-2,
notch lapel, flap pockets with a ticket pocket,
we have pick stitching, shoulder is roped.
I really love this paisley lining.
I did go with a waistcoat just to have
some extra and added versatility.
And one really cool feature here
is that the back of the waistcoat
actually has the lining showing,
which is a really nice touch.
On the trousers, I have belt loops and a two-inch cuff.
Now, you might be wondering, what's the problem here?
Well, few things contributing to the reason
that I don't wear the suit anymore.
First is the width of the lapel.
This lapel is rather skinny.
It's actually two and a half inches.
Nowadays, I typically wear a three-and-a-half-inch lapel.
Two and a half inches is just too skinny.
It doesn't really look proportionate with my face.
Three and a half is really the narrowest I'll go.
It's really my sweet spot.
I will go bigger from time to time,
but never any smaller than that.
Next thing, which is, I think, the most glaring thing here
and actually the worst part of the suit,
which we can probably universally agree upon,
is the width of the flap on the pocket.
Now, you can see that it is narrow.
This is a choice that I made.
It's actually one inch wide.
It should really be two or two and a quarter inches
to look right and proportionate.
Pretty unfortunate, but it happened.
The third issue with this suit
is not really that terrible,
and that's that the pants are kinda short.
I say not terrible because that's obviously
something that can be corrected very easily
with a quick trip to the tailor.
Unfortunately, can't change anything
about the lapels or the flaps.
Gonna hunt the good stuff here, though.
The suit still fits me.
It was made in 2013, almost seven years ago.
Fresh off my retirement from bicycle racing,
so I feel pretty good about that.
Now, how did I make these mistakes
with the width of the lapel and the pocket flap?
Well, there were two reasons.
So, first of all, when I went to get this suit,
I had kind of an idea of what I wanted,
but since it was my first one,
I was still kinda malleable in terms of
my willingness to have my mind changed.
I didn't have a ton of experience.
I didn't have a bunch of clothes
that I really loved to go off of.
And I kinda succumbed to two people there
who were kinda pushy.
So one of them was really focused on the fact
that this is custom and you can do whatever you want,
and you should do something unique.
If you want a classic navy suit,
just go to Brooks Brothers, right?
Now, I see the point, but just because you can
doesn't mean you should.
I mean, if I had a choice between
a perfectly tailored custom but plain navy suit,
versus something off the rack from Brooks Brothers,
the choice is obvious.
But I was manipulated in that way.
So the second guy was sort of more focused
on trendier aspects, which is why I have
the narrow lapel and the horrendously narrow flap pockets.
I know that in my previous video,
I say that you should be open to suggestions,
and I still believe that.
However, if you really know what you want,
and you're being pushed some way
that you don't wanna go, stick to your guns,
don't be pressured, and get what you want.
Unless it's a narrow lapel and narrow flaps,
don't get that.
Next suit here is one that I got from Alan David Custom.
I love the color, it's a great burgundy color.
Fabric is VBC, it's two-button, double vent.
Peak lapel, the right width, three and a half,
three and three quarters inches, perfect.
Got pick stitching, the lining is black
with a subtle paisley.
Trousers have side adjusters and a plain bottom.
The one thing I skipped over on the jacket
is the thing that kills me about this suit.
I kick myself every time I see it hanging in my closet.
And that is the pockets on the jacket.
Patch pockets, I have no idea why.
Doesn't match anything else on this suit.
Patch pockets are more casual,
and this suit is not casual.
The fabric is dressier, it has a little bit of sheen to it.
Peak lapel, you could kinda argue either way,
but in this setting, I think it looks more formal.
The trousers have side adjusters and a plain bottom.
If only I got flat pockets on the suit,
I would wear it so much more.
And not to mention the fact that the fabric
does not really lend itself to patch pockets.
You can see how it's just kind of not laying well
and it puckers.
Just doesn't look good.
A good press might help with that.
I might give it a try.
So, I mean, the obvious question here is,
what was I thinking?
I got the suit, I think it was, like, 2017.
So, at that point, I'd had some experience.
I should have known better.
One caveat is that I don't think
that this is the worst thing ever,
but it would definitely be better
if it had flat pockets.
I totally agree.
Patch just doesn't line up with the overall vibe here.
I think what was in my mind here
was I was sort of in a phase where
I was kind of experimenting with ways
that I could make my suits more wearable.
Typically, we think of a suit as a more formal garment,
and I think that that is in part
to the way that they are configured.
So, yes, flat pockets here, obvious choice.
But I thought that I'd be able
to wear this jacket more often
in different types of situations
if I didn't do it that way.
It was a risk I was willing to take,
and obviously, it was not the right choice.
I have to say that the fine folks at Alan David
did question me on this particular styling choice,
but this time, I was not malleable.
I knew what I wanted, and I stuck to my guns,
and I'm living with the consequences now.
Just goes to show you that even if
you have a good amount of experience
and you know what you want, it's still possible
to have regrets about a custom suit.
To that point, all I can say is, you never know.
All right, third suit here.
This is from Michael Andrews Bespoke.
We will be offering this in
the HSS Michael Andrews Collection.
It's a great suit.
It's a classic kind of fall-winter suit.
It's in a Scabal flannel fabric,
three-and-a-half-inch notch lapel,
pick stitching, two-button, double vent, patch pockets.
That's not the issue here.
Tone-on-tone lining.
We have a waistcoat, which I did
with seven buttons instead of my usual five.
Pants have side adjusters and a plain bottom.
I said it already, but this is a really great suit.
Super classic seasonal suit.
Only regret with this one is that
I did not get a cuff on the trousers.
The issue is, there's not enough fabric
to make a two-inch cuff now that I like,
so I'm kind of stuck with the pants
with they way they are.
The reason I would like the cuff on the pants
is actually two-fold.
First of all, you know that I like to break my suits
apart into separates whenever possible,
and that's very easy to do with flannels.
The plain bottom trouser, though,
not quite as versatile, at least for my personal style.
It doesn't really match the more casual way
that I'd wanna wear it.
Second, because of the way that I've styled the jacket,
which is more casual with the patch pockets,
we have a little bit of dissonance
between the trousers looking more dressy
and the jacket looking more casual.
Again, it's not terrible, but just
one little thing that I wish I could change.
I honestly don't remember why I chose a plain bottom.
I would never do that today.
But maybe this was a mistake I had to make
to get to the point where I'm at now.
So those three suits all have things
I wish I could take back and do over again,
all the way from the very first suit I had done
to something a little more recent.
I think as you look through the progression,
we have about a four- or five-year timespan
between these three suits.
You can see from the first one
to the last one that I showed you,
my tastes are similar, in terms of being classic,
but I've sort of refined everything
and have a clearer picture of what it is
that I'm looking for.
But, as you can see, having experience
doesn't necessarily mean you're never
going to make another mistake,
or have another regret.
It happens, it's life, and you learn from it.
I would like to think that I'll never
regret anything with a custom suit again.
Probably not the case, but the more you learn,
the less likely it is to happen.
So I shared a few of my biggest
custom suit mistakes and regrets,
and now, it's your turn.
So leave those down below in the comments.
Don't feel bad.
We can all sympathize.
We've all most certainly been there.
I definitely have, as you've seen.
If this video helped you in any way,
that's what I wanted.
Give it a thumbs up.
Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell
so you get notified every time we publish a new video.
That's all for now.
Thanks for watching, everyone, and stay tailored.
Custom suits are great...
(laughs) I can't think of it-- - (laughs)
- --without Tony the Tiger now.
(both laughing)
Okay. - They're grrreat!
- (chuckles)
All right.