Custom Men Suit vs. Off-the-Rack Suits - Which One to Buy_ Real Men Real Style Video Q&A
Hi.
I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
And today I'm going to be answering your questions, the one that I get fairly often.
And so, I wanted to go into it in a bit more detailed.
That way, I can answer this for you.
I know there probably be hundreds, if not thousands of men that are out there contemplating
this question.
And it goes something like this.
This is actually the question I received just the other day.
ìHello, Antonio.
My name is and I am 38 years old.
Iím in the market for starting a new wardrobe.
I do have the fairly frequent occasion to wear suits at formal events and I am wondering
whether or not I should pursue custom made suit is my initial new foundation suit, either
in charcoal of navy or whether I should opt to for a ready-to-wear suit with tailoring
as needed.
I would think this first option would afford me the ability to learn those features in
the suit, which will be most beneficial of appealing to me before purchasing custom suit.
If the ready-to-wear option would be a good one, I would consider suits in a range of
approximately $1200.
Do you have any recommendations for me?î And he gives a little bit of information about
his height and weight.
And heís around five foot eleven, heís slender and he wears a 38 regular jacket and heís
got a 31-inch waste.
He lives in Florida where itís hot and humid.
And thatí the information that I need.
So, a custom is not for everyone.
And that may sound funny from custom clothier.
Ideally, what, I want to clothe everybody and make as much money as possible.
But, really, guys, custom I find is really either a man wants something very specific
or heís hard to fit.
Usually, you fall in one of those two categories.
And so, let me talk, you know, besides that, you also need to think about ñ he needs to
think about what are his needs about the fit as I mentioned, also talk about what are his
wants.
So this does play in ñwe do get clients who simply want a custom.
They want the prestige that goes with that without having a label in there.
Basically, itís their label.
And thereís also the cost benefit analysis and something I think is important.
Are you getting a good value?
Is this something thatís going to be worth it for you?
So, let me start off with the need.
So, with this gentleman, he says he wears it frequently.
But, you know, thatís a pretty relative term and the one I would probably ask them to clarify
because if youíre only wearing this, I donít know, maybe three to four times a year, I
donít really see that as very frequent and a custom ñ if you based it on that, it may
not be the best option.
Although ñ every time you wear a suit, you want to look great, you know.
Itís one of those things that if youíre not going to be wearing it very often, you
know, youíre probably not in this fears in which a suit is ñ I just like people to put
their money where itís going to be best used.
And if youíre only going to wear that suit, you know, for a wedding once a year.
I oftentimes think you can ñ itís probably worth your time to spend, you know, a lot
of time going out there and trying to find something that will work for you off the rack.
Now, if youíre going to wear a suit 50 times a year, letís say youíre an attorney or
20 times a year, and then all of a sudden weíre talking about something different because
I ñ you know, we try to make our suits at the quality level that youíre going to get
at least a decade of wear.
And I donít recommend you taking it to the cleaner.
I mean, basically, I try to setup the stage so that you take care of your suit that you
brush it regularly, that you clean it when it needs to be clean.
And letís guess, you know, 20 wears over ten years, youíre talking 200 wears, which
if you spend, you know, a thousand dollars on a suit, weíre also talking five dollars
a wear and you look great in it every time.
So in that case, the need to me is a little bit more towards custom.
But thatís only part of the equation.
Letís talk about fit.
This is a huge one.
And if youíre hard to fit, like this gentleman, heís 38 ñ wears a 38 jacket, which is harder
to find.
Itís not impossible.
I mean, you can pretty much ñ but it is the lower end.
Once you start getting into 36s and 34s, good luck.
Iíve read the entire articles about how to find, you know, this type of jackets.
But basically, youíre going to have to either shop abroad or youíre going to have to have
something custom made or youíre going to have to be in a larger city where theyíve
actually got stores which will dedicate it to a man with chest sizes, you know, that
size.
Itís just not normal in the United States.
Itís on ñ Iím not saying itís not normal.
Itís basically on the far end of the bell curve.
And in anytime youíre on the end of those bell curves when it comes to fit, whether
youíre really big or youíre really thin or youíre small, really short, thatís when
you have trouble with fit.
And all of a sudden, thatís when a custom really starts to make sense because it goes
down to ñ and Iíll jump down to, you know, the cost benefit analysis.
It comes down to time and money for a lot of guys.
They donít have the time, and they need the suit now and they need to look good.
And theyíre going to go try to lend, letís say $500 or multimillion dollar deal in business
or theyíre going to be up in front of their congregation and they really want to make
a strong presence.
In that case, you have to have, you know, a great fitting suit.
And if youíre hard to fit, you donít want to be up there and look like a clown.
If youíre giving a presentation in front of a group, you want them to focus on you,
your eyes, your face.
Itís about communication.
And you canít let your clothing ñ your clothing should just enhance and then people should
forget about it.
And if itís thereís a distraction, then, you know, itís pretty much failed in its
purpose.
So getting back to the cost benefit analysis, this is where he has to say, ìOkay, time
and money, do I have the money for this?
And is it worth my time?î Because pretty much any man, unless youíre the tallest man
in the world or one of the smallest, you can find a suit out there.
Somewhere in the world, that will fit you properly.
Itís just a matter of time and of searching.
I mean, I hear guys looking for years, you know, going through thrift shops.
But since I donít have any resources, this works for them.
Again, cost benefit analysis, time, money, is it worth it to you?
The last part is do you ñ what do you want?
And this kind of goes into need as well.
I mean, heís down in Florida.
So, he wants a fabric, which is really a lightweight tropical wool.
Itís going to be much harder for him to find that if he walks in a JoS A. Banks or Menís
Wearhouse.
Actually, they make their stuff pretty thin.
But they use a lot of polyester fabrics.
You donít want a polyester fabric if youíre in a hot weather situation.
In that case, you want to start looking towards something that at least has 70 percent wool,
six ñ yeah, 65 to 70 percent wool.
Once you start going below that, all of a sudden, you start running in issues with the
blends that arenít great.
Ideally, though, you want a one hundred percent tropical weight wool in hot weather.
So this is both of want and a need because you can get away with it, you know, having
a polyester suit in Florida, but youíre going to sweat and youíre not going to look great.
But, you know, if youíre going to spend most of your time indoors again, you may be able
to get away with that.
So what else, you know, you may want.
Little details.
So youíll notice on, you know, this jacket right here, Iíve got this little detail,
Iíve got this unique fabric, which is pretty much ñ I mean, Iím not going to run in to
anyone else in the United States thatís going to have a fabric like this.
itís very ñ itís from a limited role.
Little things like that were my wants.
And Iím custom clothier, so I could make this stuff happen.
But, you know, patched packets.
These little types of details are wants but theyíre really cool if you wear your clothing,
if this is something that you use a lot and represents you.
For a lot of guys, it brings a bit of confidence.
You know, itís like ñ itís like a carpenter having a great set of tools, what, you know,
whatever, you know, whether itíd be the wall or, you know, what else, you know ñ okay,
I donít know my carpentry tools super well.
But it is something that you see these guys go out and they spend a lot of money on good
equipment.
You know what?
Because good equipment does a great job, itís dependable and you feel good about it and
you donít, you know, have to worry about it breaking on you in the middle of the job.
The same thing with clothing, for a lot of professions.
So, if youíre a doctor and youíve got to go meet with the board, theyíre at the hospital,
you donít want them just walking on your scrabsuit for them.
They talk to you as, you know, one of the doctors or one of the, you know, the staff
there.
You want to go in on the same level as these guys and theyíre going to be wearing suits,
you want to look great in a suit and you want to know ñ and in that case, itís worth spending
money, especially if youíre hard to fit or if you want a particular detail, which just
goes to show you pay attention to the details.
If youíre a lawyer, again, this is where presentation is very important.
If youíre a businessman, if youíre in sales, perhaps you want a particular color which,
you know, youíre going to get the fit right on your suit, which is going to say a lot
and people like dealing with healthy people.
Thatís what, you know, a great fit.
Thatís what a great looking suit really does for a man.
It makes them look healthy.
So, getting to, you know, the gentlemanís question, is a custom suit, is this what you
want to build your foundation on?
I think it comes down to, does it fit your need?
Are you hard to fit?
And does it have a cost benefit analysis?
And do you really want it?
To me, it sounds like this gentleman is on the fence.
Heís a bit hard to fit but a price range heís looking at, he could go ñ at this point,
I think he could go either way.
I need to learn a bit more about them and I think a lot is going to play into his wants.
In addition too, Iíd like to learn more about his needs and how often heís going to be
wearing this in addition to what his luck has been going out there and looking and trying
his jacket on.
He may have a bit of ñ he may stoop over a bit.
He may have vigor extents.
Little things like this all of a sudden make you harder to fit.
And thatís where a custom clothier like me specializes in.
All right.
So, hope I didnít confuse you, hope I clarified the situation.
But, you know, the big thing I want to get across is itís not a black and white answer.
Every man is unique and every man has to make the decision for himself.
And thatís why itís very important that you take the time to educate yourself in the
foundations of menís style.
This is Antonio with Real Men Real Style.
Take care.