Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette! Today, I'll be talking about the top
seven tips to know when having a suit tailored for the very first time.
Number one, be aware. Before you even consider getting a garment tailored, you need to
know that even the most experienced tailors won't be able to fix all issues
you might have with a garment. Go on with reasonable expectations and know what
they can achieve. For example, even a great tailor can't
shorten or lengthen too significantly a jacket without throwing off the
proportions of the buttons or the pockets. For more information on what can
or can't be effectively tailored on a suit, check out our wonderful article here.
Number two, start by choosing a tailor that's got deep experience in menswear.
Your average alterations tailor will be able to shorten the trousers at the hem
but lengthening a sleeve from the sleeve head will require a more advanced
skill set. If your tailor happens to balk in the slightest, find someone else.
Your local haberdashery should be able to recommend someone to you if they
don't already have a tailor in house. Number three, come prepared. Make sure you
check your tailor's reviews that you plan on visiting. Also, take some time,
talk to your colleagues, talk to friends, family members, and see where they might
be able to recommend that you get your suits tailored, see what tailors they
trust. Also, in terms of preparation, make sure your suit is clean before you bring
it to your tailor. You can either take it to the dry cleaners beforehand or you
can watch our video on how to launder your suit at home. Number four, have a
vision for your finished suit. It's extremely helpful for you when you go to
the tailor to have an idea in your mind what you want the finished suit to
actually look like. Make sure you take a moment to speak with your tailor
beforehand and see if what you're envisioning is something that they are
able to produce. Also, when you do go to the tailor, it's easy to forget what
things you maybe initially wanted to see happen in the finished product. Take a
moment and write down a list of what you would like to see happen so that you
don't forget anything when you do go to your tailor. Now, if your
suit happens to look too large and it's got a lot of extra fabric, yes, your
tailor might be able to reduce the size or tailor the suit down but you can only
do that to a certain point before that starts to look off. And on the flipside,
if your suit happens to feel a little bit tight, if there's only a little bit
of fabric inside of the garment, you can only let it out so far. I had a client
many years ago who wanted to buy a very slim fitting suit. We informed him that
the design called for a shorter hem and even though we informed him of this, he
did request that we make a full break on his pants. When the garment was complete
and the customer came in to try the suit on, he noted that the pants seemed
to puddle over his shoes. This was because there was not enough fabric in
the opening of the pant leg to properly lay across his shoes. We informed him of
this in the beginning but by his request, wanted the pants to be a little bit
longer but now he was upset by the way the pants looked. Thankfully, we were able
to at least shorten the pants and get them to look appropriate for the
customer but this is a perfect example as to what you envision and what the
tailor is explaining to you. It needs to match up and you need to understand
what's actually doable by the tailor and what the design calls for in your suit.
Also, if you had a jacket that was too long and requested that we shorten it, we
could only do that to a certain point before that would start to look off as
well. In essence, although it is important to have a vision for your finished suit,
if it's your first time working with the tailor, it is best to listen to the
tailor as they know best, they've seen this kind of thing before.
Number 5, bring your own shoes and shirt. One of the easiest things to do to avoid
a possible realteration is to remember to bring your own shoes, specifically,
dress shoes. Nothing too casual, something you probably plan on wearing with the
suit and also a well fitting dress shirt. Why? Well, for two reasons, one, you're
going to eliminate a lot of extra guesswork on your tailor's part and two, you won't
have to go to the tailor multiple times when you bring and wear a proper fitting
dress shirt in for your fitting. You're going to get the exact sleeve length
exposed so your tailor knows what to tailor for your jackets
and when you wear proper fitting shoes and not your flip-flops, for example, you
won't actually have to come back multiple times because they'll get the
right length for your seat rousers. Number six, once your suit is pinned, test
it out. Now, there could be a few different ways that your tailor
might be marking your suit. One could be through pens and another might be
through chalk. Now for example, if you like your things to fit very slim and
you've got the pins and it could be a little tough to see if you can sit down
comfortably but you can at least see if you are able to move and maneuver
properly. If your tailor has marked your seat with chalk, there's really no need to try
to test out the fit at that point as the fit of the garment really hasn't changed
at that point. Make sure you can stick at least two fingers into your suit
trouser's waistband and see if you would like the finished fit once everything is
complete. By doing this, you can ensure that even after hitting a large meal, you
will not pop a button off your seat trousers. If the pants are made any looser,
they can start to look like they have a bit of a trash bag effect or look a
little bit too loose or baggy, especially around the seat or the hamstring area. In
my opinion, I like a slimmer fit on myself, maybe even a little bit more than
say Preston or Raphael but ultimately, you want to find what works best for you and
for your body type. And when the jacket is buttoned, test and see if you're able
to pull an inch to two inches away from your stomach at about the navel point. If
your jacket is too loose, you'll see it ripple and start to fold vertically. If
your jacket is too tight, you'll start to see an X formation forming across your
buttons and on the back of the jacket, you can also see pull lines forming
between the shoulder blades horizontally. To better understand how a
suit should fit, check out our video here. Now, all tailoring shops are going to have
access to a mirror so be sure you take a look at yourself and see if you are
happy with what is about to happen with your suit but if your tailor has access
to a three-way mirror, this allows you to see yourself from every single angle and
this would be ideal. Number seven, don't be afraid to ask questions and make sure
you take your tailors advice with a grain of salt. I have often seen men come
in to the tailor to have a suit tailored for the very first time or
perhaps, it's their 80th time and sometimes, they just get a little bit
nervous about the questions they want to ask to their tailor. This is why it's
very important to make sure you write down the questions that you would like
to ask your tailor so that you don't forget and you can make sure that you
get everything covered when you do leave. Although the tailor is a very skilled
individual who knows what they're doing, has a lot of experience, if it's your
first time, yes, defer to their suggestions and let them help and guide
you along the way but if you've been through this many times and you know
exactly what you're after, stand your ground. Make sure you explain
exactly what you're after to your tailor. Raphael's first tailor in the United
States actually used to fight him on some of these more complex alterations
because in fact, they were just a lot of work but he persisted in order to
achieve the desired look he was interested in. Now, have you ever
encountered any of these scenarios in the past when you visited a tailor? If so,
let us know in the comments section below.
Also, what kind of lessons have you learned when you've gone to the tailor
and from your first experience with the tailor? If you've enjoyed this video make
sure you check out this great video series on how a suit should fit before
you go to the tailor today I'm wearing a brown faced plaid suit jacket from
Indochino it's very unique it's got horn buttons and a little bit of blue within
the plaid my white dress shirt and brown silk knit tailored tie are from Hugo
Boss my tan cotton chinos are from the Gap my shoes
are a brown pebble brogue from Aston Grey my brown belt has a gold detail and
that's from Anton now as you can see overall I did enjoy using a lot of earth
tones in this outfit but I made sure to incorporate that white shirt which
offers a nice contrast between the jacket and works with my skin tone quite
well I'm also wearing a white cotton pocket square and my socks unfortunately
these are not the best for this outfit I was in a bit of a rush this morning so
they are solid black but in the future I would probably want to do something that
will contrast my overall outfit