A Guide to Made to Measure Wedding Suits
A “Made to Measure” suit is literally a garment that is made individually for you. Not to be mistaken with “Bespoke Tailoring”, made to measure should consist of a suit that you have created by choosing from many different fabrics, linings and different styles. Single breasted, double breasted, 1, 2 or 3 buttons, vents or no vents, narrow trouser or bell bottoms, these should be the choices available to you. More importantly this made to measure suit should be fitted to your unique sizes to allow for any “wonky bits” that you may have such as unusually long arms, one leg shorter than the other or a big or petite bum area.
Buying “off the peg” from any old store is OK, but usually there is something not quite right and therefore doesn’t look 100%. If you buy an off the peg suit some tailoring can be done to improve the fit, but there are limits and this will certainly add to your bill (add on sales). A made to measure suit created for/by you should mean that the suit fits perfectly or almost perfectly straight away. Should it not, then any amendments required will be minor, easy and will be included in the price you agreed initially.
A proper made to measure service should insist that you carry out at least two fittings, if not three. The initial consultation, a first fitting upon arrival of your suit, and then the final tweak nearer your event to ensure a relevant fit at a relevant time. Modern and cheaper made to measure services are usually cheaper for a reason. Fabrics are average, production of the suits can often take place in places that they shouldn’t, and your sizes are actually processed/re done to fit a generic block. Addition fittings won’t be recommended or planned for (labour costs), and watch out for huge alteration charges.
With a proper made to measure service, if the guy in the shop has measured your unique size i.e. one arm shorter than the other, this is what will arrive. Upon your second visit/fitting you will see a semi finished article. This is when you try on the core outfit to take a look at the fit. Notes/pinning will be carried out such as “narrow waist of jacket”,” narrow sleeves” or “shorten trousers a further .25” etc with the suit then being returned to the specialists who then action those amendments. With no need to rush, the suit is then returned “finished”, hey presto.
Dosh – Decent “Made to Measure” cannot be cheap. If it is, it isn’t real.
Article by Groomswear Specialist Steve Bishop
Image Courtesy of High Harris
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