Do I Need A Made To Measure Suit?

Made to Measure is an option for anyone looking to buy a suit. It can be your first suit or your 100th.

It can be for your wedding (who wouldn't want a custom option for getting married!!) or for work and everything in between.

While every man can benefit from having at least one Made to Measure suit in his wardrobe, there are certain circumstances that make Made to Measure the ONLY solution for some folk.

If you need extensive alterations on every suit you buy, you already know Made to Measure is for you.

If you’ve tried and tried, but nothing just slides on, then Made to Measure is for you.

Here are some of the most common body irregularities that make buying off-the-rack suits impossible for some fellas.

Unusual Drop.

What is a drop? That’s the number difference between your chest and your waist. If you are a 40 jacket (US sizing) then off the rack pant is 34. These are industry standards and they are not about to change. So if you keep trying on jackets that fit but the pants don’t, I hate to tell you: it’s not the suit, it’s you. I strongly advise you NOT to go up another size to accommodate the pant. The jacket must fit at the shoulders otherwise you are wasting your money.

Feel free to keep looking but if you try 3 different lines (aka Brands) and NONE of them fit, you are wasting time thinking you’re going to find a magic suit.

Your option is made to measure.

Do you have an unusual drop? Click here to book a consultation.

Unusually Sized Areas

Tough finding a gentle way to put this! In this Age of Images we think we are the only ones with an unusual size or shape body part…On Instagram everyone is so normal and fits a suit so well!! But this is not true! Not even close! If you are not average, you are actually normal! It’s those "Straight Off The Rack" guys who are the weird ones!! In 12 years of business I have only sold a suit with no alterations to 2 men. That’s less than .00001% of the population.

Examples of someone who fits an off the rack suit but have an unusual body part that throws the fit off could be:

- Average waist and shoulders but an extremely broad back or chest.

- Average waist, shoulders and chest but massive thighs (hello hockey and soccer players!)

- Average shoulders and waist but a belly that cannot be contained by letting the jacket out to its maximum allowance.

- Average chest and waist but sloping shoulders, broad shoulders or small shoulders.

Really Big or Really Small

Off the Rack suits run from 34 (very small) to 50 (very big). Department stores tend to carry from size 36 to 46. Even then there’s not a lot of choice on the ends of the spectrum: 36 and 46. “Core Sizes” mean 38-44…that’s where most of the population falls. So if you are a 36 or smaller or a 46 or bigger you are going to be hard pressed to find a lot of fabric choices off the rack. Deep breath, don’t get mad. It is what it is. Face the reality of the situation and research your options. Here at Theodore 1922 we carry 36-48 off the rack and we try and keep interesting selections in all our sizes. But if you are looking for really interesting fabrics you’ll be happier going the Made to Measure route.

I could go on but really, there are as many variations on body variations as there are men on the planet. If you keep trying on suits that don't fit (in both pant and jacket) book a consultation to find out what your options are.