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Writer's pictureDebonair Formal Wear

Your First Custom-Made Suit: What You Need to Know

Updated: Oct 27, 2023

This article will provide tips and serve as a guide for individuals making informed choices about their first custom-made suit, emphasizing its benefits and the process involved.


custom made suit

Custom-made suits


A custom-made suit offers a unique blend of personal style and precision craftsmanship, ensuring a perfect fit tailored to an individual's needs.


As plenty of film franchises like the Bond film franchise have grown in popularity, so too has the idea of a custom-made suit for men. Men's suits custom-made for your shape, size, height, and several other variables in between can provide the perfect ensemble for any event. This article will highlight the importance of making informed choices for your first custom-made suit.


What are custom-made suits?


Custom-made suits are suits that are measured to your body. They differ from off-the-rack options. Off-the-rack suits are suits that have been made following a basic template. So, if you pick up a suit off the rack, you're picking up a suit that's already been cut to a generic body shape and size.


Fit


Even if it doesn't fit you, you can have it tailored, but there's only so much that can be done because the suit has already been created. By comparison, custom-made tailored suits are not put together until after they have your specific measurements. This means every part of the suit follows things like:

  • Your height

  • Your weight

  • Where you carry muscle or fat

  • How long each of your legs are

  • Where your shoulders each rest

  • How long your arms are

You might not realize that one of your shoulders sits slightly higher than the other or that one leg is slightly longer than the other. You might not take into account that your torso sits a lot closer to your hips than other men your age. But you don't have to realize those things if you get a custom suit; a tailor realizes them for you.


man wearing custom made suit

Style


When you invest in custom-made tailor suits, you have more opportunities for better style and fabric. With an off-the-rack design, you are limited to what few primary colors they produce, like blue or black. You are also usually stuck with one or two styles.


With custom-made suits, you can pick:

  • Higher quality materials like Italian wool sourced from a reputable provider

  • The lapel design that matches your face

  • Whether you want single or double-breasted suit jackets

  • What color you want

Working with a company that provides custom designs means getting to choose more color options and better stylistic components.


Confidence


Perhaps best of all, with a custom suit, you get a boost in confidence, knowing that you are wearing a suit tailored to your frame.


Choosing the right tailor


When it comes to choosing the right tailor for your custom-made suit, go with a company that has a reputation for high quality. Don't be afraid to ask for customer reviews or references. A good company will be happy to supply that information as well as be completely transparent about the steps involved in creating a custom-made suit, from measurements to fabric selection.


tailoring custom made suit

Pros and cons of men's suits custom-made


There is a lot of value in investing in a custom suit. Let's look at the pros and cons:


Off-the-Rack pros:

  • Suits are usually cheaper

  • Your suit is available straight away (assuming you don’t get any adjustments made

Off-the-Rack cons:

  • The suit does not always fit well

  • The incorrectly sloped shoulders or arm holes can make it look cheap

  • It is made in assembly lines so the quality is low

Custom Suit Pros:

  • Sizes are based on your frame and fit

  • You can choose color, pattern, lapel, material, and other features

  • The price is not as high as you might think

Custom Suit Cons

  • You have to wait a bit longer for your suit to be finished


custom made suit fabrics

How to choose the right fabric and style for your custom-made suit


As mentioned, one of the biggest benefits of a custom suit is that you can choose things like the color, the lapel design, the pattern, and most importantly, the fabric.


Common fabrics include:

  • Wool

  • Cashmere

  • Cotton

  • Linen

The fabric you choose is some small part based on the season and the occasion. If you are looking for a custom men's suit to wear to a wedding, you might want something in a traditional wool fabric, but if the wedding is a beach theme taking place on an island somewhere, linen might be more appropriate. You might be hard-pressed to find a linen suit in an off-the-rack option but not in a custom option.


Moreover, you get personalized options for your custom suit, such as:

  • Lining

  • Buttons

  • Monograms


How to care for and preserve your custom-made suit to ensure its longevity


After you buy a custom suit, you need to care for your suit after having spent so much time and effort getting it to fit just right.

  1. Hang it on a special hanger, one designed for suits, not a generic plastic hanger. Give it some time to air out after you wear it on your special day so that everything can go back to its original shape before you put it away.

  2. If you need to, dry clean your suit. It's always good to dry clean a suit after a few months, and it's especially important to spot-clean any areas that might get dirty immediately before you bring it to a dry cleaner. This will help prevent stains from setting.

  3. Have tools like a soft bristle brush that you can use to brush down the fabric after you wear it and before you store it. This can be coupled with a lint roller to remove any dust or hair as well.

  4. Store your suits in breathable garment bags made of cotton fiber and not plastic. You want them hanging on the right hanger and maybe even throw in some cedar wood balls. This prevents things like moths or silverfish, as well as mold or mildew, from damaging your ensemble.


Summing Up


Custom-made suits are made to measure, so they might rely on a base pattern, but they are the peak of personalization, tailored to your style, personal preference, and fit. For your next formal occasion, consider a custom-made suit that combines formality and style.


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