What to Look for In a High Quality Suit
When it comes down to it…
The Best Made Suits Feature These Elements
The suit is made well. The suit is made out of quality materials. The suit is cut correctly for you.
The best of the best suit makers- Bespoke or Ready-to-Wear, utilize these elements to an unmatched standard. Focusing your decisions on these will help ensure that your suit is a smart investment.
A Great Suit is Made Well.
What goes into a really well made suit?
Here are The Top 4 Things You'll Only Find in The Best Hand Made Suits
Great tailoring is a science. It’s visible, measurable, it is tangible…it is not subjective or in the eye of the beholder. A well made suit is something you can hold in your hand. You will be able to see and feel quality.
Our Offerings Men’s Custom Suits I Women’s Custom Suits I Custom Dress Shirts I Custom Tuxedos I Custom Blazers and Sport Coats
A Quality Suit Takes Work: This is how the best suits are made
The fabric is examined by the cutter, steam “shrunk” by hand, and a pattern is hand chalked and cut on a bias according to the weave and/or pattern of the fabric
This is necessary to make sure that the fabric is free of imperfections, snags and pulls. Once that is confirmed, a steam iron is used to shrink the fabric, this stabilizes the fabrics stretch allowing the tailor the ability to chalk the pattern with minimal tolerances for its measurements. In other words if the fabric hasn’t been through this process, its “stretch” can be unbalanced or unstable, creating a pattern that may be off 1/8”- 1/4”. That may not seem like much but considering that a jacket has 8 panels and 7 vertical seams, a 1/4” mistake can add up to 1.75” sizing mistake. That is considerable. Cutting on a bias based on weave helps to make sure that the natural stretch of the fabric aids in range of movement when the suit is worn. This process is also what allows for great pattern matching at the seams.
Cheap suits do not shrink the fabric and cut fabric using automated pattern cutters this saves time. They do not bother with cutting on a bias as bias cutting uses more fabric.
The jacket is matched with a canvas interfacing, padded with stacked cotton accordingly and basted to the jacket
Canvas in general is what gives the suit its shape and structure. Its has a natural stiffness that softens over repeated wearing. Canvas has memory and learns how YOU move. Its how a suit becomes YOUR suit. If you’ve ever broken in a baseball glove, you know what we mean.
Stacked cotton is a thin of cotton roughly the thickness of water color paper. This is stacked together and used to add weight and volume as needed for the cut of the suit and the need of the client.
A close up shot of pattern matching. Note how the Glen plaid pattern lines up vertically at the seams of the pocket, and horizontally at the pocket, sleeve and lapel.
Generally the more formal the suit the more stack cotton is used to give it more structure. Its sewn into the chest of the canvas.The padded canvas is then basted unto the jacket. Basting is a lightly tension sewing technique that allows the canvas to float inside the suit. This gives it structure with out feeling structured.
Cheap suits use a fused mesh interfacing. Basting a canvas is one of the most time consuming elements of suit making, involving thousands of stitches (up wards of 1400 in the lapels and collar alone). Fusing aka gluing the mesh lets them turn hours of work into seconds.
Fused suits do not have memory and never break into their wearer. Fused suits glue break down over time creating a saggy, bubbly jacket. Fused mesh continually shrinks over repeated cleanings and pressings at a different rate than the wool of the suit. This will cause the jacket to look permanently wrinkled.
Avoid mesh fused suits at all cost.
The difference between our natural Milanese style shoulder (left) and our structured English roped shoulder (right) : One uses 1 piece of stacked cotton basted on to canvas, the other 3 pieces of stacked cotton rolled over the sleeve head to create the roping effect.
3. The shoulders are hand padded and hand molded based on the client
A canvas and stacked cotton shoulder “padding” is made by hand and shaped based on the cuts aesthetic and/or the clients body. This creates clean, straight lines and an exacting fit. This is the most crucial point of a suit. Generally the more formal the cut the more structure is given to the shoulders. This isn’t the padding that we are all familiar with. Even the most constructed shoulder only uses 2mm-4mm of stacked cotton. A well made shoulder feels pliable but not squishy. It feels like structure not padding.
A cheap suit uses a pre-made pad. Its squishy, its thick, it goes on every suit regardless of what the client needs, it creates a wrinkled wavy shoulder. It looks like a bunch of Bull S#!t.
4. The suit is hand sewn at all stress seams. The best of the best suit makers, hand sew everything
Hand sewing is important because of tension. An experienced and trained tailor has the ability to “feel” the fabric as he sews. Hand sewing allows the tailor to adjust the tension with every stitch. This creates clean lines, pucker free seams and a ultimately a jacket that lasts longer. Hand sewn stress seams (the seams that have the most movement) allows the seams to give, move and flex. This may seem counter intuitive as a machine made stitch is tighter and “stronger” but there is a reason hand stitching is better. Having a little give and flex in the stress seams will make sure that the seams remain pucker free after a few cleanings and pressings. Tight machine stitches create puckering as the thread and wool settle in. This happens because thread and wool shrink at different rates. While hand stitching may eventually result in a stitch coming loose, (Savile Row and reputable bespoke shops offer “tune ups” - a thorough tightening of loosening stitches) machine made seams and their tighter tension will result in something far worse. When enough force is applied the weakest point will be the first to give. In the case of a suit, the tight tension of a machine made stitch will result in the fabric tearing rather than the stitch. A loose stitch is easily repaired. Torn fabric is irreparable.
As a point of pride, the best bespoke makers hand sew every detail of a suit. EVERY DETAIL. 40-50 hours worth of work. Button holes, waist bands, under collar felt, pocket jettings, pocket linings…All hand sewn. Many of these details do not need to be hand sewn and while some create a noticeable beautiful finish, many of these serve little to no function. If owning the best bespoke suit is something important to you. A completely hand sewn suit is something to look for.
How long does it take to make a suit?
Cheap suits machine make everything. The total time to make them is roughly about 1 - 2 hours…really cheap suits can be made in 30 min. A well made quality suit that utilizes hand stitching strategically takes about 10-12 hours. The best suits that hand make everything take about 40-50 hours. +Explore: A Visual Tour of Our Quality