Note: Since time of publication my stance on Indochino has changed. Please refer to this most recent review for updated thoughts.
A few months back the good people at Indochino made a stop in New York City to show off their latest goods in the NYC installment of their traveling tailor series. Indochino chose to hold the event in Grand Central Terminal, which to my mind was a near perfect place for such an event. But the best part of the event was the opportunity to see all of the Indochino products in person in one place at one time. Their full range of suit and shirt fabrics, linings, shirt collars and cuffs were all on display. Which given that Indochino, until the traveling tailor series, operated solely online was not previously possible. The 0ther benefit of the traveling tailor series is that customers were able to get fitted by Indochino representatives who are familiar with the way the Indochino fitting system works. Which ideally will lead to a better fitting suit than having a friend, tailor or someone else who is unfamiliar with Indochino measure you. Not to spoil anything, but it did help…
But when it comes down to it, the most important part of Indochino is its suits, not the delivery or presentation of them. Indochino was nice enough to ask me to again review their suits, as they have made improvements in their construction since my first review. So I got measured and chose the fabric and options for my suit. I chose the following:
– Vincero gray 3 piece ($699)
– Jacket: peak lapel, hacking pockets, single button, functioning boutonniere, functioning sleeve buttons, gray lining
– Vest: 5 button, normal
– Pants: no pleats, no cuffs, side tabs, no belt loops, suspender buttons and extra pair
I also purchased the burgundy herringbone jacket ($249) in the following set up:
– peak lapel, straight pockets (with flaps but I put the flaps in pockets), single button, functioning boutonniere, non functioning sleeve buttons and burgundy lining
The burgundy herringbone is also available as a suit. However, at the time of purchase I asked if the burgundy was available in suit form, however, the customer service rep that I was emailing with noted that there were concerns as to the ability of the fabric to hold up well as pants and they recommended I think about foregoing getting it in a suit. But soon thereafter Indochino started selling the fabric as a suit, which is a little concerning because there is no note made of the longevity issues of the pants. That said, if you opt for this suit, order an extra pair of pants (which you should be doing anyways…). But it is one bad ass looking suit and I may have to order a pair of pants regardless.
The suit arrived in a timely three weeks. Only minor alterations were needed to the sleeves of the jacket (let out), waist of the vest (take in) and waist of the pants (take in). A tremendous improvement over the alterations needed on my first Indochino suit. Once all alterations were completed the suit fits and looks quite good (the pants looks better in real life than in photos below, I had to rush from behind camera to in front so things were a bit out of sorts).
The feel of the suit when worn is a bit different than my first Indochino suit. The most notable improvements that have been made to the construction are a softer and less voluminous shoulder pad, which I think is more comfortable. It also creates a better shoulder line. The other big improvement is in the canvassing, which is lighter and less structured than previous. Which again, I think provides for a more comfortable wear. The jacket feels extremely light when worn. On a less significant note, although the physical packaging has remained the same, the way the suit is folded and presented has gotten better. Not exactly sure what they did but in short, the suit wore better out of the box. As is par for the course we will cover the more minute details of the suit with pictures and captions (note the navy silk grenadine tie discussed a few days ago).
In conclusion, Indochino has been making a serious effort to better its product and it shows. I am much happier with this suit and jacket than my first suit. The fit and feel are both improved. Now I just hope that the jacket holds up over time. For suits in the sub $400 range Indochino reigns supreme, and likely will for the foreseeable future. Previously, I did not really think Indochino’s construction quality merited the higher prices of the Vincero fabrics. However, after their recent improvements I change my mind on that and give a full recommendation to the full line of Indochino’s suits and jackets (please read note below, my stance has changed since the release of this article in January 2013). If you have any questions or comments please feel free to sound off below.
Note: FYGblog did receive product and discount in the process of conducting this review. But as always, the utmost effort was taken to provide an unbiased and objective review.
Not bad, but a few things caught my attention.
Jacket is 2″ too short, but I guess that’s their style. It’s a bit tight in the mid-section and pulling on the button. The sleeves seem to be the biggest problem — either too much material or wrong sleeve pitch. Lot’s of wrinkling on the front, sides and rear.
Trousers show some straining just below your crotch. Hard to say if the break is right or not with those shoes. I would have preferred cuffs.
Most of the Indochino suits I’ve seen on the fora have been hit or miss (with more misses).
two2tone,
A shorter jacket is their style, and mine is on the longer end of things for them. But I agree with you, for future orders I would go a little longer, perhaps 1″. The upper part of the sleeves are a little tight, but that is mostly because of muscle growth since I was fitted for the jacket and since IC goes on the slimmer side of things the tightness shows. That said, they could use a little tweaking to the sleeve patterns, something that Jeff Diduch touches on in his review – http://tuttofattoamano.blogspot.com/2012/09/indochino-how-did-my-garment-turn-out.html
JLJ
I received my Essential Gray today, which is my second suit from IC. The fit is excellent. With my Essential Navy, I had to have the shoulders taken in an inch and the pants dropped an inch, thus removing the cuffs. I believe it is well worth it once they have your fit right.
Do you know what, if any, the additional charges were for the functioning boutonniere and functioning sleeve buttons?
Thanks!
No additional cost for these options!
There are no additional costs for any of the options on Indochino suits, including functional buttonholes and boutonniere. The only thing you pay extra for is extra pants.
This past October at Penn Station I also purchased a suit from Indochino. My tailor, a fashion student rather than tailor was just hired for this special NYC engagement. She was personable and spent almost a half hour getting my numbers.
The set-up they had at PENN station was very nice. There were many samples laid out nicely. Water was offered, cookies were available, the Indochino folks were smartly dressed. I was actually excited to receive my suit and shirt. I have bought several bespoke outfits from other brands but this company really had my hopes high.
I received the suit in December or about 6 weeks later. It came in a nice box, felt good, but when I put it on, disaster. I took it to my extremely popular and busy hoping he could alter it. After putting it on he gave me a look and told me to return it right away. He told me he had seen already a half dozen Indochino suits that week and that they all were beyond repair. So I did sadly like told.
Then the drama comes. To return these suits is not easy. Unbeknownst to me If you ship to Canada –where all suits are returned –via the USPS you cannot track the package. (I don’t know the deal with Fed-Ex etc. ). So for 7 plus weeks my package was lost in space and they could not find my $450 suit. Finally, this week, the week of January 19th or about three months after I purchased the suit, it was found and on October 29th I was credited with the $450.
DL,
In short, that sucks. Sorry to hear that, but I am glad you were able to get a refund. I have heard of other less than favorable stories like that about Indochino and it is unfortunate. I hope the experience does not scare you away from made to measure suiting, whether it be online or in person.
Justin
[…] Wednesday, March 6. If you would like to know more about Indochino and their suits, check out my most recent review on their suits, I do recommend […]
I ordered pants which arrived today and they are going right back.
My first impression was that the material was cheap.
When I put them on, they were too tight around the crotch and behind.
I’m not really sure why I bothered sending in measurements?!
Will not be ordering again.
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If they measured you in person, it is unacceptable that something like that crooked sleeve pitch (the angle the sleeves are attached to the armholes) or the vents flaring open that badly would happen. While it is a considerable improvement over my experience (which I returned upon trying on, knowing it was a disaster, and got a refund), it seems many people have not had favourable experiences from this pop up event from all I’ve read online.
Your Black Lapel suit looks a lot better than this one, my friend. My experience with them was pretty good too. There’s just no comparison. Thankfully, the suit can probably be let out in the back — provided they left enough selvage — and the sleeves can be reattached at the correct angle by a skilled tailor.
Like me, it seems you hold yourself a little straighter than the average man, which might account for /some/ wrinkling with the sleeve. But I’ve never seen anything quite that bad happen even with my RTW coats!
I think the big traps and delts are throwing things off a bit.
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After going through many reviews (mostly negative) and ignoring all the red flags, I decided to give indochino a chance. I had fairly good expectations for what was to come, highly due to the fact that it was marketed as “trendy” and “slim fit”, but boy was I in for a disappointment. The suits displayed on the website are semi misleading and gives people too much false hope. When the package arrived, I was more excited than when I got my first pay cheque. As soon as I put on the suit and looked at
myself in the mirror, my grin immediately turned into a frown. I wasnt just wearing a box, I was wearing a boxy dress! Everything was either too big or too long. No alterations could fix that mess up and I wasn’t willing to go through that dissappointment a second time by asking for a remake. I’ve even had rtw fit better than that. As of recent, my good friend considered indochino for his groomsmen at his up and coming wedding… me being one of them… I’m now dreading the day I try on another indochino suit. Stay clear of this brand, or you really will get what you pay for.
Philip,
Thanks for sharing. An unfortunate experience. I recommended a number of people to the Indochino traveling tailor event in Philadelphia. The results were unsatisfactory and I spoke with Indochino and told them I will not longer be recommending them until they can get their act together. I am going to add a note to the review with more detail.
-Justin
I checked the Traveling Tailor in Chicago, and while the set up was nice, I cannot say I was full impressed either. First if all attractive women are a glorious thing, but it’s not a reassuring feeling when they are giving you the run down of the product and sound like they are reading from a brochure. That’s a minor complaint. However, they were very nice otherwise and were not pushy to sell (which is something I cannot stand) and the rest of the set up was well put together. After it all I did not buy a suit from them for a few reasons. 1. I have big things coming I need to save for, 2. The quality of the fabrics seemed nice and such, but I was not sold on the construction of the suits themselves. Looking at the displays, it all seemed cheap and poorly structured. This is just my experience and opinion.
7daysuit,
I agree with you on pretty much everything. Indochino has some work to do to get their act together, competition is increasing in the marketplace and they need to keep up. You may note, since posting the original review I have amended my recommendation and no longer recommend Indochino.
-JLJ
Hi everybody!
So here is my experience:
I travelled for over 2 hours to the traveling tailor in Miami to make sure it got fitted perfectly, since this was supposed to be the tuxedo I was going to wear in MY wedding and I didn’t trust myself doing the measurements. I have to admit the traveling tailor experience was not bad at all. People were very nice and had great service. Even a manager got me re-measured since it was for such an important event.
The problems started when I received my order around 4 weeks later. When I first tried the tuxedo on, I was totally disappointed. That tuxedo was not custom made or fitted for me. Not even close. I could fit 2 of me inside it. They could not even get the sleeve length right!
The suits they sell are NOT custom made and are NOT tailored.. Also, I contacted customer service and they basically did not care, did not offer any kind of compensation, just ME paying for the return shipping.
Hope this review helps you make your decision.
Gerard,
Thanks for sharing! I hope the ill fitting suit did not have an adverse effect on your wedding. Congratulations on getting married!
-Justin
[…] think the construction is pretty good. Certainly fair for the price point and an improvement from the last time I reviewed Indochino. You may not be able to tell from the photos but the shoulders have a very light pad in them and […]