Made To Measure Suits: MySuit Review, I

Made To Measure Suits: MySuit Review, I

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Some time ago I decided that all my of suits from that point on were to be at least made to measure (sometimes you will hear made to measure suits referred to as ‘custom’ suits).  If you have not picked up on it yet, I have rather picky tastes which I have concluded that few ready to wear makers can satisfy (Paul Stuart/Phineas Cole being one of the few).  The primary benefit of made to measure suiting is the fit , which is the most important part of a suit.  Second to that, the ability to customize many of the variables of a suit (fabric, lapels, buttons, pockets, vents etc) is extremely attractive to me.   So, a few weeks ago I began the process.

The fitting

I first researched a few different companies; Indochino, My.Suit, Suit Supply, Mr. Ned and Alton Lane.  Initially I favored Suit Supply and Mr. Ned as I think highly of the brands (suits start around $800 for both).  I thought the quality of their garments and depth of the made to measure processes were best suited to my tastes.  But unfortunately, neither shop ended up fitting into my budget.  I nixed Alton Lane (starts around $500) because I could not find as much information on it as I could My.Suit, but I have heard positive things.  I was skeptical of Indochino (starts around $400) because I have never seen a suit of theirs in the flesh and there is no face to face meeting with the company, but I have heard good things.  I do plan to try one or both of these companies in the near future.

In honesty, I have heard mixed things on Mysuit (starts around $500), but I have been curious to try it for myself for some time in hopes of having better luck than some of the people I had read reviews from.  So far things have gone well, or hopefully this is because the people at My.Suit know what their doing.  I should note that My.Suit is not a true made to measure experience, partly because the variety of fabrics is not quite up to MTM standards.  But, the options at hand should be suitable for most men.  If they are not, you can provide your own fabric and have My.Suit craft a suit out of it at a cost of $495, which is definitely something I want to try in the future.  Another positive of My.Suit is that they have multiple locations in NYC and in addition online ordering is available.

The process at My.Suit is quite simple.  You choose a fabric and liner you like (see picture above) and then you are fitted by your stylist.  I believe they took about 20 measurements (see pictures), most of which were for the jacket.  They have five different styles of jackets and make the necessary alterations to make the jacket properly fit to your body.  Now, I should note that the people who work at My.Suit are not tailors, they are salesmen and stylists.  We all know that I am always skeptical of these people, and you should be as well.  But I will say the gentleman that helped me, Marcus Coy (of the 46th and Madison store), managed to gain my trust to the point where I would recommend him (there were two other salespeople assisting who were also helpful).  The next step in the process is deciding the details (lapels type and width, type of buttons, number of buttons, vent style etc).  I chose a rather bold jacket: peak lapels, 1 button closure, side vents and hacking pockets with flaps (slanted pockets).  I also choose a rather streamlined trouser: slide closure, no pleats, no belt loops, no cuffs, button side tabs and suspender buttons (yeah, that’s right, I will be wearing this suit with suspenders on the reg).

Note the bunching of fabric under the collar.
Note the long sleeves and puddling around the ankles. Both easy to fix.

In about two weeks time from my fitting appointment my suit arrived to the store and I went in for a final fitting.  The chances that ones jacket and trousers will fit perfectly from the factory are slim.  A few alterations were needed to both.  For the jacket, there was a bit of excess fabric under the collar in the back and the sleeves needed to be shortened.  I may also have to have the lower back let out ever so slightly because there is some creasing and I am debating as to whether the jacket is too long or not (see pictures).  The trousers needed to be shortened, let out a little at the waist, let out at the upper thigh and taken in at the bottom of the pants around the ankles.  All in all I was pleased with the fit but I shall wait till I get it back with the alterations to make a proper assessment.  Expect the second and final part of this series sometime soon.  I will discuss the final fit, the quality of the suit and my final conclusion.

Note: I would like note that I received no type discount, payment or other monetary or non monetary gift from My.Suit or any of its staff (or any of the other brands mentioned).  So, in case you were wondering, this is not an advertisement but just an honest and unbiased telling of my experience (but even if I was being compensated it would still be an honest and unbiased telling).

14 COMMENTS

  1. Hi, I am considering having MySuit make my groomsmen suit for my wedding , which will be coming up in June. I wanted to know what is your hones opinion about this organization. Would you recommend them for this task?

    • Smith,
      In short, yes, I would definitely recommend MySuit for wedding suits. Especially if all or most of the groomsmen are in NYC. For a reasonable price all of the groomsmen could be in the same suit and look quite good and also have a suit or tux to wear going forward. I also know Indochino just started some program promoting wedding packages, may be worth looking into, their basic suits run about $100 less than MySuit. I am not sure if MySuit has a program like this, but its worth looking into for group discounts and such. For more info on MySuit check my second post on the experience.

  2. Hi There…

    I like the idea of MTM suits, especially if the ‘off the rack’ brands don’t fit how one wants…
    However, what if someone doesn’t know what they want?..

    I, personally, have been discouraged from the department stores…I have purchased from JC Penny and Men’s Wearhouse in the past with no satisfaction and am thinking about MTM…Are these places suitable for an uneducated and indecisive buyer?..As in, can one trust them to steer us in the correct direction when it comes to fashion and style?..

    • Chris,
      I would recommend reading up on the brands, their processes and suits in general to get an idea of what you want. Also check google images and tumblr to get some ideas/inspiration. I’ve found that for the most part if you tell the sales people ‘I want a more conservative suit’ or ‘I want a more trendy suit’ they are pretty good at dealing with that type of stuff.
      -JLJ

      • Hi There…
        Thank you for your response…I just stopped into a MySuit shop and ordered a suit…I chose a grey two button with a vest in a higher quality fabric – Super 150s…The guys were good with me, as there were inevitably questions I didn’t have answers to…They were very helpful…I’ll let you know what happens when it comes in…
        Thank You, Justin!..

  3. As of today (6/23/2015) I have been trying to get two suit jackets properly tailored for about 18 months now. My Suit Taylor (Ravis Custom) took measurements in a local hotel, I paid them over $1,000 even though they originally quoted $985 for two suites. The jackets fit terribly and I sent them pictures of the bad tailored jackets. They said I should pay to have them sent back for correction which I did twice. The jackets are still not wearable and my local Taylor doesn’t want the job of trying to correct this terrible work done by these people. They asked me to send pictures again recently, which I did, and now they will not return my emails. Bottom line – I have been cheated out of a total of over $1,200 by these crooks.

  4. Consumers should be aware that MySuit will charge you for any garment you order even if it screws up the construction of the garment.

    They protect themselves by getting you to sign an order that says MySuit does not accept return or provide refunds. This happened to me on two suits and I’m $1100 worse off for the experience.

    MySuit gives the impression that they will make a suit to fit you personally. But this doesn’t mean that they take the number of measurements necessary to ensure the correct fit in all cases.

    They use standardized models of suit sizes and find the one that most closely resembles your body. They then measure arm length, pant leg length, chest, waist and a couple of other measurements. Importantly, they pay no attention to the most critical part of the suit — how the sleeve needs to fit into the shoulder hole to match how your arm hangs relative to your posture. In my case (and I have pretty normal posture), this omission caused really bad crumpling of material on the shoulder — rendering my jackets completely unacceptable and a worse fit than “ready to wear” suits bought off the peg.

    Admittedly, they do take a lot of trouble to customize minor details — like the color of the jacket lining, the color of the stitches around button holes, the type of lapel, the number and configuration of buttons, the number of vents and pockets, and so on. But what’s the benefit of all of this “embroidery” if the actual suit looks awful when made.

    What’s worse is that MySuit made little effort to correct the problem. They acknowledged orally that the sleeve was incorrectly sewn into the arm hole and needed to be rotated a 1/4″. But they said that this was too expensive to do. They actually said they would have the tailor try to fix it but, two weeks later, the problem was identical. They hadn’t fixed it. Oh, and there’s no tailor on the premises!!

    So, whereas their formula may work for some of their clients and those clients may be very happy, it doesn’t work for many of us — causing major disappointment and considerable financial loss.

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