OT: Good place to buy a made-to-measure suit for £700ish

the_hundredth_idiot

Well, kind of OT - after all, this is the commuting thread.

I'm in the market for a new suit as my old ones are getting a bit shabby. All my current suits are from Aquascutum but the quality seems to be a bit lower these days (my newer suits haven't lasted anywhere near as well as my older suits) so I was thinking of trying somewhere else.

I prefer made-to-measure as a nice compromise between the fit of bespoke and the cost of off-the-peg - plus, it means the suit can be customised a bit (the clothing equivalent of putting purple neon lights underneath your Vauxhall Corsa ). There is a Hackett on Eastcheap not far from my office and they are doing a deal at the moment where a made-to-measure suit is £695 including two pairs of trousers. Plus the guy who works there, Graham, is an old school "Suits you!" sort of guy which I quite enjoy - I've bought a few things from him in the past.

Any thoughts on whether Hackett suits are any good or recommendations for better options out there at that sort of price? I thought some of you guys on here might have some useful opinions.

I don't fancy using that Raja Fashions guy - I know people who have and the suits seem reasonable enough but it seems a bit of a hassle and a cattle market buying them, and feedback from colleagues and friends suggests it's not as cheap as the adverts make out ("Oh, Sir would like a zip on his trousers? That will be an extra £50.") which kind of defeats the point of going there.

The Cad & The Dandy seem to be getting a bit of press at the moment - but is that just a case of having a trendy name?

Gussio

I have used Tom James in the past and been very happy with the results. For your budget, you ought to get a suit with two pairs of trousers.

http://www.tomjames.com/EU/suits/

They come to your office for measuring and fittings, which is pretty handy. These days, now that we have two kids and one salary, I am content to dress in rags

wgwarburton

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

...I'm in the market for a new suit ...my current suits are from Aquascutum ...I was thinking of trying somewhere else...

Ede & Ravenscroft? I have a couple of suits from them (1x MTM, 1x OTP) and have been very pleased with them.

Cheers,
W.

kelsen

I believe the person doing the fitting is just as important when choosing a bespoke/made-to-measure suit. I've bought made-to-measure from several places and the best one was from Dress2kill, not necessarily because the suit was better quality but because the person measuring me provided really good advice and I ended up with a nice fitting suit. He no longer works there now unfortunately.

Stevo_666

Austin Reed did one for me that came in within your budget - good, traditional style tailoring.

If you want better VFM, this lot did me a good suit with two pairs of trousers for £440:
http://www.asuitthatfits.com/shop/index.php
Apparently the tailoring is done in Nepal !

ballspondroad

Hackett suits are a very traditional cut - natural shoulders, high waisted trousers, close fitting jackets.

Cleat Eastwood

primark. save yourself 690 pound

Zachariah

Hong Kong.

Anonymous

Rapha ?

Stevo_666

This could be a first: 'Primark' and 'Rapha' mentioned in the same thread

Velonutter

I used this company in Thailand and the quality was just fantastic, I had some hand made shirts made as well.

Essentially there is a video of all the measurements you need to provide and when I was massively overweight they asked for a photo as well in just my boxers, it worked out at at about £250 for the suit and £17 a shirt made from beautiful Egyptian Cotton: -

http://www.mysuitshop.com/

Their comms is excellent and they are really helpful.

BikeyMikey1

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

primark. save yourself 690 pound

Matalan. Always carry the card..."it say's more about you than cash ever can" and with the change you can buy yourself a respectable commuter bike.

the_hundredth_idiot

Matalan! Primark! They sell suits? Why would people wear such things? Have they no pride or dignity? I'd rather buy a £50 BSO from Asda than a suit from Primark. I'm at least 20 years too old for such a suit, and I'm thankfully not on the hook for a court appearance where such a suit might be acceptable.

Thanks for the tips, guys (though I got a bit thrown by the relocation of the thread from Commuting to Cake Stop). I'll look into them.

bigmat

Vietnam - go to Hoi An, get a couple of bespoke suits and the money you save will pay for the flights and a nice holiday into the bargain. Lovely place.

grayo59

Goa.

Ollieda

although many are making jokes about going abroad its worth thinking about if your buying more than one suit as it can work out cheaper.

when I last went to sri lanka I went to a tailors and got 2 bespoke suits for £100 from a shop that was considered the only place to get them from by gov. officials and armed forces officers out there, some very nice suits!

2 suits @ £695 = £1390

Flights and hotel for a week £500/£600 depending on time of year + 2 suits @ £100 = £600 to £700 (and a holiday as well!!!)

Ben6899

A good Taylor will know your measurements from just looking at you... that's how you get a quality MTM suit; by using a quality Taylor.

Stevo_666

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

Matalan! Primark! They sell suits? Why would people wear such things? Have they no pride or dignity?

Maybe some people want to look like a spotty school leaver starting their first job?

Ollieda

Ben6899 wrote:

A good Taylor will know your measurements from just looking at you... that's how you get a quality MTM suit; by using a quality Taylor.

A quality Taylor wouldn't do made to measure

chicken_leg

A Suit That Fits (dotcom)

Ben6899

Ollieda wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

A good Taylor will know your measurements from just looking at you... that's how you get a quality MTM suit; by using a quality Taylor.

A quality Taylor wouldn't do made to measure

Are we maybe talking at cross purposes? You go see a Taylor, he measures you, he makes you a suit.

Or have I missed something?

Ollieda

There's basically 3 different ways to get a suit......bespoke, made to measure and off the peg.

Bespoke is where you go see a tailor, they take a large amount of measurements then make a suit to fit you from scratch, with various fittings along the way.....it's a suit totally custom made to fit you

Off the peg is simply just buying a suit from a shop.

Made to measure is sort of a inbetween one and the levels of service you get can vary between the two extreams bespoke or off the peg. Basically a tailor takes some measurements, less than bespoking normall (or as is becoming more popular now days you take the measurements and send them in) and then takes parts of suits that are avalible in different sizes to make one that is a good fit for you.

Its hard to explain the difference unless you see them in action......in a bike term it might be something like this:

Bespoke, you go see a manufacturer and they build you a bike from scratch to fit you (not from stock parts......they build a frame, the build the components all for you as a one off)

Made to measure, you see (or just email) a manufacturer or bike shop, give them your measurements and they put together a bike in your size from stock parts i.e. frame A with component B and compenent C so on a so forth. They don't actually make the bike from scratch, just pick and choose the best parts for you.

Off the peg, you buy a complete bike from halfords.

Hope this makes it a bit clearer.

The thing I was getting at about a "quality" tailor is that most "quality" tailors (i.e. saville row standard) wouldn't dare do made to measure or off the peg, and if you asked them for such a suit then they would probably be insulted. Tailors who do made to measure will say they are of the top quality (and some are very good) but they don't quite live up to the standards seen in the bespoke industry. Sort of like Cat 1 + 2 racers compared to elite....they are very good at what they do and some are pretty much elite standard, but just don't have that name mark against them.

Of course theres a lot of blured boundry lines in the whole thing though, especially as times are hard and people want more custom.

Basically the whole things full of snobery and people trying to show off......a bit like cycling really

chriskempton

MatHammond wrote:

Vietnam - go to Hoi An, get a couple of bespoke suits and the money you save will pay for the flights and a nice holiday into the bargain. Lovely place.

Avoid Mr Xi - he's a pervert with wandering hands, reminiscent of John Inman making a guest appearance on Mind Your Language.

angrynortherner

Chicken Leg wrote:

A Suit That Fits (dotcom)

would definitely recommend these guys, they have an office just near Liverpool St (in London) where you get measured and the range of choices, price and fit are excellent. For 700 you could get two well fitted suits.

OffTheBackAdam

I've had severa suits from Raja Fashions, they're Hong Kong based, but do UK measuring "tours".
http://www.raja-fashions.com/

Ben6899

Ollieda wrote:

There's basically 3 different ways to get a suit......bespoke, made to measure and off the peg.

...

Ollie, we were talking at cross purposes! I should have said "bespoke".

symo

Was an offer in the back of Esquire recently for two bespoke shirts, suits and matching wool ties for £845 by Sartornai (sic). I think, worth checking out this month

symo

Was an offer in the back of Esquire recently for two bespoke shirts, suits and matching wool ties for £845 by Sartornai (sic). I think, worth checking out this month