OCI/callbacks/etc Men's Clothing Mega-thread Forum

[Nelson]

What's this CT that everyone is talking about? I'm not familiar with the acronym.

Charles Tyrwhitt. They're in the middle of a seasonal sale now.

Scooped

[chickenalfredo]

So I went and bought a BB REgent navy suit a few days ago. I have pretty broad shoulders. Had to get a size 46r jacket. Problem is it comes with size 40 pants and I wear size 35(36 sometimes but its a bit baggier) in dress pants. I had BB tailor them and I am hesitant that they are going to screw it up. I wanted to buy a charcoal suit too but I am waiting until this one gets tailored (7/2 conveniently when the sale ends) to see how it turns out. Tailor claimed he could get them down to a size 36. We'll see.

[SaintsTheMetal]

So I went and bought a BB REgent navy suit a few days ago. I have pretty broad shoulders. Had to get a size 46r jacket. Problem is it comes with size 40 pants and I wear size 35(36 sometimes but its a bit baggier) in dress pants. I had BB tailor them and I am hesitant that they are going to screw it up. I wanted to buy a charcoal suit too but I am waiting until this one gets tailored (7/2 conveniently when the sale ends) to see how it turns out. Tailor claimed he could get them down to a size 36. We'll see.

is this normal?? I don't have an expensive suit yet (only bought cheapo JAB suit before,) but I will need a jacket around that size but my waist is 33ish... I don't understand why can't you just get the jacket with a smaller pants size?

[LRGhost]

So I went and bought a BB REgent navy suit a few days ago. I have pretty broad shoulders. Had to get a size 46r jacket. Problem is it comes with size 40 pants and I wear size 35(36 sometimes but its a bit baggier) in dress pants. I had BB tailor them and I am hesitant that they are going to screw it up. I wanted to buy a charcoal suit too but I am waiting until this one gets tailored (7/2 conveniently when the sale ends) to see how it turns out. Tailor claimed he could get them down to a size 36. We'll see.

is this normal?? I don't have an expensive suit yet (only bought cheapo JAB suit before,) but I will need a jacket around that size but my waist is 33ish... I don't understand why can't you just get the jacket with a smaller pants size?

A lot of places don't sell suit separates, they sell cuts with 'drops' (chest to pant difference) of 6 and sometimes 7. For something more drastic, if regular tailoring isn't capable, you'd need to go MTM. Kent Wang is at a really good price, fully canvassed, and they do a lot of customizing to fit the suit to you.

[SaintsTheMetal]

So I went and bought a BB REgent navy suit a few days ago. I have pretty broad shoulders. Had to get a size 46r jacket. Problem is it comes with size 40 pants and I wear size 35(36 sometimes but its a bit baggier) in dress pants. I had BB tailor them and I am hesitant that they are going to screw it up. I wanted to buy a charcoal suit too but I am waiting until this one gets tailored (7/2 conveniently when the sale ends) to see how it turns out. Tailor claimed he could get them down to a size 36. We'll see.

is this normal?? I don't have an expensive suit yet (only bought cheapo JAB suit before,) but I will need a jacket around that size but my waist is 33ish... I don't understand why can't you just get the jacket with a smaller pants size?

A lot of places don't sell suit separates, they sell cuts with 'drops' (chest to pant difference) of 6 and sometimes 7. For something more drastic, if regular tailoring isn't capable, you'd need to go MTM. Kent Wang is at a really good price, fully canvassed, and they do a lot of customizing to fit the suit to you.

sound interesting... but I see they say, "The fit is slim, slimmer than most US retail brands including Polo Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic, and J. Crew. It is on par with Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren Black Label, Brooks Brothers Black Fleece, H&M and Zara."

This sounds anti-TLS conventional wisdom..? How does the cut of Kent Wang compare with Suit Supply?
A lot of questions I know, but anyone familiar enough with Suit Supply suits they would say the MTM suits are OCI appropriate in the cut?

also a little nervous about getting a suit done purely online and from a photograph... I'd feel a lot better having a tailor measure me in-person, I would think at least

[Pufer]

So I went and bought a BB REgent navy suit a few days ago. I have pretty broad shoulders. Had to get a size 46r jacket. Problem is it comes with size 40 pants and I wear size 35(36 sometimes but its a bit baggier) in dress pants. I had BB tailor them and I am hesitant that they are going to screw it up. I wanted to buy a charcoal suit too but I am waiting until this one gets tailored (7/2 conveniently when the sale ends) to see how it turns out. Tailor claimed he could get them down to a size 36. We'll see.

is this normal?? I don't have an expensive suit yet (only bought cheapo JAB suit before,) but I will need a jacket around that size but my waist is 33ish... I don't understand why can't you just get the jacket with a smaller pants size?

A lot of places don't sell suit separates, they sell cuts with 'drops' (chest to pant difference) of 6 and sometimes 7. For something more drastic, if regular tailoring isn't capable, you'd need to go MTM. Kent Wang is at a really good price, fully canvassed, and they do a lot of customizing to fit the suit to you.

sound interesting... but I see they say, "The fit is slim, slimmer than most US retail brands including Polo Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic, and J. Crew. It is on par with Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren Black Label, Brooks Brothers Black Fleece, H&M and Zara."

This sounds anti-TLS conventional wisdom..? How does the cut of Kent Wang compare with Suit Supply?
A lot of questions I know, but anyone familiar enough with Suit Supply suits they would say the MTM suits are OCI appropriate in the cut?

also a little nervous about getting a suit done purely online and from a photograph... I'd feel a lot better having a tailor measure me in-person, I would think at least

If you seriously need a thirteen-inch drop, there's no such thing as an OTR suit that will be too slim for you in the torso. However, there's no way you pull that drop off without having a really developed upper body, and you're probably going to have issues fitting your arms into such a slim-cut suit's sleeves. Moreover, thirteen-inch drop is getting close to the the line where you'll be outside the patterns for MTM, and you might need full bespoke (or to just go with separates and accept that you'll look fatter than you are).

-Pufer

[LRGhost]

So I went and bought a BB REgent navy suit a few days ago. I have pretty broad shoulders. Had to get a size 46r jacket. Problem is it comes with size 40 pants and I wear size 35(36 sometimes but its a bit baggier) in dress pants. I had BB tailor them and I am hesitant that they are going to screw it up. I wanted to buy a charcoal suit too but I am waiting until this one gets tailored (7/2 conveniently when the sale ends) to see how it turns out. Tailor claimed he could get them down to a size 36. We'll see.

is this normal?? I don't have an expensive suit yet (only bought cheapo JAB suit before,) but I will need a jacket around that size but my waist is 33ish... I don't understand why can't you just get the jacket with a smaller pants size?

A lot of places don't sell suit separates, they sell cuts with 'drops' (chest to pant difference) of 6 and sometimes 7. For something more drastic, if regular tailoring isn't capable, you'd need to go MTM. Kent Wang is at a really good price, fully canvassed, and they do a lot of customizing to fit the suit to you.

sound interesting... but I see they say, "The fit is slim, slimmer than most US retail brands including Polo Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic, and J. Crew. It is on par with Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren Black Label, Brooks Brothers Black Fleece, H&M and Zara."

This sounds anti-TLS conventional wisdom..? How does the cut of Kent Wang compare with Suit Supply?
A lot of questions I know, but anyone familiar enough with Suit Supply suits they would say the MTM suits are OCI appropriate in the cut?

also a little nervous about getting a suit done purely online and from a photograph... I'd feel a lot better having a tailor measure me in-person, I would think at least

It's slim in that a 46/36R from KW is going to fit better than an OTR Madison or whatever. It's not slim in that it's comical. FWIW, most OTR stuff fits terrible and most people don't dress well. A well tailored suit is going to seem slim to 90% of people even if it's not really a 'slim' suit. When TLS bashes slim suits, they mean fashion suits from designers and the cheap approximations that some place like Zara would do. If you go on styleforum, there's a thread for Kent Wang. Check out the fits. If my understanding is correct, he'll do a lot to work with you. You can also submit measurements with your pictures and all of that.

[09042014]

How many times can I tailor a suit. I'm in the middle of some weight loss that I hope I'm going to continue. Problem is I'll need my one suit to ready to wear on day 1 of my jerb, but I won't really have hit my goal weight by then.

My firm is business casual, so I'll just need one suit for special occasions.

My plan is to get it tailored in sept. Then when I hit my goal weight get it tailored again and buy a second suit to fill out my wardrob and cover me for when my other suit is being tailored. It was already tailored a bit when I got it. Is that too much, or is the limit basically whatever material is left, etc. etc.

[Pufer]

How many times can I tailor a suit. I'm in the middle of some weight loss that I hope I'm going to continue. Problem is I'll need my one suit to ready to wear on day 1 of my jerb, but I won't really have hit my goal weight by then.

My firm is business casual, so I'll just need one suit for special occasions.

My plan is to get it tailored in sept. Then when I hit my goal weight get it tailored again and buy a second suit to fill out my wardrob and cover me for when my other suit is being tailored. It was already tailored a bit when I got it. Is that too much, or is the limit basically whatever material is left, etc. etc.

There's no real limit to how many times you can take in a suit in terms of whether your tailor can literally do it (even if there's any damage left by previous seams, if you're bringing it in, it'll be hidden). However, during a period of significant weight loss, it's surprising how much narrower you get, and shoulder alterations never work out well. Further, without getting into some really intensive (i.e., expensive) tailoring, the distance between the waist line of your pants and your crotch is remaining roughly the same.

Thus, if you're losing a particularly significant amount of weight, the waist of your pants and jacket can continue to be tailored to you, but at some point you'll start to have frankenstein shoulders and the belt line of a 90-year-old (the stereotypical old guy didn't start buying pants that go up to his tits when he retired; he just lost weight but kept wearing that same pair of trousers he wore back when he was a fat, middle-aged guy).

Generally speaking, you can lose about two suit sizes (approximately 20-25 pounds; maybe a little more if you were buying suits to fit your shoulders and having them taken out instead of buying to fit your chest/gut and taking them in) before you start to go beyond what a tailor can help you with. Up until that point, there's no limit to how many times you can go to the tailor.

-Pufer

[Bronte]

Pufer, what's your opinion on the break? It seems like it's very much in fashion to go with no break or even a slight rise. This is how GQ and pretty much every fashion house is featuring their models in photos. But I assume this is too fashion forward and trendy and that one should instead stick to the classic half-break. Do you agree?

[Pufer]

Pufer, what's your opinion on the break? It seems like it's very much in fashion to go with no break or even a slight rise. This is how GQ and pretty much every fashion house is featuring their models in photos. But I assume this is too fashion forward and trendy and that one should instead stick to the classic half-break. Do you agree?

For an interview or other conservative suit, half or even full break is the way to go (I try to go with something like a 2/3 break on my formal suits so it can ride up a touch after sitting and still look proper).

That said, I think that the trend towards no break is defensible with regard to the presently in vogue really-slim-cut suits. If the bottom opening of your leg is small enough to facilitate a taper on a slim-fitting suit, any kind of extra length may not be able to clear the laces/tongue/back of your shoes, thereby risking any "break" looking more like a jeans-like bunch-up. Of course, the potential necessity of less-formal pants bottoms is yet another reason why one shouldn't go too fashion-forward with an interview suit.

-Pufer

[laxbrah420]

http://us.suitsupply.com/suits/suit-lig ... cgid=Suits

This dude gets ALL THE CALL BACKS

[09042014]

How many times can I tailor a suit. I'm in the middle of some weight loss that I hope I'm going to continue. Problem is I'll need my one suit to ready to wear on day 1 of my jerb, but I won't really have hit my goal weight by then.

My firm is business casual, so I'll just need one suit for special occasions.

My plan is to get it tailored in sept. Then when I hit my goal weight get it tailored again and buy a second suit to fill out my wardrob and cover me for when my other suit is being tailored. It was already tailored a bit when I got it. Is that too much, or is the limit basically whatever material is left, etc. etc.

There's no real limit to how many times you can take in a suit in terms of whether your tailor can literally do it (even if there's any damage left by previous seams, if you're bringing it in, it'll be hidden). However, during a period of significant weight loss, it's surprising how much narrower you get, and shoulder alterations never work out well. Further, without getting into some really intensive (i.e., expensive) tailoring, the distance between the waist line of your pants and your crotch is remaining roughly the same.

Thus, if you're losing a particularly significant amount of weight, the waist of your pants and jacket can continue to be tailored to you, but at some point you'll start to have frankenstein shoulders and the belt line of a 90-year-old (the stereotypical old guy didn't start buying pants that go up to his tits when he retired; he just lost weight but kept wearing that same pair of trousers he wore back when he was a fat, middle-aged guy).

Generally speaking, you can lose about two suit sizes (approximately 20-25 pounds; maybe a little more if you were buying suits to fit your shoulders and having them taken out instead of buying to fit your chest/gut and taking them in) before you start to go beyond what a tailor can help you with. Up until that point, there's no limit to how many times you can go to the tailor.

-Pufer

Thanks. Answered my question perfectly, I appreciate it.

[commoner]

Thrift Shop. Dead men's suits are all the rage especially when they say Hickey Freeman or Brooks Brothers. I picked up a gorgeous suit for 15 bucks the other day. I of course buy my shoes elsewhere (ebay) brand new Allen Edmonds but shirts and suits come from my enormous warehouse style thrift shop. There's no fucking way I'm gonna spring for a 1200/1400 dollar custom made suit (I'm a really strange size).

What What
What What

badabadabadabada

I'm gonna pop some tags, got 20 bucks in my pocket

[Bronte]

Thanks, Pufer.

[basilseal]

This has probably been covered, but I don't feel like browsing the thread- what's the take on oxblood v. brown shoes for interviews/work?

[sprezz]

This has probably been covered, but I don't feel like browsing the thread- what's the take on oxblood v. brown shoes for interviews/work?

consensus is black is best for interviews, but oxblood or dark brown should also be fine outside of the most formal interviewing situations. in a vacuum, i think oxblood and dark brown are equal on the formality scale, but i personally think oxblood is more versatile for formal occasions than even a very dark brown..it looks much better with darker grays. so i would say that oxblood 'plays up' marginally better than dark brown.

i don't own a burgundy pin-dot tie, though, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt

[chrisbru]

This has probably been covered, but I don't feel like browsing the thread- what's the take on oxblood v. brown shoes for interviews/work?

consensus is black is best for interviews, but oxblood or dark brown should also be fine outside of the most formal interviewing situations. in a vacuum, i think oxblood and dark brown are equal on the formality scale, but i personally think oxblood is more versatile for formal occasions than even a very dark brown..it looks much better with darker grays. so i would say that oxblood 'plays up' marginally better than dark brown.

i don't own a burgundy pin-dot tie, though, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt

I'll echo that black is best for interviews, but if you don't own black shoes (why don't you own black shoes?!) then I personally would go with oxblood over brown.

For work, it doesn't matter. You'll be fine with both (and should rotate the two) as long as it works with the suit you are wearing.

[basilseal]

Thanks. I own black shoes already, but am getting a new navy suit and prefer the look of oxblood with navy. Just wanted to make sure that would work in or out of most interviews.

[Bronte]

Thanks. I own black shoes already, but am getting a new navy suit and prefer the look of oxblood with navy. Just wanted to make sure that would work in or out of most interviews.

I agree that brown or oxblood looks better with navy. But for interviews I would just wear your black shoes with your navy suit. No big deal either way, but might as well err on the side of conservatism. Once you get the gig, you can go ahead and wear your oxblood shoes every time you wear navy.

[Person1111]

Walnut? Not for interviews, just for work. Would wear with navy or light grey birdseye suit.

[sprezz]

walnut's about as informal as brown dress shoes get color-wise, but it's gorgeous. i also think light gray is the perfect suit to go with them. your read on your office is yours to make as far as whether they'd fly though.

walnut with navy looks attractive as hell, but if it's a dark navy that would create a high contrast look that draws attention to the footwear and could be considered "flashy". i think it looks dope. but i'll never be your boss. so.

[Lasers]

Anyone have any experience with Allen Edmonds' recrafting service?

[abl]

Thanks for all of the amazing posts everyone. I've made my way through the past 40 or so pages of the thread and I don't think anything exactly like this has been asked -- I'm sorry if this was brought up in the first 130 pages.

I'm looking for a new suit.

I'm a somewhat unusual body type -- pretty slim (140lbs) and pretty short (5'8") with a 32" waist and basically no shoulders or chest. I don't know my exact suit size off of the top of my head, but suffice to say that I've been to a number of stores (including BB and JOB) and been told that they don't make suits that will fit me. I currently own two bespoke suits that I got made on a trip to Asia several years ago (charcoal and navy, both fairly conservative). I didn't really know what I was doing, but looked for the best tailor I could afford in the region (not HK or Thailand or one of the more "standard" places to buy a suit). The charcoal suit came out a bit weird, but I'm pretty sure the navy suit's solid. I've used it for a number of interviews (including clerkship interviews) and generally have gotten the jobs and have never had anybody comment on it for better or for worse. So, for the sake of this question, let's assume my navy suit's acceptable as an interview suit -- but not a hit-it-out-of-the-park sort of suit.

I'll be starting a clerkship next year and anticipate interviewing for at least one very conservative biglaw job during that time--the sort of place where I imagine people are probably dressed pretty well most of the time. Basically, I need another suit (1) for interviews (I think?), (2) for my day-to-day job as a lawyer for the next couple years (for sure), (3) because I think I'm going to wear out my current suits soon and want to keep things a little more staggered, and (4) to either add a suit I can wear to weddings and other social situations, or allow me to wear my navy suit more often in those occasions and not worry I'm going to ruin my only interview suit.

Given my sizing issues (and, if it'd be helpful, I'd be happy to get myself measured again and post those measurements), what sort of options do I have other than MTM? My sense is that my shoulders are one of the bigger sizing problems that I have with suits (I think I have small shoulders for my size?). My sense is that getting OTR tailored wouldn't be a great option given that it's likely that I'd have to have the shoulders messed with. I also have 0 knowledge whatsoever about what tailors are good in my area and suspect there probably aren't any.

My budget's around $500 but I could be persuaded to go a bit higher if people think I can get a big jump up in quality for an extra bit (or think that it's worth really investing in a suit at this point in my career).

My tentative leaning was to try something from Thick as Thieves, but I'm nervous that they might not be conservative enough and also because their prices seem too good to be true. I may even be able to make it out to LA for an in-person fitting with them in the next week or so. But I really don't know much about suits, so I'm nervous about going the MTM route -- my bespoke adventure from a couple years ago wasn't a smashing success. It's hard to say how much of that was my fault and how much was the tailor's, but it's made me a bit more gun shy.

So here are my questions:

1. What color suit would you recommend for this third suit? My current charcoal suit is certainly wearable (I've also worn it to interviews that I have gotten offers from, and have had no comments). I'm leaning towards getting either a second charcoal suit or a somewhat lighter grey suit. I probably don't need the suit for interviews, but I like the idea of having an alternative to my navy suit---especially since I'm not convinced my navy suit's exactly perfect (and navy's not quite as conservative as charcoal, right?). I'm also considering doing some sort of really really subtle pinstripe/other pattern, and maybe getting something cut a little less conservative so that I have a suit that I can wear in social situations and to work. If people on the board strongly recommend it, I guess I'd consider getting even two suits (a social suit and an interview suit) -- but my budget for this stuff isn't infinite.

2. What would you do in my circumstance? Do you think OTR with tailoring is the best bet, and if so, what brands generally look good on shorter and more slender men? Probably BB and JOB are out, right?

3. If you would go MTM/bespoke, does anyone have any recommendations? What are people's thoughts about Thick as Thieves? What about Black Lapel or Indochine? Are there others I should be looking into in my general price range? Or, given that I'm looking for basically my first post-law school suit, are there any others I should be looking into in a somewhat higher price range?

4. If you recommend MTM/bespoke, how should I go about getting an appropriate suit? I've read pufer's suit guide but am pretty nervous about applying that in practice in the context of MTM (partially b/c of my bespoke misadventures from earlier). On a related note, what sort of fabrics should I be looking into? FWIW I'll be in a big city next year that gets very hot (and humid) in the summer and very cold in the winter.

[Nova]

What What
What What

badabadabadabada

I'm gonna pop some tags, got 20 bucks in my pocket

I get blazers/sport coats for 10 dollars at thrift stores too

Good shit