Buying a suit off ebay

[Simon at Elite]

Does suit sizing really vary as wildly as it seems to do on ebay?

Definitely. While we mostly sell MTM, we do offer standard off the rack sizing for those that don't want to bother going through the measurement process or happen to be lucky enough to fit into a standard size suit.

Deciding on the finished measurements for off the rack sizing was a nightmare as it seemed almost every manufacturer used a different sizing chart. We eventually persuaded one of Asia's biggest off the rack suit manufacturers to send us their sizing chart and now use that. However, we still ask customers wanting a standard size to send us their chest and trouser waist measurements instead of relying on them just asking for a "size 42" suit as a standard size 42 suit can vary greatly according to who manufactured it.

For the record a size 40 (made to fit a 40" chest measurement) has a 19" shoulder. A size 38 shoulder measurement is 18.4" and a size 42 is 19.6". Even they vary a little if you get into long or short measurements.

 

[The Dork]

Thank you both for the information. I'll have to tweak my ebay strategy a bit. Especially since I just received my first ebay purchase today (40R Hickey Freeman) which the seller listed the shoulders at 19.5" and I measured it at 19" even.