Bill H
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2016
- Messages
- 446
- Reaction score
- 171
Men, Usually I come on the forum asking for advice, but I am happy for the first time to actually contribute. Other novice-intermediates like me can definitely learn from my experience.
It is important to start by mentioning that at one point I happened into being a low level professional fit model, so things tend to fit me well off the rack. If you have atypical dimensions you may want to take much of this with a grain of salt.
So this was my first MTM suit, and I went with Isaia. I would like to start by saying that the quality of the suit is exceptional. Furthermore I bought the suit at Barney’s and I feel like they treated me well overall; they certainly guided me based on what they thought would look best and not what was most expensive. For that I am appreciative. I went with Isaia for 3 reasons: 1), their shoulder really compliments my build (shout out to Ed Morel for being a tremendous resource), 2) the overall quality is excellent, and 3) (which was definitely the deciding factor), after going to many places (Tom Ford, Attolini, Prada, Gucci, Zegna, Hickey Freeman, Canali, Armani, Ralph Lauren), I tried on an off the rack Isaia suit and have never before (or since unfortunately) seen a shoulder fit me so well.
So my MTM suit came back today and after trying it on, there is no way I will do MTM again. In fact, I am utterly disappointed. The problem with MTM IS THAT YOU PAY A PREMIUM AND YOU DON"T GET TO SEE THE FINAL PRODUCT UNTIL YOU ALREADY OWN IT. With off the rack, I can see the final product on me, and then I can say yes or no; i.e. I am basing my decision off of a completely known entity; with MTM, you see something similar to what you will be getting, but it can be surprisingly far from the actual final product. When you factor in the cost of MTM vs a similar suit on sale (particularly like Ebay, the forum, or even 50% off sales in store), for me the upside of choosing my fabric and having the potential to get everything spot on, is well outweighed by the risk.
This is just my experience and I would like to hear rebuttals/other people’s thoughts; however, here are the specific things to be careful of:
1) It can be tough to tell from a swatch (fabric sample) what the final product will look like. I learned today, that this is particularly important when you go with a pattern (like Isaia is known for). Up until I walked in today, I was pumped about my choice. Once I actually saw it, I didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it. If the suit was off the rack, I would have known this immediately and probably would have went with something else. To be fair, I still probably would have been excited about buying it, but only at 1/3 the price.
2) The fit- the off the rack suit that convinced me to go Isaia MTM fit well better, particularly through the shoulder, than did the current suit. It is not that the MTM shoulder fits poorly, it fits pretty good, but I am not happy that I paid big bucks to get a poorer result. I would say that 60% of my suits fit at least as good as the MTM suit does, with those suits costing on average 10% of this suit (most bought second hand pristine condition); one suit that fits as well as the MTM I got off ebay was actually exactly 1/100 of the price… you didn’t read that wrong.
3) Suit salesmen in general cannot be trusted. The guy I dealt with at Barney’s was a bit of an exception (I relatively trust him), and that is part of the reason I went with Barney’s (and I would do business with him again); however, many of the people I came across were straight slime balls. They reminded me of used car salesmen in many ways (as a generalization), several guys tried to sell me things that clearly didn’t fit. Like 5K suits that fit ridiculous. The low point was at Tom Ford on Madison. The guy told me that I could solve the problem of the shoulder being too large… by working out. You gotta be kidding me.
4) Perhaps Most importantly: make sure you know what you want, make sure you are comfortable with their measurements, and SPEAK UP if you are not entirely satisfied with how the process is going. The actual measurement process was super quick. If you are particular about length of jacket, or how the shoulder should fit, etc, like I am, make sure you are ready to be assertive because the measurement process only took about 10 minutes and they were not really looking for feedback. Much of this I cannot blame them for; it is not that they were not professionals; they were. It is just that they don’t really respect your opinion. This leads to an outcome that is likely quality, but may not be exactly what you have in mind. If I had to do it again, I would probably bring pictures of a fit I like, be it magazine or suits I own (things like jacket length, shoulder, chest, etc… things not easily fixed). I would also be ready to fight… tell them exactly what you want; and when something seems off, or even if you are not entirely comfortable for whatever reason, make sure you tell them. The salesman and I actually disagreed about the shoulder measurement. I went back the next day to ask for a re-measure but the tailors were off because it was Sunday. He assured me that it was right, and in his defense, he wasn’t lying, he genuinely thought he was doing the right thing. But now that the suit came in, I WAS RIGHT, and my prize for being right is a super expensive suit that fits only pretty good. The measurements happened so quick, but are so important… now I am stuck with something that is pretty good; but I was hoping for… rather I WAS EXPECTING something great. Be in there ready to fight. They want it to take 10 minutes, you want it to take 1 hour. To be honest, they should know better; you can’t change a shoulder after it is done, it deserves more thought and care. Please keep in mind that I was fairly assertive for a first timer and I got this result… they are going to think you are an annoying customer by moving along slowly, but better to be annoying and satisfied.
I hope this helps. Bill
It is important to start by mentioning that at one point I happened into being a low level professional fit model, so things tend to fit me well off the rack. If you have atypical dimensions you may want to take much of this with a grain of salt.
So this was my first MTM suit, and I went with Isaia. I would like to start by saying that the quality of the suit is exceptional. Furthermore I bought the suit at Barney’s and I feel like they treated me well overall; they certainly guided me based on what they thought would look best and not what was most expensive. For that I am appreciative. I went with Isaia for 3 reasons: 1), their shoulder really compliments my build (shout out to Ed Morel for being a tremendous resource), 2) the overall quality is excellent, and 3) (which was definitely the deciding factor), after going to many places (Tom Ford, Attolini, Prada, Gucci, Zegna, Hickey Freeman, Canali, Armani, Ralph Lauren), I tried on an off the rack Isaia suit and have never before (or since unfortunately) seen a shoulder fit me so well.
So my MTM suit came back today and after trying it on, there is no way I will do MTM again. In fact, I am utterly disappointed. The problem with MTM IS THAT YOU PAY A PREMIUM AND YOU DON"T GET TO SEE THE FINAL PRODUCT UNTIL YOU ALREADY OWN IT. With off the rack, I can see the final product on me, and then I can say yes or no; i.e. I am basing my decision off of a completely known entity; with MTM, you see something similar to what you will be getting, but it can be surprisingly far from the actual final product. When you factor in the cost of MTM vs a similar suit on sale (particularly like Ebay, the forum, or even 50% off sales in store), for me the upside of choosing my fabric and having the potential to get everything spot on, is well outweighed by the risk.
This is just my experience and I would like to hear rebuttals/other people’s thoughts; however, here are the specific things to be careful of:
1) It can be tough to tell from a swatch (fabric sample) what the final product will look like. I learned today, that this is particularly important when you go with a pattern (like Isaia is known for). Up until I walked in today, I was pumped about my choice. Once I actually saw it, I didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it. If the suit was off the rack, I would have known this immediately and probably would have went with something else. To be fair, I still probably would have been excited about buying it, but only at 1/3 the price.
2) The fit- the off the rack suit that convinced me to go Isaia MTM fit well better, particularly through the shoulder, than did the current suit. It is not that the MTM shoulder fits poorly, it fits pretty good, but I am not happy that I paid big bucks to get a poorer result. I would say that 60% of my suits fit at least as good as the MTM suit does, with those suits costing on average 10% of this suit (most bought second hand pristine condition); one suit that fits as well as the MTM I got off ebay was actually exactly 1/100 of the price… you didn’t read that wrong.
3) Suit salesmen in general cannot be trusted. The guy I dealt with at Barney’s was a bit of an exception (I relatively trust him), and that is part of the reason I went with Barney’s (and I would do business with him again); however, many of the people I came across were straight slime balls. They reminded me of used car salesmen in many ways (as a generalization), several guys tried to sell me things that clearly didn’t fit. Like 5K suits that fit ridiculous. The low point was at Tom Ford on Madison. The guy told me that I could solve the problem of the shoulder being too large… by working out. You gotta be kidding me.
4) Perhaps Most importantly: make sure you know what you want, make sure you are comfortable with their measurements, and SPEAK UP if you are not entirely satisfied with how the process is going. The actual measurement process was super quick. If you are particular about length of jacket, or how the shoulder should fit, etc, like I am, make sure you are ready to be assertive because the measurement process only took about 10 minutes and they were not really looking for feedback. Much of this I cannot blame them for; it is not that they were not professionals; they were. It is just that they don’t really respect your opinion. This leads to an outcome that is likely quality, but may not be exactly what you have in mind. If I had to do it again, I would probably bring pictures of a fit I like, be it magazine or suits I own (things like jacket length, shoulder, chest, etc… things not easily fixed). I would also be ready to fight… tell them exactly what you want; and when something seems off, or even if you are not entirely comfortable for whatever reason, make sure you tell them. The salesman and I actually disagreed about the shoulder measurement. I went back the next day to ask for a re-measure but the tailors were off because it was Sunday. He assured me that it was right, and in his defense, he wasn’t lying, he genuinely thought he was doing the right thing. But now that the suit came in, I WAS RIGHT, and my prize for being right is a super expensive suit that fits only pretty good. The measurements happened so quick, but are so important… now I am stuck with something that is pretty good; but I was hoping for… rather I WAS EXPECTING something great. Be in there ready to fight. They want it to take 10 minutes, you want it to take 1 hour. To be honest, they should know better; you can’t change a shoulder after it is done, it deserves more thought and care. Please keep in mind that I was fairly assertive for a first timer and I got this result… they are going to think you are an annoying customer by moving along slowly, but better to be annoying and satisfied.
I hope this helps. Bill