Suit Jacket Shoulder Divots - Why and how to fix?

[americanninja]

I have a tailored jacket, which has these obnoxious looking indents on the side of the jacket. I'm not sure why, as the shoulder width is not too big for my shoulders. I've measured all my suits. They are roughly the same as my other jacket which does not display these divots. Is it just because of the padding?

How can I fix this or how can I tell the tailor to not have this show on my next suit?

Thanks!

 

[bigwilly]

A few things can cause this issue. In your case the natural pitch of your arm in relation to your shoulder was not taken into account or not accounted for properly in the suit construction. That is causing the wrinkling in the upper back of your arm and contributes to the dimple in the shoulder when your arms are hanging down at rest.

To fix the wrinkling will need to repitch the sleeve. To help remedy the dimple can try a pad. I don’t recommend either and just leave it as is. Make sure they do a better job next suit.

 

[breakaway01]

There are two separate issues, I think, which @bigwilly has touched on, and possibly one more (but I am not a tailor). I agree with the wrinkling on the back of the upper arm being due to a sleeve pitch issue. The dimple has nothing to do with shoulder padding or width. This has been discussed in the past and the root cause is that the armhole is distorting (usually because the armhole is not wide enough for your upper arm). Your upper arm is stretching the armhole wider than it was cut for, and this force causes the fabric at the top of the armhole to collapse, resulting in the divot. A possible related third issue is that I think your shoulders are pitched forward relative to the suit. I am not as sure about this, but it looks like your shoulders are pressing into the front of the armhole and there is empty space behind your upper arm. I wonder whether this could also contribute to the dimple as this could also be a reason for the armhole to be distorted.

 

[americanninja]

Thank you both! Great advice and informative. I will be sure to keep this in mind when I place my next order with my new tailor. Thank you!