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The original was posted on /r/malefashionadvice by /u/Aventador_22 on 2023-10-03 17:46:33.
I have now experienced suits from across the price spectrum so figured a post would be worth my time so you guys can avoid the same mistakes I’ve made and save some money.
Video:
- All the info is on this post but this is one of my best videos to date. The SuitSupply portion takes you through the process of speccing out a custom suit and I think it’s worth the watch.
Hugo Boss ($500 on sale):
After wearing suits from Burlington my entire life, I bought my first nice suit from Nordstrom in 2014. The sales associate pointed me towards Hugo - a trendy, entry level line to the Hugo Boss family. It cost me about $500 and I thought I walked out with a super high quality, name brand suit that would last me ages to come. It wasn’t until a few years later when I really looked into the ins and outs of suiting that I realized I had paid for the name on the tag rather than the actual construction of the suit.
I learned that there were three primary types of structured suits: fused, half-canvased, and full canvassed.
The Boss one I had purchased was a fused suit which meant the inside (typically synthetic) fabric giving it structure and the outer wool was just glued together. This is the most restrictive type of construction because as you move and stretch, the fabric inevitably starts to lift from the glue causing weird bubbles and ripple throughout the jacket. Majority of the suits you see in department stores sub $1000 will be fused since they’re not only easier to produce at scale but much much cheaper.
A fused suit will have a cardboard, boxy like feel that doesn’t drape your body naturally since the fusing is pretty rigid. You’ll notice this especially around the chest and upper back anytime your arms are in motion. The jacket seems to move as a single unit rather than flexing as needed. Heat also becomes an issue as the fusing allows little to no breathability. Details wise, the news does not get much better. You won’t see functional buttons, detail stitching, or a button hole on the lapel. The overly narrow notch lapels prevent it from being a timeless option. While the 100% wool and the fact I had it tailored made it look presentable and wearable, the feel of the wool and the final fit weren’t anything to write home about.
It’s served well over the years but it’s time to retire this soon as the styling isn’t as timeless with the brighter blue shade and overly narrow lapels. If you slapped a Zara logo on the tag and compared it side by side to one from Zara, I doubt you’d be able to tell a difference based off the construction and styling.
Suit Supply ($500-$2000):
Let’s move on to Suit Supply. These guys are the go to recommendation for a suit when anyone asks online or on Reddit so I was excited to try my first suit from them. I wanted to go in and try to create a suit as close to my Tom Ford one as I could to see if they could compete so mine came out to $1500. They start at about $500 off the rack and $700 made-to-measure but can go up to around $2000 for a Super150 fabric made to measure three piece suit with all the boxes ticked. The suits across the spectrum are built with the same level of quality and detail the only difference being the fabric, and whether it’s half canvassed or fully canvassed.
With made-to-measure there were three steps: Select your fabric, select your construction/finishings, then get fitted.
I went for a wool/silk blend cream colored fabric (for a summer family wedding), with wide peak lapels, and full canvassing. I opted for a waistcoat and got slightly higher rise pants with the side adjusters to get it as close to the TF one as possible. It was super cool being able to pick out every little aspect of the suit from the inner lining to the buttons to the personalization. I walked through this a bunch more in the video.
With SuitSupply and especially made-to-measure there, the sales associate you work with will definitely make the biggest difference in the suit. I’ve had friends and families with bad experiences with the fit because the sales associate didn’t know too much about measurements or the types of alterations that are possible once the garment gets in. Thankfully Suit Supply customer service is top notch and they’ll take it back for a full refund but definitely try to find the most knowledgable sales associate there. I worked with Aivy at the Houston store and have zero negative things to say. She was super helpful and really knew her stuff!
The suit itself is made really well, especially for the price point. You get a lot of the details you see with much higher end designers such as the ticket pocket, Milanese button hole, rolling lapel, and the functional button holes. You also have limitless options in terms of colors and fabrics compared to a lot of other suiting brands and they definitely outshine other brands like Indochino and such.
Overall I was really impressed. Suitsupply does a great job at making a suit look a lot more expensive than it is. I really recommend watching this portion of the video as it takes you through the entire process and the small nuggets of info Aivy gives throughout are really helpful.
TOM FORD:
I bought in 2017 for a close family wedding and I’ve worn it nonstop since then. It is the Windsor cut but we’ll get more into the cuts later.
From start to finish, it was an incredible experience. I worked with the same sales associate the entire time making it super easy to text him back and forth for advice and updates. The stock in store is completely different from their stock online and has a lot more options than whats listed on the website. It was my first time buying something of this caliber so the novelty factor probably helped but the service was unmatched. For example, I needed a tie and didn’t want to buy it from TF as they’re quite pricey but the guy helping me bagged it up and walked the suit to a shop across the mall and helped me pick out a tie from a completely different store.
I think the sticker on this was $3800 at the time which was their “entry level” option. The only difference in the more expensive models being a higher quality fabric or the addition of a waistcoat. The fabric on the entry level pieces are exceptional so I don’t find the need to splurge in this aspect but a three-piece from Tom Ford is definitely on my fashion bucket list.
It took a total of 4 fittings to get this tailored perfectly. While other brands I’ve owned give you one fitting and reluctantly agree for a second if you ask for further changes, TF hires some of the best tailors in the game who understand that as you make one large change, smaller changes might come up that need to be tweaked.
They seek out area that could be better without you having to even tell them and tailor even the most minute details. The cherry on top was the final fitting where everything was perfect except for the rear vent sticking out slightly due to my build. They attached a tiny band of silk connecting one end to the other that fixed the problem right away and looked like it had come that way from the get go. No creases or pulls in sight. Granted, you could also do this to a cheaper suit and an outsourced local tailor but this is the only time I’ve experienced this level of detail for tailoring in a store.
As I was walking out, suit in hand, the store manager who we got to know really well throughout the process stopped us and handed us a small TF bag and a note that said “Congrats on your first TF suit”. Inside was a 50ml bottle of cologne from their private collection which was an unexpected but super nice touch. Even the customized name plate on the garment bag makes the experience feel special.
Starting with the fabric, all of Tom Ford fabrics are made exclusively for them by Zegna Couture, the highest end of the Zegna range. Even though mine is entry level, its still 100% wool and is made of one of the “butteriest” fabrics Ive handled.
The fit and construction go hand in hand with Tom Ford suits. This is the Windsor or Fit A which is the classic look you think of when you think TF.
As expected, this is a fully canvased suit but it’s the details that really make it stand out. The 4-5 inch lapels and the addition of the ticket pocket on the right side are the easiest signs when determining if a suit if from TF or not but it’s the subtle details that make the suit. The milanese buttonhole, rolling lapel, the lack of felt under the collar, the barchetta pocket, and the functional button holes all take significantly more time to produce but are tell tell signs of a quality suit with attention paid to the details.
As cool as these details are, majority of them can be specced with Suit Supply and are not exclusive to TF. You can get a suit from Savile Row or plenty of other brands with the same or better construction and detailing. So what makes a TF suit a TF suit?
In my opinion it’s how the suit fits and hangs on your body. The traditional TF fit is less a suit you wear but more a suit that wears you in the best way possible. While other suits fit like a glove, I’ve seen this described more so as armor. You almost step into it and it molds you to give you that athletic, broad shoulders, tight waist look even though your body might not be like that underneath.
While you might think this fit is exc…
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