Start with the shoulders
Stand sideways to a wall in the jacket and lean in slowly. If the shoulder pad touches the wall well before your arm does, the jacket is too wide. The shoulder seam should end where your own shoulder ends. A dent in the sleeve just below the seam means the shoulders are too wide, and a bump or ridge on top means they are too narrow. The collar should rest against your shirt collar all the way around, with no gap at the back of the neck. None of this can be fixed at a sensible price, so walk away.
The jacket body
Fasten the top button of a two-button jacket, which should sit at or just above your navel. Creases radiating from the button in an X mean it is too tight, and enough room for a fist between button and stomach means it is too loose. With your arms at your sides, the hem should cover your seat and land near the middle of your hand, around the thumb knuckle. A tailor can shorten a jacket by about an inch before the pockets look misplaced, and cannot lengthen it.
Sleeves and trousers
The jacket sleeve should stop at the wrist bone so that a quarter to half an inch of shirt cuff shows. Trousers should sit at your waist without a belt doing the work, and lie smooth across the seat with no pulling at the pockets. The break is the fold where the trouser meets the shoe. A slight break, with the front crease barely dented, suits nearly every man. Fabric pooling at the ankle is the most common fault in a bought suit, and the cheapest to correct.
What the tailor charges
Prices vary by city, but these are fair ranges.
- Hemming trousers runs about fifteen to twenty-five dollars.
- Shortening or lengthening jacket sleeves runs about twenty-five to forty-five dollars, and more if the cuff buttons are working ones.
- Taking in or letting out the trouser waist, usually by up to an inch and a half, runs about twenty to thirty dollars.
- Taking in the sides of the jacket runs about forty to sixty dollars.
Buy the size that fits your shoulders and chest, and budget fifty to a hundred dollars for alterations as part of the price.
Tip Wear a dress shirt and the shoes you intend to wear with the suit to the fitting. Sleeve and hem lengths pinned over a T-shirt and sneakers will come back wrong.
