Did You Get Your Money’s Worth for Your Tailored Suit?

Section: Men's Style - Blog

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Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes when your tailor creates your tailored suit? Hopefully, this brief tutorial opens your eyes to a few truths so you can make informed future purchases.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Many tailors fly down from overseas and offer allegedbespoke or tailored “Pure Cashmere Wool Super 150s” suits in designer materials for under $500. However, to us, it sounds farfetched to offer a Super 150s hand tailored suit made with designer cashmere wool at such a low price.

How can they cover return airfare for the workers, as well as pay for accommodations, materials, labour and so on? Either they're not making a profit, which is unlikely, or they're using cheap materials and cheap labour to make the suits.

Don't be surprised if some of the buttons fall off or the suit comes apart at the seams; additionally, the material may be poor quality and probably isn't Super 150s pure cashmere wool. Instead, the material will probably be a polyester-wool blend, and the cheaper it is, the more polyester content it will contain.

Designer brand materialS: Really?

In many cases, the material flaunts a designer brand label such as Bvlgari, Armani, Versace, Boss, Gucci, Zegna, etc. printed along the side strip to attract customers. The tailor will offer a tailored suit using the designer material for an amazingly low price.

To the un-versed, this amazing price may be attributed to the cheap cost of labour in some foreign countries, which is partially true. However, the major reason the tailor can offer a low price is because the material is not actually what he claims it is.

For example, the material alone would cost around $450 if it is genuine.The cost of paying a Master Tailor to construct the suit, even in a country where cost of labour is cheap, would not be so cheap unless they're resorting to unethical practices such as sweatshops. On top of this, retailers add their own margins. All this is enough to drive the price up to $1200 - $1500 at the very least.

Here's a pictorial comparison between a cheap suit and a quality suit:

Cheap Suit - Poor finishing

Good Suit - Assurance of quality

No Woolen Felt underlay beneath the lapel for reinforcement - it's just left bare.

Woolen Felt underlay beneath the lapel for reinforcement.

White stitching can be seen on the outside of the pocket.

Pocket is finished with clean, subtle stitching.

Button falling off after a few months of use.

Exquisite patterned linings to add extra flair, with superior finishing inside and out.

Not all tailors are equal

This brings me to my next point: despite cheap labour and tailor shops being abundant in many countries, not all tailors are equal. Many offer packages comprised of 2 suits + 1 blazer + extra trousers + 2 shirts + 3 silk ties all for USD $350. You often see such advertisements in the in-flight magazines. Once again, it sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, to be fair, the offer is usually legit; however, you usually lose out in quality.

Often these ads get you into the shop, and then you're shown the materials that are on offer for this price. If you happen to know your suit materials and are discerning,you quickly realise you would not be caught dead in suits or shirts made from those materials, or you would not wear cheap polyester ties such as the ones in the offer.

Your aversion is instantly recognised by the experienced salesman, and you are swiftly upsold into better quality materials. You walk out spending more than you originally anticipated, or if you don't know any better, you walk out with cheap clothes that wear out in a couple of months and may cause your colleagues to view your attire with disapproval.

The majority of “tailors” are just shop fronts or showrooms that stock the rolls of materials and where measurements are taken, a suit is designed, and fittings are conducted. Many of these shop fronts ultimately use the same actual cutters, stitchers and finishers (collectively called tailors) who put the suit together in workshops that are hidden away somewhere offsite. The flashier looking larger shops just charge more, even though they may be using the same backend manufacturing as the tiny shop next door.

Where Do You get a quality tailored suit?

Well – there are three ways:

• Word of mouth: For many reasons, this can be risky. Maybe the person recommending the tailor has a vested interest. It could be the person doesn't really know what a good suit is and is satisfied with the quality he's received (at least until the suit starts falling apart). Or maybe he has only tried one tailor so that's the only one he can recommend.
• Trial and error: You go to multiple tailors and invest quite a bit of money to get suits made, and then compare the quality, style and fit yourself. However, do you really want to do that?
• The third method: Come to Montagio Custom Tailoring, of course! We confidently promote our company, guarantee quality and satisfaction, and offer full disclosure about how our custom suits are made. Next, you have a point of call as we are based locally in Sydney, Australia. Finally, we're not going to sell you a suitand then disappear or ignore your phone calls and emails if you have any issues.

We have gone through the trial and error process for you and thereby refined our quality control practices. We hire real Master Tailors who expertly hand craft your suit. We use real Super 110s Australian Wool. No need to fly anywhere, just visit our Sydney CBD Showroom for a personal consultation. Finally, our prices are not astronomical – we believe we strike the perfect balance between high quality and reasonable prices.

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