What’s the key to a perfectly fitted suit?
It might seem complicated, but it all comes down to the measurements the tailor uses to cut and sew your suit fabric. Tailors use dozens of measurements to cut the correct pattern for each panel of fabric they’ll sew together to make a jacket and pants. More panels = more complexity.
The Old Way
Back in 2017, when I was selling suits in Provo the process was simple:
- Take 15–20 body measurements
- Help the client pick fabric and style
- Send the numbers and details to a factory overseas.
Then, hope for the best. Over time, you get better at measuring. You’ll learn how factories interpret numbers. You adjust, but there is always an element of guesswork.
Small inconsistencies matter more than most people realize. Jacket length, sleeve length, shoulder width, miss any of those and the entire jacket is ruined. Pants are equally unforgiving; get the rise wrong, and they’re unwearable.
Learning the Hard Way
I learned this the hard way. Within the span of about a year, I made two wedding suits.
The first suit: A green tuxedo for my college best friend’s roommate (Alex). The fit came back absolutely perfect. No alterations. He looked like James Bond.
The second suit: Alex’s brother-in-law. I measured him the same way, followed the same process. The suit still came back terrible. The jacket measurements were all wrong and the suit looked like it belonged to a little boy.
I offered to remake the suit but the wedding was too close. I had to give a full refund on the order. Losing money on that order hurt. I didn’t handle it great either and my wife wanted me to stop doing suits for people - too much risk, too much of an emotional rollercoaster. It was the lowest point I had in running the business.
But there wasn’t a better way to do things, so I kept measuring clients the same way. Sending every order felt like a big gamble. In 2-4 weeks was the client going to get pissed that the suit fit all wrong? Would I have to pay for a remake and lose money?
The Turning Point
Then I came across an idea that changed everything. Dan Trepanier from Articles of Style talked about sending clients a muslin fitting suit. It would be similar to how true bespoke tailors in London use a ‘Forward Fitting’: we make a try-on suit in a cheap fabric, have the client try it on and take notes on the fit.
I loved the idea. I asked our factory about it, but he said no. I asked again a few months later. Still no.
I kept asking him every few months for 2 years, and eventually I wore him down.
In 2020–2021, I ordered my first fitting suit for myself. The blue suit that came from that process is still one of the best-fitting suits I own.
But a custom fitting suit isn’t cheap to make. It didn’t make a ton of sense to add a cost of $150-$200 for every client without raising prices by a lot.
Our Semi-Bespoke Solution
So in 2023, we made a decision to build an inventory of fitting suits.
Today, we have over 60 fitting jackets and 60 fitting pants, across sizes and proportions. We know every measurement on every jacket and pant. When a client comes in, we still take body measurements, but that’s just the start.
They try on fitting pants first. We see how they move, where things feel tight or loose, and we take notes. Then the jacket: mock shirt cuffs, multiple fittings, dialing in sleeve length, shoulder balance, chest, and length. Sometimes we’ll have a client try on four or five jackets until every measurement is exactly right.
This is what I call our Semi-Bespoke Fitting Process. It mirrors traditional bespoke methods developed on Savile Row in London.
The result? About 8/10 clients walk out needing no alterations at all. Their suit fits the way they expect it to fit, because it’s built from real garments.
The perfect fit isn’t luck. It’s a process.