How to order a custom-fit suit – Indochino, a review
Gabe Alonso Last week, I gave you a glimpse into what makes Indochino tick. I was lucky enough to be able to go through their digital ordering process and put their suits to the test. In my opinion, they stayed true to their word.
When you begin the shopping process, the choices are vast. The suits are as cheap as $299, but I would say on average they’re about $400 or so. For a custom-made suit, this is about as affordable as it gets. The amount of available options are fantastic. For those that are a little more knowledgeable in suiting/tailoring, the advanced options are a great way to personalize your suit even further.
I chose to get the Classic Navy Blue Suit. Every man should have a versatile navy suit that you can wear at a wedding or to a client meeting. After choosing the suit, it’s time to start customizing. You’re presented with choices for stock options on lapels, vents (the slits on back of your jacket), buttons, color of the lining, and whether you want pleated pants.
I decided to go with peak lapels, 2-button jacket, gold lining, and a center vent in the jacket. I chose not to have pleats on my pants, to keep the silhouette nice and sleek. It’s a bit more modern, but still classic. I decided to take a look at the advanced options to really put my personal touch on the suit. The advanced options are really where you can make your suit stand above the rest. They aren’t an extra cost, just a way to get more involved with the customization process.
I chose to add a ticket pocket to my jacket and functional buttonholes on my jacket sleeves. The functional buttonholes are a classic sign of bespoke tailoring. The ticket pocket is old school, originally used so that men could put their opera tickets in them. Now it’s just a cool detail and it’s the perfect size for your iPod/iPhone. I went with a natural shoulder on the jacket, meaning there’s less padding than normal. I wanted the jacket to fit my body shape more than anything. Which is why I also checked off high arm holes on the jacket. This helps with the overall mobility of the jacket. Your shoulders won’t move with your arms as much as if you had lower arm holes. The jacket keeps its shape far better. As the final small detail, I added a boutonniere hole to the lapel. You never know when you’ll need it.
As for the rest of the advanced options, I decided to put them to good use on the trousers. I had the belt loops removed and a tab front added. I had suspender buttons sewn into the inside of the pants. I wanted to do things a little differently and really make the suit my own.
I also had the opportunity to choose a shirt and a couple accessories. I wanted to have a really well-fitting white dress shirt that I could wear for nice occasions and something like a job interview. I choose a spread collar and french cuffs, while also make the collar/cuffs a different color white for a subtle pop. As for the accessories, I went with a gold tie bar and gold cufflinks.
Once all the details were hashed out, it was time to put in my measurements. Luckily, I went home the weekend I ordered my suit. I had my wonderful mother help me out with my measurements. I would definitely suggest having a girlfriend or friend or mom help take your measurement, strictly for ease. But if you have to do it yourself, have no fear. Indochino has videos that easily show how to take your measurements. Just make sure you have a tape measure ready. The whole process should take no more than 15 minutes tops. After I put through my order, it was time for the waiting game.
It took about 3 weeks or so to get my suit. Throughout the process I would get notification e-mails telling me at what stage of the process the suit and shirt were in. It was really great to be kept in the loop. As soon as the suit arrived, I immediately wanted to try it on. I can tell you that it’s obvious the fabric isn’t an Italian wool. But it certainly doesn’t feel cheap. It drapes very well and it’s fairly lightweight. There’s a nice sheen to the fabric and the color is a deep navy blue.
There were certainly a few things that left me wanting more from the suit. I’ll have to take the suit to the tailor to alter a couple things. To begin, the sleeves do not drape well. I’m not entirely sure why, but the bicep seems to be too wide which causes the bottom of the sleeve to get pulled. The jacket needs to be tapered just a bit more, it’s a bit large in the chest. I realize now that’s my fault because I chose the wrong measurement for my chest in the options on the site (muscular vs. regular). The last big thing is the pant leg. I think I’d like to slim the leg up just a little bit and hem the length a tad more. I purposefully made the pant leg a bit longer because I wasn’t sure how it would come out. But I know now that I’d like the pants to just barely sit on the top of my shoe. A final minor thing is that the tailor only sewed one suspender button into the waist of the pants. It should be two buttons and that confused the heck out of me.
Overall, I was fairly happy with the process and outcome of the suit. Bespoke (custom) suits are usually crazy expensive and you have to go for multiple fittings and it’s such an arduous process. But with Indochino, the process has become so simplified that you can trust the outcome will be exactly or at least very close to what you ordered (if it’s not, don’t forget their $75 tailoring fee waiver). As long as you’re diligent with your measurements and take that process seriously, there’s really no reason for the suit to come out poorly. For what you’re paying (on average under $500 for a suit and shirt), I can honestly say that Indochino has some of the best bang for the buck suiting options out there. The fact that it’s custom makes it even more amazing. These suits are perfect for the young professional who can’t spend $1000 on multiple suits. They look great and you can buy two suits for under $1000. There are so many options and the possibilities are endless.
Pocket Square from TheTieBar.com
Indochino has certainly done a great job streamlining the custom suiting process. They’ve been able to bring affordable, great-looking clothes to the every day man. Not many companies can pull that off. Check out some more looks below of the full suit, the shirt, and the accessories. Please don’t mind my goofy ass and my weird looking hair. I have no idea what was going on that day. Oh, wait. I remember. I was hungover. *kanye shrug* Many thanks to Justin Chung for taking these pictures. Helluva photographer, definitely check out his stuff.
All images courtesy of Justin Chung Photography
We were given a suit, shirt, and accessories in order to conduct the review of this product. We were not compensated by the company or any of its subsidiaries for this article.
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