Your first big promotion. Your first time in the driver’s seat. Your first taste of top-shelf whiskey. Locking eyes with your new wife for the first time. We get it—you never forget your first. This principle applies to menswear, too: When your first custom-made suit is a modern masterpiece, you won’t forget the experience.
Whether you need an exceptional suit for an important job interview, for your wedding day, for a charity event, or simply because it’s time you looked your best, we’re honored to be a part of this rite of passage. Following this inside peek into the process of buying your first custom suit, you’ll be free to enjoy the world as only a man in a well-fitting suit can.
This may be your first—but with custom menswear this good, it won’t be your last.
Answering the Big Question
Custom-made clothing designed and constructed at the top levels of craftsmanship and quality is an investment. Rest assured, however, that the experience extends beyond the addition of a new suit to your closet. When you buy custom clothing, you’re investing in the man who will wear it.
When you purchase a suit from a custom clothier, you’ll receive:
- A suit jacket fitted to your precise measurements throughout the torso, shoulders, and waist, with sleeves that hang to the correct length
- Trousers that fit and accentuate the shape of your body, with hems or cuffs that hit right where they should
- Exceptional designer fabrics in shades and patterns selected by you to match your personal style and taste
- Personalized details created for you alone
When you enter the realm of custom menswear, you’re choosing centuries of artisanal tailoring techniques over off-the-rack conformity. You’re purchasing a paradigm shift, a passport into a new way of life, a boost of confidence in a garment bag.
Do Your Research
The menswear market is saturated with clothing and clothiers. For the best design, construction, and fit, bypass the lesser options and invest in quality. If it seems a bit overwhelming, here’s our cheat sheet for recognizing what’s what in the men’s suiting industry:
Ready-to-Wear
Found on the racks of department stores nationwide, these garments are mass-produced in a narrow range of predetermined sizes and a limited selection of fabrics. As ready-to-wear suits are unlikely to fit you perfectly, you may choose to have them tailored after purchase.
Made-to-Measure
A made-to-measure suit is constructed for you from a premade pattern that corresponds to your measurements. Made-to-measure suits will fit considerably better than ready-to-wear clothing, and you’ll have some control over custom details such as choice of fabric and cut.
The Knot Standard Method
A suit pattern is created from scratch based on your exact and extensive measurements; your suit will be crafted by hand to your specifications. Every element of the suit, from the choice of fabrics down to the stitching around the buttonholes, is fully customized according to your wishes. Custom-made clothing provides you with the best fit and the widest range of options.
As buying your first custom suit has the ability to change your relationship with clothing, it’s important to find a custom menswear company you trust. Research is key: If you’re not sure how a company fashions their garments, ask.
Savor the Experience
Your introduction to custom menswear is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Knot Standard stylists nationwide love witnessing and participating in this moment. While every company has their own manner of operating, you may expect the process to cover the following basic points.
The Knot Standard process begins when you set an appointment with a personal stylist, who will work closely with you and be your trusted point of contact throughout your entire journey. Your Knot Standard stylist is a trained and experienced professional dedicated to making this experience nothing short of outstanding.
When you arrive in one of our showrooms for your appointment, you’ll be greeted with a drink and a casually sophisticated atmosphere. Your stylist will work with you to discover what kind of garment you’re looking for, which colors and fabrics will best suit your purposes, and which personalized details you’re interested in incorporating. Your stylist will take extensive and exact measurements and save every detail into a digital profile, which you may then use every time you want to order a garment.
After your appointment, your suit will be laser-cut and hand-sewn to your measurements and specifications. When your suit is ready, which will be in four to six weeks, you’ll come in for a fitting, after which our tailors will make any necessary final adjustments. You’ll leave our showroom with the best suit you’ve ever worn.
Live Off the Rack
Modern custom suiting arose out of a growing need for something more, something better, in the men’s clothing industry. With the advent of ready-to-wear fashion, the expertise passed down through generations of tailors was nearly lost in the frenzy of mass production.
Yet while convenience is nice, quality is better. Custom-made clothing is the answer to all the problems of fit and style men experience when buying suits off the rack. No longer will you be forced to conform to a brand’s idea of a “slim fit.” You won’t have to fuss over sleeves that are always too short, or trouser cuffs that always need hemming. Your jacket will fit comfortably and look precisely as it should. When you buy your first custom suit, you’ll finally get to experience this difference.
Fair warning: you may never want to go back.
Schedule an appointment today with one of Knot Standard’s expert personal stylists and start your journey toward a new mindset. Both the suit you receive and the experience of working with us will exceed your expectations. Together, we’ll guide you and your wardrobe off the rack and into the crisp perfection that is custom style.