After trying a pretty tasty Aquascutum number that fit my shoulders but not my thighs*, I figure I need a decent suit shop to help me buy a decent (£300+) suit. Thing is, Moss Bros isn't that helpful in my experience, Austin Reed is a bit old-manish and I'm not a fan of TM Lewin.
Sooo.... recommendations?
*it was awful - the trousers fit my waist but unless I minced about with my knees together they were in danger of splitting...
Well, I wear a suit about once every 10 years, so I bought a £25 one from Tesco and it's actually a bloody good fit and very smart on my short dumpy frame.....
Worth thinking about? 🙂
Perhaps there are some independents in your town but likely to but expensive, if by any chance you are in asia before you want the suit you can pick up a made to measure for very cheap.
London ?
Copperfield
71 Moorgate
London, EC2R 6BH
Cool old school place with alterations onsite
french connection - good fit and reasonably priced (£250ish)
Are you near an Outlet village, because I got Two very nice Rceing Green Suits for £250.
Are you near an Outlet village, because I got Two very nice Racing Green Suits for £250.
I also recently had the same issue.... My thighs are bigger than the size 0 manufacturers state they should be and so dont often fit the trousers. Best Advice I actually got was if you are not in a rush for the suit then get one hand made by a tailor! I was quoted £anywhere between £350 and £500 without getting silly! In the end I got one from House of Fraser where they offered a tailoring service on the trousers for a mixed suit... It was also £150 off at the time so my £350 suit suddenly became £200 get in.
Well, I wear a suit about once every 10 years, so I bought a £25 one from Tesco
'The Accused' by Tesco 😀
Out of interest, what don't you like about Lewins other than its ubiquity?
Just off New Bond St is the Paul Smith clearance store. Its hidden pretty well down a backstreet but cheap/good.
Slaters menswear also offer good suits at reasonable prices and do free alterations for the life of the suit.
Have used the one in Manchester a couple of times and always been impressed.
Abercrombie & Ffitch, Savile Row. The only "off the peg" outfit in the whole street. At least you'll have an ACTUAL piece of A&F clothing instead of some cheapo tshirt with their name on it...
If you don't want to go to the trouble, Hugo Boss.
If you are in Manchester dooosuk - visit the Flannels clearance shop situated in a basement in the Northern Quarter.
Second the Slater Menswear recommendation although I am little biased as my mate used to be a manager of the Chester store and the Manchester one before that.
For a "shop" - M&S. Very good choice, well made.
Semi-tailored - Roderick Charles or Hackett (Sloane St branch only). Both are excellent suits, off the peg and then tweaked. Both also do suits to accomodate the cyclist thigh situation!
+1 for Copperfield - got myself a nice suit there, and they altered it to fit (A bit off the cuff and tapered in the waist a little plus shortened the trousers cost me a tenner). As Jerome says, they are old school but good.
Go to TK Maxx, all the suits there seem to have normal jackets and massive clowny trousers.
Don't dismiss Austin Reed, their level of service is excellent and they stock suits both contemporary and traditional, bespoke or off the peg.
Cad and the Dandy are relatively new players in the market I'd be interested to see what they do.
For quality I'd recommend Smith and Co Woollens (dufours place-Londinium)
Diege and Skinner or Anderson Shepherd on the row.
Do you have a Gieves and Hawke near you?
I'd recommend M and S for an off the peg suit.
They're currently running a range made from cloths from Alfred Browns at Bramley in Leeds.The cut may not be Saville row but the cloth is!! at a fraction of the price.
bereavementmonkey - which brand suit did you go for (or was it a HoF own)? I thought tailored/ semi-tailored suits generally would be available at sub £500, but the gf thought I was wrong...
Thanks for the input though, I'll look further. I have weddings this year, so need to retire the now slightly threadbare Ted Baker from the cupboard, and would like something where the jacket actually fits me rather than hanging off my pigeon chest. I wouldn't even say I was that funny shaped - 40" chest, 33" waist, but it's in the thigh area that it all gets a bit uncomfortable...
As for TM Lewin/ Austin Reed... I dunno, it's mainly my prejudice. The former doesn't seem that high quality to me, and the latter a bit fuddy duddy. But point taken - I'll take another look at them. And if all else fails I'll try the PeterPoddy line of suits in Tesco... 😉
TK Maxx used to be great. In the past few months though they seemed to have hiked all their prices massively on the half-decent stuff.
Stopped going there now.
Hmmm...well I imagine people might be rude about this but 12 years ago I was killing time in The City before an interview and saw a Suits You store and thinking I could do with a suit I went in and chatted with the chap there who seemed to know his stuff. I asked him to show me his best suits and selected two which I bought. Fitted my perfectly and I still where them now but they're too big as I've lost so much weight since then - definitely worth my paying to have them altered though.
As a couple of posts before - Copperfields on the corner of Moorgate and London Wall... think I've bought about 10 suits from there over the past years. Will always come down a little on price and the alterations make a good suit into an excellent one, particularly given the price.
Gieves and Hawkes are currently having a sale on their Made to Measure suits - from £550 depending on the cloth.
£70 - £80 for a tailored one of really good quality in Vietnam or China if you avoid the big cities
Am I the only person to giggle every time I see or hear the word 'Aquascutum'?
+1 for M&S
Really good fit (for me) and very well made. You can even opt for one that you'll be able to machine wash!
Dave
M&S?!!!! Some very nice 100's/120 fabrics- awful cut.
they fit me really well (pretty typical cyclist build... disproportionate thighs... not as thin as I used to be 😉 )
I'm not a fabric expert, but they seem perfectly good to me; I'm more interested in the fact they are stitched together properly!
Dave
I only own a cheap (£100) suit which I got from Slaters, but Slaters overall are quite impressive with a decent range and guys who know their stuff. The even altered my trousers a year and a half after I bought them for free.
I reckon some of the M&S suits look really good, and they also do alterations as far as I know. And there were plenty at half price in the Boxing Day sale - not sure what's left now though.
just bought 2 austin reeds suits,the "normal" ones are for old fat bankers,so get the A.S "red" range or "cut" range,both styles are for people of our build,contempory slim fit,etc etc,with the current offer you can have 2 for 288.00,down from 700.00!
Ted Baker?
Would second the Paul Smith shop in London, got some very cheap tasty stuff there!
Jaeger, tried them. Have a good sale this time of year.
Went to Bicester today, some great suits in Paul Smith going very cheap...Had to walk out as i was supposed to be buying shoes
M&S are pretty good for off the peg. There are a few companies that do really good value made to measure/ semi-bespoke suits now at around the £300 mark. Much better than paying triple that for a label that says savile row, or for some fashion suit. I've a gieves and hawkes, a hackett and a T.M Lewin and there's hardly any difference between them in terms of quality/fit.
M&S are rated by at least 2 tailors I've known for OTP quality and a fair cut for what you pay for. The brands you've mentioned are more of an English cut and classic rather than 'fuddy duddy'. Most of the big name fashion houses that make suits haven't got a clue about fit.
Make sure you wear a decent shirt and shoes when you try on - I've seen so many guys with t-shirt and trainers trying suits on. Most get them too tight on the shoulders and short in the sleeve.
I'm bespoke only these days. The only way I can get a good fit.
NEXT for my suits.
You can mix / match kecks and jackets so you end up with a suit that fits the top half as well as the bottom half of you.
I used to be a Slaters fan but they only ever seemed to supply jackets that fitted me and with massive kecks took in, making the trouser department look baggy