A custom suit for a wedding is chosen in front of a mirror. A custom suit for an executive on the Hills Tech corridor is chosen for two hundred days in a conference room, and that changes the one decision that matters most: the cloth. Custom starts at $599 here, and the money is in choosing the bolt for the year, not the day.
Weight before color
A working suit is judged in March, when a cloth has either kept its shape through a winter of chairs or gone shiny at the elbow. Five mills are on the table, Reda, Zegna, VBC, Marzotto and Style Biella, and each of them makes bolts for the photograph and bolts for the year. Say two hundred days out loud and the consultant will hand you the second kind.
Then the cut
Ben takes the twenty measurements, and for a working suit he takes some of them sitting down. The seat needs room. The waist needs a rise that’s still where he left it after a four-hour meeting, and the jacket needs to close in one motion when a hand comes across the table.
The calendar
The calendar is set by the cloth you choose and by the fittings, two, sometimes three, the last one with Roman, master tailor at Lincoln Tailor, on site in our store, so ask Ben for the current timeline for your date. Order it in a slow month so it arrives before the busy one.
More on custom suits, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
