First off let me say that these forums are great. I've been perusing around and can see that there's a lot of knowledge. I do have a few questions that I'm sure some of you folks on here will be able to help me with. I'll admit up from that while I own several suits I don't know a whole lot about them, especially when it comes to tailoring. Let me start off with my situation. I'm one of those federal agent types that is in a suit everyday but is also wearing a ridiculous amount of equipment around my waist (gun, radio, handcuffs, etc.). I've generally always worn Jos. A Bank suits because value-wise they're not bad. I know I can drop $1500 on a beautiful suit and be very happy, but that's just wasted money because my suits get used and abused like you wouldn't believe. If they last longer than a year it's more sheer luck than anything else. The main problem that I run into is with the fit. I'm 6'1", about 190, and normally wear a 42L or 44L jacket, measure about 34-35" in the waist, and wear a 16.5"/35" shirt. Normally I don't get my jackets tailored because they need to stay big to hide my gear, but pants is a while different story. With a 42L jacket I'm usually looking at 36" pants, so they get taken in. However, I wear my pants around my waist because I'm usually wearing 10+ lbs. of equipment and they'll wind up there at some point anyway. The tailor will usually take in the crotch as well but it always seems like my pants are just too bulky. They fit fine in the waist/hips, but from there on down I feel like I'm wearing MC Hammer pants. If I get a 44L jacket then the pants are 38" and I hear the magic word "recut." My main question is - is there a way to get the pants tailored so they have a slimmer fit or do I need to find another brand that generally cuts those clothes slimmer? I normally consider myself to be an average build, but in the world of suits it seems that I'm definitely not. I own several brands of athletic cut shirts and I find that many of those are still too baggy when I wear them. The most disappointing was my recent purchase of a few Jos. A Bank tailored fit shirts. The waist is a bit narrower but it seems like I'm swimming inside the shirt. The cheap, Van Heusen athletic fit shirts I bought fit much better. So that's my story. If anyone has any suggestions - better places/brands for slim fitting wear, dress shirts, tailoring suggestions, etc. - that would be great. My only requirement is that I need to stay relatively on the cheap. I know that makes things difficult, but it would be just wrong to subject an expensive suit to the type of abuse I put them through. Thanks all!
