Suit jacket roll?

Why does a roll on the back of the suit jacket, under the collar occur? OK, it's not a proper fit. But why does it occur? Is it the cut? fabric? Is it the shape of the shoulders on a person?

How is this usually fixed? What is it the tailor does to fix it?

It's the cut, I think there's a few possible causes such as the shoulders being cut more sloped than those of the wearer or the jacket being too narrow across the back of the shoulders. I'm sure someone like Despos will be able to elaborate further.

It can also be caused by improper hangers that don't support the shoulders correctly. It makes them slope downward causing the roll in the center top back. This is why it happens with a lot of suits you buy off the rack at department stores.

Neck Roll/Back Pucker


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Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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Neck Roll/Back Pucker


- B

Thanks! I was curious why. Some jackets seem to fit well off the rack while others get this roll.

It's just too much fabric under the collar and can be removed easily by your tailor.

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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It's just too much fabric under the collar and can be removed easily by your tailor.

That's often said around here, but as some of the actual tailors (Despos, Jeffreyd) have pointed out, it's not in fact true. There are a number of possible causes, and not all of them can be easily fixed -- and sometimes the fix is likely to lead to problems elsewhere.

My own tailor usually advises me to wear coats that have this problem for a while and allow the fabric to shape to my body before doing anything about it, as he thinks anything you can do to an RTW jacket in that area more likely than not just pushes the issue elsewhere; in particular, he seems to be concerned about producing divots/puckering on the shoulders instead.

I would say it depends on how bad it is, but I've had it taken care of without issue.

Any styles or RTW brands that are prone to this based on your experience? It's usually not so cheap to fix this.

Originally Posted by GBer

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Any styles or RTW brands that are prone to this based on your experience? It's usually not so cheap to fix this.

It's not the jacket, it's you.

Contemporary RTW tailored clothing is the result of a great democratizing American innovation in the mass production of clothing during and after the Civil War. At the outse of the war, uniforms were made by piecework in private homes and small manufacturies, but this could not keep up with the pace needed for the size of armies being field by the North.

Measurements of the soldiers revealed that certain sets of proportions tended to recur with predictable regularity. After the war, these military measurements were used to create the first commercial sizing scales for men. The combination of this innovation with mass production led to was we know today as, oh, a 40R.

So: proportions, by and large, follow an idealized sizing sequence meant to fit to a mean. There is a bit of deviation from maker to maker, but not as much as one might assume. If some aspect of your physique differs from the mean to require a major alteration, it is likely to be an issue with many other makers.

Fortunately, with, RTW, the solution is easy enough: try it on first before buying it.

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Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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Neck Roll/Back Pucker


- B

This sounds like a sex move.

Anyone got a picture of this suit jacket roll?

Sounds like a hanger problem to me. Suit jacket hangers should be contoured and built up at the neck and in the shoulder areas. Straight/thin wood hangers can negatively impact the shape and drape of a suit jacket. Blog post: The importance of hangers http://ravefabricare.com/true-qualit...f-hangers.aspx