Online MTM (black lapel, indochino, TaT) or RLBL ($800)

Quote:

Originally Posted by minchman 

Hi.
I'm in need of a nice suit for several weddings this coming year (my first "real" suit).
My budget is $500-800.
Should I go with a reputable online MTM with quality fabrics and construction, or should I go with RLBL on the sale racks (or here in the forums)?
I am also considering resale value, and it seems like the RLBL hold their value very well. Thanks in advance.

An OTR suit will retain it's value but only because it is not custom. An MTM suit is to your specific size. Unless you are selling your suit to someone who has an extremely similar body shape to you it is not worth reselling.

However, it is your wedding. Maybe it is just me, but I just bought my wedding suit and I went bespoke. 1 because I want a special suit for my wedding, and 2 because I want to look my absolute best.

That being said I would never go lower than a M2M suit because I can't stand the fit of OTR suits. I have 4 suits and a 5 shirts from Black Lapel. I have purchased from Indochino (I threw the suit out) and iTailor (lasting a long time, but very stiff) and can honestly say I believe Black Lapel gives you the most bang for your buck of any suit maker. They have the best customer service, very nice fabrics, and great skill.

If you are wanting to buy a suit for $500-800 I would suggest a M2M from Black Lapel.

Like I said an OTR suit will hold its value, but you cannot beat the fit of a custom suit, and I don't know why you would really want to sell your wedding suit. Or any suit you buy to be honest.

I would go with RLBL or Indochino. From what I've seen Indochino seems like they know what they are doing. With RLBL you can see what you are getting and actually try on the suit. RLBL will also be easily recognizable by others should you decide to resell.

My experience with TaT isn't representative of what others rave about but here are my thoughts. I was measured by TaT in person in LA. My suit came about a month later. The jacket was a "mess" as my tailor put it. One sleeve was 3/4" longer than the other. The back of my jacket was way too tight at the midsection in the back and irreparable. My tailor cut open the jacket to show me how the fabric on the interior of the jacket worked and it was cut in such a way that he couldn't do anything about it. You can probably look at my previous posts to see my pics.

I will say that the pants of my TaT suit fit well, but if the jacket doesn't fit who cares right? Again, TaT does have a great reputation on this forum and others will show their pics with great results. But my results were sub-par.

There is absolutely no question in my mind that you should go with a MTM.  I used to be an off-the-rack purchaser of clothes which even the best OTR (ex. Brooks Brothers) was far inferior to my MTM clothes.  That being said, Black Lapel is clearly the best in the business right now.

I have a suit from both Indochino and Black Lapel and Black Lapel is the clear cut winner.  The fit and construction are substantially better at Black Lapel.  And those are the two things that I deem more important. The slim fit is European slim which I like as it is extremely form fitting. I have read blogs that some people find the European slim too slim as some do not like their clothes that type.  If that is the case, I would recommend tailored fit.  

I had bought the Indochino suit three months prior to buying my Black Lapel suit and some of the stitching had come off and it just looked poorly made around some of the seams.  The customer service at Black Lapel was also phenomenal.  I reached out to the concierge and ended up talking to one of the co-founders who was extremely knowledgeable and patient with all of the questions that I had.  They have received great press lately (Jeremy Lin suiting up with BL for the Time 100 Most Influential People of 2012).

I have recommended my best friend to purchase his wedding suit from Black Lapel and it came out phenomenal.  Plus, they have a new section on their website dedicated to weddings.