Black Lapel or Proper Suit? - Page 2

I will try to be very unbiased in my research but I am sure some will creep in. I believe both have received a lot of good reviews, and I have seen/experienced work from both. But I believe Black Lapel has a better bang for your buck. Especially when it comes to customization, they will literally try anything you ask them to do. Black Lapel also has the best customer service I have ever dealt with (and I have dealt with a lot in suits, and other companies alike). Also, if I may say, I own 7 bespoke suits and a bespoke overcoat, and can honestly say Black Lapels fabric and construction are closer to a bespoke quality than any other online M2M I have ever used or seen the results of.

 

Also Proper Suit, charges more for the same or lesser quality than Black Lapel. In construction Proper Suit charges extra for premier bemberg. Something that a suit company really should never do, and Black Lapel bemberg is probably my favorite thing about the suits as I would say it is just under the bemberg used in my bespoke suits and equal to some. They also charge a lot more for handmade construction which Black Lapel already does for free. And as I said before black lapel will do anything as far as customization you want for free. Which proper suit may or may not charge you for.

 

I think the nail in the coffin is with proper suit you meet with someone, but as this is a comparison of online M2M I would suggest going to a bespoke tailor shop and ordering a M2M from them. It will probably be around the same price as Proper Suit and will be measured by a true expert who crafts the suits or has been working along side the person who crafts the suits as apposed to someone who just takes your measurements and goes over customizations. Hope this helps, good luck!

 

I also do not know proper suit's return/alteration/remake process. But Black Lapel will work with you until you are 100% satisfied (and they really mean that) while donating the returned/remade suits to charities for underprivileged kids needing suits for job/college interviews which I think is pretty awesome!

"I think the nail in the coffin is with proper suit you meet with someone,"

Black Lapel doesn't have stylists in as many cities as Proper Suit, but if you live in New York City it's easy to set up an appointment with them at their New York headquarters.

there is a discernible difference in price.  the lowest your getting out of propersuit is 750.  compared to the 500ish for black lapel.

 

i havent dealt with propersuit in any way so i dont know how they compare, but i have been in contact with black lapel.  while i havent purchased anything from them yet, i am pretty impressed with their customer service to this point.  whether or not the quality of the garment is up to the service is yet to be seen.  but so far so good.

How much extra is the full canvas for Black Lapel?

i believe it was 200.  is proper suit fully canvassed?  its hard to make heads or tails of the details from the website.  if it is, then i suppose the prices are pretty equitable.  maybe better since i think they have more fabric options and travel to take measurements.  but im pretty reluctant to lock myself into a deposit without seeing what options are even available.

 

Yes, all suits from Proper Suit are fully canvased. I agree that their website needs some work, but you can find that on this page -- http://propersuit.com/customization

They didn't used to be -- until last year half canvas was standard, and full canvas was a $125 upgrade. 

I have my first fitting appointment with proper suit in a few weeks and am a little aprehensive about not knowing the options at each price level.  I know they advertise Zenga and Loro Piana quality at $1,250 and $1,850, but does anyone have a comparable OTR retail brand for something in their $850-$1,000 range?  How would those compare to BB suits (at similar price point) for example?

 

If I have a fairly average frame (dont usually need a lot of tailoring), will I actually get better bank for my buck OTR instead of MTM?

I don't think you'd get better value out of OTR. My suits from ProperSuit (I've said before, but I have 2), compare well above their cost against retail. For $800 retail, you're getting hugo boss or maybe BB 1818. Those are either half canvassed or fused, with low to mid range fabric. From ProperSuit for the same money, your'e getting full canvas with a similar fabric. Their entry level fabric is nothing special, but it is plenty nice - soft, smooth, and has lasted me a year of 1-2x/week use with no signs of wear, though it is no-name Chinese wool.

I was very happy when my first suit came in fabric, fit, and construction were comparable to mid-high level OTR (i'm thinking Canali or Pal Zileri mainlines), and the cost was significantly less than sale prices for those OTR brands (especially for me - I tend to need tailoring miracles worked on everything because my shoulders are very wide and one is very low). My tailor wasn't blown away by any means (contrary to what seems to be the standard internet suit review), but was surprised at the price $650 (it's $750 now for entry level). He said he'd expect to pay about double for something of comparable quality - I'd agree with that assessment.

Again, no affiliation with Proper Suit, just a happy customer who occasionally has a drink with their folks when they're in town and I'm not buying a suit.

Where are you located? Anyone in DC is welcome to contact me by pm to take a look at an example of their work (I don't think I'll get overwhelmed by requests for this, but I'm happy to oblige a few)

As far as fabrics, Proper Suit had plenty of them to offer a month or so ago at their San Francisco appointments. That being said most of the guys I saw coming and going either picked up or ordered a fairly basic Charcoal or Navy and they looked great. The value at $750 is remarkable and as jgeldner said, above ^, easily worth double that compared to somewhere like Nordstrom. Most of all, you get their suits cut to your shape so hard to fit issues are addressed (large thighs, longer or shorter body, etc..) as well as the option to add custom like features (ticket pockets, 3-2 roll, choice of lining, etc.).

I thought I spotted you talking to them when I was there on 2/4. Are we going to see a Proper Suit feature on abitofcolor?

Yes, I will be posting a review on my blog and will have feed back here on SF. It is impressive that there are options like Proper Suit now for a guy to get a great suit at a great value. Best of all cut to fit.

I ordered a sport jacket and ticked all the boxes (3 patch pocket, 1/4 lining, suede under the collar, 3-2 roll and Loro Piana cashmere/wool blend fabric, etc..) I'm looking forward to the results. Like I say, I was impressed with the suits that guys were picking up. They all looked great.

Here are pics of some of the jacket options in case you don't need a suit.

Here are buttons you can select





Lining material you can select:







Here was a customers jacket ready to be picked up. With full canvas and the quality of the material at $750, this is about half price what Nordstrom sells it's non-canvas or half canvas suits for (i.e. Hugo Boss, etc.) So the value is there as well as the fit. i was impressed.





Try on jackets at the appointment:

Very interesting, in the UK Moss do a bespoke service and have the garment made in China and undercut all competitors. I had a shirt made by them and it wasn't perfect by any means but it wasn't bad for the price.

Do ProperSuit do something similar, or are they cutting price by offering a limited range of fabric?

I've had very mixed results from Hugo Boss and generally believe even their 'Selection' range (Italian) is over
Priced for the quality, the materials are great but canvass isn't a d makes a reconstruction tough.

I like Armani and RL Black label.