Hi all,
I bought a suit from Articles of Style last year, and thought a full, candid review might be of interest to everyone. Their coverage across the web and social media has been decent, but I have not seen too many full reviews, so hopefully this is worthwhile.
TL;DR version: The product is good, but the service was something of a disappointment.
Introduction
I’ve been following Dan Trepanier’s writing for a while -- the actual Style Blogger days were before my time, but I was a devoted after-the-fact fan -- and what he’s doing with AoS has been of interest to me for the past several years. Made-to-measure tailoring, in general, is right in my wheelhouse as a value alternative to either off-the-rack or full bespoke, and I like their slightly bespoke touch (giving remote overview and customizations based on fit pictures). I also like their aesthetic and the faintly American spin on tailoring overall. Finally, I just like Dan and his style, at least from this distant perspective.
The swatch adventure
I was engaged to be married in August of 2019, so early last year I started to think about my wedding suit, and decided to buy from AoS. Having heard good things about their customer service, I started by emailing them and asking for a fabric recommendation. I was interested in a navy three-piece suit, something elegant but a bit unique, and hopefully something that I could break into separates for re-use later, as I don’t have any navy tailoring now. I also tend to find typical navy worsted to be flat and almost tacky in appearance, so I wanted something with a little texture.
What followed was a rather challenging email chain, which I'll summarize here.
February 27: They recommend their Performance Hopsack. I ask if it will look too casual, and they immediately reply giving more details. I ask how it differs from their Travel Hopsack, which seems very similar; they say it has a bit more texture. I ask if they can send me some swatches, and they say sure. This all happens the same day, which I think is great service.
March 10: I haven’t received any swatches. I send a reply to check in.
March 13: No reply. I send another message. They answer that the swatches were sent out a while ago, but they’ll put in a request for another set of swatches. “Sorry for the trouble here,” they say, “this happens occasionally.”
March 21: Swatches arrive. They are unlabelled, so I ask which is what. The same day, they reply asking for a photo, which I provide, and they identify the swatches as the Travel Hopsack in two colors plus the Fresco (which I’d also requested). I ask if they sent the Performance Hopsack as I’d requested; they say it comes from a different mill and is sent separately, but they’ll check on it.
March 23: Another couple swatches arrive. I again email for identification as neither looks like a hopsack.
March 26: They reply that their fabric provider seems to have sent the wrong samples. I ask if they can send the correct ones, and they say sure.
April 10: I haven’t received anything else, so I check back in. No reply.
April 17: Still no swatches or reply, so I email again. In the interim, to save time, I have already undertaken the fitting process (see below), so I’m ready to place an order -- just hoping to see my fabric before I do. Dan himself replies, noting that the swatches come directly from the mills and the process is “somewhat out of [their] control.” He says they’ll get tracking and reorder if necessary. Later that day they email to say they’ll just cut the swatches themselves and overnight them to me.
April 24: Nothing yet. I check back.
April 25: They reply that they were sent and I should have received them, and they’ll double check.
April 26: No reply yet. I check back and hear nothing.
April 29: Still no reply. I email again, expressing my frustration and wondering sincerely if this is a harbinger of the service I can expect in the future. Dan replies, expressing his apologies and telling me that the person who handles these swatches has actually recently died, so they cannot be sent at at time. That being said, he says, the two hopsacks are very similar, and he would recommend the performance hopsack.
April 30: Having finally reached some sort of end to this limbo, I order my suit in Light Navy Performance Hopsack. Most of the options you’d expect are available, and I select peak lapels, cuffs and side adjusters on the trousers, and a 3-roll-2 button configuration. I check in to make sure they think this will make a decent look, and to remind them that I need the cost of the try-ons reimbursed. They agree with both.
The basted fitting
In the midst of the above, I was undergoing the fitting process. They differ from other MTM providers in that they don’t ask for body measurements, but rather for your height, weight, jacket and trouser size, shirt collar size, and some qualitative descriptors such as your chest size (medium), stomach (slight belly), and so forth. They then send you a basted fitting garment, using a throw-away black worsted fabric. This all generally occurs after you buy your suit, but it can also be done separately if you want to save time; they’ll deduct its cost from your next suit purchase.
On March 19 I purchased the try-on garment. It was sent on April 5 and arrived on April 8. It was nicely packed and included a jacket, vest, and trousers. You put them on and take a series of photos from different angles for them to see.
At this point, the fit was not great. The trousers were too large overall, as was the jacket. The vest was not bad. Perhaps I complicated things by offering too much description in the fit info, as I tend to fit off-the-rack reasonably well, but I think this does demonstrate the challenges of going “numberless.” Home measurements are imprecise, but at least they’re a place to start. I was a little worried about how close they’d be able to get to my fit on the final garment, since this was the only “fitting.”
Getting the suit
May 8: I receive an email telling me my suit is in production. However, it also noted that the factory will be closing for 2 weeks in May so the tailors can take a vacation, resulting in a 3 week delay for all orders: “if you have a deadline for your garments, please contact us to confirm.” I email them to confirm, as their website states their vacation is usually in August; they confirm their vacation was moved to May this year. Since I’m relocating from DC to Connecticut in June, I give them my new address and the cut-off date when they should use it. They agree.
July 3: I have still not received my try-on reimbursement. I email again.
July 10: They reply that they’ve processed the refund, and it shows up soon.
[Not sure the date]: I receive my suit. Since it ships right around the time when I’m moving, I need to have it delivered to a FedEx dropoff (a Walgreens in Connecticut), and I scoop it up the day after I arrive in town, just before the deadline. See below for the final product. I take another set of fit pics for them.
July 22: They send back their impressions of my final fit (after I send a reminder). Mostly it’s good, but they agree with me that my vest is a little short, and suggest I wear the trousers higher, something which generally does not work for me (high-rise pants don’t stay in place on me, unless I go all the way to the natural waist). They say they don’t think they’ll have time to remake it before the wedding on August 24. I express some dismay, and they say they’ll do what they can, but their factory is closed for a 2-week vacation (wasn’t that in May?). I bring the vest to a local tailor who says there’s no chance of letting it out.
August 9: I receive an email that the factory is on summer vacation for “most of August,” as are the fabric mills in Italy, and the vest will ship in mid-late September. I will not have it for the wedding, in other words. They recommend wearing braces to help me wear my trousers higher, which I end up doing. I offer to save time by picking up the garment from the factory in Haverhill, MA, which is not an option.
August 24: The wedding. It was lovely.
October 8: I receive notification from FedEx that a package has been sent to my OLD address in DC. It seems they shipped the remade vest to my incorrect address. They suggest I try to re-route it north, which I am eventually able to do. (They offer to cover any extra shipping fees, which in the end I am actually not charged.)
October 14: I finally receive the new vest, which fits well.
The final product
My impressions of the final suit?
The fit ended up surprisingly good, particularly with how far off we were with the basted garment. This is the first suit I’ve owned that had no collar gap, and the trouser waist fits extremely well. Overall the fit is somewhat snug, but the fabric has a slight stretch that makes it generally comfortable.
The rather deconstructed style is distinctive. I have broad shoulders, so they stand up all right, but I think those with less shoulder may find the jacket diminutive-looking. Even on me, it looks a bit like I’m wearing a shirt. Not bad, but a little relaxed in appearance.
It was not as successful as I hoped as separates. The light navy is too light and distinctive; the jacket is “okay” as a separate, but (with the light hopsack and peak lapels) stands out a little, and the pants don’t really work on their own.
For fans of robust lapel rolls, these are a little weak, perhaps because of the light, flexible fabric. More importantly, there is an odd crease near the top buttonhole. AoS said it just needed a press, which was not right as it has persisted even through dry cleaning. (The wedding got a little out of hand...) My local tailor thought it had been cut wrong, making the rolled buttonhole into a sort of hinge point. They slightly adjusted the button, which helped, although it still looks odd with the jacket buttoned, and doesn’t roll smoothly.
The final trousers were also a little tight. I was able to have them let out, and they ended up okay. It was a near thing, though, as the allowance on the seams is not substantial, so we had to use every millimeter of it. This was a surprise, as they advertise as including an ample allowance for future alterations.
As mentioned, I did end up wearing suspenders at the wedding. This successfully kept my waistband high enough that my shirt didn’t show under the vest. However, for whatever reason, the vest is cut such that the braces are easily visible underneath it at the shoulders. I had the suspender buttons moved in slightly to try and help this, but they still peeked out often; perhaps the vest fabric is too narrow at the shoulders. (The new vest avoids this, since I don’t need braces.)
The quality overall seems quite good, and I do enjoy the styling.
Final impressions
In the end, I enjoy the garment, and it largely does what I want it to. I hoped it would be a little more versatile after the event, but this is largely a product of the fabric color, for which I can hardly blame anyone else.
However, as you can surmise from the timeline, the process was a challenge at best and a nightmare at worst. I started trying to buy a suit from them in February and in the end had still not received everything by the time of my wedding in August. There were various reasons and explanations (a cynic would say excuses), and of course I can’t offer insight behind the scenes, but...
My impression is that they are a small operation that has been expanding aggressively, and may have gotten ahead of their capacity. The inconsistent customer service and various errors and omissions paint the picture of an outfit that is a little bit overwhelmed. (The alternative is one that is incompetent or doesn’t care, but I don’t believe that.) They have, of course, continued to expand since then, and perhaps these issues have improved -- so long as they haven’t grown in scope more than in reach, so to speak. For instance, older reviews note that you can call their store to get in-person assistance, an option no longer available as of last year; support was email only, and as you can see, that was hit or miss.
I’ve never purchased a bespoke suit from a small Italian tailor, but from what I hear, the experience is a little like the one I had. If you’re willing to wait a long time for the product and not hear back consistently, the end result may be good. But really -- this is a commercial outfit located only a few hours away in the US, so accepting that much artisanal leeway strikes me as being a bit tolerant.
Would I buy from them again? At the moment, I’m forced to say no. Part of the goal of these MTM services is that once you’ve invested time and effort in your fitting, it’s much easier to purchase additional garments. But their price is substantially higher than you might pay at other MTM services, and in my mind, that money is going towards service -- prompt, personal, reliable service -- and that wasn’t what I received. Overall, I’m bummed to have to say this, as I came in wanting to like them, and I suppose am coming out the same way, but my hopes were not fully met.
With any luck, they can continue to hone their business until they’re able to fulfill their potential.
Please feel free to share any questions or thoughts. Here are some more pics from the wedding.
I bought a suit from Articles of Style last year, and thought a full, candid review might be of interest to everyone. Their coverage across the web and social media has been decent, but I have not seen too many full reviews, so hopefully this is worthwhile.
TL;DR version: The product is good, but the service was something of a disappointment.
Introduction
I’ve been following Dan Trepanier’s writing for a while -- the actual Style Blogger days were before my time, but I was a devoted after-the-fact fan -- and what he’s doing with AoS has been of interest to me for the past several years. Made-to-measure tailoring, in general, is right in my wheelhouse as a value alternative to either off-the-rack or full bespoke, and I like their slightly bespoke touch (giving remote overview and customizations based on fit pictures). I also like their aesthetic and the faintly American spin on tailoring overall. Finally, I just like Dan and his style, at least from this distant perspective.
The swatch adventure
I was engaged to be married in August of 2019, so early last year I started to think about my wedding suit, and decided to buy from AoS. Having heard good things about their customer service, I started by emailing them and asking for a fabric recommendation. I was interested in a navy three-piece suit, something elegant but a bit unique, and hopefully something that I could break into separates for re-use later, as I don’t have any navy tailoring now. I also tend to find typical navy worsted to be flat and almost tacky in appearance, so I wanted something with a little texture.
What followed was a rather challenging email chain, which I'll summarize here.
February 27: They recommend their Performance Hopsack. I ask if it will look too casual, and they immediately reply giving more details. I ask how it differs from their Travel Hopsack, which seems very similar; they say it has a bit more texture. I ask if they can send me some swatches, and they say sure. This all happens the same day, which I think is great service.
March 10: I haven’t received any swatches. I send a reply to check in.
March 13: No reply. I send another message. They answer that the swatches were sent out a while ago, but they’ll put in a request for another set of swatches. “Sorry for the trouble here,” they say, “this happens occasionally.”
March 21: Swatches arrive. They are unlabelled, so I ask which is what. The same day, they reply asking for a photo, which I provide, and they identify the swatches as the Travel Hopsack in two colors plus the Fresco (which I’d also requested). I ask if they sent the Performance Hopsack as I’d requested; they say it comes from a different mill and is sent separately, but they’ll check on it.
March 23: Another couple swatches arrive. I again email for identification as neither looks like a hopsack.
March 26: They reply that their fabric provider seems to have sent the wrong samples. I ask if they can send the correct ones, and they say sure.
April 10: I haven’t received anything else, so I check back in. No reply.
April 17: Still no swatches or reply, so I email again. In the interim, to save time, I have already undertaken the fitting process (see below), so I’m ready to place an order -- just hoping to see my fabric before I do. Dan himself replies, noting that the swatches come directly from the mills and the process is “somewhat out of [their] control.” He says they’ll get tracking and reorder if necessary. Later that day they email to say they’ll just cut the swatches themselves and overnight them to me.
April 24: Nothing yet. I check back.
April 25: They reply that they were sent and I should have received them, and they’ll double check.
April 26: No reply yet. I check back and hear nothing.
April 29: Still no reply. I email again, expressing my frustration and wondering sincerely if this is a harbinger of the service I can expect in the future. Dan replies, expressing his apologies and telling me that the person who handles these swatches has actually recently died, so they cannot be sent at at time. That being said, he says, the two hopsacks are very similar, and he would recommend the performance hopsack.
April 30: Having finally reached some sort of end to this limbo, I order my suit in Light Navy Performance Hopsack. Most of the options you’d expect are available, and I select peak lapels, cuffs and side adjusters on the trousers, and a 3-roll-2 button configuration. I check in to make sure they think this will make a decent look, and to remind them that I need the cost of the try-ons reimbursed. They agree with both.
The basted fitting
In the midst of the above, I was undergoing the fitting process. They differ from other MTM providers in that they don’t ask for body measurements, but rather for your height, weight, jacket and trouser size, shirt collar size, and some qualitative descriptors such as your chest size (medium), stomach (slight belly), and so forth. They then send you a basted fitting garment, using a throw-away black worsted fabric. This all generally occurs after you buy your suit, but it can also be done separately if you want to save time; they’ll deduct its cost from your next suit purchase.
On March 19 I purchased the try-on garment. It was sent on April 5 and arrived on April 8. It was nicely packed and included a jacket, vest, and trousers. You put them on and take a series of photos from different angles for them to see.
At this point, the fit was not great. The trousers were too large overall, as was the jacket. The vest was not bad. Perhaps I complicated things by offering too much description in the fit info, as I tend to fit off-the-rack reasonably well, but I think this does demonstrate the challenges of going “numberless.” Home measurements are imprecise, but at least they’re a place to start. I was a little worried about how close they’d be able to get to my fit on the final garment, since this was the only “fitting.”
Getting the suit
May 8: I receive an email telling me my suit is in production. However, it also noted that the factory will be closing for 2 weeks in May so the tailors can take a vacation, resulting in a 3 week delay for all orders: “if you have a deadline for your garments, please contact us to confirm.” I email them to confirm, as their website states their vacation is usually in August; they confirm their vacation was moved to May this year. Since I’m relocating from DC to Connecticut in June, I give them my new address and the cut-off date when they should use it. They agree.
July 3: I have still not received my try-on reimbursement. I email again.
July 10: They reply that they’ve processed the refund, and it shows up soon.
[Not sure the date]: I receive my suit. Since it ships right around the time when I’m moving, I need to have it delivered to a FedEx dropoff (a Walgreens in Connecticut), and I scoop it up the day after I arrive in town, just before the deadline. See below for the final product. I take another set of fit pics for them.
July 22: They send back their impressions of my final fit (after I send a reminder). Mostly it’s good, but they agree with me that my vest is a little short, and suggest I wear the trousers higher, something which generally does not work for me (high-rise pants don’t stay in place on me, unless I go all the way to the natural waist). They say they don’t think they’ll have time to remake it before the wedding on August 24. I express some dismay, and they say they’ll do what they can, but their factory is closed for a 2-week vacation (wasn’t that in May?). I bring the vest to a local tailor who says there’s no chance of letting it out.
August 9: I receive an email that the factory is on summer vacation for “most of August,” as are the fabric mills in Italy, and the vest will ship in mid-late September. I will not have it for the wedding, in other words. They recommend wearing braces to help me wear my trousers higher, which I end up doing. I offer to save time by picking up the garment from the factory in Haverhill, MA, which is not an option.
August 24: The wedding. It was lovely.
October 8: I receive notification from FedEx that a package has been sent to my OLD address in DC. It seems they shipped the remade vest to my incorrect address. They suggest I try to re-route it north, which I am eventually able to do. (They offer to cover any extra shipping fees, which in the end I am actually not charged.)
October 14: I finally receive the new vest, which fits well.
The final product
My impressions of the final suit?
The fit ended up surprisingly good, particularly with how far off we were with the basted garment. This is the first suit I’ve owned that had no collar gap, and the trouser waist fits extremely well. Overall the fit is somewhat snug, but the fabric has a slight stretch that makes it generally comfortable.
The rather deconstructed style is distinctive. I have broad shoulders, so they stand up all right, but I think those with less shoulder may find the jacket diminutive-looking. Even on me, it looks a bit like I’m wearing a shirt. Not bad, but a little relaxed in appearance.
It was not as successful as I hoped as separates. The light navy is too light and distinctive; the jacket is “okay” as a separate, but (with the light hopsack and peak lapels) stands out a little, and the pants don’t really work on their own.
For fans of robust lapel rolls, these are a little weak, perhaps because of the light, flexible fabric. More importantly, there is an odd crease near the top buttonhole. AoS said it just needed a press, which was not right as it has persisted even through dry cleaning. (The wedding got a little out of hand...) My local tailor thought it had been cut wrong, making the rolled buttonhole into a sort of hinge point. They slightly adjusted the button, which helped, although it still looks odd with the jacket buttoned, and doesn’t roll smoothly.
The final trousers were also a little tight. I was able to have them let out, and they ended up okay. It was a near thing, though, as the allowance on the seams is not substantial, so we had to use every millimeter of it. This was a surprise, as they advertise as including an ample allowance for future alterations.
As mentioned, I did end up wearing suspenders at the wedding. This successfully kept my waistband high enough that my shirt didn’t show under the vest. However, for whatever reason, the vest is cut such that the braces are easily visible underneath it at the shoulders. I had the suspender buttons moved in slightly to try and help this, but they still peeked out often; perhaps the vest fabric is too narrow at the shoulders. (The new vest avoids this, since I don’t need braces.)
The quality overall seems quite good, and I do enjoy the styling.
Final impressions
In the end, I enjoy the garment, and it largely does what I want it to. I hoped it would be a little more versatile after the event, but this is largely a product of the fabric color, for which I can hardly blame anyone else.
However, as you can surmise from the timeline, the process was a challenge at best and a nightmare at worst. I started trying to buy a suit from them in February and in the end had still not received everything by the time of my wedding in August. There were various reasons and explanations (a cynic would say excuses), and of course I can’t offer insight behind the scenes, but...
My impression is that they are a small operation that has been expanding aggressively, and may have gotten ahead of their capacity. The inconsistent customer service and various errors and omissions paint the picture of an outfit that is a little bit overwhelmed. (The alternative is one that is incompetent or doesn’t care, but I don’t believe that.) They have, of course, continued to expand since then, and perhaps these issues have improved -- so long as they haven’t grown in scope more than in reach, so to speak. For instance, older reviews note that you can call their store to get in-person assistance, an option no longer available as of last year; support was email only, and as you can see, that was hit or miss.
I’ve never purchased a bespoke suit from a small Italian tailor, but from what I hear, the experience is a little like the one I had. If you’re willing to wait a long time for the product and not hear back consistently, the end result may be good. But really -- this is a commercial outfit located only a few hours away in the US, so accepting that much artisanal leeway strikes me as being a bit tolerant.
Would I buy from them again? At the moment, I’m forced to say no. Part of the goal of these MTM services is that once you’ve invested time and effort in your fitting, it’s much easier to purchase additional garments. But their price is substantially higher than you might pay at other MTM services, and in my mind, that money is going towards service -- prompt, personal, reliable service -- and that wasn’t what I received. Overall, I’m bummed to have to say this, as I came in wanting to like them, and I suppose am coming out the same way, but my hopes were not fully met.
With any luck, they can continue to hone their business until they’re able to fulfill their potential.
Please feel free to share any questions or thoughts. Here are some more pics from the wedding.
