Bespoke garments and body changes with exercise?

[vkn1]

I have a question for those of you who get clothes perfectly tailored: How do you deal with the fact that bodies change shape with diet and exercise? Do you generally have the tailor try to give you some room for variation, or do you try to get your garments made at a time when your body is in the middle of its range of variation, or what?

I ask because I have never had an item made for me, but am currently considering doing so. The thing is that if I exercise very regularly then I can put on a decent amount of muscle and have the proportions of my body change, at least to some extent. However, also fairly often I get too busy and need to stay out of the gym for a few months. I wonder if I should try to work out hard consistently for say 3 months and then go get my shirts made, in which case the shoulders and chest might end up being larger than ideal for times when I have been out of the gym for a couple months. Or rather, should I get them made when I am in a more "natural" (untrained) state and just tell the tailor to incorporate a little extra room so that I might put on a few pounds of muscle?

I would say that, depending on the state of my exercise, the muscle on my body varies by about +/-5 lbs. So at a height of 6 feet, my weight varies from 155-165 lbs.

How do tailors usually deal with this kind of variation? Is it not a problem in that the primary determinants are dimensions that relate to bone length rather than muscle size? Or rather is the kind of size variation I am talking about a major consideration for them? Any advice you could provide in this general area would be greatly appreciated.

 

[marcodalondra]

My take on this is to order when you are at your biggest and this will ensure your cloth will fit either way. Shirts and tailored clothing should not fit you thight to the body like a stretching t-shirt.

There is no way a tailor can second guess the fit for a growing mass of muscle.

Overall anyway, it is advisable to order bespoke when you can stabilise your fluctuation (I struggle myself since my ACL injury years ago).

 

[vkn1]

Do you lift weights avidly and find that varying levels of fitness significantly affect the fit and appearance of your clothes?

 

[GBR]

You are mixing your drinks somewhat. The header refers to "bespoke" yet your narrative you refer to "clothes perfectly tailored". American tend to use the latter term to cover messing about with RTW garments that don't actually fit.

If you are buying true from a good tailor, then there is usually a little margin in the seems for adjustments. They would expect their suits to last for many years and even be handed down from father to son in the aristocracy. They expect peoples bodies to change and can cope with that.

However if you are referring to RTW there will be little or no margin as cloth is cut to the rock minimum by computer aided laser equipment taking no account of alterations. Similarly 'made to measure' MTM is merely alterations to a standard block pattern to fit you (vaguely) again with minimal room for expansion.

So you pays your money and takes your chance.

 

[David Reeves]

You would just bring your suit back to be altered by your tailor. I don't do alterations for the general public but I do for my bespoke clients, I may even see my clients every month with alterations, fittings and new commissions.

 

[Marsay]

If you're Paul Ryan, you can go three sizes up - "just in case".

 

[starro]

Or Kenny Bania.





On a serious note, to OP, bespoke tailors have traditionally anticipated the much more common issue of men gaining more fat, not muscle, over the years. So they leave ample allowance in places like the waist. I suppose you could ask your tailor to build in allowance in areas where you're planning to bulk up. But, one is that those places might be very difficult to alter, and two, MD above has pointed out that it's difficult to accomplish.

 

[David Reeves]

Having said all this though "body fluxuation" or the idea or lack of it in some cases just stops people from ever "pulling the trigger" on bespoke. The amount of time I have heard "I'm too fat I'm going to lose it first" and literally years go by, when really if you are on the bigger side the easiest thing to do would be to get a suit that flatters you taking 15 lbs off you visually.

On the other end I have people saying they intend to bulk up and it's rarely anything we can't handle. The most shocking example of this though was a client I had doing a trialathalon. I took the order in December fitted in Jan, Feb and had to do march because at every fitting he dropped a suit size......still managed to get the suit to fit him but if he fluctuates like that outside me making the suit, well, that's certainly a problem.

I know it sounds like I would say this but often with people going on about sizing with bespoke I'd say just get one or two done if you must to get you through, don't go for a massive wardrobe expansion but do something, I mean what are you doing in the meantime? Just opting out of wearing nice clothes?

 

[bdavro23]

In reality, 10 pounds is a relatively small amount in terms of changes to fit. Certainly it makes a difference, but I have found my clothing to fit reasonably over a range of weight. I am usually in pretty good shape and have weighed between 160 and 180 since I have been having clothing made for me.While those weights reflect more muscle gain and loss than body fat, I have found that even my 160 clothes fit my 180 body. They are certainly more snug, but I could have them altered to fit with little issue.

I have only had one garment, a gorgeous midnight blue mohair tuxedo, that no longer fits me due to size. Admittedly, it came in when I was closer to 160, but they cut it a little small as well and it was always an aspirational garment

 

[Vuchko]

In my experience, weight changes are an unsolvable problem if you want clothes that fit perfectly.

Over the last few years my weight has fluctuated by amounts that are not very extreme, with a difference of perhaps 10-11 pounds between the minimum and the maximum. However, even that is more than enough to make clothes fit noticeably worse. Yes, you can alter trouser waists, but everything else looks at least slightly incongruous and out of proportion.

It's not even just clothes: recently I was greatly annoyed to realize that a pair of very nice (and expensive) sunglasses I bought when I was about ten pounds heavier no longer fit my my face anywhere as well.

Worse yet, after weight fluctuations, you can't even expect good fit from clothes that you bought at a previous time when your weight was the same. Different parts of your body will expand and shrink in different proportions. I am almost exactly the same weight now as five years ago, but following some weight gain and loss in the meantime, my neck has remained half a size larger, so I can no longer do the top button on my old shirts.

Unless you're confident that you'll keep the same weight indefinitely, I think this is a strong argument against the often heard claim that expensive high-end clothes (whether custom or RTW) are ultimately a good investment because they will last many years and decades. With any significant weight fluctuations, you'll soon end up with ill-fitting clothes. Of course, you still might want them for other reasons; I'm just noting that the argument about value from extreme durability is questionable.

 

[dieworkwear]



Different parts of your body will expand and shrink in different proportions.

@edmorel can probably speak to this.

 

[David Reeves]



In my experience, weight changes are an unsolvable problem if you want clothes that fit perfectly.

Over the last few years my weight has fluctuated by amounts that are not very extreme, with a difference of perhaps 10-11 pounds between the minimum and the maximum. However, even that is more than enough to make clothes fit noticeably worse. Yes, you can alter trouser waists, but everything else looks at least slightly incongruous and out of proportion.

It's not even just clothes: recently I was greatly annoyed to realize that a pair of very nice (and expensive) sunglasses I bought when I was about ten pounds heavier no longer fit my my face anywhere as well. 

Worse yet, after weight fluctuations, you can't even expect good fit from clothes that you bought at a previous time when your weight was the same. Different parts of your body will expand and shrink in different proportions. I am almost exactly the same weight now as five years ago, but following some weight gain and loss in the meantime, my neck has remained half a size larger, so I can no longer do the top button on my old shirts. 

Unless you're confident that you'll keep the same weight indefinitely, I think this is a strong argument against the often heard claim that expensive high-end clothes (whether custom or RTW) are ultimately a good investment because they will last many years and decades. With any significant weight fluctuations, you'll soon end up with ill-fitting clothes. Of course, you still might want them for other reasons; I'm just noting that the argument about value from extreme durability is questionable. 

In the past people used to make suits up in weights that we would make overcoats in now, they would also patch things like knees and elbows which we would never really do (unless we are the prince of Wales). In terms of fit fluctuations over time people probably weren't so uptight and picture perfect about it as we are now.

I present Winston Churchill (wearing Poole?) and Anthony Eden who was well regarded as an incredible dresser.

 

[clarksdb]

Great read.

 

[mktitsworth]

Especially if you see them when you're fluctuating, a smart tailor will go ahead and factor in some allowances. This seems like it is what Chris did. My weight has loop-the-looped a bit, but overall the silhouette hasn't really changed while being worn.

 

[jefferyd]



I present Winston Churchill (wearing Poole?) and Anthony Eden who was well regarded as an incredible dresser.

Wouldn't these two be torn to shreds if they were posting WAYWN...

Doesn't sound like the OP has much to worry about- 3 moths of exercise won't make a huge difference unless you are both dedicated and overweight, in which case you could get pretty lean, but OP sounds very thin already it's tough to put on much lean mass in such a short period of time. He did mention shirts and there's not much to be done to let out a too-small shirt, having one taken in is another story. Suits can be let out to a certain degree unless your shoulders develop quickly; mine do and as a result I have a lot of unwearable clothing as the shoulders are the only spot that can't be let out to any considerable degree.