Do I need to get a tailor-made suit?

[Scotch]

I've always had trouble buying suits for myself (despite absolutely loving them) as I am always finding off-the-shelf suits ill-fitting.

I'm a size 37 in the jacket (UK) but the pants I need are always set for size 38 suits. This means that the jacket fits but the pants don't or the pants fit but the jacket's too big!

I've been told that there's nothing I can do except get custom suits but I'm only 22 and starting out in work and don't think I need (or can afford) a number of custom tailored suits.

Is there anything I can do or will I just have to spend all my money on suits just so they'll fit?

 

[acecow]

Get a suit that fits and alter the pants. Easy solution.

 

[Nicola]

Why don't the pants fit? What size do you need?

With in reason pants can be altered fairly easily. The question is how far off are you?

Are you saying you need size 32 pants?

 

[Blackhood]

T M Lewin = Separates £199 to £249
Chester Barrie = Separates £499 to £799

Both good quality and in my experience easy to find the slimmer sizes.

 

[Scotch]

I need size 33 pants while the jacket that fits comes with 31 pants and I'm not sure whether every pair of pants will be able to be taken out from 31 to 33.

 

[kraftar]

As others have stated you can (1) go to places that sell the jacket and pants separately (Blackhood mentioned a few and there are several additional places), (2) buy suits like you currently do, making sure to get the best fit w/ the Jacket and then have the pants tailored, or (3) go MTM or bespoke. If you have a limited budget (e.g. don't want to spend £700 to £3,000 per suit) then go w/ (1) or (2).

 

[epa]

I have a similar problem: if the jacket fits, the pants are normally enormous. If have had some ghastly experiences having trousers taken in very substantially.
Before going MTM/bespoke, I sometimes solved the problem by going for odd jacket+trousers instead of a suit. A blazer, for example, may be considered sufficiently dressy in many environments. But not in all, I fear. So it depends on where you work.
Actually, even after going bespoke I tend to favour odd jackets over suits. One reason for this is that I like the more casual touch, and another reason is that it is OK in my professional environment. An advantage is that if you ruin your trousers, you can keep the jacket and just get new trousers. With a suit, you will probably have to throw the whole outfit away. This can hurt!

 

[kirbya]

I'm not very familiar with the options in the UK, but if you're on a budget, here in the United States we have several different providers that make mtm suits from HK / China in standard fabrics (certainly nothing special). The benefit is that you'll probably receive similar fabric quality to what you would find off the rack, but can customize the sizing. Again, mostly fused fronts, some canvas. For instance, DJonesCollection.com (friend of mine here in Dallas), does a "fully canvased) suit for less than $1,000. The fabrics aren't anything to write home about, and he's certainly not a bespoke tailor, but for the price point, you get a decent mtm suit that fits.

Anyone know of similar outfits in the UK?

 

[Butter]

Do you know the exact shoulder width you're looking for?

I found using that to be more helpful than using the jacket size.

For example, size 38 jackets can range from 17"-18.5".