Hickey Freeman - Made to measure

[startupguy]

I am an adult with a rather severe problem. I do not own a suit apart from some garbage bought at shopping mail retailers years ago.

In effort to fix this, I want to spend a decent amount of money on something made to measure. My body is truly a freak of nature. I've got a large rib cage (somewhat of a barrel chest), large-ish shoulders and an athletic frame so the drop between my chest and waist is massive. And monkey Arms. To add insult to injury - I have unusually long arms. Essentially, I'm a high functioning ape-man. Anything off the rack doesn't fit me.

Most of the time I read this forum with my face pressed up against the glass; An observer, not a participant but here goes:

Does the new Hickey Freeman mahogany line approximate some of the great things I see in the sutis that I really want? Particularly I like the Neapolitan styles - Kiton, Isaia, Antolini. On the HF website it looks like it may have some of the styling attributes that I appreciate - a natural shoulder, higher armhole, some waist suppression. I do suspect the HF will make a longer jacket than I'd prefer and may still appear somewhat 'American'.

My goal is get a suit that fits me well (most important) that looks professional but also has some actual sense of classic 'style'.

Am I at all headed in the right direction?

 

[VinnyMac]

Go into the store, look around, and talk to a sales associate about what you want. Maybe take a few pictures with you for reference. That's probably your best bet. How much do you want to spend?

On another note, if it were me, I'd probably go with a deep blue suit.

 

[jeff13007]



I am an adult with a rather severe problem. I do not own a suit apart from some garbage bought at shopping mail retailers years ago.

In effort to fix this, I want to spend a decent amount of money on something made to measure. My body is truly a freak of nature. I've got a large rib cage (somewhat of a barrel chest), large-ish shoulders and an athletic frame so the drop between my chest and waist is massive. And monkey Arms. To add insult to injury - I have unusually long arms. Essentially, I'm a high functioning ape-man. Anything off the rack doesn't fit me.

Most of the time I read this forum with my face pressed up against the glass; An observer, not a participant but here goes:

Does the new Hickey Freeman mahogany line approximate some of the great things I see in the sutis that I really want? Particularly I like the Neapolitan styles - Kiton, Isaia, Antolini. On the HF website it looks like it may have some of the styling attributes that I appreciate - a natural shoulder, higher armhole, some waist suppression. I do suspect the HF will make a longer jacket than I'd prefer and may still appear somewhat 'American'.

My goal is get a suit that fits me well (most important) that looks professional but also has some actual sense of classic 'style'.

Am I at all headed in the right direction?

Take some pics in their RTW and see how far off from the fit you actually are. MTM does have limitations as they will be altering one of their existing patterns to your measurements. Honestly if you are really quite off you might need to go bespoke and im not talking crappy online or people claiming to be "bespoke" you might need a full on bespoke tailor and some time to get your fit perfected. Honestly in some cases it might not even be perfect on your first suit which is why its very important if it turns out you need bespoke to pick the right one and stick with him/her. As for the jacket length, with your arms being very long it might be a good idea to have a longer jacket, if you have a short one with very long arms the balance might be thrown off. Attolini at least in the RTW pieces ive owned or tried on in stores has longer jackets btw.

 

[startupguy]

Thank you - both helpful replies.

I was thinking about paying around ~$2000 for this suit. Is bespoke really possible for that price?

 

[gatirone]

I have been in the Mens Tailored clothing business for 40 years and a field represenative for Hickey Freeman and Also a Company out of Canada called Coppley apparel - in order to get on the right track to having a suit made for you do some research on finding a quality mens clothing store in your area -and one that has a tailor on the premises. Almost all sources you will visit offer sometype of custom product - and it depends on what you will settle for and how much you will spend -what i mean by that is this - IF you can find a custom tailor who cuts his own pattern and BENCH MAKES the product (called BESPOKE) -you will end up with a suit specifically made for you at a cost of About 5K to 8K - anything other than this is a person who has expertice in fitting your body and can tell a manufacturer what adjustments need to be made to a standard pattern to accomadate your specific needs (ie: size, Posture, Should stance) etc.
A good Speciality Mens store should be able to help you -Coppley and Hickey Freeman have excellent capabilities in MAde to Measure Product -hope this helps you

 

[VinnyMac]

Thank you - both helpful replies.

I was thinking about paying around ~$2000 for this suit. Is bespoke really possible for that price?

Yes, it is, but I wouldn't recommend buying a bespoke suit as your first suit. You probably don't know enough about quality, construction, fit or your personal style yet, and you'll probably end up with a "bespoke" suit that's cheap and ill-fitting.

I'd recommend looking around on the internet to find fits and looks that you like and going to a few stores to find the sizes and cuts that work.

 

[velvel87]

Any updates on what you ended up doing? How did the suit come out?