suit & AEs shopping in Chicago, please recommend stores & SAs

[chenzhongbi]

Hi,
I'm in the market for my first decent suit and the first pair of dress shoes, trying to take advantage of the current and upcoming holiday sale. I've done some research here, but couldn't find much detailed info.

Basic facts:
Budget: around $1000
Size: 38 Short
Color: Solid charcoal or navy

The cut I'm looking for is inclined to the "slim" side. I've tried on RLBL, BB Fitzgerald and Milano before. Fit wise, RLBL is my favorite, but I'm afraid staple suits won't go on sale. At least, they were excluded during last F&F sale. In that case, it would be beyond my budget limit. BB Fitz and Milano fit OK to me. I also have a PRL navy blazer in "Polo I" model that I like.

Some stores mentioned in SF Chicago shopping threads include Hickey Freeman on Oak St., Mark Shale, Syd Jerome. Other than these, maybe stores like George Greene, Morris and Son's and Paul Stuart are not affordable to me.

Are there any other options within my budget limit in Chicago? I can drive to stores in suburbs if necessary.
Please recommend some stores and SAs. (Me being a newbie, I assume that a competent SA would help a lot.)

If no other options, I might go back to BB. Which store is better? The one on Michigan Ave. or the one on Lasalle?

BTW, I also need a pair of Allen Edmond Park Avenues. Someone advised to go to a retail store and try on different sizes for the first pair of dress shoes. I heard some good words about Altman's on Monroe St.. IIRC, they run a 20% holiday sale. Would there be better deals in dept. stores like Nordstrom semi-annual sale?

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[Vigilant]

Nordstrom might not be the best choice for the Park Avs since they retail at $325. Even with the half-yearly (which I doubt they put these on sale), you can still find a better price elsewhere.

 

[in stitches]

i was just in chi town thanksgiving time went to syd jerome on las salle st for a suit it was one of the best clothing purchasing experiences i ever had. they will treat you like king and work within your budget they have a wide variety of styles and brands check it out

 

[chenzhongbi]

Originally Posted by in stitches

i was just in chi town thanksgiving time went to syd jerome on las salle st for a suit it was one of the best clothing purchasing experiences i ever had. they will treat you like king and work within your budget they have a wide variety of styles and brands check it out
Thanks a lot.
Do you have any SA to recommend particularly?

 

[in stitches]

Originally Posted by chenzhongbi

Thanks a lot.
Do you have any SA to recommend particularly?

i dealt with the owner syd schapiro his son scott and the salesman was gary they were all nice as can be and veeeery patient which is important to me i dont like to be rushed when im spending coin

 

[harry2quinn]

As the poster above said, Syd Jerome's great... a more frequently discounted high-end store is Morris and Sons. I've also heard good things about George Green, though I've never been.

 

[chenzhongbi]

Originally Posted by harry2quinn

As the poster above said, Syd Jerome's great... a more frequently discounted high-end store is Morris and Sons. I've also heard good things about George Green, though I've never been.
I've heard good things about Morris and Sons and George Green, too. But they could be out of my price range.

 

[harry2quinn]

Originally Posted by chenzhongbi

I've heard good things about Morris and Sons and George Green, too. But they could be out of my price range.
George Green maybe - but I would at least check out Morris and Sons. Even if they are high up brands, they frequently take 20+% off list. At least they did last year.

 

[harry2quinn]

Oh, also, I just discovered a shop in River North called Haberdash. Very cool place, and most of the staff that work there really know their ****.

 

[chenzhongbi]

^^Thanks for the info, I'll check it out tomorrow.

I've visited Morris & Son's and Syd Jerome today. Not quite satified.
Morris had only two fused Jack Victor suits and a Boss in color black in my size and within my budget.
Pretty much the same thing happened at Syd Jerome. Only two Boss suits fit the bill. I tried on a Canali and it fit great. So sad it was 1.8K and non-solid. However, their Joseph Abboud MTM program seemed interesting. The $795-$1095 price range for a 2-pc full-canvassed suit sounded reasonable. The suits worn by the SA I talked to and one of his collegues were JA MTM. But I'm not sure if going MTM for the first suit is a good idea.
I'll keep looking tomorrow. Plan visiting BB, Mark Shale, Hickey Freeman and Haberdash.

 

[harry2quinn]

Originally Posted by chenzhongbi

^^Thanks for the info, I'll check it out tomorrow. I've visited Morris & Son's and Syd Jerome today. Not quite satified. Morris had only two fused Jack Victor suits and a Boss in color black in my size and within my budget. Pretty much the same thing happened at Syd Jerome. Only two Boss suits fit the bill. I tried on a Canali and it fit great. So sad it was 1.8K and non-solid. However, their Joseph Abboud MTM program seemed interesting. The $795-$1095 price range for a 2-pc full-canvassed suit sounded reasonable. The suits worn by the SA I talked to and one of his collegues were JA MTM. But I'm not sure if going MTM for the first suit is a good idea. I'll keep looking tomorrow. Plan visiting BB, Mark Shale, Hickey Freeman and Haberdash.
I just went back and read your OP... I don't know if there are many classic charcoal type suits at Haberdash - they're still quality, but probably less conservative. Hope it wasn't a waste of time! I was recommending them in general as a great place to check out in Chicago. Filene's basement has good discounts, but they also don't have elite brands. BCBG, Boss, etc is the typical fare. Not sure what else to recommend for that price range and quality requirements unless you went out to the outlets out west - RL, BB, etc. Abboud has canvassed suits??

 

[chenzhongbi]

Originally Posted by harry2quinn

I just went back and read your OP... I don't know if there are many classic charcoal type suits at Haberdash - they're still quality, but probably less conservative. Hope it wasn't a waste of time! I was recommending them in general as a great place to check out in Chicago. Filene's basement has good discounts, but they also don't have elite brands. BCBG, Boss, etc is the typical fare. Not sure what else to recommend for that price range and quality requirements unless you went out to the outlets out west - RL, BB, etc. Abboud has canvassed suits??
The mission is accomplished today. In the end, I bought a charcoal BB Fitzgerald suit. I went to Nordstrom to check out the SF-approved Corallorosso suits. Couldn't find them. I stayed there for over 20 min, but SAs were too busy chatting with each other to approach me. Mark Shale had only fused Hugo Boss and Joseph Abboud in my size. Disappointing. They had some large-sized Canali suits for sale at $8xx. Hickey Freeman Boutique had a pinstriped suit in my size. Fit similar to BB Fitzgerald, nothing impressive. So I ended up at BB. Fitzgerald cut fits me better compared to Milano cut, because it has a little bit more padding to counteract the slight slopeness of my shoulders. I didn't go to Haberdash today as the weather was extremely unpleasant, and non-stop shopping for a suit is more exhausting than I expected. I'll check it out next time when I come in town. BTW, I bought AEs at Altman's. They offered only a small discount, but I got the chance to get measured and got the size info of all the AE models I'm interested. EDIT: The SA at Syd Jerome told me the Abboud MTM suits would be fully canvassed. And he showed me the floating canvass construction on his suit. The SA at Mark Shale told me a different story, "Abboud MTM suits would have the same construction as OTR ones".