Critique fit of new suit jacket. Tailor it or send it back?

Good afternoon gentlemen,

I recently purchased a suit online from one of our affiliates. The measurements seemed to be a perfect fit for me on the website and I was tired of looking for a solid navy canvassed suit for under a certain pricepoint. Below I'll post a few pics detailing what is a strange fitment issue. I have sent an email to the vendor to get his input as to whether or not I should exchange the suit or simply bring it to a tailor to rectify. Looking for honest and helpful feedback.

As you can see there is a LOT of shirt collar showing above the jacket collar, as well as a bunching of jacket material a few inches down from the collar. I'm no suiting expert but it seems like an issue to do with the way the collar is attached to the jacket body or perhaps a collar/gorge issue as the front lapels seem a bit too wide to touch the collarpoints of a standard (Charles Tyrwhitt) medium spread collar.

For now I am going to withhold the suitmaker's identification as I have faith he will be getting back to me shortly to weigh in on what the issue is and as such I'd like to keep things objective and not allow a name to interfere with the critique.

On to the pics:







Send it back or Tailor it?

that collar would fit a fatter and shorter neck. it could be raised and brought in at the sides and shortened. but i doubt that there is enough cloth under the collar stand to do the job.
the bunching can be cured by shortening the back at the top. that though would bring the collar still further down in back. all in all i would say forget it.
looking at the way the back is shaped, i would guess that this suit was altered previously.
or its a m2m gone bad.

This is a new OTR suit, which I can only assume hasn't been altered since leaving the factory. Would you say this needs to be sent back? I do not have an abnormally long neck, I've never had this issue with any other OTR suit jacket.

I'd send it back. It looks like the neck base needs to be taken in a 1/2 inch, maybe more. I'm not a tailor, but I'd guess that type of alteration would be expensive since you have to reconstruct multiple parts of the jacket.

I agree, I would imagine it'd be quite difficult to reconstruct the jacket in that way. I'm not sure if this was just a manufacturing error or if the entire line is cut this way.

The neck & collar do look large and low but I would try it on with a couple different shirts and compare before deciding what to do. Would be curious to see how much cause and effect is from the jacket and how much is from the shirt.

oh yeah, the tie is really great

Despos, I will try on a different brand shirt and post pics tomorrow. I value your insight as from memory I believe you are in fact a tailor. Is it possible for you to say what could be the issue, was the collar set too low on the jacket? Again I'm a very normal 40R off the rack body type.

P.S. - thanks, the tie is a PRL made in Italy, recently purchased off the B&S. Cheers.

Who makes the suit? Canvassed? Who did you get it from?

Originally Posted by Despos

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The neck & collar do look large and low but I would try it on with a couple different shirts and compare before deciding what to do. Would be curious to see how much cause and effect is from the jacket and how much is from the shirt.

oh yeah, the tie is really great

I agree 100%.
If the suit is OTR and after looking at it with a different shirt and it still isn't quite right, just send it back.

I have decided to return it. Our affiliate eHaberdasher is being quite helpful and receptive to returning the suit. This is the latest Benjamin Sartorial suit, and they acknowledge that others have had the same issue though not to this extent. It is rather unfortunate because other than this fitment issue, it fulfills all my requirements at a decent $495 pricetag. So, the quest continues for a fully canvassed, solid navy or charcoal, 2btn, notch lapel, side-vented slim fitting suit under $600!

Again I want to reiterate eHaberdasher has had exceptional customer service regarding this issue, I would buy from them in confidence going forward.

Originally Posted by 604Coast

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I have decided to return it. Our affiliate eHaberdasher is being quite helpful and receptive to returning the suit. This is the latest Benjamin Sartorial suit, and they acknowledge that others have had the same issue though not to this extent. It is rather unfortunate because other than this fitment issue, it fulfills all my requirements at a decent $495 pricetag. So, the quest continues for a fully canvassed, solid navy or charcoal, 2btn, notch lapel, side-vented slim fitting suit under $600!

Again I want to reiterate eHaberdasher has had exceptional customer service regarding this issue, I would buy from them in confidence going forward.

My new Benjamin arrived yesterday. Sadly, I have a similiar issue - although not as extreme as OP.

I have 1.25 inches of shirt collar showing above the jacket collar. I'm guessing the OP had 2+ inches???

I'm hesitant to return it this soon. I'm hoping to take it into a tailor in Chicago (oh why doesn't Despos do alterations work anymore!) to see if they can build up the jacket collar a bit.

But, just as the OP, i really hope I don't have to return this as its a great suit other than this issue.

Well, damn. After long-time lurking, I was going to open my account by posting a review of how the Benjamin Granoro was the best-fitting suit I've tried. But then I read this and realized I'm having the same collar issue.

Maybe not as bad as the OP, but I've got about 1.5in of shirt showing in the back and I've got the gap between shirt collar and lapels in the front.

How much of this can a tailor fix? I've also got the bunching in the back, which I believe means I'll need to shorten the collar even more.

Originally Posted by malwear

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... and I've got the gap between shirt collar and lapels in the front...

Try buttoning your jacket up for starters.

Sorry, I thought I had uploaded the jacket-buttoned picture. Well, this one looks better, but a gap is still there. Can a tailor fix this?

Originally Posted by malwear

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Sorry, I thought I had uploaded the jacket-buttoned picture. Well, this one looks better, but a gap is still there. Can a tailor fix this?

And more importantly can a tailor build up the collar in the back (i have same problem, as described above. Also, i have 1.5 in of shirt collar showing above the jacket collar).