welcome back to the gentleman's gazette! today'svideo, i discuss the differences between a cheap or inexpensive $500 custom suit andan expensive $500 bespoke suit. so, what suit do you think i'm wearing here, rightnow? looks pretty good, doesn't it? well, it's the $500 online custom suit. while itlooks great while i stand, as soon as i start moving, actually, nothing works anymore. itlooks terrible and feels uncomfortable. for
design comfort colors pocket tee, example, if i just want to eat, it pulls onmy left shoulder, everything is uncomfortable. my collar gaps and i can't move, i have ahard time getting my fork to my mouth. it's a perfect example of a $500 custom suit thatused my measurements and looks great when i stand but it's non-functional and i'd neverwear it. so, what are the other differences?
let's go step by step. i thought i could doa video on the other jacket, but it's so uncomfortable, i had to switch. $500 custom suits have becomevery popular in the last few years because of the online supply chain management. it'svery easy to order something online just with your measurements, receive something in themail four weeks after. on the other hand, a traditional bespoke suit costs a lot moreand takes longer to produce. so what's the difference? first, let's take a look at the order process.a $5000 bespoke suit is something that you commission at a custom or bespoke tailor,that means it's an in-person relationship; you go there, they measure you, they lookat how you move. they have a very educated
eye, they could see right away that you havea sloping shoulder, a bigger thigh, and they confirm their assumptions, what they see,with the measurements they take. once you've picked out all the fabric, the trimmings,and the lining, the tailor can start to work on your suit. but he doesn't just create it,he first, has a loosely fitting garment for a first fitting, a second fitting, and a thirdfitting. these fittings ensure that you get a great fit and that you don't have bad surprisesonce you put on the garment and you can't make any changes anymore. depending on thetailor you choose, it can take anywhere from one month to one year to get your suit, asit also depends on how many tailors they have on , and how much time they have, and howmany orders they have to process.
you can get bespoke suits for as little as$1500 to $2000, and it's the same process as it is for $5000 suits. the difference ofthe $5000 suit is that you also get expert style advice. usually, these high-end bespoketailors are well-known and revered for their taste, and their style, and that's part ofwhat you buy. because you're the customer, you don't have to do anything. unless you'renot a 100% happy with the suit, you don't have to accept it. bespoke suits are verypopular; they come from savile row or from naples, and so a lot of men travel to thosedestinations to have a suit made for them. the problem is, that's an additional cost,and it can cost a lot of pain in the process to get it right, especially if more fittingsare needed. so keep it into consideration
when you decide to work with a tailor thatis not in your city. for a $500 custom suit, usually, you haveto measure yourself, especially if you do it online, there's no personal relationship.sure, you may be able to ask questions or send an email, but at the end of the day,you have to find an untrained friend or acquaintance that can measure you and you have to relyon their videos to work. sometimes, they also promise that you just send in a picture witha credit card that you hold up, and then their algorithm determines the size, in my experience,it never works, simply because it's too far off. big department stores, they sometimesoffer a 3d measurement technique, while that sounds good in theory, it never really dominatedin practice because the results are not a
100%. a human eye and an understanding ofwhat a person needs is not just something that you can translate into a machine measurement.the turnaround time for these suits is usually 4-8 weeks because they're factory made. usually,they're sewn together in asia because it's less expensive. all you do is take your measurements,put them on their system, choose the fabric, and you get a suit back. no fittings involved,no real trained tailor with an experienced eye that can guide you and help you, and that'swhy you pay a lower price. if you have an unusual body shhape or strong, sloping shouldersthat are different from one side to the other, the $500 custom suit can be very difficultto accommodate whereas a $5000 bespoke suit easily do that because they can look at you,and with the fittings, just so it looks perfect
on you. next up, let's talk about the difference infit and pattern. huge difference between a $500 suit and a $5000 suit is the pattern.a $500 custom suit has a made to measure pattern. if you want to learn more about the term,watch this video, here. what happens is that a standard pattern is used, and is then modifiedwith your measurements, so it supposedly fits you better. the entire process of the patternmaking is computer processed, and it's just basing the measurements, so of the measurementsare off, the entire thing will be off. oftentimes, these suits are very slim and they look greatwhen you stand, but as we saw before, as you can see here, it's really terrible when it'stoo tight and you can't move in your suit
because it's so uncomfortable. a $5000 isbased on a paper pattern that is unique to you, that is made from scratch just for youand it will really show in the final end result and fit. not only will it look great, butyou will also be comfortable, you can move around, you can eat, you can ask for a cab,and everything stays in place and looks good. the third difference is construction and details.basically, you can have a suit with a glued interlining, a sewn interlining, and somethingthat is a mix between the two. to learn more about the differences, please check out ourvideo between a $1000 and a $100 suit. a $500 custom suit, will usually either have a gluedinterlining or a partially sewn interlining but usually, never fully sewn interlining.on the other hand, a $5000 bespoke suit is
usually fully canvassed and you can even decideif you want a stiffer canvas or a soft one. a $500 suit is just one thing fits it alland you don't have much say in what you get. now, when it comes to details, a $5000 suithas more handwork. you can see that on the buttonhole, it's handmade, looks very nice,the edges are nicely rounded even on the sleeves. and the linings, the little details on theinside, really show you that it's a quality garment. moreover, a $5000 suit is usuallypadded by hand and when you flap open your lapel, you can see irregular stitches madeby hand. in this case, it shows that there is soft interlining so it's very comfortableand feels more like a sweater. on the other hand, a $500 suit will not have those hallmarks.even if it's a full or half canvas construction,
it's machine made and it lacks the sophistication.the same is true for things like the pick stitching, which is done by hand, they'revery subtle on a bespoke garment, you can see it along the edges and for a $500 customsuit, it's usually a machine made stitch, that goes to look like a hand stitch but itisn't. years ago, only bespoke garments had surgeoncuffs which mean you could open the buttonholes on your jacket. today, online custom makershave copied that feature, and so it's no longer a way to determine whether you have a qualitygarment or an inexpensive, factory-made garment from china. another huge difference between the two isthe selection in choice of fabric. an inexpensive
or cheap suit will only have a very limitedbandwidth. usually, they're made in asia, even if they have big names on that or india.they're usually thin, flimsy, and just the usual business colors, gray, navy, with somepatterns. on the other hand, a bespoke tailor will usually be able to offer any fabric thatyou could want; they may even have vintage fabrics, a solaro, a fresco, really unusualthings that make your suits special and ideally suited to the environment you'll be in. so at the end of the day, you really get whatyou pay for. a $5000 bespoke suit gives you a great fabric choice, a superior fit, a personalexperience on a trained tailors eye, on the other hand, $500 custom suit is much cheaper,cost a fraction of the price but you'll have
to usually compromise on fit. it's often notas comfortable, the fabric choice is limited, and the details are limited as well. so yousimply have to decide what works best for you. that being said, i have a mix of everythingin my closet, i have some ready to wear items,
i've some made to measure items and some bespokeitems. it's just important to be aware that a $500 custom suit is not the same as a $5000bespoke suit. if you enjoyed this video, make sure to checkout our other videos about clothing and the best way to do it is to sign up thru our emaillist, here.
