Common Tailoring Alterations

No two people are exactly the same; even identical twins are different. When you shop for clothes, though, that’s not the reality you see reflected. You get three sizes, maybe four if you’re lucky, ranging from small to extra-large, as though there were only four different sizes of people. Forget differences in your waist and height, what about the differences in your arms, legs, shoulders, and seat? That’s where tailors can help. When you use a tailor, every piece of clothing you wear is custom-fit to your body. A number of people only need suits for special occasions but as a lawyer, banker, funeral director, or similar professional, you’ll need a suit every day. No matter who you are, it’s good to understand what tailors do. Here, we’ll look at some of the most common tailoring alterations, their definitions, and why they’re important.

A quick note on tailoring before we begin. When you go to a tailor, it’s much easier for them to reduce the size of things than it is to increase the size. Whether that means making your trousers shorter or the waist tighter, you should opt for things that are a little too big rather than too small when you’re buying off the rack (more on that later).

When you buy a suit off the rack, the trousers will almost always come unhemmed; the people selling you the suit assume you’re going to go get it tailored. An unhemmed fabric will come undone, literally unravelling. We’re happy to say we’re a bit unique in the world of suits; most of our trousers come ready to wear. They’ve already been hemmed. Should you need to get your trousers hemmed, your tailor will have a conversation with you about where you want the trousers to break.

The break refers to how much of the bottom of your trousers touches your shoes. As a rule, the more break you have, the more conservative your look. With a full break, one full fold of your trouser leg will skim your shoe, while with no break, your socks will often be visible. How much break you want is a personal aesthetic choice.

When your trousers are being hemmed, you may also ask for turn-ups; this is again a personal choice, and generally, turn-ups should just lightly graze the top of your shoe. They also tend to look best on pleated trousers, which are roomier; slim trousers often look better without turn-ups.

When your trousers are too big around your waist, you’ll need your tailor to bring in the waist. Conversely, when trousers are too small, you’ll need them to let out the waist; be aware, however, that there are limits to how much trousers can be let out. You can only let out trousers that have excess fabric, and you can only let them out a little at that. You can also ask your tailor to bring in or let out the area around the crotch.

Another way you can alter your trousers is by asking your tailor to bring in the trouser leg to give the suit a more modern look. At the same time, you might ask for tapered trousers; these trousers have legs that start broad and narrow slightly as they go down.

A lot of men like tapered trousers. In a similar vein, a lot of men (maybe even more) like a tapered jacket - starting broad at the shoulders and slimming down near the waist, creating a V-shape.

You don’t necessarily have to have the tapered look; fashion is largely about personal aesthetic and if you like a boxy suit, more power to you. No matter what you’re looking for though, if you feel your suit jacket is too big, your tailor can take it in for you.

You may have noticed that there are a lot of alterations that need to be made to off the shelf suits; more often than not, you’ll need all of the alterations we listed above, minus the repairs. When you get a custom suit, you may need it altered on occasion because of changes to your physique or sense of aesthetics. What you won’t need, however, is to get it altered right away; it will already be perfectly fitted to your unique shape and tastes! Invest in yourself - get a custom-made suit, complete with advice from style experts, a wide arrange of cloth options, and a plethora of customisation to make the suit uniquely yours.