1/. What's the difference between bespoke and semi bespoke suits?

In short, a fully bespoke suit involves a baste stage (half-made suit) and is 100% hand-made and as a result costs around £3,000 when ordered from other tailors in Savile Row.

A fully bespoke suit requires a minimum of 3 fittings and around 80 hours of manual work.

A semi-bespoke suit is not 100% hand-made and is made to a straight finish (no baste, half made stage) and then altered afterwards and costs anything from £400 to £1200 depending on the quality of the tailor.

A Jasper Littman personally tailored suit (semi-bespoke) starts from £595. The average price is about £699-£799.
A fully bespoke suit starts from £1995.

For a full explanation of how bespoke suits are made see the bespoke page.

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2/. Why should I pay £600 for a suit?

Many people view their suits simply as a uniform, something they wear because it's the company policy. This attitude will not further their careers. First impressions really do count. Wearing a sharp suit will significantly improve your chances of promotion.

It's also important to bear in mind that you get a lot more for your £600 than you would elsewhere (see the About Us page).

So what do you actually get for your £600 anyway?
Firstly, you get to buy a suit without leaving your office (work out the cost of taking the morning off to travel to Savile Row three times). Secondly you get a suit that fits you significantly better than anything else in your wardrobe, and lasts longer. You also get after sales service from your dedicated visiting tailor just in case any problems should arise with your suits.

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3/. What is Savile Row tailoring?

Savile Row (commonly misspelled as 'Saville Row') is the home of high quality tailoring and it has been for over a hundred years. It has a reputation internationally as the benchmark for well-made suits.

A bespoke suit ordered from Savile Row could cost £3,000, for just a basic 2-piece suit in an ordinary fabric.

Savile Row has its own style of suit and it can be identified by these features: a soft (but straight) shoulder line, high front-buttoning position, a curved waist and a high and prominent sleeve crown. These are some of the hallmarks that make it the quintessential English suit.

It is extremely difficult to become a Savile Row tailor, cutter or finisher and competition is fierce. The result is an extremely high standard of tailoring and an expectation of 15 years before experience is recognised.

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4/. How do I check that my bespoke tailor is qualified?

Ask your tailor the following questions to check his credentials:

a) Where are the suits made?
This is a crucial question. Be wary of anything that isn't made in England (or Italy). England would be preferable, Savile Row would be even better.

b) How long have you been measuring bespoke suits?
Also an important question. Anything less than 5 years is not nearly enough. Anything less than 8 years is mildly questionable. A tailor who's been trained on Savile Row should (in theory) know what he's doing.

c) How did you get here?
This will give you an indication of how busy he is. A respectable tailor with a number of clients will not be able to operate using public transport, as they would not be able to carry the suits, swatches etc. If he has invested in a car you can take him seriously. If he is using a helicopter he may be over charging!

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5/. How can I make my suits last longer?

The life span of a suit depends on three main factors:

One: The number of suits you own

This factor is by far the one that has the biggest affect on durability. If we assume you have to wear a suit 5 days a week, if you only own three suits, two of them are going to be worn twice every week, assuming you're rotating them correctly.
Furthermore if only one of those suits is light enough to be worn in the hottest summer months, you are going to end up wearing it every day for up to 2 months.

This can mean that the suit is worn out after one summer.

Ideally anyone who wears a suit 5 times a week should have at least seven suits: 1 winter weight for those 'below zero' days, 4 year-round medium weights that will be worn the majority of the time and 2 summer weight suits that can be rotated during July and August.

Anyone who flies to hot countries extensively on business will need more than 2 lightweight suits.

One way of improving durability without buying so many suits is to buy an extra pair of trousers. Typically the trousers will tend to wear out first as the jacket is often removed at work.
If the trousers are rotated then the suit will take far longer to wear out.

Two: Where and how often you have them cleaned

Suits do not benefit from being cleaned and it does shorten their life. As a result they should be cleaned as seldom as possible.

Dry cleaning can seriously affect the life of a suit; therefore, if the suit is to last, it must be done properly.

High Street dry cleaners will clean your suit with other garments that could include riveted jeans, studded leather jackets etc. that can damage the fabric. The suit may also suffer if pressed at too high a temperature.

To ensure your suit is dry cleaned carefully we would recommend specialist dry cleaners. As the garments are sponged and spot-cleaned individually rather than thrown into a drum. Staff in these establishments are also well trained and know how to handle and press a suit correctly.

Three: How you look after your suits

You have invested in your suit so if you want your suit to last you must treat it with respect. Do not put heavy items in the jacket pockets, as it will pull the suit out of shape. Why not put your Blackberry, wallet, chequebook etc. in your brief case or trouser pockets? If you ride a motorbike or push bike this will also reduce the life of your suit.

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6/. How long should a good suit last?

This an impossible question to answer as it depends on how many suits you own and how well you look after them but as a general guide, anything between 3 and 8 years.

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7/. What is the hardest wearing fabric that you have?

The most durable fabrics are the heavier ones, preferably without cashmere or any other softeners in them.

The Holland & Sherry 'Perennial' collection is a suitable bunch. 13oz hardwearing wool. If you are looking for a lightweight suit then anything with mohair would be best. Mohair as a fibre is harder wearing than wool but is not generally found in heavy weight fabrics. The 'English Mohairs' collection would definitely be appropriate.

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8/. What makes a suit look worn out?

Take a close look at the suits in your wardrobe. Do they still have a shape or do they hang like an old sack? Are they starting to go shiny or threadbare in certain places?

These are the usual signs that a suit is worn out.

If any of your suits look like this they are probably more comfortable than career enhancing.
It is important to examine how suits wear out in order to avoid it happening.

When a soft fabric like wool is constantly rubbed against a hard surface, the fibres break and this shows visibly. Eventually a suit will just look too worn out to wear.

Consequently it's a good idea to look at the kind of seat you're sitting on. Many office chairs have hard polyester meshing upholstery, which isn't all that good for wool.

Remember that many people spend most of their day sitting on the same chair putting the trousers of a suit under extreme pressure.

If you take a cigarette break three times a day and you always rest on the wall outside your office, the seat of your trousers will wear through quickly. If this is the case it is advisable to order an extra pair of trousers to extend the life of your suit.

Try to avoid loading up the jacket of your bespoke suit with too much clutter. This pulls it out of shape and spoils the silhouette.

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9/. Why do suits go shiny?

That horrible shiny look that usually appears on the seat of a pair of trousers is caused by the dry cleaners pressing the garment too hot and drying out the natural oils inherent in wool. A bad dry cleaner can also turn your suit shiny by mixing the chemicals badly.

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10/. Where's the best place to get suits dry cleaned?

To ensure your suit is dry cleaned carefully we would recommend specialist dry cleaners as the garments are sponged and spot-cleaned individually.

Staff in these establishments are also well trained and know how to handle and press a suit correctly. We would recommend Lilliman and Cox, Lewis & Wayne or Jeeves of Belgravia. Call us and we'll provide you with their telephone numbers.

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11/. Is it acceptable to wear the same suit twice in one week?

There is nothing wrong with a suit being worn twice in the same week, especially if those days are a few days apart, but obviously the more often a suit is worn, the shorter its life span. Try to avoid wearing a suit two days in a row. If you own at least 5 suits and you rotate them properly, they should last a decent length of time.

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12/. How should I care for my suit when travelling?

When driving, always remove your jacket and hang it on the clothes peg above the rear passenger door, or lay it flat on the back seat of the car. Otherwise seat belts can wear a shiny band across the top of your suit.

When travelling overseas on a business trip a suit should be carried in its suit carrier and stored in the overhead compartment.

If you are going on a business trip that requires you to arrive wearing your suit, wear casual clothing on the plane and then change into your suit whilst waiting for your luggage. The suit will be far less creased than if you'd worn it on the plane.

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13/. How do you recognise a badly made suit?

A badly made suit - whether bespoke or off-the-peg will often crease in places where there shouldn't be any.

One quick way to spot a badly made suit is to have a look at the sleeves and the lapels. The top of the sleeve where it meets the shoulder is called the crown. A well tailored crown will sit up proudly at the head of the sleeve and have a generous roundness to it, whereas on a cheap suit the crowns tend to be rather flat and lifeless.

The finishing on the lapels can also be a giveaway as they tend to curl forward away from the body on a cheap suit.  Often they appear puckered and wrinkled as if shrunk in the wash. Any well-made bespoke suit will have lapels that lie flat and even. 
They should feature hand-stitching down the edges of the lapel but the stitches should not be too tight so as to pucker them.

What about the fit? If you have had a suit made, but it feels tight, don't accept it.  Ask your tailor to adjust it for you, and keep adjusting it until it's comfortable.

Look at the cut, does it actually flatter the wearer or just fit them?

Does the suit convey personality or is it just bland and shapeless?  Well made suits will be curved to flatter your shape and convey a defined silhouette.

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14/. What is the value of a personally tailored (semi bespoke) suit as opposed to an off the peg?

Off the peg suits are designed to suit as many potential customers as possible and are therefore very often faceless, generic, all-purpose and not closely fitting.

They are designed and chosen by retail buyers 18 months before they actually hit the shelves. These buyers have to try and predict what the fashion is going to be a year and-a-half before it happens. They are also more focused on profit margins and may go to Italy or even Israel to buy fabric direct from the mill.
In effect, this means that fabric used for off the peg suits (especially below the £500 mark) cannot be as high quality as choosing an English made piece of fabric and simply buying enough for one person, as a client of made to measure would.

Similarly the factory that the buyer chooses would have to be capable of churning out hundreds of off the peg suits a week in order to maximise profits. This means that they cannot afford to take the time or the effort needed to make a suit as well as it should be made.

Finally, in an off the peg suit your choices are limited. Whereas with a made to measure suit, obviously the styling and the fabric is up to you down to the last detail.

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15/. Do you do alterations?

We will alter garments that are not Jasper Littman suits however as our tailors are Savile Row trained; we are not the cheapest option for this. This service is only available to people that have actually bought a suit from us.

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