The point at which to go bespoke

[Creeping Past]

I've been thinking about going bespoke, recently, as I've lost weight over the past few months and now I'm between sizes.

Similarly, I've got one foot bigger than the other (one was always bigger, but broken bones have increased its size).*

Good repro and vintage-style clothing is often high-priced anyway, so I think I might have reached the point at which I go bespoke and order, for starters, a plain jacket, a pair of trousers and a pair of shoes.

What's the point at which other FLers have decided to go bespoke? I guess I'm most interested to see how many of us have been drawn down this route primarily because of our weight, size or shape rather than in a search for precise details of cut and fabric, etc.

CP

* Yes, I do answer to the name of "Lucky"

 

[H.Johnson]

I buy bespoke clothing (usually suits) when I'm in the Orient (usually Kowloon), mainly because I can get tailors to copy vintage styles (usually tropical suits) that are hard to find. They are cheap and if they aren't exactly as I want them I don't buy them.
Is the size really an issue, unless you have unusual proportions? I tend to find there is such a wide variation in a single size between manufacturers and even between individual examples of garments that you can find an 'off the peg' to fit.

 

[Creeping Past]

Sizing is more of an annoyance than an impediment to buying. The main difficulty is that armholes tend to be large, leading to a bulky upper torso after the sides of a jacket are taken in so that it fits round the middle. Trousers are not so much of a problem (but if I'm getting a jacket made, I'll have some trousers, too).

I've tried off-the-peg jackets from a wide variety of retailers, from Primark to Cordings, and many between, below and above those marks. None fit my current shape as well as I'd like.

I've never been between sizes before, so this is a new one on me. Perhaps I should try to lose some more weight and get into the 44" bracket. But I go with the flow as far as weight's concerned and this is where I've got to naturally, so I'm happy to stay here.

 

[Tomasso]

I've been going MTM/bespoke for suits, sportcoats and shirts all my adult life due to a 10" drop (difference between chest and waist) . Even if I could find a tailor to competently re-cut trousers (shakeshead ) and clean up all that excess fabric on the jackets, the added cost will bring me to the MTM price-point anyway. I get a good amount of my odd trousers and most all my shoes OTR.

 

[norton]

I've been going MTM/bespoke for suits, sportcoats and shirts all my adult life due to a 10" drop (difference between chest and waist) . Even if I could find a tailor to competently re-cut trousers (shakeshead ) and clean up all that excess fabric on the jackets, the added cost will bring me to the MTM price-point anyway. I get a good amount of my odd trousers and most all my shoes OTR.

I've been buying MTM for the last couple years for the same reason, but I even buy my odd trousers MTM. Once you try made to measure nothing else feels right and you get the clothing and fabrics exactly how you want them. I use MyTailor.com and and I think that the higher price is well justified by the quality and durability of the clothes.

I don't buy shoes bespoke. I take a B width and most of my shoes are Alden's that I have to wait for the factory to make, nobody stocks them.