Made to Measure, Measured to You

The art of tailoring is something every man should have at least a slight understanding of — whether it’s visiting a tailor to have a button reinforced, pants hemmed, or the sleeves on a jacket shortened. Having something made to fit your exact shape does wonders. One of the suiting options we offer in-store is our Made to Measure program.

A made-to-measure (MTM) suit starts with a standard base pattern and is then customized to your body measurements and style preferences before it’s made. According to our flagship Chicago store manager and tailor, Bayani Seldera, tailoring matters because people should understand why they should value their wardrobe. 

“If something fits right, it can add to their self-esteem or the way they enjoy their own appearance,” Seldera says.

For Seldera, tailoring is personal. “I grew up around my grandmother’s tailor shop. When she immigrated to the U.S. after World War II and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, she was a tailor. That’s how she paid her way through her doctoral program — always doing alterations.” From a young age, he respected the trade and craftsmanship of being a tailor, and he saw how it could sharpen both a suit and someone’s confidence.

Our made-to-measure program starts at $829 and typically spans a two-month window to ensure an ideal fit. “When you’re doing a painting, you don’t stop just because the whole canvas is covered in paint. You keep going until it’s finished,” Seldera says, alluding to the back-and-forth process of perfecting a suit. 

The process is also something of an intimate, rapport-building exercise. “I like to tell people it’s like getting a haircut or a tattoo — you’re probably going to go to that same person forever.”

Beyond talking about our made-to-measure program, we also spoke with Bayani about all aspects of tailoring: what adjustments can be made to off-the-rack suits, how many fittings to expect, and some key dos and don’ts when requesting alterations.

Alterations on Off-the-Rack Suits:

The Tie Bar: What adjustments can you realistically make to an off-the-rack suit?

Bayani Seldera: I mean, anywhere there’s a seam on something, you can cut it to be smaller, right? On any garment that exists in the world, whether it makes sense or not, is another question. For example, let’s take you. I don’t know if you have suits, but I know you probably have jeans, right?

Your jeans have seams on the outside of the legs, on the inside, and in the middle—front and back. Theoretically, you could tailor any of those seams to make them smaller or even alter the shape — say, zigzag — if, for example, you had wide hips but narrow thighs and a small waist.

The same goes for a suit. On an off-the-rack suit, you could theoretically make almost any adjustment you need. The main limitations come from design elements like button placement. If you make the jacket shorter, the buttons may look like they sit too low. If you take it in too much, the pockets could end up uncomfortably close to the back of the jacket.

It’s similar with pants. You can make them narrower, but that could affect pocket placement, or the zipper might end up too long for the altered fit.

TTB: Which areas are the hardest to fix on a ready-to-wear jacket? 

BS: When you’re buying any suit, there’s no real difference between a custom jacket and a ready-to-wear jacket in terms of tailoring. So, I’ll just talk about jackets — or suits in general — because tailoring doesn’t really matter one way or the other. It’s more about how you make it.

When you tailor any jacket, it’s inadvisable to make changes to the chest area. When you’re talking to a customer, you tell them not to focus on the waistline of the jacket, but rather from the sternum up. Anything from the sternum line up is best left alone.

Think of it like the frame of a car: when you try to tailor from the sternum up, you’re essentially trying to change the shape of the car itself. It doesn’t make sense. That’s what gives the jacket its identity, its structure.

You can’t cut the roof off a house and still expect it to be the same house. Everything — the air flow, the support, the overall integrity — is built around the way that roof is shaped. The same logic applies to a suit jacket: you really shouldn’t be trying to alter that upper structure.

TTB: Would shortening the jacket throw off the pocket placement or overall balance?

Absolutely it would. It would tear up the whole thing. The interior pieces are called pocket bags. Once you start cutting into the pocket bags, that’s when you get into the inadvisable areas of tailoring. Theoretically, you could cut a jacket down — up to, I don’t know…I’d recommend not doing it at all, but if you had to, maybe a max of half an inch. I wouldn’t recommend going beyond that.

The Made-to-Measure Process:

TTB: How does the made-to-measure process work—from measurement to final fitting?

BS: Everyone’s different—it depends on the client’s needs. We generally promise suits or garments in about eight weeks, though it can take longer or be shorter. That timeline is from the moment you pay for the garment to the moment you leave with it.

If someone needs to come in a couple of times to make sure we’re the right fit for them, that can add to the process. It also depends on where the factory is in the manufacturing cycle, since they ship in batches, and that timing can affect delivery as well. The urgency of when they need it plays a role, too.

We also have a couple of rush options we can offer. So, it’s a bit of a toss-up, but usually we tell customers eight weeks from purchase to pickup.

TTB: Do you cut for how someone stands and moves (posture and gait), or strictly based on measurements? 

Those two things go hand in hand. There’s not really a “right” answer. Everyone’s cut differently, right? I mean, for example, we don’t make suits for servers — like someone who works in a restaurant. A server needs to be able to lift trays, so they’d need extra room in the arms. That’s part of why our custom suits aren’t designed for servers. They’d probably buy a uniform-style suit that’s already cut to allow that kind of movement.

But if we have another client who says, “During my first dance with my future wife, I want to be able to lift her,” then I’m like, “Okay, well, you can’t have a super-tight suit if you want to lift your wife.”

TTB: How many fittings should someone expect? 

BS: At a minimum, we say three. Consider the first fitting: we design, take all the measurements, and figure out what’s going to fit you best. That’s one fitting.

Then, another fitting is when we get it here and try it on. We expect minor adjustments, small things. You could even leave with it at that second fitting. But, you know, we’re artists. We want to hone our craft and make sure everything’s perfect. When you’re doing a painting, you don’t stop just because the whole canvas is covered in paint. You keep going until it’s finished. That’s what the second fitting is usually about.

The third fitting is when they pick it up, or if they want to make other adjustments. If they say, “Okay, I know you took it in, but could you take it in a little bit more in the leg?”—that’s when we get into discussions like, “Yes, but should we?” That third one is more of a negotiation: “Okay, I know you said you wanted it tighter, but really, that doesn’t make sense.”

TTB: Would you say the made-to-measure process is as much about building rapport as it is about tailoring the perfect fit?

BS: Absolutely. Okay — fitting takes three hours. I mean, it used to be that all guys got custom clothes. Like, way back in the day. And a lot of people still do get all-custom fits. In those situations, you spend the whole day with your tailor. You get lunch, you get dinner, you do fittings, you talk about, you know, “Can you believe the Cubs lost again?” — blah, blah, blah — and then you’re like, “Let’s go get lunch. Let’s have a drink. I’m kind of tired; let’s have a cigar.” Then you go back, and you’re like, “Okay, well, I was just thinking about it: you need these jeans, you need this suit, and you know, it would be beneficial if you also got this overcoat, right?”

It’s really like… I don’t know, I like to tell people it’s like getting a haircut or a tattoo. You’re probably going to go to that same person forever, because you’re kind of making a lifetime commitment once you get a custom suit. It’s so intimate that you build a relationship with the person fitting you. I text my clients. We talk casually, socially; we follow each other on Instagram.

Personal Experience and Philosophy

TTB: What’s your experience been like in tailoring?

BS: When my grandmother immigrated to the U.S. after World War II and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, she was a tailor. That’s how she paid her way through her doctoral program, always doing alterations. I grew up around her tailor shop, so this has always been part of my life. I think it would be a disservice to her legacy if I didn’t participate in it, because she worked very hard, and everyone in my family has always appreciated both the art and the labor of tailoring.

It’s unlike what most people imagine when they think of clothing at this level — it’s very much a trade. People don’t always consider it a trade, but it’s close, and there’s a lot of honor and respect in that. I’ve been fitting suits since I was 18. I have a degree in fashion design, and it’s now been 11 years since I started fitting suits.

TTB: Why should men understand the art of tailoring? 

BS: It’s important because people should understand why they should value their wardrobe. 

It’s important to see how, if something fits right, it can add to their self-esteem or the way they enjoy their own appearance. Because, like, there’s a saying in the industry that your suit should fit like you’re putting on a suit of armor. It should be perfect — like it was made for you — and it should feel like you just put on your armor for battle. That’s a saying you hear all across the industry, and people believe it.

But that belief is fading, because suits often don’t fit right anymore. You go to stores and they’re like, “Oh, can you do backflips in your suit?” Well, if it fits right, I probably don’t need to do a backflip. Honestly, I have several custom suits in my wardrobe, and while I don’t know if I could do a front flip, I could probably pull one off if I had to.

The point is, people should experience the process of getting something custom-made for them — whether it’s a pair of pants, a jacket, or even just a shirt — because it teaches them how to value their appearance in a way most people don’t really think about anymore.