A Man’s First Suit

Getting Started with Full Custom Tailoring

Most people know that, for a woman, a little black dress is a closet-staple, but for a man, a full-custom suit is your calling card. A full-custom suit reflects your personality, sense of style, and is an initiation into manhood. But where do you start? What kinds of full-custom suits are there and what are the costs?

At what age should a man consider purchasing a bespoke suit?

When you’re truly ready to be a man. A man’s first full-custom suit that’s created for his body is an initiation process into full manhood. It represents the respect that he holds for himself and the responsibility that he takes for both his life and for those around him. For many men, their first full-custom suit is created for their wedding day, but we believe that you should get your first full-custom suit for your first job interview. It should be for that moment when you’re ready to say, “I’m here, I’m strong, I’m confident, and ready to add value to your company.”

Where To Start: Find the right tailor!

Buying a bespoke or made-to-measure suit is an investment, so naturally you want to feel confident that any issues or questions you may have will be handled by an honest, experienced, and skilled tailor. From the initial measurement intake to the final stages of your suit’s construction, you will have to meet with your tailor for a few fittings until you are pleased with the final garment. But your meeting doesn’t end there. You will have an ongoing relationship with your tailor for any new alterations, adjustments, or fittings throughout the duration of your suit’s life-cycle. This means that finding the right tailor is key, and the key elements of a good tailor include his willingness to always offer his professional advice or recommendations, styling, and fitting. Your tailor has to be your personal wardrobe stylist.

Bespoke v. Made-to-Measure (MTM)

Bespoke and Made-To-Measure suits are both options for full-custom suits. With any full-custom suit, you get to choose the fabric, pattern, lining, colors, thread, and even the buttons. It is custom-tailored to fit your body and fashion style, so you look and feel good every time that you put it on.

The difference between Bespoke and Made-To-Measure suits ultimately comes down to the process in which they are made.

A bespoke suit—which means “spoken for you”—is made just for you. It is made from scratch and is created with your specific measurements, specifications, and style in mind. At Franco Uomo, your Bespoke Suit San Jose is made on-premises at our store and takes 3-5 fittings to get it just right as we construct the suit around your body.

The Made-to-Measure suit is also a full-custom suit that is made to your specific specifications and measurements, but unlike a bespoke suit, it is constructed off-site and from a pre-existing base pattern. Once your suit arrives, you come in for a fitting and we go through an alteration process to make it perfectly fitted to your body.

Unlike most suit designers, the end-product of a Bespoke suit and a Made-To-Measure suit at Franco Uomo is virtually identical. With our master-tailor studio on-site and 30+ Point Measurement System, we have perfected the tailoring process to the point that our Made-To-Measure suits come out as perfectly constructed as a full Bespoke suit. The quality and fit is indistinguishable.

So why choose bespoke over Made-To-Measure? It is the experience of having the suit created around you through the multiple fittings that you get with Bespoke, and the exclusivity of knowing that your suit started with an original pattern for your body, which created the final perfectly-fitted suit that make the value of full bespoke.

The Cost: Worth Every Penny

When you hear the words “custom suit,” that automatically may trigger you to think that having a bespoke suit made for you will be pricey. The upfront cost may seem high—an average custom suit costs between $3,000-$5,000—but the reality is that many designer suit brands charge this much for their off-the-rack non-custom suits.

We recently had a gentleman come in with a picture of a $5k Tom Ford jacket that they didn’t have in his size. We were able to create a full-custom three-piece suit that matched the shawl lapel that he liked in the Tom Ford suit, for $4k. Not only did he get a custom-tailored version of the jacket AND two other pieces, but he saved $1k by coming to Franco Uomo.

Franco Uomo is also cost-effective compared to other equivalent custom-suit designer services. Brands like Kiton can charge upwards of $15k for a full-custom bespoke suit. At Franco Uomo, we can make you the same bespoke suit with the SAME DESIGNER FABRIC for a fraction of the cost.

What types of fabric does Franco Uomo use for its Bespoke and Made-to-Measure suits?

Franco Uomo uses the highest quality brand-name fabrics such as Ermenegildo Zegna, Loro Piana, Lanificio Cerruti, and Reda. We also offer custom patterns, in-house design and creation, and have a 4-6 week turnaround for Made-to-Measure suits and 6-8 week turnaround for Bespoke suits, which includes time for measurement, preliminary fittings, adjustments/alterations, and final fitting.

How much does a Franco Uomo Full-Custom, Made-To-Measure suit cost?

2-Piece Suits | Starting at $2,495

3-Piece Suits | Starting at $2,995

How much does a Franco Uomo Bespoke suit cost?

2-Piece Bespoke Suit | Starting at $3,995

3-Piece Bespoke Suit | Starting at $4,890

How does it feel when a man wears a full-custom, perfectly fitted suit for the first time?

After all the details of your suit are discussed during your consultation, and when you put that suit on for the first time—a suit created specifically for your sense of style and body type—you’ll feel like a million dollars. Putting on a custom suit will elevate your confidence and you’ll feel good wearing it. Every aspect of the suit is perfectly fitted to your body–not too tight, not too loose, just right. You’ll feel comfortable in your body and you’ll feel like the best version of yourself when you wear your custom suit.

Written By Sophia Papadopoulos