Every man should own at least one great suit. That sartorial commandment has been passed down for generations, but many of us have never had a custom suit made, and may wonder what to keep in mind when investing in a bespoke suit or tuxedo. Enter Alan David Custom. The family-run suitmaker has been creating fine American-made suits, tuxes and shirts since 1913. Located on Madison Avenue in midtown Manhattan, the dapper outfitters craft each individual piece with meticulous attention to detail, creating bespoke garments designed to fit flawlessly and enhance your silhouette with elegance and comfort. Here, ten essential suit-buying tips from ADC owner Alan Horowitz and his team of expert stylists.

 1. Never Get Measured By Your Salesperson

“Measuring and selling are two completely different skills, so always get measured by a tailor. You wouldn’t let the person giving you a test drive also run your credit score. It’s the same idea here.”

2. Ask For A Basted Fitting

“A basted fitting is what really differentiates a true bespoke from made-to-measure or made-to-order. Without a basted fitting, a suit can’t really be called a full custom. After a client’s measurements have been taken, a unique paper pattern is created. It’s from this pattern that the garment is carefully hand cut, assembled and temporarily hand stitched with white basting thread. At this point, the basted garment is ready for fitting.”

3. Buy From Well-Reviewed Suitmakers With Experience

“Do some research and look at online reviews before making a decision. Track record definitely matters, whether it’s years of experience or praised reviews. “

4. Your Suit Should Both Fit And Flatter You

“A custom garment shouldn’t just be about measurements, it should also enhance your body. Even if a suit technically fits, a trim cut on a heavyset build or a loose cut on a slimmer man won’t be flattering.”

5. Get A Second Pair Of Trousers

“Jackets last much longer than trousers as they wear much quicker. So a second pair of trousers can ensure your suit lasts much longer.”

6. Be Aware Of Button Stance

“If the top button is too high, it can accentuate the belly, and if it’s too low it can tend to look rather old-fashioned and unflattering. It should sit at the fullest part of the stomach.”

7. Sleeve Pitch Matters

“Everyone’s arm position is going to be slightly different so if the sleeve pitch doesn’t match, it’ll cause wrinkles near the bicep. If you’re looking at it from the side view, the sleeve line should fall cleanly from the shoulder to the cuff.”

8. Choose Tuxedo Fabric Wisely

“A tuxedo should never use the same cloth as a basic black suit, so you want to look for barathea weaves or blends with mohair for more structure, drape, and reduced wrinkling. Fabrics with mohair are great for tuxedos, they give a bit of a sheen but really hold the crease very well. But no more than 20% mohair, otherwise it’s too shiny.”

9. Consider Fabric Durability

“Not all fabrics that are good for trousers are also good for jackets. For example, faile cloth lacks body and volume for a jacket, but holds up well to the rigors of the trousers.”

10. Match Your Suit To The Occasion

“Your suit needs to match its purpose—whether it’s work, a wedding, or another special occasion.”

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If you feel like you haven’t quite gotten your bearings back yet as far as dressing properly is concerned, perhaps what you need is a new suit — and not just any off-the-rack suit, either. The Suitsupply Custom Made Program is the ideal way to really step out in style as winter draws to a close and spring beckons.

With nearly 40 stores across the United States, in hip locales from Miami Beach to Williamsburg (not to mention across the globe), opportunities abound to suit up properly in sharp style with Suitsupply.

The possibilities for finding your new favorite suit are nearly endless, as Maxim found out during an exclusive fitting and review at the company’s well-appointed Soho store in Manhattan.

The retailer has been known for its bold tailoring options and even more bold ad campaigns, but it’s not just all flash and no substance — more than 1,000 fine Italian fabrics are yours for the taking, and it’s perhaps best to go through the experience in a store itself.

The atmosphere at the Soho location — complete with a rooftop bar for happy hour mingling — is a fine fit for anyone who loves tailoring that blends the classic and the modern. This writer selected a navy tropical wool suit with a matching vest, but customization options go well beyond that.

Sip on a cold Heineken or your beverage of choice as Suitsupply’s experts measure and fit you to a T, guiding you through every step of the process, including fabric selection and a myriad other number of details.

Fancy side adjusters in place of belt loops? That’s an easy design touch at Suitsupply. Want to show off your sartorial smarts by adding detailed pick stitching to your lapels? Go for it. Prefer a more casual patch pocket design on your suit jacket? Of course, the world is your oyster with the Suitsupply Custom Made Program.

Suitsupply also takes care to walk its customers through the exacting steps that go into crafting a custom suit, including the finer points behind jacket construction (a jacket made with full-canvas horsehair construction forms to your body over time without being too restrictive, for instance).

Befitting a fine tailor — yet without the months-long process that goes into wildly expensive Saville Row suits, for example — Suitsupply is able to deliver a well-fitting suit just weeks after your first fitting. After a second fitting, any alterations are tackled in-house at Suitsupply.

Some small alterations can even be done while you wait, if simple enough — and while you wait, naturally, there’s plenty of opportunity to browse the retailer’s selection of finely crafted, frankly beautiful outerwear and sportswear (or snag a drink at the Soho location’s outdoor bar).

Through every step of the process, there’s no choice too bold, although we can’t help but sing the praises of a classic navy suit you can wear in multiple seasons.

You can even opt to add a waistcoat, which comes with the added personalization of selecting the fabric backing on your waistcoat (all the better to match with your suit jacket).

Add a cuff to your pant leg, input your initials for a custom interior jacket pocket monogram, and even throw in a custom shirt (starting from $129) if you so please.

With Suitsupply, it seems no personalized touches are too far out of line.

Even the button options deserve their own book, all the better to find the option that best blends with your handsome, newly tailored suit. No stone is left unturned, right down to the custom buttonhole stitching.

Custom Made suiting from the company starts at $599, a more than agreeable price for the experience you’re getting. Along the way, might we recommend throwing in a handsome tie and perhaps a pocket square? You’ll need to look your best for that spring or summer wedding, after all.

Better still, your size and fit measurements can be input via the company’s Size Passport option, making it easy to go through the process online if you so choose.

But these days, we say there’s nothing like getting reacquainted with razor-sharp tailoring and dressy occasions then going through the Custom Made experience in person.

Black Lapel will keep you looking sharp with its rough and ready new made-to-measure “Traveler Suit.”

Bespoke suits look sharp but typically lack in functionality. Upending that notion is Black Lapel, the menswear e-commerce brand that delivers impeccably tailored yet practical bespoke suits to your doorstep.

Its latest offering is the aptly-named Traveler Suit, which is made for jet setters that still want to dress to kill on the plane or when catching a train.

High twist yarn performance wool lends it wrinkle-resistance, so it will hold up on long flights overseas and even during longer nights out on the town.

Specially formulated woven fabric ensures breathability and is also liquid-repellent, warding of spills, stains and sweat. Antimicrobial properties are an added bonus, keeping you smelling fresh even if you are wearing it for a second or third day in a row.

Stash your wallet or passport in its easy-access pocket and valuables in its hidden zipper component. A secure sunglasses loop will hold your shades if you are traveling to sunnier climes.

While these suits are made with dashing world travelers in mind, really… anyone who likes to avoid a trip to the dry cleaners will benefit. Brick-and-mortar shops have similar travel-ready jackets, but thankfully there’s no need to schlep to a lame department store for something off the rack.

Founded in 2012 by former finance bros Derek Tian and Warren Liao, Black Lapel has cut out the middleman to make bespoke suiting more accessible.

Here is how it’s done: enter your measurements on the Black Lapel website and take advantage of its many customization options. The number of buttons, lapel type, vents, pockets and inner lining can all be altered per your personal preferences. You can even have a sleeve monogrammed.

A proprietary algorithm as well as an in-house team will catch any mistakes you (or your tailor) might have made while measuring.

If for any reason the suit does not fit like a glove once it is shipped in three to four weeks, you can have it altered at a local tailor, and Black Lapel will cover the costs.

“After the suit arrives, we’ll still proactively work with them to look at the fit, and so we’ll offer a second opinion service, and usually we’ll catch things that the customers will even miss,” co-founder Derek Tian said in an interview with Bloomberg Markets.

“We’ll say, ‘Hey, tweak your sleeves a little bit, or maybe shorten your hems if you want less of a break.’”

Tailoring traditionalists can always stop by its showroom in New York City for a proper fitting, but there is ultimately no need.

For bespoke novices, Black Lapel even has a style journal on its website, The Compass, with advice on how to maximize your new suit.

Available in navy and gray, the Traveler Suit is now available at Black Lapel starting at $799.

A man’s first trip to Savile Row is akin to a second baptism—a rite of passage into the world of bespoke tailoring. 

The process is no less exacting than it was when Henry Poole & Co. first set up shop on the unassuming London street in 1846. Tailors often require that clients sit through multiple fittings, fabrics are cut and stitched by hand for up to 12 weeks, and three-piece suits typically cost more than $5,000. No client—not a Hollywood movie star or a member of the British nobility—is exempt from these customs.

The immediacy of a ready-to-wear lounge coat may seem more appealing (and less intimidating), but men of taste continue to make the pilgrimage to the Row, and with good reason: The result is an impeccably bespoke suit that flatters a man’s build at every inch and instills in him a unique sense of confidence and stature.

Savile Row may be just under a quarter mile long, but its history is varied and its options are many. Here, its five essential tailors:

Henry Poole & Co.—No. 15 Savile Row

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The “founder of Savile Row” and the originator of the modern dinner jacket, Henry Poole still hews closely to tradition. Ready-to-wear and made-to-measure suiting is verboten in this strictly bespoke tailoring house. A modest storefront belies an impressive selection of over 6,000 fine fabrics and a small army of around 30 of the world’s best tailors toiling away in the basement. They sew a sense of history into every seam.

Gieves & Hawkes—No. 1 Savile Row

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Housed in a stately white building on the corner of Savile Row and Vigo Street, Gieves & Hawkes is the first shop many passersby notice. While the tailoring house has more than 200 years of experience crafting bespoke suits, it has since incorporated ready-to-wear clothing and accessories. A diversified repertoire has not hurt business: Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Michael Jackson, and David Beckham have all been clients.

Chittleborough & Morgan—No. 12 Savile Row

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London still swings in the exuberant suits of Chittleborough & Morgan, founded in 1981. Cofounders Roy Chittleborough and Joseph Morgan previously worked in the bygone tailoring house Nutters of Savile Row in the 1960s and ’70s, when it revolutionized British sensibility with broad lapels, high-waisted trousers, and eccentric designs. Chittleborough & Morgan is for men who aspire to dress like John Lennon rather than Beau Brummell.

Richard James—No. 29 Savile Row

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Another wave of modernization hit in 1992, when tailor Richard James introduced slimmer silhouettes and brighter colors to the Row. His neighbors gave him a lukewarm welcome at the start, but James has since been credited with revitalizing British tailoring. His shop on Savile Row was fully refurbished in 2013, and the glass and steel storefront stands apart from its stark brick surroundings.

Cad & The Dandy—No. 13 Savile Row

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The youngest tailor on Savile Row, Cad & The Dandy, generally offers its most attainable prices. In fact, a fully handmade suit starts at just over $1,300. Founded in 2008 by two laid-off London bankers, Cad & The Dandy is celebrated for the quality of its fabrics, its vast customization options, and an utter lack of pretense. It may be a controversial choice among tailoring purists, but its business is now the largest on Savile Row.

This article appears in the January/February issue of Maxim. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an issue.

As the resident millennial of my workplace, I have never fully grasped the importance of wearing a suit and tie. Sure, I notice the air of authority a well-tailored suit lends my superiors, but I’m at the bottom of the totem pole and won’t look any more important in jacket from Savile Row than one from Champion.

Instead, I typically schlep out of bed 30 minutes before I have to catch my train, throw on some “edgy” hoodie from Topman, jeans and Stan Smiths and then pretend I’m a relatively respectable member of society. Ever since Mark Zuckerberg and his hoodie-wearing Silicon Valley ilk made athleisure the dress code of the new millennium, I’ve placed a premium on comfort above all else.

That all changed when I found on the backlogs of my work email an enticing offer from BookATailor, a so-called “innovative pioneer in custom bespoke men’s and women’s wear.”

The young company’s promise to me was simple: If I was willing to hang up my monochromatic jacket collection, they’d supply me with any bespoke suit of my desires. One of its resident “Smart Tailors” would simply swing by my office and walk me through its painless four-step tailoring process.

The process is described on its website as so:

1. Schedule an appointment online to visit a local showroom or request a Smart Tailor to come to you.

2. Get measured and build your very own BookATailor bespoke profile. Your measurements will be saved on file for future orders.

3. Choose your fabrics and styling options (design your bespoke clothes).

4. Your custom clothing will be ready in 4 weeks.

I was fortunate to snare an appointment with founder and CEO Jacomo Hakim, a former DJ (what else?) who decided to shake up the suit game. Sure, putting on laser shows and spinning records at 1 Oak is far from a Savile Row education, but Jacomo understands millennial men. They want a sharp-looking suit without all the fuss.

The whole process is vertically integrated: The product is made by BookATailor at its own production facility and sold directly to the consumer. Your standard bespoke suit can take months to piece together and can cost upwards of $5,000.

BookATailor’s clientele speaks volumes about its success. When President Trump whipped his beleaguered White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer into shape, he rang up Jacomo to tailor him a fresh suit, and fast. BookATailor is also a favorite of the FOX newsroom, whose anchors favor more traditional cuts and have a thin patience for bullshit.

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He even gave one of the kids from Stranger Things, Caleb McLaughlin, a more grown-up look for the SAG Awards. 

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Still, I wanted to try something bold. Summer was fast approaching, and the allure of sipping rosé in the Hamptons in a form-fitting summer suit was all too real. When Jacomo swung by the Maxim headquarters, we hatched a plan: he would measure me up, run through fabric and cut options on the BookATailor website and then take care of the rest. He promised me a four-week turnaround time and said I could simply book a time to pick it up at one of his New York showrooms.

All this, complete with a custom and monogrammed shirt, came at the price of just $449, an investment for a penniless writer no doubt, but a steal considering the competition. Given that my wardrobe was a pitiable mix of threadbare college T-shirts and $20 discount jeans, Jacomo took mercy on my sartorial destitution and provided the suit free of charge. “Welcome to #BespokeLife,” he told me I.R.L. at the end of my session.

The results speak for themselves, and the Hamptons champagne party invites have followed suit. One of these days, I may muster the courage to actually wear the darn thing to work, and show my well-attired, high-powered Gen-X bosses I, too, can play their game.

Here is me before—as a disreputable youth—and after—as a dashing young man ready for horse races and caviar.

My story is one of many. The success of BookATailor heralds a greater shift in the bespoke tailoring market, where start-ups are cropping up to expedite the process. We millennial men are far too occupied with our round-the-clock work culture and Internet memes to sit through the usual process. Knot Standard, a higher-priced option, has become one of America’s fastest growing companies, and labels like Suitsupply, Hugh & Crye and The Black Tux are joining its ranks. 

Soon, making the pilgrimage to Savile Row and shelling out one’s life savings for a respectable suit will be a forgotten tradition of a bygone era.

Maxim readers can get on the action with a free custom shirt. Just visit the website here, have your measurements ready and BookATailor will handle the rest. 

A bespoke suit is a must for any man of status, but not all of us are so keen to make the schlep over to London’s Savile Row. What’s more, the experience of hunting for a great custom suit, blazer or tuxedo can be confusing and daunting to tailoring novices.

But a relatively new company, Knot Standard (founded in 2010), speaks to the average suit shopper more on his level, allowing him to customize a suit with with an impressive range of fabrics and styles and an array of button, pocket, lapel and stitching options, all available entirely online.

Just check out some of their select fabrics and cuts in the gallery below:

Launched by former finance-types John Ballay and Matt Mueller, the New York-based Knot Standard intended to fill a dearth in bespoke suiting in the United States, after the founders noticed their American colleagues in Dubai weren’t dressing up to snuff at international business meetings and didn’t have the desire to seek out a traditional tailor.

“In the U.S., we just didn’t have anything available that was well-fitting. All the customizable options in the United States were 1,500 bucks and up—and it took eight weeks,” Ballay told Inc. magazine, which described Knot Standard as “one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.”

“The whole process was relegated to an age-old system: an old tailor on Madison Avenue or downtown Nashville or uptown New Orleans,” Ballay said.”They made it in the back of the shops. But what about those who didn’t even have those options?”

The suits are still expensive, in the thousand and two-thousand range, but that’s appreciably less than the usual three to five grand, and the process has been remarkably expedited: shoppers just enter their measurements online and pick and choose fabrics as they like.

Here are some end results:

Still, Knot Standard has incorporated brick-and-mortar showrooms into their model, where specialists are on standby to help men create the best suit for them. There are now outposts in Washington, Dubai, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Chicago and San Francisco in addition to a New York City flagship store.

Remarkably, the fashion world has welcomed the disruption, and Knot Standard has become a new standard in the suit game. The company just recently opened a 125-square-foot showroom in New York’s Bloomingdales flagship, a cutting-edge new clothing experience unlike any in a traditional store or showroom.

With assistance of stylists, shoppers can digitally design and visualize custom garments on large in-store touchscreens or on any iPad they bring along with them. From there, selections are applied to 3D models on the big screen, helping men get a better look at the end result.

“Our store-in-store shop within Bloomingdale’s represents a milestone within the custom clothing industry,” John Ballay said in a statement. “For the first time, 3D technology brings the customer experience above and beyond the traditional tailor fabric swatch books, and now allows clients to visualize full products before buying.”

“The level of customization our proprietary technology enables is exponentially higher than made-to-measure,” Matt Mueller added. “From the shape of the lapel to the lining choice to the color of the button hole thread, the customer for the first time can become the designer with 100% creative control.”

For guys who don’t look as ripped as Matt Bomer with their shirt off, there’s another option: Looking as sharp as theMagic Mike XXL actor with a suit on. In a feat that likely required considerably fewer sit ups than his  on-screen gig as a greased-up stripper, Bomer fronts the new Made-to-Measure campaign from Giorgio Armani.

The Texas native, who made it big on shows like White Collar and the TV movie The Normal Heart, stars alongside two other stars known for their work on the small screen: Downton Abbey’s dapper Dan Stevens and Chinese-born Chen Kun of “Love Story in Shanghai”  shot by John Balsom. 

It was sort of a full-circle deal for Bomer. “The first tuxedo I ever purchased was Armani,” he said. “To me, the name has always been synonymous with class, sophistication and style.”

It’s like an eight-pack, except it’s clothes.

Take a look at the campaign below.

For a Californian, Johnathan Behr is a traditionalist. That’s why he chose to model his eponymous shop in Los Angeles on Savile Row’s oldest institutions and that’s why suntanned men who want a suit – and want it made right – know where to find him. Still, Behr currently finds himself on the cultural cultural edge. He’s the guy behind the scene-stealing suits in 50 Shades of Grey(well, the guy behind costume designer Mark Bridges anyway), a movie that will make a silly amount of money and, hopefully, teach Americans a bit more about serious suiting.

MAXIM talked to Behr about how he got involved in the project and the next generation of power suits.

Whatever else it might be about, 50 Shades is about power. What is a modern power suit?


A modern power suit is dark or charcoal or navy, probably a solid if it isn’t windowpane, and the silhouette is body conscious without added shoulders. Jackets are just long enough to cover the butt. It used to be all about Armani, but those suits were huge so they don’t look right anymore. I think you’ve got to think mid-sixties James Bond – it’s almost a mod cut.

And in order to get the right look you have to get the suit really tailored to your body. If you want to have a modern looking suit you’ve got to have it made.

What do you think this particular look evolved from?


A lot of it come from Mad Men. They have a more minimalist look and they brought back sharkskin, which had disappeared, but looks totally great.

Doublebreasted?


Doublebreasted is rare in L.A. It was the powersuit of the eighties, but it’s only a really sophisticated customer that gets one today. He probably owns a dozen single-breasted suits already. They actually had me make two double-breasted suits for the film, but then the powers that be decided against them and I had to remake them as single breasted. As you can image, it wasn’t easy.

Let’s talk about the process of making suits for a massive blockbuster. How did they find you?


In Los Angeles, I have a reputation for operating the best – and maybe only – bespoke tailoring shop. We do everything after multiple sittings and have modeled ourselves on a Savile Row shop. I design the clothes, but I have a team of tailors on site. But it wasn’t just reputation, I have this key referral. Jamie Bryant, the costume designer on Mad Men has said things about me to the guys from that show, from Radiohead, and to Flea and Jack White. I guess Mark Bridges contacted her and she told him to call me.

What did he say when he got in touch?


He was really vague. He just said we had this short window of time. He came in and was looking and touching. He like suits with a soft, luxuriant fell. He said, ‘We have an actor coming in from London and we need something in 10 days.’ We always do multiple fittings – sometimes four – so I ask him what the movie is and he says it’s called The Adventure of Max and Banks. I didn’t know that was code.

You just thought it was another movie with a rich male character.


I get costume designers rushing me all the time. I didn’t know how big a deal this was.

You must have been pumped. What was it like to work with soon-to-be megastar Jamie Dornan?


Jamie was just a sweetheart and humble and nice and I could just tell he was going to be huge. He’s got this great face. He’s a handsome guy. But what happened was they took him up to Vancouver and put him in a gym four hours a day lifting weights. I had to have a tailor make alterations after the fact because he put on muscle mass in his back and arms. You can’t really do that if you want a modern, custom suit.