A custom made suit in London can cost anywhere between £400 for entry level to £10 000 for the very pinnacle of bespoke. The challenge is finding the sweet spot of price and quality.
We have divided pricing into 5 categories:
- Poor: £400 – £800: Typically custom suits in this range have a fused construction (glued), a base level asian made fabric and poor pattern tools that don’t allow for high quality fit as well as poorly trained fitters.
- Medium: £800-£1200: Typically you should be able to get a half canvas construction (half fused, half canvas), very entry level European fabric and a ok pattern with slightly increased fit tools compared to “poor”, fitter might have slightly more than 1-2 weeks training in using the pattern tools required to fit to your body.
- Premium: £1200 – £2000: This category can be murky as it contains some poor/medium operators that masquerade as premium operators but don’t have the quality and skill to participate in this category (Edit Suits). But in this price point you should see at a minimum a full canvas construction, a premium name brand mill & a high level pattern with experienced fitters using it (1-2 years experience and good training). Anglo Italian (£1970) & Casual Fitters (£1295) are both worth checking out at this price point.
- Premium Plus (£2000+): Usually brands that use a lot of hand work, have semi bespoke drafted patterns and are made in work rooms in Italy and the UK.
- Bespoke (£4000 +): True British bespoke; drafted, cut and made in a bespoke house’s workrooms by experienced craftsmen and women. Hard to distinguish the houses that actually do make like this as they use a lot used mixed brand and terms to muddy the waters and confuse consumers but they still exist and are worth finding if you have that kind of budget.
In conclusion the minimum that you should be spending is £1200 on a Made to Measure suit, anything less than that the craftsmanship, pattern quality and fitter expertise is simply not there in our view and it would be better to buy something high quality off the rack and get it adjusted.
Check out our guide to London tailors below:
