Indochino Review #4
I could not pass this suit up when it was offered on Indochino not only because of the pattern but they were giving two free shirts away with the purchase. I jumped in and bought the Subtle Blue Check suit and got an e-mail shortly after ordering that they had already ran out of the fabric but had an identical fabric but with a light pink overcheck. I agreed and the suit was cut and sent in a matter of weeks. When it arrived I was very suprised at how close the cut was this time. I needed no alterations on the pants and only a slight taper on the waist. Everything else feels so perfect. Actually, it is by far the BEST fitting suit in my arsenal. No tugging, no tightness, yet everything lays perfectly on my body. I cross referenced the pattern with my copy of DRESSING THE MAN and found out the fabric is BLACK AND WHITE PLAID IN TROPICAL WEIGHT WITH PINK OVERCHECK. Take a look at the photos below for the final results. Pictured in the photo as well is one of the free shirts they sent me.
Indochino Suit - $400 after tailoring
Back View
For this suit did you use the measuring techniques mentioned in the “Indochino Measurement Tips” post?
Hi Dave,
That is correct!
Best,
Dennis
That’s a great looking suit.
Thank you, Ron. All of these suits look so much better in real life. I hope you take the plunge and get one for yourself.
Best,
Dennis Cahlo
Ordered last night and it was sent to the tailor today.
I got the light gray three piece (even though I will never wear the vest), a black cotton, and three shirts. Based on how these fit I will be coming back for a navy or navy cotton and and a charcoal.
The customer service so far is EXCELLENT. Cant wait for these to get shipped over to me!
Let me know how everything turns out.
All the best,
Dennis Cahlo
Got the suit early last week (well before the deadline).
Fit me perfectly. Tailor only had to hem the sleeves and pants. I ordered the blue pick stitch last night, hope it comes out just as good.
FYI I canceled the black cotton suit, because I found some nice colorways at H&M and picked up two cotton suits for less than one cotton suit at Indochino.
Great experience. I almost wish I could keep Indochino as a secret!
That’s awesome, Amir. I’m s glad you are satisfied! Did you end up using my measurement tips or did you give them your actuals?
All the best,
Dennis
I split the baby. I reduced certain measurements by an inch or two. It worked perfect.
I am now compulsively checking Indochino’s website every morning to see if any new suits have been added.
I am so happy I took a chance on them, was hesitant at first but am VERY satisfied with the results.
Fantastic! Can you post a link to photos of your suit if possible? It would be great for my readers to see.
I’m so happy you are satisfied with them.
All the best,
Dennis
Sure. I have ordered (and received) the light grey three piece.
I have also ordered the blue pick stitch and dark chocolate brown.
I want a nice charcoal suit also. I can’t decide between the “charcoal” or “gunmetal grey.” Do you have an opinion on the matter?
I will order it with hacking (slanted) pockets and also add an extra waist (ticket) pocket. I think that would add just enough spice to a plain dark suit to make it fashion forward.
Any thoughts?
If you want to get a charcoal suit from them, I suggest the CHARCOAL PERFORMANCE SUIT. I own one and absolutely love it.
All the best,
Dennis Cahlo
I wanted a performance suit but am worried that it won’t work well at my job. The dress code is business casual, but people seem to be more business formal, and I think I need to stick with wool.
It was the performance suits that first got me interested in Indochino though, and sooner or later I will pick up a performance, but right now I need to replenish my work wardrobe.
i just had a look at the pictures of your indochino suit. what do you think about the shoulder line/silhouette being so wavy? shouldn’t the shoulder be neat, meaning straight and uninterrupted from the collar down the shoulders to the sleeve attachment seam? in your picture it looks quite untidy to me.
i just ordered a suit from indochino myself and have to say to i do not appreciate the fit in the shoulders at all (actually, i had it already remade once). the shoulder padding extends about a half inch beyond my shoulders and the sleeve does not accommodate my deltoids on the left (?) sleeve. it is basically too tight there. if i had square shoulders that might not be a problem.
what cut is indochino going for? i expected some italian cut with natural shoulders. what i got so far is a trimmed suit hybrid with rather english shoulders (considering that i had an .5″ overhang on both jackets i assume that they are going for the boxy shoulders look) with the possible intention to create a straight line down the sleeve.
do you feel that indochino is really using only minimal padding? i think that the padding around the sleeve attachment seam is excessive and the shoulder construction sloppy.
the jacket shoulders look fine on a hanger, though.
would love to hear your thoughts on this matter.
cheers!
Hey Martin,
Thanks for the comment.
You know, I never noticed the shoulders being wavy until you mentioned it. I just tried the jacket on and on this particular suit there is a minimal amount of padding. For some reason, though, the photo seems to accentuate the wave more than in real life. I just looked at myself in the mirror with the jacket on and it looked a lot less wavy than in the photo. I will, however, consult with my tailor on this. What’s strange, though, is that out of all my Indochino suits it’s this one that gets the most compliments even from strangers.
On the suit pictured the sleeve attachment is totally fine and not sloppy at all.
On the tuxedo and the other suits I had made from Indochino there is a sufficient amount of padding that do not cause any ripples or waves. Which suit did you order?
As far as what Indochino is going for in terms of cut I do think it is more of a blend of English as well as European as you mentioned.
All the best,
Dennis Cahlo
hello dennis,
i am glad to hear back from you. feeling quite left alone on this matter. indochino seems to get great reviews and i am left wondering “what is my problem?”.
i ordered the 3-piece charcoal suit. the first round was awful, most likely due to some lax measurements on my side. the second one looks much better but it couldn’t really get worse if you know what i mean. so far i can live with the second pair of pants, shirt, and vest.
i would love to hear what your tailor has to say about the shoulder line. my tailor has been in the business for a couple decades but not necessarily in men’s dress wear. nevertheless, she is great and takes a lot of time to discuss the fit of my garments. having said that, she might not be the definite authority on men’s dress wear matters (compared to a specialized and experienced nyc tailor i mean).
i talked to her today. she steamed the shoulders a bit to see if the lumps/waves might be a result of the shipping. that didn’t help. she also mentioned that the jacket looks fine on the hanger. does that possibly tell you something?
not sure what to do about it. explaining my issues and asking for a remake would always be possible but what if that’s the look of indochino? after all, the wavy shoulder like seems to show up in the pictures on the web site. for instance, the morning coat suit: http://www.indochino.com/product/Morning_Coat_Suit.html. overall, is looks very nice but isn’t the shoulder line terrible?
cheers!
by the way, what do you think about the picture of the morning
Hi Again Martin,
While I think it is not a deal breaker for me, I can see your point about the shoulders. My theory concurs with your own that there may not be enough padding in there.
If there is one thing I have learned it is that the people at Indochino are always happy to receive suggestions and feedback concerning their product. Try contacting their customer service and ask them to forward your inquiry to Kyle. I’m sure you will get a very friendly and thankful response.
All the best,
Dennis Cahlo
hello dennis,
thanks again for your response.
i am quite happy with the indochino costumer service even though communication is limited to one e-mail per night. let’s see if i get a response tonight. i have yet to make up my mind about the wavy shoulder line and whether i can/want to live with it. i am curious what the costumer service will have to say about it. i just sent them another long, long e-mail and asked if my message could be forwarded to kyle vucho (as you suggested).
after some research today i also realized that i would like an jacket that is less structured than the indochino standard shoulder. something that gives me a natural shoulder will a low-bulk sleevehead and little break between the sleevehead and the shoulder. not sure if indochino can accommodate such wishes.
boy, what a learning experience. would i have known more about mtm and shoulder construction before i ordered my suit i might have saved myself and indochino a lot of headaches.
hoping for a happy end for sure!
cheers!
I am wondering if any of you guys ever received an answer regarding the shoulder matter.
As I am really picking about the shoulderline of my suits, and considering the ones shown on the Indochino site to be rather horrible it is surely a dealbreaker for me…
But being in the market for a few affordable MTM suits, I would really like to know if they can do anything about it.
Best wishes,
DJ
Hey DJ,
Typically Indochino does SOFT SHOULDER tailoring. I can’t really speak for them in terms of if they can fix it for you, though. What region of the states do you live in?
You may be able to have a good tailor fix the shoulders if you don’t like them. Other than that, if you want to search my archives I have a bunch of Indochino suits in my wardrobe that I’ve featured on this blog. Hopefully, those will help.
Have a good one!
Dennis
hello dj,
all i can tell you is that i returned my two suits for a refund. reflecting on the whole experience with indochino, i came to realize that the shoulder is fine (in terms of style, that is, structured versus less-structured) but not acceptable to me in terms of quality of construction and especially sewing.
i had the chance to establish a good relationship with an experienced bespoke tailor in the area as i was seeking for advice on the indochino suits. he is a great, kind guy and he earned my trust throughout the various consultations. he shared his opinion on the shoulder construction with me. in short, he said that the indochino tailors just don’t know how to do it right. the shoulder is one if not the toughest part of manufacturing a suit and, unfortunately, indochino falls short of meeting my (in my eyes reasonable) expectations.
after much more research, i eventually ended up with buying an of-the-rack suit from a very prominent seller on ebay. great material, great constructions, great price, and great looks–certainly good enough that i wore the suit at my own wedding without paling next to my wonderful (then) bride and (now) wife.
having said that, i am certainly happy that so many people, including daniel, had so much success with their indochino suits. it just didn’t work for me.
i have to add that the whole measurement adjustment necessity never helped me to be very confident in the abilities of the indochino tailors in the first place.
all the best!
Martin,
Congratulations on your marriage! I’m not far behind you.
All my best,
Dennis
thank you very much, daniel. all the best to you and your fiancee as well!!
cheers!
My name is Dennis, BTW. No bigee!
big oopps, dennis! sorry for that!! i guess it is obvious now that i cannot really read
.
cheers!
Martin, Dennis: thank you for your fast response, and Martin: congratulations on your marriage.
BTW, I am not located in the States, but the Netherlands. Here the biggest player in the Made-To-Measure scene is the Dutch firm SuitSupply.
They provide very good (mainly) made in China non-fused MTM suits, starting at 350 euro’s (although at the entry level, only few fabric options are available, just 6 types, while they offer many many fabrics – one of their good points is buying stocklots of premium fabrics from Italy).
A seller like Indochino would be a great solution for students and starters who cannot yet switch to 350 euro+, but also want to move away from off-the-rack.
Still, I consider the shoulders one of the most important parts in a suit. I hate it when my off-the-rack have a downward angle because they are too wide and the shoulder seam is placed incorrect considering the shape of my shoulders… But this is still acceptable to me, but when the lines aren’t straight, it’s a dealbreaker for me.
In the past, I have had asked a experienced adjustment tailor to try and fix a jacket with this problem, but without any luck.
The Indochino suits you (Dennis) wear in your photos are very stylish, and I can see from your pictures you are confortable wearing them.
Still, the shape of the shoulders would personally bother me…
Maybe one day they solve this problem? Or I can find a adjustment tailor who can rebuild a messy shoulderline?
Who knows!
Best wishes from Holland!
DJ
DJ,
I think it’s the padding itself and a goo custom tailor can most likely remedy this.
I’m visiting with Matt from Imparali to collaborate on a new Spring suit on Monday and will ask him how costly a process it is.
Take care,
Dennis
I have had padding removed and added in the past, but most of the time the shoulder line would be messed up. The main reason, I suspect, is the shoulder seam getting messy and it’s hard to rebuild it.
As a sidejob I have done some writing for a Dutch lifestyle magazine and have interviewed various experienced tailors, including the ones working for Tom Ford, and they agree with this diagnose but weren’t able to confirm because it because I was wearing a suit without this kind of issues during those meetings.
In Holland there are hardly any tailors available who can do non-standard adjustments. In our country it’s mainly Turks who do adjustment tailoring, and the Dutch aren’t stylish people at all, so 95% of the time all they have to do is take in and hem pants, or maybe do some basic taking in the side seams on a jacket.
Because these guys, some of which are VERY experienced and have done bespoke in the past, work for small fees, they have to make a lot of production to earn a living… Doing specialised jobs is just not economic for them to do..
For this reason, without detailed instructions any adjustments to the shoulders, except for maybe making them a bit smaller, are likely to fail… For this reason, most adjustment tailors will not even accept this type of specialised requests – you have to have a good personal relationship with your tailor before they are even willing to accept this kind of challenges.
Please let me know if your tailor at Imperiali can come up with a solution for your new suit.
BTW
Personally I don’t even mind wearing a (highly) constructed shoulder, sometimes I even prefer the masculine look of a constructed shoulder, like the ones on the cheapo Zara-suits (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_t5RSyWlbNQo/Sw_92gES0GI/AAAAAAAAADk/GEcCDiYG4to/s1600/ZARA.JPG or http://freshradar.com/wp-content/gallery/zara/zara-suit.jpg)
There are two things I just hate: the lines not being straight like the ones on Indochino suits or some off-the-rack numbers and a downwards angle at the end of the shoulders… The first I consider worse than the latter, because the latter can be considered as a certain style, not bad tailoring (a lot of Savile Row bespoke suits by A&S have extremely sloping shoulders with a downward angle.. I consider them to be quite ugly and would not wear them even though they are perfectly tailored).
Dennis I just ordered my suit from indochino but want to know if the suit pictures on this blog are slanted pockets? I hope you see this soon as I am afraid they will start making my suit very soon. If they are slanted i think it looks great.
Thanks and you have a great suit!
The suit above are regular pockets. I have slanted pockets on most of the other suits. If you give me specific examples of what suits youa re looking at I can tell you yes or no.
Take care!
Dennis
I received my Indochino suite on Thursday but did not get a chance to go through it with my Tailor till today (finals) Overall, for the price I was impressed with the quality, fabric, etc. but the initial fit was not up to par.
I had my girlfriend measure me using the indochino videos but I think because I have more of an athletic build than the average person the suite sat a little funny.
The main problems were:
1) waist was too wide, about an inch, easy to fix
2) U crotch was about .5 to low.
3) thighs fabric was about 1.5 inches to wide
4) Jacket length seemed very short especially since my profile indicates that I am six foot one I need this lengthen by an inch which will require a remake
5) The shoulders were the most off. They were far too wide and the material they use for the shoulder pads is very soft. Therefore, after i left it on a hanger over night they had already started to sag and wrinkle, NOT GOOD!
6) The top button (2 button suite) was too high and the pockets also too high. If they could extrapolate the length of my arm from the measurement shouldn’t they be able to tell that my arm would have to be bent at a below 90 degree angle to use the pockets?
- Anyways, the long and the short of it is that I applied for a remake and got my tailor to write down +/- the amount of inches for each measurement. What confuses me about indochino is their measurements differ from tailor measurements….. I think they should add an option where you can submit tailor measurements that tailors would use and base their construction of your suite off of those numbers but thats JMO. I will post here when i receive my remake (if its approved) If it works out good i am going to purchase another two suites from them and hopefully will have no need for alterations!