Ready-to-wear tuxedos: when they are enough

A ready-to-wear tuxedo is enough when your build sits close to the maker's standard pattern and you will wear it only a few times. The key condition is that the shoulders and chest fit the moment you put the jacket on, because those two areas can hardly be altered. The rest, such as sleeve length, trouser hem and waist, a tailor can handle within limits.

Who suits off-the-peg

Ready-made garments are cut to average measurements for a group of men. If you fall within that group, the jacket will fit exactly where fitting is hardest. Easy signs:

• In your usual size, the shoulder seam sits at the edge of your shoulder, neither drooping nor pushing up.
• The chest and body do not pull into diagonal creases when the jacket is buttoned.
• Your torso length is common for the size, neither very long nor very short.
• Your shoulder-to-waist proportion does not differ much from the maker's jacket and trouser sizes.

It also helps if you wear a tuxedo only a few times a year. With that frequency, a made-to-measure suit may not be necessary yet.

What usually needs altering

Most ready-made dinner suits need a little work before they go to an event. These are the places a tailor can handle cleanly:

• Sleeves: shortened or lengthened from the cuff, normally to show about a finger-width of shirt cuff. With working buttons, the limit depends on button position and seam allowance.
• Trouser hem: taken up or let down if there is cloth to spare. A tuxedo trouser has no turn-up, so the hem is simple, but the braid must stay straight if the trousers have it.
• Waist and body: taken in at the side seams for a closer line, roughly one to two sizes. Trousers can be taken in or let out at the back waist if the seam allows.
• Buttons and buttonholes: moved or changed to sit correctly on the body.

Bring the suit you have chosen to a tailor once, to be fitted and pinned in one session, instead of altering it piece by piece.

The limit: shoulders and chest

The shoulder and armhole are the first thing a tailor builds, together with the pad, canvas and lapel. To change the shoulder width, the sleeves would have to be removed and the body rebuilt, work comparable to making a new jacket and with no guarantee of the result. The chest is the same: the canvas and lapel are shaped in advance, and taking them in tends to make the lapel bubble or flip.

So if the shoulder droops, the chest does not lie flat or the collar stands away from your shirt, do not expect alteration to rescue it. A different size, or a different route, is the sounder choice.

Another limit is the formal detailing. Satin lapels, jetted pockets and satin-braided trousers are joined along seams already set, so major alterations risk showing needle marks or shifting the braid.

Against made-to-measure and hire

	Ready-to-wear	Made-to-measure	Hire
Fit	Depends on build, light alteration	To your measurements	Nearest size, altered to fit
Details	Fixed by the style	Choose cloth, lapel, buttons, lining	Choose from available styles
Ownership	Yours	Yours	Returned after use
Suits	Standard build, a few wears	Long-term use, individual build	A single occasion

Hire prices depend on the style, so ask the consultant. If you need it once, tuxedo hire at thuevest.vn includes a fitting at the showroom, alterations to fit and cleaning, and is often simpler than buying and then paying for alterations. If you expect to wear it for years, read about bespoke and made-to-measure.

When to skip off-the-peg

• You always have to alter the shoulders or chest on ready-made jackets.
• Your proportions are balanced but different from the size chart, for example broad shoulders and a slim waist.
• You want a lapel, cloth or lining the maker does not offer.
• You need the suit to look right in wedding photographs, where every crease shows.

To judge whether a suit you already own can be altered, read altering an existing tuxedo to fit.

Try it with Mon Amie

If you are undecided between buying, hiring or having one made, come to the showroom and try the jackets on. A consultant will look at your shoulders and chest and tell you plainly which suit is enough and which should be made. Book on the appointment page, or look first at our made-to-measure tuxedo service.