The difference between tailor made suits and ready wear suits

The most common misconception of people is thinking that all suits are similar because to their eyes they have similar details: sleeves, lapels, side vents and similar other features. Often than usual I come across men saying things like ‘I find better value on buying two ready wear suits from XYZ brand on sale for $900 than getting a tailor made suit for $1,500!” Then I asked them “Are you aware of the difference between them?” And they reply “To me they all look similar as colour and fit are similar but the price of XYZ brand suit is much better than a tailor made suit because XYZ brand produces in large quantity and they can offer better quality at a cheaper price!”
That is not the case at all. In fact reality is much different from it and this is what I am going to explain.
Fashion retail branded suits are made with two aims in mind: fitting most body shapes as possible and making as much money as possible.
These type of suits are mass produced garments made by automated production lines often in as little as 1 hour. They are made out of a single standardised pattern that “realistically” fits one body shape only. Quality and durability are very debatable as fabrics and materials used are as cheap as possible in order to achieve profit targets. It really makes me wonder how much these suits are worth when at Christmas sales retail brands mark their prices down to 80% and are still making good profits.

At the opposite hand tailor made suits like the ones we make aren’t mass produced but uniquely cut from a single pattern which has been created based on specific measurements and body shape of a gentleman. It is indeed a complete different process which takes several hours of skilled workmanship to make the whole garment (at least 45 hours for a handmade suit). The fabrics and materials we use come from the finest Italian and English mills (not from China) and are all made from natural fibers only (no polyester or nylon). Because of this tailor made suits have a much longer lifespan (10+ years) than ready wear suit which generally last no longer than 2 years at the utmost. The cost involved of making a tailor made suit is exponentially and by large higher than a ready wear one but at same time the profit margin is much lower compared to a ready wear suit as we don’t have large overheads as retail brands do. So when you purchase a ready wear suit you pay for the overheads of a brand whereas when you purchase a ready wear suit you basically pay for what is really worth.

Above all a ready made suit is made for anyone but no men is identical to one another, whereas a tailor made suit is something personal and uniquely customised to a man’s body, style and personality. Much like a mass produced Japanese sport car and a hand assembled Aston Martin the first one is disposable whether the second one is not.

Hope I was able to shed some light on this misconception.