Measurements, and how to take them

How to Measure for a Custom Suit: before you start

Use a soft tailoring tape. A builder’s tape will not follow the body.

Wear a shirt that fits you properly. Measuring over bulky clothing adds phantom inches, and measuring bare-chested removes real ones.

Stand the way you actually stand. This sounds trivial and it is the single most common source of error. People straighten up for the tape, get measured in a posture they will never hold again, and then wonder why the jacket collar gapes.

Have someone help you if at all possible.

The measurements

Chest. Around the fullest part, usually just under the armpits, with the tape level all the way round including across your back. Arms down and relaxed. Breathe normally. Do not inflate your chest.

Natural waist. The narrowest part of your torso, which is usually higher than where you wear your trousers. Bend sideways and the crease that forms marks it.

Trouser waist. Where you actually wear your trousers, which is a different number and both are needed.

Seat. Around the fullest part of the hips and seat, tape level.

Shoulder width. From the bony point at the outer edge of one shoulder, across the back, to the same point on the other. This is the hardest one to take on yourself and the least forgiving to get wrong, because shoulder width is the one dimension a finished jacket cannot really be altered for.

Sleeve length. From the shoulder point, down the outside of a slightly bent arm, to just past the wrist bone. Keep the elbow soft rather than locked straight.

Inseam. From the crotch to the top of the shoe. Take this in the shoes you intend to wear, because the number changes with the heel.

Outseam. From the trouser waist to the same finishing point.

Neck. Around the base of the neck where a collar sits, with one finger of slack.

What a tailor notices that a tape does not

Numbers are half of it. In the shop we also record posture and shape.

Whether you stand with a forward head and rounded upper back, or upright and square. Whether one shoulder is lower, which is extremely common and often related to which hand you write with. Whether your stomach or your seat is the fuller point, since that decides where trouser volume needs to go. Whether your arms hang forward of the body or close to it, which sets the sleeve pitch.

None of this appears on a measurement chart, and all of it changes the pattern.

If you are ordering remotely

Send photographs alongside the numbers: front, back and both sides, standing naturally against a plain wall in fitted clothing. The photographs catch the posture information above, which is what makes the difference between a remote order that fits and one that nearly fits.

Better still, if you own a jacket that fits you well, measure the garment flat rather than your body: chest across the front doubled, shoulder seam to shoulder seam, sleeve from shoulder seam to cuff, and length from the base of the collar. A garment that already works is the most reliable brief you can give a tailor.

Full detail on the remote process is on the online ordering page.