Fit, checked in order
How a suit should fit: five checks, in this order
Most people check a suit in the wrong order. They start with the waist, which any tailor can change, and finish with the shoulder, which almost none can. Check it the other way round and the decision takes about a minute. The shoulder comes first because it is the one seam that is built rather than adjusted. Then the chest, then the sleeve, then jacket length, then the trousers. We cut made-to-measure suits in Shanghai from 47 measurement fields, 31 of them required, and the reason the list is that long is that the first four checks below are the ones a size label cannot carry.
The five checks, and what each one looks like when it is wrong
| Too tight | Right | Too loose | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shoulder | The seam sits inside your shoulder bone and a dent appears below it | The seam ends where your shoulder ends, and the sleeve falls straight from it | The seam hangs past the bone and the sleeve head collapses in folds |
| Chest & collar | The button pulls into an X and the lapels spring apart | You can slide a flat hand under the lapel; the collar stays against the shirt | A gap opens between collar and shirt when you walk |
| Sleeve | No shirt cuff shows and the sleeve rides up when you reach | About 1 to 1.5 cm of shirt cuff shows with your arms down | The sleeve covers the hand and the cuff disappears |
| Jacket length | The hem sits above the seat and the jacket reads as cropped | The hem covers the seat; your thumb knuckle meets the hem with arms down | The hem drops past the fingertips and shortens the leg line |
| Trousers | The pocket flares open and horizontal lines run across the thigh | One soft break on the shoe, no line pulling across the front | The waistband needs a belt to stay put and the break stacks in folds |
These are conventional tailoring checks, not house rules. The shoulder check is the one that decides whether the rest is worth doing.
The words a fitter will use
Six terms that turn a vague complaint into something a tailor can act on.
- Shoulder line
- The seam joining sleeve to body. It should end where your own shoulder ends. This is the one measurement that is built into the pattern rather than let out later: changing it means taking the jacket apart at the sleeve head and the collar, which costs more than most jackets are worth. If the shoulder is wrong, nothing downstream saves the garment.
- Collar gap
- A visible space between the jacket collar and your shirt collar while standing still. It is almost never a collar problem. It usually means the balance between front and back length is off, or the chest is too small and the jacket is being pulled backwards. A fitter reads it as a balance fault, which is why we take front_length and back_length as separate fields rather than one.
- X pull
- Creases radiating out from the fastened button in an X. The chest or waist is too small for the body underneath. Letting the seams out helps only if there is cloth in the seam allowance to let out, and on a slim-cut jacket there often is not.
- Sleeve pitch
- The angle at which the sleeve is set into the armhole. When the pitch is wrong the sleeve twists and folds appear on the back of the arm even though the sleeve length is correct. It is fixable, but it is a rework of the sleeve head, not a hem alteration.
- Break
- The fold the trouser makes where it meets the shoe. One soft break is the usual choice for business trousers. No break reads sharper and shows more sock when seated; a full break stacks fabric on the shoe and shortens the leg visually.
- Seat
- The measurement across the fullest part of the hips and backside. Trousers that pull horizontally under the seat or flare the back pockets are short in the seat, not in the waist, and taking the waist in makes it worse.
Common questions
How should a suit fit across the shoulders?
The shoulder seam should end at the point where your shoulder ends, and the sleeve should fall straight down from it with no dent and no overhang. Test it by standing side-on to a mirror. A dent below the seam means the shoulder is too narrow; a collapsed fold at the top of the sleeve means it is too wide. Check this first, because it is the only one of the five that a tailor essentially cannot correct.
Which fit problems can a tailor fix, and which cannot be fixed?
Waist, sleeve length, trouser length and, within limits, chest and seat can be altered, because there is seam allowance to work with. Shoulder width cannot, in any way worth paying for. Jacket length can be shortened only a little before the pockets sit wrong relative to the hem. So the honest rule when buying off the rack is: fit the shoulder and the chest, and plan on paying for the rest. If the shoulder is wrong, do not buy the jacket, and no alterations quote should persuade you otherwise.
How much shirt cuff should show?
About 1 to 1.5 cm with your arms hanging down. The point is not the number, it is that a visible cuff is what stops the jacket sleeve from looking borrowed. If none shows, the sleeve is long and will ride up over your hand every time you reach for something. Have it shortened; it is one of the cheapest alterations there is.
Why is there a gap between my jacket collar and my shirt?
Because the jacket is being pulled backwards off your neck, which is a balance fault rather than a collar fault. The usual causes are a chest that is too small, a back that is too short for the way you stand, or shoulders that slope more than the pattern assumed. It is worth diagnosing before you pay for alterations, because taking the waist in, the most commonly offered fix, does nothing for it.
How should suit trousers fit?
The waistband should stay up without a belt, the front should be clean with no horizontal lines pulling across the thigh, and there should be one soft break where the hem meets the shoe. Horizontal pulling under the seat means the trousers are short in the seat, not tight in the waist, and taking the waist in will make that worse rather than better.
Do more measurements mean a better fit?
Only if they are taken properly. We work from 47 fields with 31 required, and the long list exists because the shoulder, the chest balance and the sleeve pitch cannot be inferred from height and weight. But a measurement taken by someone who has never been shown how to hold a tape is worse than no measurement, because it gets trusted. A short set of numbers plus a real sample garment on the body beats a long set taken carelessly.
Suits cut to the measurements, not to a size label
We produce made-to-measure suits, trousers and waistcoats in premium European cloth, from a single piece, in about 14 to 20 working days, factory-direct from our Shanghai atelier.