Fitted vs. Ill-Fitted

Last night I was out with some friends, one of them, Erik, relayed an experience he had with a salesperson recently while buying a suit. I should give a little background on Erik, he is 6’3″ weighs roughly 225 and wears a size 12.5 shoe.

The salesman wanted to fit my friend in a pant with a finished 27″ thigh, tapering down to a finished 12″ pant bottom with an inseam of 32″. Erik wears a 35″ inseam! He’s all legs.

This was not a custom suit, it was off-the-rack, he was buying in a pinch. When he put the suit on, he said he felt like he had a tourniquet on his thigh and his feet looked like Bozo the Clowns! The salesman told Erik he would get used to it, he walked out of the store without buying anything and went with a less contemporary brand at a different store.

The point here, while we see men walking the streets in their custom and made-to-measure suits with amazing colors and bold patterns, often times, these suits DON’T FIT! I love colorful socks, (I also happen to think you SHOULD wear socks with a suit, unless it’s a bathing suit). But how did wearing pants once regarded as floods become a thing? And the fact that pants fit like tube socks around your calves should not negate the need to actually wear socks, they serve a purpose, primarily one of hygiene!

Don’t get me wrong, this is a look that certainly works for some, and it is very fashionable, I actually applaud the guys who can and do pull it off, but it’s not for everyone. Salespeople should know this!

When buying your next suit, consider the trend you are looking to keep up with, do you want to look good now and only now, or do you want to be able to keep a suit in your rotation for the next 5 years, regardless of what the trends are? Wearing a suit that fits your proportions is far more important than wearing a suit that fits your peers standards.

I told Erik he was absolutely right to walk out of that store, even though he said he was second guessing himself while doing so. He bought his emergency suit, fitted, but not glove tight, he will be able to wear this for the next 5 years, and he won’t look like he will trip over his own shoes. He apparently knew the difference between fitted and ill-fitted, he just didn’t know it.

Salespeople should know the difference too.

By CTDA president, Mitch Gambert of Mel Gambert Shirts