Updated: October 10, 2024
How To Care For Your Custom Suit
A custom suit built to your exact specifications is a great, long-term investment. Like any long-term investment, it requires a certain amount of care.
Care for it properly and it will be your companion through business meetings and special occasions for years to come.
With this in mind, here is a useful guide on how to guarantee you get the most wear possible from your custom suit.
When Buying:
Ensure that you get the right fit
Not only will this make you look fantastic, it will also ensure that you don’t ruin the shape of the suit.
For example, if your legs are muscular, have a crotch lining fastened into your trousers. This will prevent the trousers from wearing out in the thigh area.
Get the right fabric
Expensive fabrics require a lot more care. If we look at high thread-count wool, this is known to be a lot more fragile and wears out much faster than a coarser fabric such as tweed.
Therefore, before purchasing your custom suit, consider what you need the suit for and how often you are likely to wear it. Then, in conjunction with your tailor, decide on the most suitable fabric for the occasion and be realistic about which fabric you have the time and resources to look after in the long term.
While Wearing
Just brush it off
To get rid of dust and light stains from your custom-tailored suit, invest in a clothes brush. A clothes brush will feature natural bristles that are soft on your suit and help get rid of dirt and dust that get trapped in the wool.
The same goes for rain or snow. Make sure you are brushing off the water rather than pressing and patting it into your garment with a damp towel.
Don’t use your front pockets
Try to avoid using you’re the front pockets of your suit unless you have to. If you do need to make use of these pockets, make sure the items are light, like business cards or a handkerchief.
Placing heavy objects in your front pocket causes the jacket to sag down and lose its shape. It also does damage to the inside lining and potentially the fabric behind it.
After You Wear
1.Rotate your suits
Try and rotate the wearing of your suits. This is especially important if your suit is a natural fabric like wool, which needs time to rest and breathe in between uses.
If you do have to wear a suit every day, we would recommend buying more than one custom suit and alternating between them.
2. Avoid routine trips to the dry cleaners
We recommend only dry cleaning your suit once or twice a year, or when it is absolutely urgent, in the case of it being soiled or if it begins to smell.
Carefully choose your dry cleaner too. It’s worth spending a few extra dollars to go somewhere reputable, rather than cutting corners and having your suit come back even worse for wear!
Hang it up
It’s common knowledge that hanging a suit is absolutely crucial to its maintenance. However, be careful about which hangers you opt for. Using wire hangers can, in fact, be very damaging to your suits shape, as they can cause stretching and bulges in the shoulders, which will ruin the fit.
High-quality cedar wood hangers are a solid investment and will help to keep your suit’s shape intact (and keep it clear of insects and moths as an added bonus).
Also, don’t forget to air your suit for a day before covering it up or putting it away in a garment bag. Using a fabric garment bag (not a plastic one) to store your suit is essential to protect it from dust but still allowing it to breathe.
In Transit
Pack it properly
Ideally, you should use a garment bag to store your suit while traveling too. When that is not possible, pack it into your suitcase on the very top of your clothes.
Make sure your bag isn’t overstuffed as the added pressure can damage the shape of the suit. Hang it as soon as you get a chance.
If possible, steam press the suit before you wear, as this will help to get the travel wrinkles out. You can even steam it in your hotel bathroom if you have the time. Simply hang the suit up in your bathroom (NOT too near the shower) turn the hot water on, allow steam to form and close the door.
Put this handful of tips into action and your suits will be your pride and joy for years to come. Your co-workers will be impressed that you always look on point, your wallet will thank you, and better still, you’ll look and feel a million dollars for every occasion. Need we go on?