Fashion Secrets: Tailored Men's Suits

As an industry, men's fashion is one of the more secretive fields. Trade secrets are plenty, and chances are good that you don't know half of the things that had to be done to make you that pair of shoes or that fine silk necktie. Suits, in particular, have their fair share of trade secrets to keep, what with all the technical expertise that goes into making one. Here are some of the more important ones that every stylish man should know about.

Working Buttons Work Better
You've probably noticed that there's a row of buttons on the end of every suit sleeve in the store. These aren't for mere decoration; a good suit maker knows that these buttons are traditionally functioning ones. That is, there has to be a buttonhole for every button. Any suit that does otherwise deviates from the template of its forefathers.

Go ahead, splurge to get working buttons on your suit. As with a lot of things in men's fashion, it's small details like these that count the most in pieces as traditional as suit jackets. It should set you back around a hundred bucks or less, but the cost is well worth the effect. It's the finishing touch to the jacket, like a logo on the hood of a luxury car. It might seem decorative, but you can't be counted as complete without it.

Securing the Shoulders
Tailors can rescue you from countless different style scenarios with their skills at altering different garments. No tailor, however, can save you from a suit that doesn't fit well on your shoulders, regardless of how good he might claim to be.

A suit's fit starts first and foremost at the shoulders. If they don't fit right there, then don't bother hoping that they'll fit with some skilled intervention. The shoulders determine too many things about the suit, from its shape to its drape. You'd be better off replacing a suit with ill-fitting shoulders than crossing your fingers that the tailor will be able to fix it.

Padding, meanwhile, is an easier issue to solve. As long as the jacket hits your shoulders just right, you should be able to ask your tailor to reduce or add to the definition of your shoulder padding. The decision is one that's entirely up to personal preference; a squared frame doesn't need much more emphasis from the padding, but weaker or rounded ones could probably use that extra support.

Costly Concerns
Bespoke men's fashion is typically costly, and tailor-made men's suits are among the most expensive of the lot. That isn't to say, however, that the cost is uniformly high. Changing a few specifications on the style and construction of the jacket can drastically reduce its cost, even before you start bargaining with the tailor.

Although it's not given a lot of attention by the fashion crowd, the lining is one of the first areas you should consider if you're trying to minimize costs. Less lining means more on the price tag because there's less room for error on the seams and stitching. Unlined suits are therefore the priciest, while fully lined ones are likelier to fit into tight budgets. A suit jacket that's partially lined to about mid-chest is an oft availed middle ground cost-wise.

There are two ways that the lining is attached to the suit. Fused linings, which make use of a heat activated materials, tend to be cheaper but are especially vulnerable to water damage. The traditional and more durable method is the unfused style, which requires the tailor to actually stitch the canvas lining into the actual fabric of the suit. A robust budget is required if you're going to opt for the latter method.

Unless you know and trust your tailor, it pays to know some of these technical suiting terms. It'll show that you're more or less informed about the fashions that you wear, and that the tailor is dealing with a customer who knows exactly what he wants.