I'm bespoken for.

If you're anything like me, and you care how you look and, more importantly, how you feel in your clothes then you know that there's no compromise for fit. It's more important than the luxuriousness of the fabric, or the style and cut of the garment, or even the price you paid for an article of clothing in the first place. I'll gladly take a well tailored, made-to-measure, jacket constructed out of the simplest wool blend to the most dazzling, if ill-fitting, super 180s material, major label, just-off-the-run-way sports coat. None of the glitz matters if the shoulders are too narrow, or the waist to wide, or the chest to tight.

Compounding the issue even more is that most major label suit manufacturers found in retail stores and malls across the country offer their suits in size pairings that make the suit pant waist line contigent on the size associated with any given shoulder/chest width. For instance size 40R jackets are often paired with size 34 pants. For anyone who watches their waistline, keeping the chest to waist ratio a bit more in check than the average American, this too is a detriment to purchasing Off-The-Rack. The truth is, OTR suits are also generally devoid of the individual flair and personality associated with custom offerings.

That's why every dress shirt, sports coat, suit and tuxedo I wear is strictly made-to-measure and built to my specifications. Of course, if you can afford a local master tailor to build you a suit of your liking then by all means this is a great way to go. But you can expect to pay hand over fist for these garments and although the fit may be perfect, ordering a new suit a few weeks later may result in a different fit altogether. Chalk it up to operator error (no tailor, however masterful, is that exact or precise when it comes to cutting fabrics even if the measurements haven't changed).

The best alternative? There are a few internet based companies, such as Indochino.com, iTailor.com and Suitopia.com, that offer the customer the opportunity to input there own measurements (whether taken by a professional tailor or a by friend with a tape measure in the comfort of customer's living room), pick their fabric choice, select the cut and style of the garment, and then add the final finishing touches in the form of details (like lining, button placements, etc.) before custom creating the customer's perfect desired suit and shipping it to them within a few weeks time.

As the process goes, usually, small alterations (done cheaply, quickly and locally by any tailor of good repute) can be necessary the first few times through, but this is true of just about any bespoke garment wether constructed by master tailor or internet custom clothier. The end result is the same, however. A perfect fitting suit with the ideal fabric, style and details.

Another advantage is that your patterns remain forever saved in the cloud. Ready to be used any and every time you chose to buy a new garment, regardless of style, color, fabric or details. Some vendors, like Indochino.com, even offer the perfect blend of old-world knowledge and cutting edge technology; offering digital laser fabric cutting, ensuring that the cut of your suit will be the same every time.

Of course the best and most attractive reason for venturing this route is price, as these suits are often a fraction of the cost of an OTR suit and considerably less than any master-tailor-made bespoke option.

The best internet custom clothier, in my opinion, is Indochino.com, as they offer the best user website experience with detailed instructions for taking your measurements, large and well-lit pictures of the product lines, an easy way to modify and customize orders (even after they've been placed) and, in the end, once again in my opinion, the best quality product. Look for a future post detailing the differences in the three previously mentioned web tailors.