How a suit should fit: shoulders, sleeves and length

How should a suit fit in the shoulders?

Start here, because the shoulders are the one part of a jacket that tailors generally advise against changing. The shoulder seam should end where your own shoulder ends, with the sleeve falling straight from it. Suitsupply describes this as the shoulder resting along your natural shoulder with no overhang, and uses it to choose the base size before anything else.

Look for two failure signs. If the shoulders are too wide, the padding extends past your arm and you see a dent or divot in the top of the sleeve, just below the shoulder point. If they are too narrow, the sleeve head pulls and you see a ridge or dimple where the padding stops before your shoulder does, often with tension lines running toward the collar. Stand relaxed with your arms at your sides; lifting your arms or squaring your shoulders for the mirror hides both problems.

Reshaping shoulders means taking apart the armhole, the sleeve and the padding. Tailoring guides from Gentleman's Gazette and He Spoke Style both put it in the category of major surgery with no guarantee of success. If the shoulders are wrong, try another size or another cut, not a tailor.

Collar and back: the quiet signs of a good fit

Turn sideways and look at the back of your neck. The jacket collar should rest against your shirt collar all the way around, with a sliver of shirt collar visible above it; tailors commonly aim for about half an inch. A gap between the two, where the jacket collar stands away from your neck, is called collar gap. It is often a sign that the jacket does not match your posture, and while a skilled tailor can sometimes improve it, the fix is costly and uncertain. Treat it as a reason to try a different size or maker.

Now look at the back of the jacket in the mirror. It should fall smoothly from the collar to the hem. Horizontal folds across the upper back mean it is too tight across the shoulder blades, while loose vertical ripples mean there is extra fabric that can often be taken in at the center back seam. Vents should hang closed when you stand still; if they spread open, the jacket is too tight around the hips.

Chest and waist: fasten the button and look

Fasten the jacket the way you would wear it: the top button of a two button jacket or the middle button of a three button, never the bottom one (our guide to suit button rules explains why). The fabric should close without strain. Creases radiating from the button in an X shape mean the jacket is too tight at the waist, and the lapels lifting away from your chest mean it is tight across the chest as well.

A useful check is to slip a flat hand inside the jacket at the chest while it is fastened. It should go in without stretching the button, and a fist should feel like too much. The jacket should also taper gently toward the waist so it does not hang like a box, which is the main difference between a classic fit suit, cut with more room through the chest and waist, and a slim or tailored fit. Many American stores also sell a modern fit that sits between the two, trimmer than classic without the close cut of slim. All of them are correct; choose the one whose shape follows your frame, then adjust the details.

The waist is one of the friendlier alterations. Most jackets have seam allowance at the sides and back, and Gentleman's Gazette notes that a jacket can usually be taken in by about a size without upsetting its balance. Letting it out is more limited, because there may be little fabric to release.

Jacket length: cover your seat

Look at yourself from the side. Suitsupply's guidance is that the hem should just cover your seat, no more and no less. Another old check is to stand with your arms relaxed and curl your fingers: the hem should sit roughly where your fingers curl under. Treat that as a rough guide rather than a rule, because it measures your arms as much as the jacket.

Length is the second thing a tailor cannot really give you. A jacket can be shortened, but the pockets and buttons stay where they are, so He Spoke Style suggests that anything beyond about an inch starts to throw off the proportions. A jacket that is too short cannot be lengthened at all. If the length is wrong by more than a little, look for a short or long version of the same size, which many makers offer.

How long should suit jacket sleeves be?

With your arms hanging naturally, the jacket sleeve should end around the point where your wrist meets your hand, and about a quarter to half an inch of shirt cuff should show below it. Suitsupply suggests half an inch. That little band of white frames your hands and makes the whole outfit look deliberate. The shirt needs to fit for this to work, so check your dress shirt sleeve length first.

Sleeves are the most common and most worthwhile alteration. Shortening is simple on most ready to wear jackets. Lengthening depends on how much fabric is folded inside, often one to two inches, and you can see the old fold line if the cloth has been let out too far. Working buttonholes at the cuff, the kind that actually unbutton, make any length change difficult, so on a new jacket have the sleeves set before the tailor cuts those holes.

How should suit pants fit?

Suit trousers should sit at your natural waist or just below it and stay there without a belt pulling them in. The seat should drape smoothly: horizontal wrinkles under the seat mean it is too tight, and loose fabric sagging below it means too much room. Front pockets should lie flat rather than flaring open. The leg should fall straight from the seat to the shoe, without clinging to your thigh when you stand.

Most trouser problems are easy to fix. Hems, tapering the leg below the knee and adjusting the waist through the rear seam are routine, and Gentleman's Gazette puts the usual waist allowance at about 2 to 3 inches. The rise, the distance from crotch to waistband, is the difficult one, so choose a pair where that part feels right. For the length itself, our guide to how long dress pants should be walks through each kind of break and what to tell the tailor.

What a tailor can and cannot fix

Here is the whole list in one place, so you can decide at the rack. Easy and worth doing: sleeve length, sleeve width, taking in the jacket waist, trouser hems, trouser waist and tapering the leg. Possible with limits: shortening the jacket by up to about an inch, lengthening sleeves by the fabric that is available, letting out a waist by a small amount. Rarely worth it: shoulders, collar gap, jacket length beyond an inch, and changing a three button jacket into a two button one.

The practical rule that follows is simple. Buy the jacket that fits your shoulders and is close to the right length, even if everything else needs work, and let the tailor handle the rest. If you are buying online, measuring yourself and comparing against a jacket that already fits you will save a return. And for an interview or a wedding, leave a week or two for alterations; small shops can be busy in spring.