Made-to-measure suits

A made-to-measure suit is the one garment most people will ever own that fits them exactly. It costs less than people expect, takes longer than they would like, and lasts twenty years.

The first appointment is an hour with Gareth: twenty-two measurements, how you stand, which shoulder drops, where you carry your wallet and phone, and what the suit is for. Then the cloth: about two hundred bunches from Yorkshire and Scottish mills, from a hard-wearing twill for the office to a lightweight wool and mohair for a summer wedding. Gareth will tell you which will wear, which will crease, and which will look its best in ten years.

The suit is cut in the workroom from a pattern drafted for you, not adapted from a block in a factory. The first fitting, about three weeks later, is a baste fitting: the jacket held together with white tacking thread, so the balance, the shoulders and the length can be moved. The second, about two weeks after that, is a forward fitting with the sleeves on and the buttonholes marked. Most suits need one more small adjustment after it, then they are yours.

From order to collection is usually six weeks. A third of the price is paid when you order, the rest when you collect. Gareth keeps your pattern, so the second suit is quicker, needs one fitting and costs £100 less.

What is included

• An hour with Gareth and twenty-two measurements
• About two hundred bunches of British cloth
• A pattern drafted for you and kept
• Baste and forward fittings
• Six weeks from order to collection
• Alterations free for the first year

What it costs

Two-piece suits from £895, jackets from £595, trousers from £245, shirts £95. A third of the price on ordering. The price list has every alteration with its price and the date it will be ready if you hand it in today; the bridal page works out your fitting dates.