When I first started planning my wedding suit, I knew I wanted something made-to-measure. It was important to me to be involved in the process — to contribute my own ideas about fit and fabric. It was also important to me that the suit fit perfectly. My initial thought was to go all-in on a Savile Row suit: to embrace tradition and lean into everything that came with the experience. The more I thought about it, though, the more I couldn’t shake the stuffy, old-school connotations that came with Savile Row. I knew there were people around me who were interpreting tailoring in new and exciting ways, designers who were taking this traditional medium and stripping back the formality and ceremony.
I first discovered Carter Young shortly after the brand relocated from New York City to London, bringing its “New Americana” to new shores. At first, I was aware of its ready-to-wear collections, but the label has been gradually expanding its made-to-measure service, recently launching its first tuxedo collection.
“We started with a couple of weddings,” explains Carter Altman, the brand’s creative director and co-founder. “A friend of mine couldn’t find a suit he liked for his wedding, so we offered to do his suit. Then this word of mouth thing happened, firstly because people needed suits for weddings, and then it became people who just wanted suits because they wanted to feel good about themselves.” As the tailoring and made-to-measure side of the business has grown, so too has the client list. Paul Mescal wore custom Carter Young to Wimbledon last year, and Charli XCX’s husband George Daniel wore a bespoke double-breasted suit in Japanese twill for their Sicilian wedding.
Creating a suit with Altman feels a long way from the traditional world of made-to-measure tailoring. Firstly, the Carter Young studio is on the top floor of a warehouse in East London, geographically and metaphorically on the other side of town from Savile Row. And then there’s the experience itself. Conversations and fittings are relaxed — picture swatches of fabric and coffee cups spread across the large table the Carter Young team works around.
“That’s our version of a white-glove service,” Altman says. “It’s not, ‘Come in, have a glass of whiskey, sit on our couch and I’ll show you a swatch book.’ I’ll talk to you about what you want to look like, how you want to feel and we’ll design the suit based on that. We use a vernacular language, not an antiquated tailoring language.”
The Carter Young approach to service is proof of a new generation of brands offering made-to-measure in an approachable, down-to-earth way. Aware of the connotations and constraints — and costs — of traditional tailoring, these brands are changing everything from the service to the silhouette of the traditional suit. Joining the ranks of Carter Young is Lea Boberg, a Danish designer currently working in London, who creates oversized suits designed for movement, and New York’s Stóffa, who offer a made-to-measure service across almost all of their categories, shortening the distance between their customers and their workshops in Europe.
Boberg’s tailoring began as a continuation of her master’s collection, which was inspired by the way that suits crumpled, creased, and changed shape when worn on London’s Underground. “It was based on the suit when it was caught in between, the journey to and from work,” Boberg says.
The result is suiting designed for movement, with added space and extra pleats to keep clothes light and airy. “My customers talk about the void in between the body and the garment, which allows movement in busy everyday life,” Boberg says.
Whereas Carter Young and Lea Boberg both focus their made-to-measure business on tailoring, New York label Stòffa offers bespoke designs across all categories. Founders Nicholas Ragosta and Agyesh Madan both worked with conventional tailoring brands before starting Stòffa, and had their own ideas about how it could be done. “We love the old-school service of the classic tailor’s shop,” Ragosta says. “It just felt like it was antiquated in terms of the products they were offering.”
The first made-to-measure Stòffa pieces were suede and leather jackets, both “investment, heirloom pieces.” Since then, the brand has expanded the service to include casual pants, knitwear, and, most recently, suits. It’s an opportunity for Ragosta and Madan to offer their knowledge and expertise across multiple categories. “It’s about personal service, getting to work with somebody on one thing at a time, having the ability to make small customizations that create a more personal product,” says Ragosta.
This approach comes with its own logistical difficulties. Stòffa works with small-scale workshops and artisans in Europe for its products and has developed its own app to enable the process. The B2B app allows better communication between the brand and its makers, sharing order statuses and updates between the showroom in New York and the workshops on the other side of the Atlantic.
Clearly, there’s an appetite for made-to-measure done differently. Whether it’s the Americana-influenced tailoring of Carter Young, the roomy suits made by Lea Boberg, or Stòffa’s custom outerwear, these brands feel a world away from the gentleman’s club vibe of traditional tailors, with a focus on relaxed service, different cuts and an expanded product offering. “Savile Row is for a very particular customer,” as Boberg says. “My customers are from every walk of life.”
These approaches are helping a new generation discover the joys of made-to-measure clothing. Carter Young deliberately prices bespoke suits cheaper than more established brands, introducing the product to a different consumer. “For some people, it’s their first ever suit,” Altman says. The unconventional silhouettes of Boberg’s suiting also draws in new buyers. “I’m trying to take these traditional and historical details and make them more adaptable to the time we live in,” she says.
With all of these designers, the made-to-measure process becomes a collaborative, creative experience rather than a stuffy rite of passage. For their customers, it’s an opportunity to own something unique that makes them feel good when they wear it. As Altman says, “There’s a transformative quality to clothing that fits you well.”
The last time I went to the Carter Young studio, where I saw the progress on my own made-to-measure suit, it was a revelation to witness how initial conversations had become sketches, and how those sketches were coming to life. I understood what Altman meant. When I don the finished suit, it will be the first time I’ve worn something made just for me, without any of the small compromises we make every time we get dressed. As more designers — and customers — embrace made-to-measure, that feeling is more accessible than ever.
