Indochino Ties and suit bag update

Sunday, January 30, 2011

(left to right)
Indochino Green Diamond Tie - 39$
Indochino Blue and Black Plaid Tie - 39$
Indochino Spot on Navy Tie - 39$

A while ago I used another Groupon coupon to order a couple of ties and another pair of cufflinks. The first Indochino tie I had purchased a while ago (early 2010) was the Black Lightning Tie (quite at the bottom of the page). While it looks alright, the fabric felt like plastic (the label on the tie says 100% silk). I didn't really consider buying more of their ties, but as I had the Groupon coupon waiting (and it seemed like no January collection would come along), I thought I'd give it another try. To my surprise, the fabrics now feel much better and the 100% silk label seems to be telling the truth. In a next step, I'd be great if Indochino could let us customize the ties (length, width)

I also got 2 more cufflinks. I had had the ones pictured on the right already, they are the Bars of Silver, the ones to the left are the new ones and called Slick Black Buttons. I actually had troubles using the rather big Slick Black Buttons cufflinks on my new shirt (they rear end barely fit through the opening). Someone mentioned silk knots as cuff links a while ago and I actually had ordered some from Ebay (China) but they didn't arrive so far.

Slick Black Buttons (28$) & Bars Of Silver (40$) 

Something else I wanted to talk about - Indochino's suit bags. As you might have experienced yourself, the previous versions were not really usable - the zip was likely to fall off when you tried to close it. They seem to have upgraded their bags now and as you can see in the picture below, the zips are now fully functional. They also changed the design a bit - the suit bags now feature the golden Indochino logo very prominently - a bit too prominently for my taste. 

Indochino Suit Bag - now fully functional 

And now - what about a proper February Collection, Indochino? They have been hiring like crazy (web designers, UI designers, Customer Service (more friendly Angies) and this is obviously a sign that Indochino is continuing to grow and strive. Even more so I'm curious to see what is next!

Eric Szeto's Indochino Review: Classic Navy Suit

Monday, January 24, 2011

This is the next review handed in for the Indochino Competition (still runs until January 31st!), done by Eric Szeto on the Indochino Classic Navy Suit (and also posted on his own blog)
Enjoy!

Indochino Classic Navy Suit Review
by Eric Szeto

Having only owned two suits: charcoal and light grey, I felt there was a need for a third suit. I bounced around department stores and online sites like Jos. A. Bank and Brooks Brothers, but didn't find anything I was absolutely dying for. I had experienced much trouble with OTR (off-the-rack) suits, so I began looking at MTM (made-to-measure) suits for a little while. The biggest issue with trying to find a good MTM suitor is the price. Money is everything. The less I spend means the more I can save towards another suit. After doing a bit of research and weighing the pros and cons of each potential clothier, I decided I would go with Indochino.

Knowing that there were coupons and additional savings to be had, I waited for coupon better than 10% off a single suit. I passed up on 15% coupon codes and free shirt coupon codes. Finally a 20% off coupon code arrived and I jumped on the opportunity to purchase my Classic Navy Suit (initial impressions and pictures here). In hindsight, I should've waited a little longer because there was a coupon for 20% off AND a free shirt 2 weeks later. I had a friend make some measurements (twice to be exact), put my order in online and patiently waited two weeks for my suit to be delivered. The suit came in under $280 and considering it's made to my body's measurements, that's ridiculous.

Out of the box, I was impressed with the suit. It even looked similar to the modeled suits on the Indochino website. The next 24 hours were quite painful as I let the suit sit to release some wrinkles and folds. I wanted to make sure I was giving the suit a fair chance.

Drapes extremely well.

When I first put on the pants, I knew I had a good fit. It's always been difficult to find pants in the right size because I've got a smaller waist, but a larger than normal derrière. My thighs are also larger because of Tennis and Hockey, while my calves are on the slimmer side. These pants catered perfectly to every area of my leg. They were very slim and tapered very well at the leg opening. While others have suggested I get the pants lengthened just a tiny bit, I feel the length is adequate and alterations aren't necessary. Really though, I have absolutely zero complaints about the pants.

Great fit, length looks alright to me.

The suit jacket was no different as it honestly fit like a glove. The shoulders sat very well as I asked for natural shoulders. The armholes were especially comfortable as I asked for higher armholes. I'm even surprised they fulfilled my request for functional sleeve buttons as I've heard stories of Indochino not wanting to do this in case the sleeves need to be hemmed. The suit jacket hugged my neck snugly, tapered to my torso well, and overall, looked like a good fit for my body type. While I would prefer if the suit jacket was half inch longer, I really don't mind its length. I can just say I'm trying to be a little more fashion-forward.

This pictures does the suit justice.

Overall, I'm extremely excited by my newest suit addition and would strongly consider Indochino in the future for my next suit. I'd be hard-pressed to find another clothier at such a great price. Maybe I could go straight to the source in Shanghai to get some suits made, but the airfare would cost a lot to begin with. I'm now looking to find some custom made shirts or extra-slim fit shirts from quality shirt-makers like Paul Smith and Thomas Pink. If anyone comes across a great sale for either or even something similar, let me know!

Latest purchases and what to do with that tie

Saturday, January 22, 2011

custom Dolbeau Startford Tie from Dolbeau (119$ CAN but lots of ties on sale now)
Prep School Blue and White Stripe Shirt from Indochino (99$)
Bars of Silver Cufflinks also from Indochino (40$)

I have to admit, that until recently I did not own a single dress shirt with cuffs or any cufflinks. As I had one of those 150$ Groupon codes, I thought I'd give it a try and ordered a shirt & cufflinks from Indochino. Again, I changed a bit of the measurements on the shirt (more specifically, I added a bit in the shoulders and for the wrists). It turn out perfect, really. I like the fabric and the fit is great. Looks cool with those cufflinks too, waiting for a good opportunity to use them now... 

What is your opinion on tie bars, by the way? I have a style book that advices against them, but I'm not sure for what reason. The golden tie bar they sell at Indochino is perhaps a bit much, but a slim silver one...?

A main reason why I posted the pic above is actually the tie. I had ordered it already quite a while back from Dolbeau in Canada. The tie is really cool, but I just don't have any idea what to wear it with! Can someone suggest a color or a specific pattern? It's definitely more for play than for work. 

Indochino 20% off and shipment delays

Friday, January 21, 2011



So, there are good news and there are bad news. The good news are, if you use the coupon code RABBIT, you can get 20% off on all products (that's rather unusual, usually those discounts are only valid for suits). Why RABBIT, you may ask - the reason is rather simple, it's the Chinese New Year and 2011 is the year of the rabbit. 

Eternal Charcoal - better fabric than the normal version
and an affordable 400$ with the coupon

The bad news - shipments take considerably longer, namely 4-6 weeks. I am curious if we will see a new collection anytime soon, perhaps they just wait until the Chinese New Year celebrations are over and production goes back to normal. There are still some suits of the Nouveau Collection left, fabric quality should be very good from what I heard and with 20% discount these suits come to around 400$ a piece which is not too bad. 

Rob Brechter's Indochino Review: The Step Above Tweed Suit

Tuesday, January 18, 2011




Hi guys,

Here comes the 3rd review handed in for the Indochino competition. Reviewed is the Step Above Tweed Suit (already sold out). Oh, and follow him on Twitter.

Best,
Lorenz


The Step Above Tweed Suit

I should probably preface this by saying that this is not my first Indochino suit. It's actually my fourth. I have the Timeless Charcoal 3-Piece, the standard Navy, the Indochino Blueprint Shadow Plaid, and my most recent, the Step Above Tweed. As far as fabric, this is hands down the nicest of my suits. It looks great, is quite comfortable to wear, and I've received tons of compliments on it. Unfortunately, getting to this point was quite tough.

Even though this is my fourth suit, I still needed a remake. The first suit they sent was extremely snug in the chest. I tried on my earlier suits and there was a definite difference, even though the measurements have gone unchanged. This inconsistency is one of my biggest criticisms of the overall Indochino experience. 

Even though I should have received a perfectly fitting suit to the same measurements as my previous suits, it somehow fit entirely different.
After visiting my tailor and getting the proper measurements to send over, I received a great fitting jacket, which was nice, but I still needed to make a trip back to the tailor. Months back, I purchased a pair of trousers from Indochino and ended up needing two remakes. Even though the order came with a full suit, whose pants were largely correct, the separate trousers were about 4" too short. From that point forward, I found it best to order my trousers unfinished and have my tailor hem them. Because of the $75 alterations credit it doesn't cost me anything, which has worked out well. So while it's a minor inconvenience, it's something I can't really complain about since they cover the tab 100% and it ensures that my trousers will break exactly where I want them to.



Reading through that, maybe you'd wonder why having to deal with issues like these doesn't stop me from ordering more suits from Indochino. I think I would probably mind these issues more if their customer service weren't so excellent. They are always pleasant and I have never once had any difficult correcting a problem with an order. Their response time is almost always within 24 hours, usually far less, and within a day, I receive notification of a PayPal reimbursement for alterations. 

If you're patient enough with the process--and realize that yes, it is indeed a process--you can definitely walk away with a great fitting suit for a fraction of the price of a typical made to measure. My tailor, for example, offers made to measure suits beginning at $800 and quickly going up once you get into higher quality fabrics. But if you recognize Indochino for what it is, you quickly realize the value. I have a 100% wool suit, customized with surgeon cuffs, any lapel style I want, free monogramming, custom lining color on the vest and the jacket, natural shoulders, higher armholes, and much more, it becomes instantly clear why an Indochino suit runs laps around an off the rack suit you'd find at a department store.



*My current suit has functional sleeves, boutonniere, side tabs, no belt loops, natural shoulders, higher armholes, standard notch lapel, and burgundy lining.

http://twitter.com/#!/robbrechter

Andrew Long's Indochino Review: Ambient Brown Suit and more

Friday, January 14, 2011

Indochino Review
The light grey 3-piece suit, full view, with me sitting (hat by Gorin Bros). This image shows better how the suit fabric drapes and hangs.

Hi guys,

This is another review handed in for the Indochino competition - if you want to participate as well and have a chance to win a 125$ Indochino coupon, click here for details. Andrew does not only show us some pics of the Grey Three Piece Suit, but also of a Navy Pinstripe Three Piece and reviews the Ambient Brown Suit from the Nouveau Collection.

Also, Andrew has a very interesting blog of his own that you might want to check out: http://www.esquirelife.com/blog/

Enjoy the review, it is truly an excellent one.
Lorenz

Andrew Long's Indochino Review
http://www.esquirelife.com/blog/

After 2 years, 4 bespoke suits, 5 custom-made shirts, and 6 alterations, I can safely say that Indochino is the place to go for high-value bespoke suits.

Notice I said high-value bespoke suits; because, for the time being, Indochino is all about suits (and shirts, and a few accessories), not men's furnishings in general.

It is also important to note that, in this review, I will be heartily recommending Indochino for their suits, and their suits alone. As I will detail, I find their other furnishings -- shirts, specifically -- to be somewhat lacking.

This in no way diminishes Indochino's preeminence as the best place for your average guy on a budget to get fitted and shipped a custom-made, fashion-forward, highly-customized and high-quality suit.

I'll break this review down into a few parts.

First -- I'll describe how I became an Indochino customer, two years ago, and what I own from them.

Second -- I'll talk about my newest purchase, the Ambient Brown three-piece suit, with many customizations (the main review).

Third -- An account of the only blight on the otherwise near-spotless reputation of Indochino quality: the durability of their goods, 2 years on.
In closing -- General thoughts on Indochino suits, the buying experience, the buyer's responsibility in having a good experience, and things to consider before you get into your first bespoke suit.

Let's not waste time, shall we?

The Beginning

After 2 years, I've forgotten just exactly how I first found Indochino, but I know that I was quickly sold on the idea. I can measure myself? Free shipping in 3-4 weeks? Good-looking suits with high thread counts? You got it.

My first suit was the "Essential Charcoal Suit", highly recommended by Indochino's style guide as a first suit. Upon donning the suit for the first time, I was instantly converted; I hung up my pleated-front, cuffed off-the-rack trousers immediately. The next time they came out of my closet, it was because they were going to the Goodwill.

Indochino revolutionized my professional wardrobe overnight. Within two months, I was ordering another suit (this time a gray three-piece suit) and another shirt, and then another suit, barely four months later.

I was addicted. All in all, I have collected 4 suits from Indochino: the aforementioned charcoal two-piece, a gray three-piece, a navy blue striped three-piece, and now, the ambient brown three-piece. Along the way I have also collected 5 custom-fitted shirts (of which more anon).

The suit I'll be reviewing today is my newest and most recent purchase, from the Noveau Gentleman Collection: the Ambient Brown 3-piece Suit.

This is my third 3-piece suit from Indochino, so I have several points of comparison. I have also gained approximately 15 pounds since ordering my last bespoke suit, so am curious to see how my new measurements came through the tailor's. This is also my most highly customized Indochino suit; I went with a 7-button vest, a gold vest backing, peak lapels and 3 buttons on the suit jacket.

The Ambient Brown 3-Piece Suit

The first question that comes to mind whenever I get a new Indochino suit is, "Does it fit".

Apart from the sheer pleasure of unwrapping the well-packed box (which, this time, came with the unexpected bonus of a pocket square) and the sheer sensual pleasure of the sturdy, high-quality fabric, the burning question on my mind is always, "Is this going to look as good on my body as it does when custom-fitted to those hot models on the Indochino website?"

The answer, in the case of the ambient brown 3-piece suit, was . . . not quite.

The pants and vest fit like a glove. The suit jacket needs some alteration -- but this is because of my hasty self-measuring, not because of Indochino's tailors making an error.

Let me repeat that for clarity. Indochino makes suits to measure. The measurement tools on their website are very precise (and have gotten more so, in fact, in recent months -- now they give options for lengths to the quarter-inch, rather than the half-inch).

The proper way to get measured for a suit involves the following steps:
  1. Use a cloth tape measure. Plastic will do in a pinch.
  2. Have someone else measure you.
  3. Don't cheat. Don't estimate. Measure exactly as directed.
  4. Measure again. (Measure twice, cut once).
  5. Go to a tailor and have them measure you. Compare the sets of measurements. Is the tailor adding inches because of style differences? Some tailors can be a bit old-fashioned, and favor stylist difference such as: a bigger break, a lower-riding crotch, longer and roomier jackets. If they go in this direction, they probably don't understand, or approve of, the fashion-forward suit, which is cut quite close to the modern man's body. Run the other way.
  6. Measure again by yourself. Compare.
I've probably made my point. The suit will come out poorly-fitting unless you take great care in the measuring process. You skip this step at your own great peril.

Okay, lecture over. Apart from the measuring woes I experienced due to my own hastiness, how is the suit itself? Quite simply, it rocks. The colors are subtle yet intriguing, the custom cut is exactly what I wanted, and the customizations are plentiful. I also like that the new shoulders are not quite as padded as the old ones. 

Indochino Brown Suit Review
The light grey 3-piece suit. Notice especially how the intense studio lighting in this photo brings out the depth of color and complexity in the suit's fabric

As to the customizations, in retrospect I wish I had respected convention and gone with a more conservative two-button jacket, with slim notch lapels; peak lapels are trendier, but will require a wider tie pairing to really match up, and the green diamond tie I got with my order is on the slim side.

I am quite pleased with how the vest customizations turned out; the 7 buttons really add a modern flair (reminiscent of Inception) and the gold backing looks ace. In addition, I finally nailed the perfect length vest for my torso (just touching the top of my pants) and it couldn't look smoother. Overall, I am quite pleased with this suit, and am sure it will look absolutely stellar once I take the suit jacket in a bit and find some broader ties to match with it.

The great thing about this particular shade of brown is that it has a few daring complements, notably green and gold, but won't look shabby with a solid-colored shirt and / or subtly-patterned tie.

The Durability of Indochino Suits

First, the shirts.

I ordered two free custom shirts with my most recent purchase: a barrel-collared blue herringbone and a wide spread point collar brown gingham. They both look awesome with the suit. The problem? I screwed up my measurements on these two shirts, rather badly. Both feature an extra inch in the neck and probably 1.5" too little in length in the arms. Making them effectively useless as dress shirts.

My ineptitude with measuring my own body aside, let me just make a single observation about Indochino shirts: they don't seem to stand up well over time.

The first shirt I received from Indochino, the white Ultimate Utility, was made of what felt like a rough canvas. The fabric felt incredibly durable. I wore the hell out of this shirt, day in and day out for months on end.

This shirt was delivered with my first suit, two years ago. A few weeks ago, my elbow wore through.

My second Indochino dress shirt -- The New Black (pink in color), my elbow punched through the fabric after about a week of wear. I requested a replacement and received one in record time, this time made of a "new, durable fabric" that was about three shades lighter and actually felt thinner. So far, I haven't punched through this one.

Also last week, the zipper on my pair of charcoal dress slacks broke. There is no way to zip them up now. Time for a visit to the tailor's.

Six months ago, a hole appeared just below the right-hand pocket of the same pair of pants, about an inch in length. The seam had literally split.

Readers, please tell me: are my expectations of custom clothes manufactured in China too high? Is two years of solid wear too much to ask of a dress suit, or a pair of dress pants? If you have purchased an Indochino suit recently, how long do you expect it to to last before needing repairs? How long do you want it to last?

How much durability can we really expect for $300-500 per suit?

General Observations on Indochino Suits and Closing

Despite my gripes above, I'd like to make a few generally positive comments, based on my 2-year history ordering from Indochino.
  • Fabric quality is high.
  • Colors pop.
  • Price (even at the new prices in the $400-500 range) is still reasonable, for the quality of the product you're getting.
  • Customer care is excellent.
  • Customization is stellar.
  • Website is easy to navigate.
  • Shipping and packaging leave nothing to be desired.
  • Of the 6 alterations I've had made, 4 were related to changes in my own body size and not the fault of Indochino's tailor (This is not counting repairs).
  • Coupons and deals are many and varied, to the point that I would say there's no excuse for ordering anything from Indochino at full price (unless maybe you really need a suit or a shirt in a hurry). In 2 years, I've never paid full price for a suit, or paid a single cent for an Indochino dress shirt or accessory. It's been all 2-for-1 or free-shirt-with-purchase deals.
I suppose the other question people ask a lot is, when buying from Indochino, am I actually saving money, as opposed to simply buying something off-the-rack and then taking it to a tailor for a custom fit?

To which I would respond, almost certainly -- although I've never bought a suit off the rack.

Let me end with an anecdote which might better illustrate my point.

Recently, one of my best friends went to get married. He bought a basic two-piece, two-button charcoal suit off the rack and had it tailored. He had to take it to 3 different tailors (and spent I don't know how much money in the process) to get it to finally fit him to his liking. The last tailor he visited was mine -- the same guy who tailors my Indochino suits, once, if I mess up in my lazy self-measuring process.
If you, like my friend, are just getting into bespoke suits, you could do much, much worse than getting one from Indochino.

But you do have a big part in making the buying experience a positive one. Your responsibilities, as I see them, extend to the following:
  • Give Indochino accurate measurements of your body. This determines how happy you will be with the fit.
  • Don't expect miracles out of the durability of the fabric. If you wear your stuff hard, as I do, expect it to last a year, maybe two.Consider your needs. Do you need a daily wear suit? Are you just starting your career? These are good times to be buying Indochino
Indochino Review
The navy blue 3-piece Indochino suit. Color correction makes it look a little more black. Ultimate utility shirt, in white, also by Indochino, beneath. Devonshire pocket watch.

A special note on the photos in this review. They were taken in a professional studio for my business portfolio website. There are no photos of the suit reviewed because my own camera equipment auto-focusing broke shortly before I received the suit in the mail. Sad Christmas.

Final disclaimer: I do not work for Indochino or any of its affiliates and received no monetary compensation for this review.

Pat's Indochino Review: Basic Black Suit

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Hi guys,

this is one of the first entries received for the Indochino Competition. Pat wrote a great review on his first Indochino suit, the Basic Black Suit (100% wool, 349$ without coupon). Check the review below and don't forget to stop by at his blog at http://thestyledman.blogspot.com/.

Enjoy :)




Today I'm going to talk abut my experience with Indochino. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Indochino, they are an online made to measure suit company. It is a Canadian company who's head office is located in Vancouver, but the production of the suits come from China. I decided to try Indochino with one of the coupon codes I got from redflag deals, in this case I got the suit for 15% off with 2 free shirts and 1 free accessory item. So I decided to go with the basic black suit, since I was in need of a black suit anyway. 

Now comes the interesting part of getting your measurements. One of the great features of the Indochino website is how simple it is for you to get your measurements. They not only have a diagram showing what to measure, but they have a video showing you how to do it. After about ten minutes with the help of someone else your measurements are in. What I like most about Indochino is the amount of options you have to customize the suit from having working buttons to pick stitching and there's no additional charge for it! After I placed my order I recieved various emails updating my on the progress of my order. I think what really surprised me was the speed in which I got my suit, I got in in 12 days! Indochino guarantees that you will recieve your order within two weeks!


Suit jacket and trouser with suit bag

Close up of working buttons on sleeve

Once recieved.....

I gave it an inspection, the quality looked and felt good, though it is a light fabric so it's best for spring/summer/fall months. I tried it on and the fit was dead on, though it felt tight in certain spots, so I had the suit pressed at the cleaners. After the pressing the suit fit like a glove. The only immediate issue I had was that the pant length was about a 1/2" short, so I had them altered. I suggest you get the pants unhemmed so that there will be no issues, the bonus is that Indochino will reimburse you for alteration fees up to $75.00. The sleeve and jacket lenght was perfect. The shoulders fit well and do not overhang. Overall I was surprised at the quality of the suit, It looked good and felt comfortable on me, so now it was time to put the suit to a real working test.






I had ordered this suit in October, since then I have worn the suit about 12 times. How has it fared? Well, after about the 8th time the top button on the suit became really loose, to the point where there was 2 strings holding it, so I had it fixed. The other issue that appeared, is that at the edge of the jacket where the buttons are a distinct line has formed. From what I can tell this line is the result of a material on the inside of the jacket finishing before the edge, therefore causing the jacket fabric to sink in causing this line, see the picture below for details.

The line appears right after the buttons

The line is most noticeable in direct light, otherwise you don't really notice it.

In Conclusion.......

I would say that for the price and convenience, Indochino is really worth it. Although I thought the material was light and suspected that wear marks would occur this has not happened. In fact the material has stood up very well, and still maintains a new look, I have yet to dry clean it! The only real downfall is the appearance of the line near the edge of the jacket. I don't really know the cause of it and it doesn't look like it can be fixed unless I take it to a professional tailor. All in all I was very impressed and will more than likely order another suit from Indochino.


A note about the two free shirts I received with the suit. I found that the shirts where not of a very high quality, also they fit real snug on me, after one wash the shirts had already begun to fade. I would not recommend buying the shirts, though if it comes with the package it's good enough to wear to work a few times before they fade out.

No Indochino January Collection?

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Over the past couple of months we got used to having the monthly collections introduced at the beginning of each month, with additional items being introduced the following weeks. It seems January will be a bit different - there have been no teasers or other indications so far on a new collection. 

This might also be due to the fact that many suits of the Nouveau Collection are still available (about 50% of it sold out already). Indochino might simply want to wait a bit till they got sold most of it and then introduce a new collection towards the end of January. I'm very curious if they will actually introduce their cardigans now or if that will take a bit longer. I'm saving my Groupon coupon for one anyway .
Anyway, I wrote Angie about it and got a somewhat unclear message:
Currently there are no plans for a new collection, however, we normally release a new collection once a month, so please stay tuned for possible additions to our Blazer and Suit Collection. (Angie from Indochino via email)
Coupon situation

You probably noticed it from checking the Coupon Page - we hardly have any working coupons anymore at the moment. I checked everything on January 1 and discovered that most of them expired. Quite a pity, because there used to be so many coupons around that hardly anyone bought a suit for a regular price, I guess  (let alone a shirt - we pretty much got them for free with coupons). 

I'm wondering if this has any impact on Indochino's sales, especially as the current collection is quite a bit on the pricey side (~500$ for the new suits). Fabrics should be great though, from what I've heard so far. 

I assume (and I hope) that new coupons will be introduced slowly again. 

Before October or so Indochino didn't use Groupon, but now those Groupon codes (first 125$ value, now 150$ value) appear every other day. I thus decided to make an own section for Groupon coupons on the Coupon Page and try to update is often as possible. Unfortunately, most of those deals are only up for 24 hours. Still, I don't think I'll miss any of those deals and I'll also send out a tweet/facebook status if I hear about one. One thing to remember - those Groupon deals are great if you want to buy pants or shirts, but everything above 500$ is usually a better deal when used with a 20% off coupon (sadly, none available right now). 

There is actually a Groupon deal right now, but it's only valid until January 7. 

Competition

I'm getting the first reviews sent in, I will start putting them up on the website from next week. There is still plenty of time for everyone to participate and with some luck win the 125$ Indochino voucher

Check more details on the competition right here.

The Stardusted Striped Suit - 374$ if you win the 125$ coupon


The year under review

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

So, 2010 is almost over and I thought it's the time to sum up a bit what happened so far. Don't worry, it won't be too long a read ;)

I started this blog 8 months ago, in April. Back then I had just ordered my first Indochino suit - a basic Navy Blue Suit. I can get a bit obsessed with googling stuff and I literally had spent hours educating myself about the company. There were (and still are) Dennis Cahlo's reviews and style advice, a couple of outdated reviews and a thread on Style Forum (still very much active!). I thought it would be nice to have one central portal for Indochino reviews, tips and coupons and decided to start my own blog. I didn't know if would work out, but after 8 months and increasing visitor numbers, I am rather sure it did actually work. In a way, I feel like every comment I get, every visitor who stays on the website for more than some seconds was worth spending time every day to make the website happen. 

Of course there are still many things I would like to do better. A nicer looking website, more reviews, especially from other customers (check the competition!), a separate section to rate fabrics and much more. I'm also hoping to do another interview with Kyle Vucko at some point and talk a bit about what to expect in 2011. 

Indochino
The Linen Collection, The Blueprint Collection, The Hedonist Gentlemen Collection - those are just some of the names of the collections that Indochino introduced every month, quite amazing how often they manage to churn out their new fashion items. Below you can see a slideshow of some of their 2010 collections  (I probably missed some). Some were better than others, but overall I am personally very impressed with their releases. Overall the brand appears more mature now, but they are still trying something new with every collection (be it golden watches, gloves, different models, different settings, etc.).







Not only did we get a new collection every month, Indochino also proved to be very responsive to criticism and suggestions. We got natural shoulders, higher armholes, boot cut trousers, updated construction and many more improvements, some of them mentioned in the interview I did earlier this year.

Of course, not everything was perfect. Still there are discussions about the construction (fully canvassed vs. fused), there are occasionally troubles with the measurements shown in the user accounts or simply ill-fitting suits that must have escaped the quality control. Furthermore, prices went up quite a bit, certainly not a fact that pleases everyone. Another complaint I keep hearing about is the fact that you cannot combine gift vouchers with coupons and that there are no benefits for repeat customers.

I'm curious what they new year will bring - in terms of new products cardigans (confirmed in an interview a while ago) and shoes (asked about in their survey) are definitely a possibility. It will also be interesting to see if we see a further increase in average prices. Last but not least, will there be new competitors for Indochino? I know Moderntailor (only tried their shirts) and some smaller, local online mtm business but I believe Indochino is the biggest player so far.

So what do you think? Is Indochino on a good way? What do you expect for 2011?

Competition: Win a 125$ Indochino voucher!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Flyer design by within50.com

I'm pleased to announce my very first competition! As mentioned before, one of the key outcomes of my recently conducted survey was the wish for more user reviews. A fellow reader who shall remain unnamed (you know who you are, thank you again!) was so kind to sell me his Groupon coupon, so I thought I'll use it for this competition. 

So here is how it works: everyone who sends in his review including photos enters the competition and has a chance to win a 125$ Indochino voucher. All the reviews will get published on the blog, depending on the length and quality I will put them either on the main page, or as a shorter review in the "real guys, real suits" section. Needless to say, reviews will get published independent of the nature of your experience - if you hated your suit it's as important for me to share it as if it's positive. 

Feel free to tell your friends about the competition, repost the flyer on Twitter or Facebook etc. - the more reviews, the merrier ;)

The whole competition will run until the end of January - I want to give everyone enough time to celebrate Christmas, have some parties and possibly wait for their Indochino order to arrive. 

There are no special rules on the format or exact content of the review. It definitely should contain photos, but how you present the review is completely up to you. 

Enjoy & and I'm hoping for many reviews to come my way. Just send them to indochinoreviews@gmail.com. Any comments or suggestions and questions, feel free to ask anytime and don't hesitate to use the comment function on the blog!

One more thing I forgot: my new logo, the blog header and the flyer for this competition were created by www.within50.com. They are a group of professional designers who help you out with great designs for free! Give them a try if you need it, they are a blessing for us bloggers! 


Let me include some fine print just to be on the safe side:

Just to make this clear - the voucher cannot be handed out in cash or in any other way. The winner will get the Groupon PDF with the code on it or perhaps just the code itself per email. The winner will be chosen by my girlfriend, the lucky fairy. I'll fill a bowl with small papers with your names on it and she'll randomly choose one, eyes closed, of course. I specifically hereby state that there are no legal steps you can take to gain insight into the selection process, this competition is held excluding the jurisdiction of a court (always wanted to use that phrase). 

By sending in your review, you grant me the right to use it on my blog, including photos. You will be properly quoted with either your name or the name you choose, link to your website, etc. You will of course keep all the rights on your pictures and the review, I only get the right to use it on my blog without having to pay you for it.