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.