Indochino Review - The Essential Charcoal Suit

I had planned on publishing this Indochino Essential Charcoal Suit Review much earlier, but postponed publishing it a couple of times. I thought it may be more interesting to do the review as a video for once, so that's just what I did, with a little help from a friend. It's interesting doing this as compared to a couple of photos. You can control your posture on a photo much better and only on video your realise that your suit doesn't look good in all position. Overall, I'm very happy with the suit. Fabric quality and construction is better than ever and there is no doubt that Indochino has matured greatly as a company. Of course, Charcoal is also a tremendously versatile colour and opens up a lot of possible combinations.

Also check out Soxiety and Mantorii (now owned by InStitchu) who were so kind to provide socks and shoes for the review.

Indochino Essential Charcoal Suit $449

Indochino White Oxford Shirt $79

Indochino Blue Spot Navy Tie $49

Indochino Slim Tie Bar $39

Socks by Soxiety

Black Oxford Cap Toe Shoes by Mantorii $299

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Indochino Suit Reviews - The Index (2010 - 2013)

Some of you may know the beginnings, this blog started in early 2010 as a rather crappy attempt to provide a one-stop-solution for all Indochino questions. The blog certainly grew and improved well and there have been dozens of suits being reviewed so far and yes, it can be hard to find the exact one that you may be looking for. 

I have thus created the Indochino Suit Review index, listing all reviews published on this blog since 2010. Still work in progress and not all of them are yet sorted correctly, but the most important ones should be there. 

You can check it out here:

http://www.indochino-review.com/p/indochino-reviews.html

P.S. I suck at design and programming. Anyone wants to make the Index look awesome? I have a bit of money to spend for this. Drop me an email at lorenz (at) indochino-review.com if you are interested.

3 Must-Have Indochino Suits & Cheaper Alternatives

Indochino's reboot of their Essential Line a few days ago got my thinking about the 3 quintessential suits every man should own. I think at the beginning, it's all about having something you feel comfortable in and to have something versatile that can be combined with other items easily. Patterns can be a bit tricky at first and I think by now everyone know to stay away from solid black suits. 

1. Navy Blue Suit

Without a doubt, the Navy Blue Suit is probably the single most important suit for any man. The colour is formal and elegant enough for all business settings and the jacket alone can be paired well for a more casual outfit, for example with a pair of chinos.

The Indochino Navy Blue Suit - now $449

Reviews of Navy Blue Suits:

While already from 2011, this Indochino suit review covers a variation of the Navy Blue suit, featuring extras such as a headphone port or additional zipped pockets.
--> http://www.indochino-review.com/2011/12/indochino-review-transatlantic-traveler.html

The Navy Blue Suit I have from Black Lapel is definitely one of my favourite suits. Well tailored and great construction make this an serious alternative worth considering.
--> http://www.indochino-review.com/2012/03/introducing-black-lapel-navy-blue-suit.html

A good alternative for the summer, a Navy Blue Linen suit like the one reviewed from Indochino below can help you to stay cool in the heat. Try to look for a wool/linen blend as pure linen suits will wrinkle very easily (which is also part of their appeal).
--> http://www.indochino-review.com/2012/06/indochino-review-modern-navy-linen-wool.html

2. Midnight Blue Tuxedo

The day will come when you need to go to a formal evening event and I think it's best to have a well fitting tux ready in the wardrobe. The idea of renting one just never really convinced me, sure it's a good last minute solution, but you would have to be very lucky to actually look good in your rented tuxedo. 

Indochino Midnight Blue Tuxedo - $449

Review of the Midnight Blue Tuxedo:

The perfect suit for a formal evening event, taking some inspiration from James Bond movies. Make sure you learn how to tie a bow tie before, it's a bit tricky - at least it was for me.
--> http://www.indochino-review.com/2012/11/midnight-blue-tuxedo-review.html

Essential Gray Suit

The Essential Gray Suit is one of my personal favourites, a great and versatile suit for any occasion. Solid suits are great, because they can be combined with a lot of more daring shirts (if you want to) or just with a simple solid shirt. The look below, with the white Oxford shirt and the Navy dotted tie is just perfect in my opinion.

Indochino Essential Gray Suit - $449

Indochino Alternatives:

It may be worth checking out some of the competitors if you are looking for a more entry level pricing. Upunique, Suitly, Dragon Inside are just some of the names that have been mentioned frequently in comments lately.

Their websites are all far from being as professional as Indochino and some of the suit pictures look questionable (look at this one, shoulders far too wide), the basic suits Suitly offers even contain 10% polyester...it seems some of them just repeat mistakes Indochino did years ago. Upunique hasn't updated anything on their Facebook page since March - this is always a possible sign for a company in trouble in my personal experience. Dragon Inside seems to be the most promising so far,

If you have any experience with competitors, please don't hesitate to share in the comment section. I'll be reviewing Dragon Inside myself in a few weeks and I'm curious to see how Indochino's fresh competitors compare.

Also make sure to check for an Indochino coupon at my dedicated deal page: Indochino Coupons

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

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

Pat's Indochino Review: Basic Black Suit

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 :)

My first Indochino Suit Review!
http://thestyledman.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-first-indochino-suit-review.html

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.

Indochino Suit Review: The Walker Navy Tweed Suit

Walker Navy Tweed Suit

My latest - and probably favorite - purchase from Indochino is the Walker Navy Tweed Suit. It is one of those Indochino suits that you have to purchase right away, or it will be sold out within a week. Actually, it had already sold out right when I wanted to order it and miraculously appeared again the next day. So, that suit is gone now, but there are occasionally tweed suits being introduced, so you might get lucky again for one of the upcoming collections - there is a new one usually every month.

I had long wanted a nice tweed suit, even if my image of tweed was that of Harris Tweed and not of a navy blue one. In any case, the Walker Navy Tweed suit turned out to be by far the nicest fabric I have seen on an Indochino suit so far. A dark blue, rather heavy fabric, quite a bit rougher than usual suit fabrics and on closer examination you can see the structure of it. Overall it does appear to be very high quality. I have chosen the fabric detail picture from the Indochino website to show what I mean.

Navy Walker Tweed fabric close-up

I also chose to have 2 pairs of trousers this time and I chose one with flat front and another one with 1 pleat. I have to say that I seem to be the type of guy that feels (and probably looks) more comfortable in pleated trousers, but that is surely only a matter of personal taste and preference. 

One of the available coupons at that time also gave me 1 free shirt. I chose the Indochino Dealmaker Shirt pictured below. The fit is great, buttons are sewn very carefully - certainly no complaints here!

Detailed Dealmaker Blue Striped Dress Shirt

As for the suit itself, the fit is really spot on. I had changed some measurements again to make the jacket a bit longer and the trousers a bit wider around the thighs. In fact, Indochino now lets you choose "boot cut" trousers for a more relaxed fit - I didn't have that option then. The shoulders are not the natural shoulders, but the default version. I actually like them a lot and don't think the padding is too much, you might have heard of problems with Indochino shoulders, but I can't notice anything bad on my suits. I also went for the higher armholes option, giving me more freedom to move in the suit. Another special feature is the golden buttonhole on the left lapel - a great detail! All in all, I'm really satisfied with this suit - I wear it to work regularly and only got positive comments on it so far.

click to enlarge - careful, 2MB pic

If you are about to order from Indochino from the first time, I'd encourage you to read the Indochino Guide and if you need any advise, please don't hesitate to contact me at indochinoreviews@gmail.com. If you need coupons, check at the Coupon Page, it's updated regularly and you usually find some nice deals there.

Indochino Blueprint Windowpane Suit Review

A while ago I ordered my second Indochino suit - I always promised a review, but never really found the time to take pictures and write a bit about it. The suit I bought was part of a monthly collection and no longer available, but the review and the pictures are still helpful I guess! This link should take you to the new arrivals on Indochino, there is a new collection introduced pretty much every month.

I didn't need another suit in a solid color, so the Blueprint collection came just right. I managed to get one of the last Windowpane Blueprint suits (I have written about that collection earlier, but the images are gone now), chose one of the new linings (pretty funky, but not entirely fit for business use) and took 1 inch off the jacket length. I did this, because my girlfriend kept telling me my other suit jackets are too long and look "old style". Little does she know about the rules of suit style, but it does seem that shorter jackets are quite in fashion now. Anyway, I got this one jacket a bit shorter, but I won't do it again. It looks cool from the front (in my opinion), but it doesn't quite cover my bottom and while mine isn't fat (yet), I don't feel very comfortable knowing that. Be that as it may, enough of the words and on to some photos.

Indochino Windowpane Suit

Blueprint lining

more posing

Blueprint lining details

and a last one

The suit itself feels great. A bit stiffer around the lapels compared to my first Indochino suit, but that might just be due to the updated construction used (I didn't cut my suit open for inspection, but they are supposed to have canvas in the lapels now). Buttons are sewn very solidly again, no lose threads anywhere, the Indochino master tailor this time really earns his name. 

The whole jacket fit perfectly fine right from the start, for some reason the pants turned out really tight though. My tailor managed to widen them by about an inch and they fit better now - as long as I don't gain any weight, that is. If you ask yourself why I didn't get the jacket remade an inch longer - the reason is simple, the Windowpane fabric was sold out then. I'm looking forward to the next collections - I got my measurements figured out now hopefully (will add an inch to crotch and obviously 1-1.5 to jacket length for the next one though).

Best,
Lorenz

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plans for the upcoming week

Dear readers,

I have some good news for the upcoming week! Kyle Vucko, the CEO of Indochino is so kind to do an email interview with me. I am really honoured and I carefully selected a couple of questions that are hopefully of interest to you. I am sure Mr Vucko is a very busy guy, especially as business at Indochino seems to be increasing at rapid rates lately, but I can hopefully release the interview at some point this week.

I have also prepared an article on suit construction with a special focus on Indochino suits. It is basically ready to be released, but I want to wait for the interview and the answers concerning Indochino's suit construction.

Furthermore, I will update and upgrade the a bit lacklustre Indochino suit review I released on Thursday. I had come home tired after a longer business trip to find my suit waiting for me and neither the text nor the photos reflect how happy I am with the suit. Also, I went to the tailor with the jacket and had some things changed (namely the length of the sleeves and chest) and I want to update you with the results. Bear with me while this blog becomes more professional and helpful for you and many thanks to all readers for stopping by so often every day.

Moreover, please note that in order to comment you don't need to sign in or sign up. You can simply choose to comment as Anonymous or with a freely chosen nickname. I'm grateful for every comment (that is not spam) and discussion. 

Best regards and have a great Sunday,

Lorenz