When you collect your new suit from A Suit That Fits, five to six weeks after the fitting, the staff suggests a thorough examination of the fit. But I have always found that impossible to know until it has been worn on three or four different occasions.Yes, you can immediately if the jacket is tight across the chest, the trousers feel uncomfortably snug or there is an alarming amount of air circulating about your ankles. But it is hard to remember everything else to check.
The staff itself can help a little here – suggesting sitting down in the trousers, for example, to make sure there is enough give in the crotch and thighs. But I always forget something that won’t come up until the third time I wear the suit: how secure the side-tabs on the trousers are or the narrowness of the ends of the sleeves.
So, I waited until now to give a decent review of my new suit. Broadly, the experience was positive. So many of my old suits are a little roomy in the waist (as I have lost weight in the past year) or never had their sleeves altered and are therefore a little long. Getting a new suit, therefore, that fits perfectly on the sleeves, the waist of the jacket and of the trousers is a pleasure.
The neck and shoulders fit well, as does the waistcoat – which is the hardest item to tailor. Unfortunately, the picture does not illustrate any of this particularly well as it is a stock image for the ASTF website. But one point is shown here: the collar of the jacket is forced away from the neck slightly by the collar of the waistcoat.
I enquired about this and was told that it is very tough to avoid when there is a collar on both the jacket and waistcoat. But then, my other waistcoats have a collar that stops short of the silk back, avoiding this problem. Perhaps a suggestion for collared waistcoats at ASTF in the future.
As mentioned previously, the material for ASTF suits is not amazing – roughly equivalent to a £250 or £300 suit on the high street. But then ASTF is great value that way, fitting much better for around the same price. And the company has started to introduce some more luxurious fabrics and one-offs.
I’m pretty satisfied with my suit, and I have two colleagues that are pretty happy with theirs – indeed, who are returning for second orders. If you’re looking to spend around that amount of money on the high street, don’t – go here instead.
**UPDATE**
Many customers of A Suit That Fits had a worse experience than me, as the comments to this post indicate. I recommend that readers look through those and consider my experience as just one of a range of experiences.
***
I received a new suit from ASTF a few days ago and am pretty pleased. I went for their top quality fabric in dark gray with a slight pin strip and red herringbone lining. I have to say the fabric is lovely, especially the lining however I’m struggling to keep the crease in the trousers.
After a few days wear I am going back this afternoon to have a couple of alternations.
1 – The sleeves are too long, they cover my hand right down to my fingers and they are very wide, like a magician’s sleeve.
2 – The trousers are quite tight around the middle of my thighs. I have weird legs in that I have very skinny knees but large thighs and ASTF has been unable to deal with that ‘out of the box’ so to speak.
Hopefully these 2 small niggles can be fixed. Other than that I am very pleased with my purchase which came in at circa £500. In comparison to my other current suits; a £500 Boss Suit, a £500 CK Suit and a £350 Balmer suit, this is substantially better.
Also o was measured by one of their tailors not myself.
Regards
Colin
Dear Colin,
I appreciate that your comments are form a long time ago and we have replied to you in a post below; however, at A Suit That Fits our aim is to ensure that our customers go away delighted. Therefore, I wanted to double check that everything is now satisfactory with your order.
As mentioned above, we rely on all of our customer experiences as well as all of the customer feedback, wherever it may come from, to improve our service. In this light thank you very much for your feedback, and please do let me know on [email protected] if you need any more assistance.
PS. The process of creating a bespoke suit can take time and there are usually small tweaks needed before the garment fits as the customer requires. For further details on our fitting process: http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
Thanks for that Colin, we’re all about personal recommendations over here at Permanent Style.
I’m sure readers would be pleased to hear how the alterations work out as well, when they’re done.
Simon
After a fairly positive review i’ve now had more time to wear the suit and a number of discussions with the tailor and here’s maybe not so positive a review.
The suit fit was not ideal to say the best. The jacket was very baggy under the arms, too wide in the shoulders along with the comments I made previously that “The sleeves are too long, they cover my hand right down to my fingers and they are very wide, like a magician’s sleeve.”
I went for my alteration fitting and the tailor was quite surprised at how poorly it fitted however pinned it up and it has now all been adjusted to fit pretty nicely. Just a shame it needed quite a few alterations and the not quite so good ‘finish’ had it been more correct first time i.e. along the stitching in the seams on the inside; the fabric just isn’t finished quite as well however I don’t think they could of done much better with the amount of alterations.
As for the trousers, I purchased two pairs and the first pair had the problems I mentioned before and the second pair was pretty awful. I had assumed they would be the same, which they should be. The leg was too short, there was too much material around the crotch which made them uncomfortable in addition to the problems mentioned with the first pair.
They have been adjusted and fit well now however one wonders what would of happened had I used their online measuring tool rather than visit the tailor with their ‘fit guarantee’.
Few general comments about the suit: It is pretty nice, as I said before the fabric and lining is really quite lovely. Couple of slight annoying things; the pockets on inside of the jacket are lower than all of my other jackets which not only is annoying when you want to slip your phone or wallet into the packet and can’t find it but also when these things are in your pockets and the jacket is buttoned they create a prominent bulge which just does not look quite right and spoils the line of the jacket. Also the side pockets in the trousers and pretty deep which again means anything you put in your pocket creates a prominent bulge in the front of your thigh. This can be easily altered though.
Overall I do now have a nice good fitting suit however I could of purchased an off the peg Boss or the likes and had it altered at a tailor for about the same money in much less time with equally as good a fit. I’m not sure I would purchase from ASTF again although I do like being about to choose the fabric and lining at ‘off the peg’ prices.
So a fairly poor review however, I think I may have been an exception to the rule and believe that the norm would probably be better than my experience.
Regards
Colin
Dear Colin,
As I mentioned in my reply above, at A Suit That Fits (as with any tailor) the fitting process can take time, especially with your first bespoke suit.
Having said the above, we will work with all of our customers to ensure that they are delighted with the fit, and keep a record of this for future orders (which will be much quicker!)
It’s thanks to this kind of feedback that we can (and have since the time of your post) continually improve our service. However, if there is anything else I can help you with please contact me directly at [email protected]
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Dear Colin,
Thanks for your detailed review of your experiences. The people at A Suit That Fits wanted to respond, so I have posted their message below.
Best, Simon
– – –
Hi Colin,
My name is Michael and I work at A Suit That Fits.com. Firstly I must say Thank you for your feedback on our product and service. We are
very dedicated to learning from customer feedback and we endeavour to continually improve our product and service.
I understand that you had some alterations completed on your suit so that it would fit you properly/perfectly. We would not be satisfied
giving any customer a suit that didn’t fit, so it doesn’t matter how many alterations we have to do to get it right, we would never like you to have an ill fitting suit. I can only apologise for the inconvenience of having several alterations done on your suit, however now the measurements on your profile will be changed and so when you order your next suit, it will be completely fitted to your body. fit perfectly first time, should you order another.
In response to your feedback, some of our customers love the deep pockets which is why we have them like this, however we may be able to look into setting up a shallow pocket option on the website. When designing your suit, you could then specifically choose a shallow pocket.
Colin, please don’t hesiatate to contact me if you would like any further information or if I can help. My email address is [email protected] – if you e-mail me your address I will make sure that I get in touch with you should our ‘shallow pockets option is being develloped.
Many kind regards
Michael Pegrum
I was measured for my suit in March in Leeds. Paid £405 and my suit arrived 8 weeks later. The jacket fitted like my school blazer did when I was 30 plus years younger. It was so small and the trousers did not fit either. Unfortunately I had to wait until June to see the tailor again who advised the arm holes were too small and also agreed a number of changes required to the jacket which is being remade. The trousers are also being altered. I was told my replacement suit would be 10 days but now at 3 weeks later I am still waiting. If the new suit does not fit it will be late August before I can return again.
I consider myself fair in my comments and all I have stated are facts and not cast an opinion, which I will do when the replacement items eventually arrives.
Dear Russ,
I am aware that your comments were made a long time ago; however, from our records, I can see that we were able to resolve the issues with your suit and we want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to ensure that you were delighted with your garments. If you’d like to leave us any more feedback at all, please do let me know at [email protected]
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
P.S. David passes his regards
There are plenty of tailors across London who are due to retire.
Their experience, gained over decades of work is second to very few.
They don’t have websites, barely any have cards but are forgotten gems.
Put on top of this the fact they do a fair bit of making up for some ‘name’ tailors and there we have a very rich vein which unfortunately won’t be around for ever… jump in when you can.
Leave these website tailors for those in the provinces.
Dear Mr Brown,
The tailoring talent pool in the UK certainly is a shrinking one, which most would agree is a real shame. However, we do employ 7 fantastic tailors in our growing UK team. One of the reasons that we produce our suits in Nepal is because there is a huge tailoring heritage in the area and men simply don’t buy suits off the peg. For more information about our tailors and where we make our suits, please see our website at; http://www.asuitthatfits.com/shop/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=30. Please contact [email protected] if you’d like any more information on how our suits are made.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Mr Brown, would you be kind enough to suggest a list of these tailors, for readers to go to?
Thanks
Simon
I’m compiling a few words on the very subject for my friends at Faith/Strobelight Honey – print only.
That said my article may well make it’s way online at some point.
I’ll drop you a little note with an update.
I’ve just finished my first suit from ASTF. I’ve posted a full review on my own blog at bit.ly/8lWgDm but, overall I’ve got sort of mixed feelings about them.
I don’t think you get a great experience from ASTF, but I do think you end up with a lovely suit. On the other hand, I think this is marred by some of the quality issues that you mentioned in your post. I don’t know how much faith I have that my suit will last well… but I suppose only time will tell!
Dear Jake,
Thank you for your feedback, although your comment was made along time ago, we do appreciate all the feedback we get as it helps us to improve our service. Saying that, there is always room for improvement and we continue to monitor our customer feedback through our mystery shop program which invites real customers, both new and existing, to review our products and services. If there is anything else I can help you with, or, if you’d like any more information about our mystery shop report please do not hesitate to contact me directly at [email protected]
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Hi, I’ve come to this thread rather late it seems. However I would be interested to know whether Mr. Brown did indeed post an article online regarding the retired provincial tailors?
Thank you.
I used A Suit That Fits / http://www.asuitthatfits.com and it’s been very difficult to get the fit right. I started the process about 12 months ago and I stopped doing re fits (as I ran out of interest with it for a while) but I’ve just tried on their latest attempt and its still miles off. So far it’s been a terrible experience but depending on how they resolve it for me, I may review it again. At best I suspect they will be average. I have since been and bought a few decent suits from Hugo Boss and once the leg and arm length were adjusted it fits much better (for £400.00) . I think the trick is to find a decent ‘off the peg label’ that suits your shape rather than get measured by one person and tailored by someone many miles away – the details and customers requests simply get lost in translation.
Dear Anonymous,
As my colleague Claire mentions below, when she replied to you at the time of your comment, we will work with you as many times as necessary in order to fit you with a suit that you are completely happy with. On very rare occasions this can take a number of fittings in order to get your suit just right. The cost of this, however, is covered in our fit guarantee. For full details of our fit guarantee please see here;
http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
We believe we have done everything we can to contact you to rectify these issues, however, if you do have any outstanding issues at all please contact me directly at [email protected]
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Did Mr Brown ever come back with the list of lost taylors?
Dan
Agreed. My experience with ASTF is similar. Even after alterations the fit is way off. It really irks me every time I put my suit on, which in fact should be a pleasure, right?
What is also annoying is that I left feedback on their site but it has not made it to their feedback page. So if you go there all you find is positive reviews….hardly a surprise I suppose.
Dear Anonymous,
We would never wish for you to leave our studios without being completely delighted with the fit of your suit. I appreciate that your comment was left a long time ago, however, if there is anything I can help you with at all please do contact me at [email protected]. We are also very open about reviews of our services and have even created a dedicated page on our website where customers can find independent reviews of our services;
http://www.asuitthatfits.com/shop/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=A-Suit-That-Fits-Review.html&Itemid=370
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Very interesting to read these comments. One thing that struck me was that even in the photographs on the website many of the suits do not look particularly “smooth” or well fitting. Frankly, some of them look rather cheap.
Also, they look as though they lack some of the padding/ interior linings of better quality suits. I wonder if anyone who has bought could comment on this. (For example, lapels look slightly crumpled).
Has anyone any experience of dress2kill suits, which seem to have a similar ethos?
Dear Anonymous,
I appreciate that your comment was made a long time ago however, we have, since your comment was made, updated the images on our website to better reflect how our suits look and also their quality. We also continuously work to develop and improve our products based on feedback from customers and also from our mystery shop program. If you’d any more information about how our suits are made please contact me directly at [email protected]
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
I purchased a suit from them 12 weeks ago, The waist of the trousers was 3 inches to big the waist on the jacket was 3 inches to big the sleeves on the jacket were far too long and the material was appalling. They made some amends however because the amends were substantial they ruined the line of the suit. Worse still was the fabric which was appalling. The bonding layer between the fabrics had cause large ripples to appear all over the jacket it was also very badly creased. I was told (wrongly) that this would all come out with a professional press. The pressing did not resolve anything. I have sent months trying to get this sorted out and have got no where i have asked for a refund as have lost faith with this company and do not believe that they can deliver what they promise. All that they keep offering it to remake the suit which is will take more time more effort( from me ) and the net result i am sure will be another suit that does not fit.
Dear Mr Danson,
As my colleagues mentioned below in their replies at the time your comments were made, we will do whatever we can to ensure that you are completely delighted with your suit. Please see our fitting guide for full details;
http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
The need to re-make items, however, is very rare. If you do have any outstanding issues at all please do contact our customer team at [email protected] as we’d love the opportunity to resolve this for you.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Thanks Mr Danson, there have been to many of these reviews now to ignore. It sounds like I was rather lucky in my experience.
Any more, please contribute.
Simon
I’ve had 3 suits from ASTF. The first was from their ‘Professional’ range and cost around £250 with a second pair of trousers in April 2008. In terms of material the suit was about what I would expect for an off-the-peg in that price range. I found the measuring service very friendly and as I didn’t know whether I wanted a pleat or not on the trousers, they made a custom order with one with one without. The leg length was slightly too long on the fitting, so that was altered without any questions. Overall the suit fitted well.
I bought the second in December 2009 and traded up to the distinguished range. All in all the re-measuring and style advice was positive, however I think the peaked lapels may have been a little brave for me. I also wanted to have working cuff buttons, but was advised against it on this suit as it makes alteration of the arm length difficult, so they wanted to get it perfect. Fair enough I guess. When the suit came back in around 4 weeks (similar wait to the first and third suits) it fitted like a glove and I have no complaints. The material and finish is clearly superior to the first one.
On the back of being happy with the 2nd suit (and getting a 20% discount for ordering again immediately), I splashed out and ordered from the ‘Premiere’ range, this time with working cuffs! Again I have no complaints about the fit, if anything it is marginally better than the 2nd and again the material (wool/silk blend black with a pale white pinstripe) is a step up from the the range below.
I wear the 2nd and 3rd suits on a daily basis and regularly get comments from people about them. It’s a shame that some of the other contributors here have had bad experiences, as I have nothing bad to say. Hopefully I haven’t cursed myself, as in the next year or so I’m planning on buying a winter coat, 3 more suits and a dinner suit from them, as I really can’t fault the price/performance.
Dear Ian,
I appreciate that your comments were made a while ago, but I wanted to thank you for your feedback. We have also recently introduced a mystery shop program to give customers the opportunity to feedback on our products and service. We’d encourage visitors to this site to check other independent review websites such as Trust Pilot for more reviews of A Suit That Fits. Thank you for your review and we hope you are still enjoying your suits.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
I have recently received a suit from asuitthatfits and I was very disappointed with it. The material is poor, there are numerous defects in its assembly and the whole thing looks and feels cheap and nasty. Needless to say I have been in contact with the company, but I am getting the “run around”. I have rejected the suit as unusable and require a refund, which is not forthcoming, so a formal complaint via Trading Standards is on its way. As a replacement I bought an off-the-peg suit, which required minor alteration, all for less than half the price – and it’s a much better quality garment too. Beware!
Dear Roy,
As you can see from my colleagues’ comments below, at the time your comment was made (over a year ago), we would never wish for you to leave without being completely delighted with your suit. If you do have any outstanding issues with your suit at all we’d love the opportunity to resolve them for you and for you to come back to see us as we are confident that we are able to fit you with a suit you love. Please do not hesitate to contact us on 020 3006 7999.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Helen, you seem to be out of touch with events. After some negotiation, I was given a substantial refund. Not the whole amount, but at least it was enough to buy a decent suit elsewhere. Needless to say I’ve never worn your suit; in fact we just discovered it in the back of a cupboard. Just for laughs, I tried it on again, and it really is horrendous. I’m about to take it to the Council Tip.
Regards,
Roy
Very disapointed by ASTF. I purchaded a standard 2 piece suit with 3 button jacket from ASuitThatFits.com (ASTF). I’m of standard weight and hight so this should not have been dificault. But an off-the-peg high street suit still fits much better – ie: it fits!
My original purchase was made in four months ago, but when the suit first arrived it was very tight and did not do up, like it was several sizes to small.
Three months later and after many alteratations, a completly new suit jacket was remade and sent to me. Surprisingly this still required alterations to fit – baggy an bulky behind arms and chest area. Far too tight around middle! More fittings scheduled.
The Material used is very thin and low quality and the stiching is poor around all key areas.
Stiching around top of arms is poor wringling up the material. Stiching down seam down back of suit is poor as material does not lie smooth.
I would not wear this suit anywhere – and fear this fitting farse will go on for many months to come.
I will never buy from an online suit taylor again,never, and this is a warning of things to come to anyone condidering doing so.
Dear Anonymous,
I appreciate that your comments were made a long time ago, however we would never be happy for a customer to go away if they were not 100% delighted with their garments. We have tried to contact you to resolve this issue for you; however we have not been able to identify you. If you have any outstanding issues at all, please do let us know as we’d love the opportunity to resolve this for you. You can contact our customer team on 0203 006 7999 or via email on [email protected]
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
I don’t have a comment about a suit, but after reading this and visiting their office I am so glad I didn’t waste my money. I was seriously considering purchasing one of their satin gift vouchers for my husband as a Christmas present.
I went directly to the office because I wanted to see fabric or actual suit samples rather than looking at pictures. I was ready to spend about £300, but once I saw how cheap and crappy the “satin” gift voucher looked I started having serious doubts. I saw a couple suit/coat samples hanging in the waiting room, and they also looked cheap and poorly put together.
After reading these reviews I definitely will not order from ASTF.
Dear Playerpianosara,
We are sorry that you felt put off by the reviews on this website. Over the past 6 years, the business has produced well over 40,000 orders and the comments above represent a very small proportion of these. We do, however, have a very strong commitment to delighting all of our customers as we continue to grow and produce more and more suits. We have, since these comments were posted, introduced a mystery shop program which gives customers the platform to feedback to us on the service as well as the product. We have also acted upon this feedback and the feedback on websites such as this and continuously work to improve our products. Please see the link here to more independent reviews
http://www.asuitthatfits.com/shop/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=A-Suit-That-Fits-Review.html&Itemid=370
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Reading through these old blogs-lovely reading.
Was wondering if Mr Brown ever came up with the list of tailors?
ASTF is not a place anyone should ever by a suit – they are a joke and I am amazed they are still in business – poor fabric, poor service, poor tailoring – there is nothing of quality about there service and product. I can only assume poeople that are resonably happy or ‘delighted’ in some cases have no experince of what a quality tailored suit should look like – even the pictures of so called happy customers on their facebook page only underlines the point that none of the suits actually fit their customers – you get what you pay for in life but I actually think they are over priced. I bought a suit from ASTF over 18 mths ago and after 3 remakes of the suit and a number of alterations I was still left with a suit of poor fit and poor quality. You can have a suit tailor made, stitched in the UK and fitted by professionals for the same price ASTF charges and the material will be considerably better.
Dear Anonymous,
As you can see from the comments below, we have tried to contact you in order to help you with your issues and make sure that you are delighted with your garments, if you do have any outstanding issues at all, please do get in touch with us; [email protected], we look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
It has been 16 months and nothing from Mr. Brown. After a poor experience with Raja Fashions, I am looking for a good, reasonably priced bespoke suit. Any ideas anyone?
What a fascinating read – i think i escaped lightly after reading all these bad comments. I planned on buying my husband a suit for Christmas from A Suit that Fits but also changed my mind after seeing their fabrics etc. After a little research i settled on treating my husband to a suit from ‘Suit the City’ and i can honestly say i have never seen him in a better fitting garment and we will definitely be returning to them again soon.
Dear Anonymous,
We are sorry that you were put off by the comments on this thread; we take these reviews very seriously and use them to continue to develop and grow the business. Since some of these comments were made we have introduced a mystery shop program which allows our customers to give honest feedback on our products and service and it’s thanks to this and the feedback on sites such as this that we have been able to continue to improve our service. We’re pleased that you found a suit that your husband was happy with and we’d like to invite you to come into one of our studios for a free no obligation appointment, to get to know us better. If you’d like to take us up on this offer, please contact me directly on [email protected] and I can arrange this for you.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Hello,
My name is Claire and I work at A Suit That Fits. First of all, I’d like to thank you for your discussion and feedback – it helps us to constantly improve our product and service.
Jake, thank you for the feedback on your blog – we have now developed the system in order that you can book your fitting appointment with your favourite Style Advisor. We’d love to hear how you liked your tweed jacket.
Anonymous (1) – We work very closely with our team of skilled tailors in Nepal. Our master cutters all have at least 30 years experience in tailoring. We do expect your first bespoke experience to require some alterations and we have a fit guarantee. We will ensure that we will carry out any number of alterations we have to do to get your suit absolutely perfect, we would never like you to have an ill fitting suit.
Anonymous (2) – Thank you for your feedback; if there are any problems at all with the experience you’ve received, we like to work with you personally to resolve any questions. We do not want customers to leave us feeling as though they’re unhappy with any aspect of our product or service.
Anonymous (3) – I can whole-heartedly assure you that our garments are made with a high quality construction and finish; we would be delighted to discuss our construction processes with you.
Mr Danson – we always like to be given the opportunity to re-make a customer’s suit if they do not find it to their expectations; we would not be satisfied in letting a customer leave us unhappy and aim to let you leave us absolutely delighted.
Ian –it’s great to hear your experience of the service and I hope that you continue to delve into the world of tailoring with your new suits!
Roy and anonymous(4)– we would love the opportunity to resolve your questions personally – please do not hesitate to contact me ([email protected]).
playerpianosara – thank you very much for your feedback on our embroidered gift vouchers. We would love to give you the chance to see the suits that we hanging in our branch in person and on the wearer.
Anonymous (5) – I’m very sorry for any inconvenience that having a number of fittings for your suit has caused; we would not be satisfied in letting you leave us unhappy and with a suit that isn’t to your expectations. Please do contact me ([email protected]) to discuss the matter.
We always love to hear feedback from our customers and, once again, we thank you for your discussion.
Many kind regards,
Claire
Hi,
I’ve found this thread via Google and want to add to the debate. I have 3 suits from ASTF. The first one (ordered in Dec 2009) after rework on the jacket is great. I was really pleased so ordered two more in Nov 2010. What a mistake.
Neither fitted correctly, the jackets are too tight. After waiting to see the tailor and another month for the rework both jackets still don’t fit.
I have asked for a refund now, I’ll let you know how I get on. As for customer service… They write a nice response on here but it is NOT backed up in reality.
I wonder if the service would improve if you only paid a deposit and paid in full when the suit was actually wearable…
Dear Jim,
I acknowledge that your comment was made a long time ago, however, I wanted to explain the process of ordering a suit from A Suit That Fits for those reading this thread. Our appointments take about an hour, during which one of our expert Style Advisors will take over 18 different measurements and go through cloth choices and design options. All of our studios are equipped with cloth samples (we have recently introduced much larger cloth swatches which help to give a bigger picture of what the finished suit will look like) and sample suits to help to build a picture of the finished article.
It is only when a customer confirms the design, style and cloth options that the suit goes into production and we would not allow this to go into production without the full consent and approval from our customers. When the suit has been made, we invite customers to come in for a fitting, this is a very important part of the process and allows us to ensure that the suit fits to the preference of the each customer. If there are any alterations that need to be made, this is covered in our fit guarantee. We will carry out alterations until the customer is 100% delighted with that garment. In the rare occasion that we are unable to fit the garment we will offer to completely remake the item, again at no extra cost to the customer. Please read our fitting guide here for full details on the fitting process.
http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
If you do have any outstanding issues with your suit please do get in touch with our customer team on 020 3006 7999 as we’d love the opportunity to resolve these for you.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Hi all,
thought I would add my feedback here. I first saw this blog back in September only after ordering a suit so I was obviously a bit worried!
I needn’t have been however. The first suit came back great. Its now 6 months later and I have a total of 2 suits, with 2 pairs of trousers each and a separate sports jacket. I have spent about £1200 in total.
I love my suits and get comments on them all the time about the fit and the fabrics. they don’t look like anything in the high street.
I did find that, after wearing the trousers of the first suit for a few days that there was too much fabric where the pockets are (the trousers werent fitted enough around my thighs I guess). It wasn’t noticeable when I was standing in front of the mirror in the shop but when I was walking along I could tell. I took them back in and they had them changed (this was after I had finished all the fittings). Note that even before this they fitted better than any of my other suits. having a suit that fitted well meant I was more fussy I think.
I am planning another suit later in the year and probably a winter coat as well.
They fit far better than any of my high street suits (which usually cost about 300). I normally have issues with arm length so i have to get a jacket that’s too large or have sleeves that are too short (there is never enough length in the medium jackets to lengthen the arms enough). my suits from aasuitthatfits obviously dont have this issue.
I guess my only word of caution is that it does take a long time and you need to be prepared to go back for fittings (i needed 1 fitting but they warned me it could be up to 3). the end result has been worth waiting for though.
as far as fabrics i recommend the navy birdeye – its my favourite. 🙂
A
Dear Andy,
We’d like to thank you again for your comments; we hope you are still enjoying wearing your suits. We know that this thread has, over a long period of time, attracted both positive and negative review, both of which we take very seriously and without this feedback we would not be equipped with the knowledge to drive the business forward.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Hello Jim,
My name is Harry and I work for A Suit That Fits. I am very sorry to hear that you’re not entirely happy with your second and third suits. We pride ourselves on our service and want all of our customers to be totally happy with their garments. Our team will work with you to ensure that you’re delighted with your suits. However, if you would like to speak to me personally, please do e-mail me on [email protected].
Once again, we thank you for your feedback, it helps us to continually improve our service.
Best wishes,
Harry Tremaine
Hi This is Russ and I posted an objective piece of feedback on 15th July 2009. I eventually got my suit in September 2009 six months after I had paid for it. The suit is lovely, however.
Having only worn it once per week say over 46 weeks, the jacket lining tore under the arm and the back lining seam was pulling. I revisited the tailor in Leeds (60 miles round trip) who apologised and commented it was appalling that the lining had torn. It would be fixed within 10 days.
The suit arrived two weeks later, exactly in the same condition as I left it in Leeds. Do not ask me what was done to it, probably nothing other than travel up and down the country.
Dear Russ,
I believe that we have now resolved your issues and that you now a happy customer. If there are any outstanding issues at all, please do contact me directly at [email protected] we look forward to seeing you in studio again soon.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Now I am told the Tailor I saw at Leeds has left the business. There are no notes and can I send some more photos, to check if its wear and tear. The older suits from Slaters and two or three years older have no problems with seams whatsoever. I have sent the photos twice and no joy. Whatever happened to taking responsibility?
David, you told me on the phone that you wanted me to be happy with my suit? Is my negative review poste on your website? I don’t think so.
Dear Russ,
P.S. If you’d like to give us further feedback on your experience we’d like to invite you to complete a mystery shop report. Please email me at [email protected] for more information.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
I had a suit made by A Suit that Fits some time after they opened. The experience was also not great although with alterations, it has been bearable. I had gone for the tailor measurement rather than self measure so they did what they could to put it right and the staff were friendly. The problem is that it has never really been ‘right’ from day one and the material feels rather cheap also. I do not enjoy wearing the suit. I have had poor experiences too with Raja Fashions who used to be good when they first started but who have become exceedingly greedy nowadays and are not interested in anyone who just wants one suit at a time and who is spending any less than, say, £1000. I had 5 suits made with them over the years and their quality and fit was reasonably good, better than A Suit that Fits, but their attitude offends. I have had a couple of suits made at Robert Tracey in Staines: http://www.roberttracey.co.uk/ They are a small established company and the suits are made here in the UK. The average price for a suit in a basic but good quality material was around 600 and I had a nice jacket made for 500. The fit was superb. It does not really seem sensible to me to have suits made abroad when one can get a much better fitting in the UK from a regional tailor. The only problem is that Robert Tracey does not seem to stock a wide selection of material but what he has is of high quality.
Dear Anonymous,
We are sorry that you felt like your suit was not quite ‘right’ this is unacceptable to us and although we have tried to look into this for you we have been unable to identify your order. If you could please contact [email protected] with your order number we’d like the opportunity to resolve this for you and ensure that you leave with a suit that you are delighted with.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Hello Russ,
First of all, I’d like to thank you for your feedback, it helps us to constantly improve our service. We’re very sorry to hear that you’ve not received the impeccable customer service that we pride ourselves on. Our dedicated customer service team is now in touch with you in regards to the issue. If you would like to e-mail me personally, please contact me at: [email protected].
Best wishes,
Harry
Anyone tried Addison and Steele?
It’s interesting to read of other people’s experiences with ASTF. I was willing to wait the six weeks or so for the suit to be made and adjusted so went for one around the £450 mark. Initially, I was pleased for I soon found the quality was poor – a pocket fell apart after a few uses and after waiting the six weeks for this to be fixed the hem on the trousers went.
When I returned the suit the second time to have it fixed I was reassured that it was a high priority and would have a ‘full MOT’. I started chasing them after a couple of months when I’d still not heard anything. I was kept waiting a further two weeks before getting a reply – it turned out they’d lost my suit!
So since paying the money, the suit was in my possession and usable for only a few months out of 11. And it obviously had faults from when it was made that has meant that I have wasted considerable time and effort dealing with ASTF. So I asked for a refund and have been told that ASTF won’t do them (after lots of emails and conversations). Their response is that faults should be considered ‘adjustments’ so they try to side-step consumer rights this way. I’m obviously welcome to have the suit sent back to me and fixed asap when the next fault occurs.
Needless to say, I’m very unhappy and this has become a terrible experience.
Dear Adrian,
Our records show that we have now resolved these issues for you, however, if I can be of any further assistance please do contact me directly at [email protected]. Again, we must say that we are sorry that you had to go through this experience and this is very rare for the process to take this amount of time. Full details of our fitting process can be found here;
http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
For anyone reading this thread, we’d like to point out that there are numerous independent review websites that offer more reviews of A Suit That Fits and we’d urge people reading this thread to read other independent reviews.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Hi all – I just wanted to thank all of the contributors above for taking the time to provide detailed feedback on their experiences with A Suit That Fits.
I am in the market for a personalised service like this, however it seems clear that their service does not seem to offer much value for money. I have to say that I am very surprised at the number of people who have said that they attended at ASTF to have measurements taken by their staff, but received significantly ill fitting, even unwearable garments. This seems extraordinary.
Combined with the evidence of poor stitching and other basic quality issues, I shall be avoiding ASTF. Thanks again to everybody for your candid feedback.
Dear Jeff,
We are sorry that you have been put off by the reviews on this thread. Please rest assured that we have replied to and attempted to resolve all of the issues mentioned, which we think demonstrates our commitment to our customers as well our faith in our product. Please contact me at [email protected] if you would like to come in for a free, no obligation appointment and get to know us better!
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Similar problems to others on here. Now going back for my 7th fitting, the suit has never been right, I wish I’d seen this thread before I started. I no longer have the confidence that they can get it right at all, every time they adjust something, something else goes wrong. I will be requesting a refund next week then I’ll contact Trading Standards if not forthcoming.
Andy (Leeds)
Dear Andy,
I understand that your comments were made a while ago and our records show that we have now resolved these issues for you. If you do have any outstanding issues with your garments please do not hesitate to contact us on 020 3006 7999. We look forward to seeing you in studio again soon!
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Hi, thought I’d pop back with an update on my ASTF saga… Since my last post I have seen the visiting tailor initially being given the explanation for the jacket being so tight across the back and arms that ‘most people take their jackets off before working at the keyboard’!! Really?? What about driving then? That was challenging trying to navigate a roundabout before the circulation stopped…
Anyway they have almost fixed the jackets now and I’m booked in for another visit to the tailor in May hopefully for the final time. I really wish I’d gone to TM Lewins and got 4 suits that fitted reasonably well than wait 6 months for 2 suits that may or may not fit.
Please avoid ASTF unless you really want to pay for a product that will take up to 6 months to be wearable!
Jim
Dear Jim,
As we have mentioned in our previous posts when your comments were made, your experience is very rare and we are very sorry that the process became much longer than it should have been. We hope that you are now delighted with your suits and still enjoy wearing them. We remain confident in our product and would like to invite readers of this post into any of our 33 studios across the country for a complimentary, no obligation appointment. For more information please email me at [email protected] and I can arrange this for you.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Hello.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who took the time to write a review on here. I was considering using A Suit That Fits, but having read your reviews, I’m not going near them.
It’s very kind of you to help other avoid the problems you had. So thanks again for being so helpful.
Doug.
Dear Doug,
We are very sorry that you were put off by the reviews on this thread. There are many other review websites such as Trust Pilot and Qype that have more independent reviews of A Suit That Fits, so I’d urge you to read these as well to get a balanced view of A Suit That Fits. I hope that you can see also, from the responses above that we are dedicated to delighting our customers and we would never wish for a customer to leave us without being completely happy with their garments. If you’d like to come in for a no obligation appointment please let me know and I can arrange this for you [email protected]
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Hi,
As my A Suit That Fits (ASTF) saga is nearly complete I thought I’d put a (hopefully) final update…
After more visits to the travelling tailor than I can remember over the past 7 months, I now have two suits that fit reasonably well. They don’t fit as well as my original ASTF suit but after 7 months I really can’t be bothered with the constant to and fro.
I guess this apathy is what ASTF relay on to stay in business. I must say that since David became the visiting tailor I feel I’ve had a much better service, he certainly seems to understand the mechanics of fitting suits, which is more than I can say for his predecessor. However I’m not sure the team that back him up are as competent.
So having excitedly ordered my two suits in November 2010 and looking forward to having two more nicely tailored suits, I now find myself in July 2011 with two suits that fit OK and a desire NEVER to do business with ASTF again. In fact I’m positively going out of my way to tell any one who’ll listen about my A Suit That Fits drama.
Please, if you found this thread with a view to buying a suit from A Suit That Fits, save yourself a lot of hassle and look else where!!!
Jim
Dear Jim,
We must thank you for your patience and commitment in allowing us to fit your suits to your requirements. As we have mentioned before, the fitting process doesn’t usually take this long. However, we’d encourage readers of this thread to read this comment as one experience. For more, independent reviews, readers can find us online on Trust Pilot and Qype for example. I hope that you can see also, from the responses above that we are dedicated to delighting our customers and we would never wish for a customer to leave us without being completely happy with their garments.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Just to add to the above sagas, my husband ordered a suit from ASTF at Christmas and we paid in full (note to self, never pay in full on ordering again) and were told it was ready in February.
On the first fitting it was obvious that the suit was very poor quality, and very poorly made. The pocket flaps were different sizes from the pockets, the bonding on the lapels was uneven, the sleeves were wrinkled where they attached to the body of the suit and the trouser legs were different lengths! Every fault was dismissed as either something that could be dealt with by pressing (why wasn’t it done in the first place) or what we should expect from a tailored suit. We have both had made to measure garments in the past and have never been expected to accept something second rate before!
In trying to sort this out we were pushed from pillar to post to arrange further fittings, telephone messages were not returned, emails were ignored for weeks on end so any suggested dates for fittings passed. In short, not what you expect from a company in the service industry. In the end we just gave up.
A £500 lesson learned – don’t do business with them and ensure that everyone we come across knows the same. With some luck the negative publicity will eventually force them to either pull up their socks or go out of business.
Hello, I’m Helen, I work in the marketing team for A Suit That Fits. Firstly, I’d like to say that our aim is to ensure that every customer goes away delighted. We work hard to ensure this, but if any customer feels that they have no option but to comment on a thread like this, then we apologise for letting you down. Please rest assured that we are committed to getting it right for you.
We take reviews of our service very seriously and treat every negative experience as an opportunity to improve the service for everyone. Our commitment to customer service runs throughout our business; I would like to direct readers and contributors to this thread to this letter explaining our commitment to our customers from David, one of our Directors:
http://astf.me/LetterFromDirector/
You are also welcome to comment and talk to us on Facebook and Twitter:
Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/aSuitTF
Twitter here: http://twitter.com/asuitthatfits
For any customers (new or returning) interested in our fitting process it is detailed here:
http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
We have read all of the comments on this thread and while we regret that we do drop the ball sometimes, we have worked hard to prevent issues arising in the future, as well as working to resolve all the specific outstanding issues. I have addressed specific posts here:
Russ – thank you for your feedback, I hope that you are now happy with your re-lined jacket and if you have any further comments please get in touch. You can contact me directly at [email protected].
Mr Danson – we are still keen to put this right for you and I know that your Style Advisor has been in touch. Please do get in touch with either myself or David so that we can resolve the matter.
Roy – we would love the opportunity to get you in for your first fitting. The fitting process is a key stage in getting your suit just right. If you would like to book an appointment please call 020 3006 7999 or you can speak to me directly on 020 3405 1053.
Adrian – I believe we have taken the appropriate action to fit you with a suit that you are happy with. I know that the customer care team has tried to contact you to ensure that you are delighted with your suit, however, if you do decide that further action is needed please do contact me and I am sure I can help you ([email protected]).
Andrew – we have recently seen you back in the Leeds studio where Dean completely re-measured you. I hope that you enjoy your new jacket and if you have any further feedback please do get in contact ([email protected]).
Jim – Talking to your Style Advisor, I believe that we have now done everything we can to get the fit of your suit just right and I hope that the suit now meets your requirements. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your experience further ([email protected]).
All Anonymous users – We always try our hardest to ensure we know of any outstanding customer issues. It is difficult to track when we do not have a name, so please contact me to discuss your order at [email protected], alternatively you can contact our customer service team at [email protected] so that we can resolve the issue.
Our aim at A Suit That Fits is to ensure that every customer goes away delighted. If any customer has any customer queries please direct them to [email protected] or call 020 3006 7999 and one of our customer care team will be happy to help you.
At A Suit That Fits we are always working on how to delight our customers with our products and service, and we would love Permanent Style readers to get involved.
Our new mystery shopper program helps us get real feedback from customers when they order a new suit, and everyone who completes a report gets a free accessory to say thank you. If you would like to be a mystery shopper please comment below, and email [email protected] with your contact details.
Every Permanent Style reader that comments below and emails Helen will be in with a chance to WIN A TAILORED SUIT from our Distinguished range as well. (Please go to http://www.aSuitThatFits.com/termsandconditions for our competition T&Cs).
Cue the predictable response from A Suit that Doesnt Seem to Fit Maketing Team …Thankyou to all genuine customers for your less than positive reviews. I was thinking of buying one and guess what..
Dear Anonymous,
Following our reply to your post we’d like to re-iterate that we’d welcome you to take part in our mystery shopper programme and you can claim a gift for doing this. Please email me at [email protected] for more information.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Dear Anonymous, we’d love to invite you into one of our studios for a no obligation appointment, take you through the experience and show you our product, systems and processes. You could even become a mystery shopper and claim a gift for doing this. Please email me at [email protected] for more information.
Hmmm, I wish I had spotted this thread prior to putting in my order earlier this year. Unfortunately I too had the same experience that many of you other readers were subjected to. I cannot really fault the ‘advisors’ that I met, who were all very courteous, friendly and (seemingly) wanted to get the problems sorted out for me. But the quality of the garment really let them down. I kept a copy of the feedback I sent to them, which read as follows:
“At the beginning I was quite optimistic about the experience and the end product; however I’m sorry to say that I’ve been left rather disappointed.
The first fitting in February didn’t get off to a great start as there was no shape whatsoever to the coat, although I’d ordered a slim fit, the tail ended up half way down my calves, and the sleeves were far too long. It was tacked to a more shaped fit and sent away to be altered and shortened. I then came back for another fitting, and still the tail was too long.
Once it was re-shortened I took the coat away thinking I was happy with it, however when I got home I asked someone to look at it and they mentioned that the back was sagging a lot. After a further look, I also noticed that it was quite ‘flabby’ above the waist which, I believe, is to do with the waist of the jacket being cut too low.
I took it back and the staff in the branch, I have to say, were very helpful and seemed more knowledgeable in trying to sort the problem out. Whilst still not quite right (the waist is still too low, and there is still sagging in the back), with under two weeks to go until I get married and need to wear the coat, I’ve little choice but to stick with how it is.
As I say, I was feeling quite optimistic at the start, but I’m afraid to say I am now a little more apprehensive about getting any further items made.”
This was sent in August, just over a week before I needed to wear it at my wedding – six months and numerous trips and alterations to get a morning coat that kind of fitted there or thereabouts! I knew someone who, although not a tailor, worked in the business and had extensive experience of garment construction. She had a look at it and immediately identified further problems – the shoulders were too broad and where the arms had been sewn back on (from being shortened) they did not fall straight and were crumpled at the armhole seam (she used a term for this, which I cannot recall).
They did respond to this feedback and I got a call from someone who gave the same marketing talk as others of you have had – “we work with you to ensure that you’re delighted with your suits… we would never like you to have an ill-fitting suit… we would not be satisfied in letting someone leave us unhappy…” Having read about others taking up the offer of having their ill-fitting suits altered to “fit perfectly”, going through the hassle of it once is by far enough for me. I’m no longer ‘apprehensive’ of getting more items made, I will be going elsewhere. I just hope others thinking of ordering a suit see this first and do the same.
Dear David,
We replied to you at the time of your post and just wanted to make you aware that, if you contact me direct at [email protected], I will investigate this further for you.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Surprised there’s a review site for this.
Sadly – I had to buy another suit after dealing with ASTF. Didn’t go to the bother of legal action or money back but it cost me a lot to get sorted. Maybe I should have done.
In short – the suit didn’t fit and after a lot of effort I gave up – not worth the hassle. They promised me stuff but never delivered – it’s that last thing I wanted. I’d go somewhere else.
Dear David,
I am sorry to hear that you were not completely satisifed with your garments. As I understand the date of your wedding has now passed? Could I ask that you contact me at [email protected] and provide me with the order number and I can investigate this further? I look forward to hearing from you soon,
Helen Buckle
Junior Marketing Executvie
Anonymous on 14 January 2011 10:00 said
“You can have a suit tailor made, stitched in the UK and fitted by professionals for the same price ASTF charges and the material will be considerably better.”
Please do tell where??? Ive been looking to buy a good fitting business suit all week for work and just cant find one! I was going to buy a suit from ASTF and pay upto £400 but now im not so sure unless someone from ASTF gives me a money back guarantee! (times are hard)
Hi Issy,
Thank you for your comment. We do offer a fit guarantee which means that we will work with you to ensure that you are happy with the fit of your suit and make as many changes as are required without many additional charges. You can read more about our fitting process here;
http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
I understand that your confidence in A Suit That Fits may have been affected by the above comments and so, I’d like to invite you into one of our studios for a no obligation appointment. That way you can meet one of our tailors (we have both male and female tailors) who will be able to talk you through the process and how we work. Of course, this would be free of charge, please email me at [email protected] if you would like me to arrange this for you.
Helen Buckle
Junior Marketing Executive
Hi Helen
Thanks for your reassuring comments. I will give ASTF a try! I am in Manchester and I will visit the Studio there for a fit. Ill post an update on here to say how it all went.
Hi Issy,
We hope you enjoyed your visit to our Manchester studio; if you have any other questions at this stage, please do not hesitate to contact me directly or the team on 020 3006 7999.
Best wishes,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Hi Issy,
That’s great news. I’ll make sure that you are not charged for your initial appointment. If you could drop me an email when you have booked your appointment I will make sure that the message is passed on, [email protected]. We also run a mystery shop program to gain feedback from customers in order to improve our service. As a thank you for completing this report, we offer a sartorial gift up to the value of £35. If you are interested in completing this for us I can send you more details. Otherwise, we look forward to hearing your updates via this thread.
If you have any other questions at all do not hesitate to contact me directly or the team on 020 3006 7999.
I have recently bought a pair of trousers from A Suit that Fits. They arrived last week and sadly are way too big over the hips, have pockets that jut out a lot when I sit down and no back lining to the seat of the pants. Front lining unfinished on one side – so will continue to fray. They are not wearable.
E mailed them on Thursday night but still waiting to hear back – I hope they will let me use a local tailor to rectify, assuming this can be done – otherwise I will have the hassle of getting to their local office in ST ALbans which is only open from time to time.
I am going to give them the chance to rectify before I report it elsewhere.
Dear Anonymous,
We appreciate that your feedback was some time ago; we just wanted to make you aware that we replied to your post at the time (below).
We hope that you enjoyed the fitting process and you found our team helpful. If you have any other feedback, please do e-mail our customer care team at [email protected] or call 020 3006 7999 as your feedback helps us to constantly improve.
Best wishes,
Claire Webber
PR Manager
A Suit That Fits
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for your feedback. I’m sorry to hear that your trousers are not fitting well. However, I must remind you that there is a fitting process that happens after you receive your items so that we can ensure you have the perfect fit and we will work with as many times as necessary to make sure that you get a fit that you are happy with. Please read our fitting guidelines here for more information;
http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
I’d recommend that you give us a call to discuss your issues with the customer service team and they will be able to advise you on the best course of action. You can get them on 020 3006 7999. Also, that you bring your trousers back to us to rectify the fit so that we can then make the necessary changes to your pattern for future orders. These alterations should be at no extra cost if you bought our fit guarantee.
If you have any questions at all please contact our customer care team on the telephone number above or contact me at [email protected].
I hope that helps and we look forward to fitting your garments.
Helen Buckle
Junior Marketing Executive.
ASTF need to remove the fact that they create suits for women from their website and all marketing, as they is a service they sure cannot offer. I waited over 7 months to get mine and after numerous fittings and measurements by the ASTF team the suit was made over 4 times i was told that they cannot make it and offered a refund. Surely it does not take 7 months to say this and they could have mentioned this before and the fact that no compensation was offered was beyond belief. I would advise the ladies to stay well away them this company to to invest your time and money elsewhere.
Dear Anonymous,
I am sorry to hear that you were not fully satisfied with your suit. Although we state 6-8 weeks for your suit to be ready for the first fitting, the fitting process can take longer than this as each suit is unique. However, I do appreciate your frustration and the time you invested into the suit is very unusual. I’d ask that you email me with your order number so that I can look into this for you and look for a resolution. Please send your order number to [email protected].
We have invested a huge amount of development into our ladeis wear and we are confident that we can fit our female customers with suits that fit them as well as our male customers.
Please do have a read of our fitting guide http://astf.me/FittingGuide/ it details our process for ensuring the perfect fit and we will work with you as many times as necessary to make sure you leave with a suit you are delighted with. On some occasions we do offer a re-make so please read the guide as this will help you to ascertain whether you are entitled to a re-make. If you have any other questions or concerns please contact out customer care team on 020 3006 7999 and they will be happy to help you.
I saw “Anonymous” write a review of her husband’s suit from Suit The City further up. I have had an awfully bad experience with Suit The City and just wanted to convey that, for the sake of balance, to anyone who was thinking of following her recommendation.
A bespoke suit (and 3 extra trousers and 5 shirts) from Suit the City ALL did not fit me, and they insist it is my fault for putting on weight when I have in fact lost weight since the original measurements were taken. To put it into context, I am a 5’9″ guy who weighs 10 stone! I have also discovered that neither of the women running Suit the City are qualified tailors, but business women working on franchising their idea, claiming that “no tailoring experience” is necessary to run one of their business franchises. Well, that sort of shows in the experience I have had with them. I so regret trying them in the first place now, but they were advertising at the Royal Society of Medicine, which is usually a sensible sort of institution with good quality standards.
I am now having to go back for 3rd and 4th fittings on the various garments (imagine the time implication of the amount of travel that is going into this!), having to put up with comments about being a difficult customer, and they are refusing to offer a refund although I have asked for one. Instead, they seem obsessed with using a fictitious weight gain on my behalf as an excuse for their inability to get the right fit on me, after they initially were trying to get me to accept trousers that cut off the blood supply in my legs when I sat down, shirts that the top button cannot be closed on, and with short sleeves so wide that I could fit at least 3 arms in them. This is not to mention the suit jacket which hangs in diagonal folds across my chest and back as soon as it is buttoned.
From what I can tell above, A Suit That Fits cares about their public profile and customers’ experience and does not insult them in correspondence. Maybe that would be something for Suit The City to learn from… I will certainly be moving my business elsewhere in future.
Dear Marcus,
Thank you for posting your comments which have been pointed out to us. I would like to take this opportunity to respond to your above situation.
Firstly, we understand your frustration and as you are aware, we have done our upmost to ensure you are happy with both the service and the products. All your items have now been remade, however if you are still unhappy in anyway, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.
Despite what you say above, we always have and will continue to endeavour to have 100% satisfaction ratings from all our customers across the UK.
I ordered my suit in March. After several adjustments we gave up and ordered a remake. Drop-dead date 23rd Nov.
It didn’t arrive. No call. No notice. I called ASTF to be told one more week (they said that last time and it missed that too). No good. Major event is next Monday and Tuesday.
ASTF NBG
Dear Heafod,
I appreciate that your comment is from last year; we have tried to identify you from your username but this is not possible. Please find the comment we left at the time below, and if you would like to leave us any other feedback, please e-mail [email protected] as we rely on our customers’ feedback to constantly improve our service.
Best wishes,
Claire Webber
PR Manager
A Suit That Fits
Dear Heafod,
I’m sorry to hear that your suit has been delayed. In certain circumstances we offer a re-make if we cannot produce the suit the first time to your satisfaction, this is completely free of charge and we will work with you as many times as necessary to get your suit right. Please see our fitting guide for more information;
http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
I’d recommend that you give us a call to try to resolve this matter for you. I tried to look up your order under the name ‘Heafod’ but this showed no results on our system. In order for us to be able to resolve your suit issues we need to link you to an order number. Please call our customer care team on 020 3006 7999 with your order number to ensure that we are able to do everything we can to get the suit back to you in time for your events next week.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Helen Buckle
Junior Marketing Executive
I found this comment thread a little while after ordering my first suit from A Suit That Fits and was a little concerned. However the problem with such reviews and comment threads is that it is only the delighted or highly disappointed people that post and even then mostly the unhappy ones.
I am actually extremely pleased with my suit. It was an absolute bargain at £500.00 and is far better fitted and finished than other “designer” suits that I own. The only thing I don’t care for is the cheap looking buttons but they are easily changed. I was measured at the start and then had a second fitting once the suit was ready to sort out some details and make a few tweaks.
A Suit That Fits have been nothing other than helpful and genuinely seem to want to improve their service. So unless you can comfortably afford to spend thousands on full English bespoke then A Suit That Fits seem a fine option to me.
Hi Chris,
Apologies for the late reply to your comment; we’d like to thank you for your post – it’s great to hear that you’re pleased with your suit.
We hope to see you soon.
Best wishes,
Claire Webber
PR Manager
A Suit That Fits
I’ve ordered 3 suits from ASTF, City Branch in London, and they have all been fantastic. Well made and delivered within expected timescales. A few alterations were required but that is expected part of the process. I used their measuring service. Although you can measure yourself its best to get them to do it for you. I wonder how many of the compliants in this forum measured themselves and got a poorly fitting suit as a result? I’ve recomended them to many of my friends who have all used them with no problems at all and have been very happy with their suits. I did have one problem with one of my suits and ASTF did everything they could to remedy it. I was really pleased with the way it was handled it which was couteuos and helpful.
£400-£500 for a suit with an extra pair of trousers that is made to fit you is a really good price.
Anyone reading this forum should not be put off by the number of complaints.
Hi Paul,
Thank you very much for your recommendation – it’s great to hear that you’re really happy with your suits.
We look forward to seeing you in our city road studio again soon.
Best wishes,
Claire Webber
PR Manager
A Suit That Fits
Well this has put the cat amongst the pigeons.
I’ll soon be proposing, and have always stated that my wedding suit will be the first bespoke suit I own (always wanted one and very excited by the thought of it).
So upon stumbling across this thread, I now have no idea where I will be getting it from.
I live on the South Coast(Portsmouth), so if anyone has any suggestions I’m open to them.
Of course there will be a certain risk involved wherever I purchase a suit from, and I’m aware that people generally only voice their opinion when it is negative, so there are quite possibly many many ASTF customers that are very happy.
But can I take the risk? Especially since I’m not made of money (I’m only 27!) and I’ve only recently started researching suits.
Any help would be appreciated.
Hi Chris,
We hope your search for a wedding suit is going well – apologies if you have already read our reply to you, but as we’re able to reply directly to your post, I thought that you might like to hear from us.
If you’d like to call us to talk over what you’re after, or see some of our cloths (we can send them to you free of charge), that’s not a problem.
We’re also in Southampton on these days;
Fri 04 May 2012
Wed 09 May 2012
Fri 25 May 2012
Good luck with your wedding planning!
Best wishes,
Claire Webber
PR Manager
A Suit That Fits
What’s your budget Chris? If you really want bespoke then you’ll struggle to get it for under £1000. Graham Browne in the City is the best I know for that price, but anything less and you’re looking at good made to measure (made in a factory by a machine, but to your measurements)
Simon
Ah yes, I sometimes mix up ‘bespoke’ and ‘made to measure’. Made to measure it is then.
I’m well aware that if I wanted to dress like James Bond (grown up thinking “I’d love to look that good in a suit”) it would cost a pretty penny!
My budget is up to £850, but that would need to include shoes and a shirt. I know I’m going further than many and not renting a suit, but it’s important to me. I budgeted £50 to £100 for a shirt and up to £100 for shoes.
This lead to a 3 piece from ASTF looking very promising. I’m just concerned that I won’t get something I feel good in. I obviously want to look my best on my wedding day.
I’ve got a roughly 8 inch Drop (40 chest 32 waist), and though I see suits and think “I like that cut a lot”, I have no idea what would be best for me.
Sorry for the waffle. Just feel some back story helps!
Chris, you’re definitely looking at made to measure and not the top end either I’m afraid. You’re probably best looking at MTM services by places like Reiss (£500 and up I think). And I would spend it all on the suit – you must have a half decent white shirt, and leave shoes until later unless you have nothing at all currently.
Simon
Thanks Simon. Appreciated.
I know that in the grand scheme of things it’s not a big budget for a full suit. I just want to get the best I can, and to arm myself with as much information as possible.
Come to think of it, I do have a decent shirt or two, and I take good care of my shoes.
Without saying it out-right this seems to have moved away from using ASTF. Shame, but it would hardly be right to go with the first thing I see that appears right.
Again, I appreciate the help Simon. Signed up to the blog as I find it very interesting. Keep up the good work.
No problem. If you spend it all on the suit, you could afford Graham Browne, which would actually be bespoke too.
I must admit to some trepidation visiting a tailor in London, and feeling like a child fishing in his pockets for an extra 2p when it comes to how much things cost.
Should I be embarrassed? Would they welcome the custom of some oik who can maybe just afford a suit?
Absolutely. Russell and Dan are very welcoming and will have no problem making something at the starting price. Plenty of good cloths at that price too.
Cool, I’ll get in touch with them. See where we go from there.
Thanks again. I’ll try to avoid dredging up old blog posts if I have any more questions!
Hi Chris,
Sorry for not picking up on your posts sooner, however, if you are still researching suit companies then you might want to book an appointment at our Southampton studio if that’s more convenient for you than trekking into London?
You’re more than welcome to have a look at some cloths, see some wedding suits we’ve done before (you can see these on the website too) and find out a little more about how we work/what you can expect from us in terms of a bespoke suit.
Of course, this is entirely without obligation and at no cost to you. Often our customers’ first suit is their wedding suit so we understand just how important it is to get right!
We’re in Southampton on these days;
10th Apr 2012
27th Apr 2012
4th May 2012
I won’t post the link (as I don’t want to be accused of spamming) but you can find out how to book online. I hope that helps and that your wedding plans are going well!
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
I’ve had two suits from a Suit that Fits and a shirt and I’m very happy with the finished product of all of them. It has taken a few fittings to get everything right on both suits (But I gained some weight since ordering the first), but the shirt based on my latest suit’s measurements was 100% right first time, it’s probably the first shirt I’ve ever had that actually fits properly (I am an odd shape and I’ve just ordered 3 more).
I have to admit that I’ve never had a suit form a top tailor but I wouldn’t expect to have one measurement and to then collect a perfect garment as some people seem to above. I’m also confused by people saying they have to wait months to have another fitting, I’ve normally managed to book an appointment in the West End Studio within a week.
There were admittedly some problems with my first suit’s trousers and the quality of the material on them but they remade them and altered the fit at the same time and I haven’t had any issue since, the jacket has always been fine.
I’ve always found them to be very helpful both in person and via email, although their delivery dates have “slipped” by a week once or twice.
Hi Anonymous,
Thank you for your comments. We really appreciate the feedback we get, both positive and negative, as it helps us to stay in tune with our customers and develop the business to better serve our customers’ needs. These reviews are so important to us that we have created a link to independent reviews on our website, making it easy for new customers to hear from those who have dealt with us before. You can find these reviews (including a link to this website) here;
http://www.asuitthatfits.com/shop/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=A-Suit-That-Fits-Review.html&Itemid=370
We’re sorry that you experienced a few issues with your trousers, but we hope that you are now satisfied with your experience and product.
Best wishes,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
Hi, just thought I’d add to this thread as I’ve had 4 suits from ASTFs and they’ve all been great. If you’re thinking of going for the first time I’d recommend having a good think about the style you want, especially the fit. My first suit is my least favourite because I didn’t really think it through enough, on my second I went with the advise from the style advisor (Johnny Harrison at the city branch) and absolutely loved it. His style is to wear suits that are a close fitting as shaving foam so he knows how measure well.
As for quality I think you get what you pay for. My previous 3 suits were from Hackett and the premium materials are easily a match for them… Especially the navy herringbone and grey prince Charles check. In summary I’d recommend them if you have a bit of style and you have the time to wait… if you’re impatient and build suits off-the-peg you have other options…. Happy suit buying!
Hello David,
I just wanted to say thank you for your feedback and I hope the suits are wearing well! Good advice too as there are over 40 billion different combinations of design and cloth options for suits, but our expert Style Advisors are trained to help fine tune these options!
Best wishes,
The A Suit That Fits team
Great to see a few replies on here since I last checked. Thanks to Helen and Claire too, for replying directly to me.
I’ve proposed and everything is go now! So after a lull I’ll soon be on the hunt again. OTR is not going to be the way for me, as my drop will be increasing and I’d like a few personal touches.
I’ve contacted a few places, Graham Browne being one, and soon I’ll be in touch with ASTF to see when I can visit them.
I’ll let you all know how it goes.
Hello Chris,
I hope you are well and congratulations on your engagement. Do let us know if we can help at all on 020 3006 7999 or drop us an email at [email protected]
Happy wedding planning!
The A Suit That Fits team
I’d just like to share my experience of ASTF. I ended up having to take ASTF to court to return my money.
I originally ordered three suits (dark grey, light grey and black) in March 2011. The suits were ill fitting and were too loose in the crotch.
I requested a repair which, ASTF happily completed. They, however, over a 7 month period made numerous alterations to the suits and in the end they butchered the suits to the point of no repair. All I asked for was to repair the crotch but they could not complete this repair correctly.
In August of 2011 they offered to remake all of the suits from scratch. When I went to pick them up in september, they only presented me with light grey and black trousers but no jackets.
i waited several weeks for the jackets and the dark grey trousers — when I went to pick them up in october, they gave me a pair of light grey trousers and no jackets!!! I immiediatley returned them back to ASTF and returned the other suits and requested a refund.
ASTF policy is to ‘repair, replace, refund’ — i thought i was entitled to a refund as it had been over 8 months and they had numerous opportunitie to repair the suits and in the end, they couldnt even get the color right!!!
ASTF then refused and gave every excuse why I should not get a refund. I was told ‘i am someone who keeps changing my mind’, that ‘i just no longer wants the suits’ and that even though the have a repair, replace, refund policy, they need 2 opportunity to repair the ‘replaced’ suits before they will consider a refund. At one point they offerer a 50% refund and to return the ‘suits that dont fit’ back to me.
They even tried to alter their terms and conditions on there website — see the last paragragh of the Supplier obligations section. ‘The Supplier will not be held liable for any costs incurred on the part of the Cutomer during the fitting procedure of Repair, Replace and finally Refund, regardless of the outcome of the fitting procedure’. They havent even spelled ‘Customer’ correctly.
I filed court papers in November 2011 and successfully sued ASTF in June 2012 for the cost of the 3 suits, plus interest, delivery, court costs and compensation.
I would suggest being careful of this company. I found the suits of low quality and was shocked at the lengths they went to in order to not provide me with a refund. You might be better of going somewher more reputable or purchasing from the high street.
Dear Omar,
We are very sorry that we were unable to see your order through to completion. We aim to delight our customers from the moment they step into studio until they leave with garments that they love to wear. Our terms and conditions have been put in place to protect both parties but, unfortunately, as your personal situation was unique and fell into a grey area of these terms an independent party was needed to settle this. In this case we respect the decision that was made and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Kind Regards,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Thanks for the apology Helen but it would be much more appreciated if you just agreed you were wrong.
My situation was not ‘unique’ or in any ‘grey area’.
ASTF couldnt get the repairs correct, ASTF replaced the suit and still didnt get it right, and then I asked for a refund. This was in line with your ‘repair, replace, refund’ policy within your own term and conditions. I dont see what is so ‘grey’ about that policy.
I would suggest you review your own terms and conditions and if you are ‘grey’ about a situation, maybe refer to the terms of the Sales and Goods Act which supercedes any of your terms anyways.
Thanks though for your half-hearted apology.
Omar
Does seem to one bad thing for every good thing. But I’ll take them as I find them.
I’m visiting the Southampton branch in July for a chat. I want to understand their processes, see what ideas they have, and get a general feel.
I’ve started working out again, so not much point taking measurements as I expect to change.
Again, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Omar – Seems like you had a very hard time. Feel for you. Hopefully not something that happens again, or very often.
Hi Chris,
Do keep us up to date with how you get on, enjoy your appointment in Southampton!
Best wishes,
Helen Buckle
A Suit That Fits
Having just received a suit from ASTF, I would have to say they should rename themselves A Suit That Doesn’t Fit. Of all the measurements taken, only 1 was correct when trying the suit on. The material is CHEAP (I use a cheap pair of trousers for work at times and the material is the same….it looks CHEAP and TACKY). I have had multiple promises made to me that were broken or denied (largely because I’ve seen different people each time I’ve been). The style of the suit it awful – I would never have ordered anything like it. I asked for a classically tailored suit – I’ve got something a 20 year old would wear off the shelf from ASDA on a Friday night. I also had to travel miles (petrol and parking costs added up) multiple times to finally get it. My best advice – DO NOT BUY A SUIT FROM THIS COMPANY. THEY CANNOT DELIVER!
Dear Anonymous,
I am very sorry to hear that you are not happy with your order, if you could please send your order number to me at [email protected] and I will look into this for you. The fit of your suit is covered in our fit guarantee, details of which can be found here;
http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
As you will see from this guide, we will work with you as many times as necessary to ensure you are happy with the fit of your tailored garments. As for the cloth, when I know your order number I will look into which cloth you chose to make sure there are no quality issues and so that we can rectify these if there are any problems with the particular cloth you chose for your suit.
I hope to hear from you soon so that we can resolve these issues for you and fulfill our promise to fit you with a suit that you love to wear.
Best wishes,
Helen Buckle
A Suit That Fits
Today I had 1 hour meeting with Angelo from ASTF in Southampton.
Everything ran to time and I had a good conversation with him. We discussed colours, fabrics, and went through a rough configuration. No measuring yet as I’m not getting married till next October and plan on working out and changing my body shape further.
I enjoyed it. He was very personable.
I’m also checking out some local tailors. If I go any further with ASTF I’ll let you all know.
Hello Chris,
Thanks for your update and I hope that your wedding planning is going well. Please do keep us up to date with your quest for getting sartorially suited! We hope to see you in studio soon!
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
ASF studios that are not full time cause problems for customers for a number of reasons,in a major city like Newcastle upon tyne i was taken to the gents to have a look in the mirror as there isnt room to store one in the studio!yes,a tailor with no mirror,having to wait 2 weeks for an appointment then another 2 weeks for an alteration,possibly more,by this time you start to get a bit peeved.Having to pay the full amount upfront for a suit that doesnt fit is not acceptable,buttons almost falling off,if a suit is cut too small it should be scrapped as surely you cant make it bigger?
Hi Neil,
My name is Helen and I work in the Marketing team at A Suit That Fits. I’m sorry to hear that you were disappointed with your experience at our Newcastle studio, please do forward me over your order number to [email protected] and I can look into this in more detail.
I am also responsible for our Mystery Shop report and work closely with our studio managers to address any support they need in studio so I’d be interested to hear your feedback in more detail. Your comment about the way in which your measurements were checked, is unacceptable and I can only apologise for any embarrassment caused – this is not normal practice at our studios.
I am also personally looking into making improvements in our temporary locations so I really do appreciate the feedback and hope to hear from you to gauge an even better understanding of you experience.
In terms of the suit fitting process, you can read our full fit guarantee here;
http://astf.me/FittingGuide/
It is possible to let suits out, however, and as you rightly said, this is only to a certain point so the best thing to do would be to hang on until your next appointment and take it from there. In the meantime, however, if there is anything else I can help you with, please do let me know. Otherwise, you can call our customer team on 020 3006 7999 for any updates on your order.
Best wishes,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
Hi Helen,order no 52312 was altered twice accross the shoulders at the back of the jacket because of bunching up on the material and the right arm was let out because of tightness,its ok but certainly not 100% for made to measure, paying £674 upfront for a premium garment.While this suit was being altered i took advantage of my next appointment to order another suit 53538,with an updated measure,this was a much better fit however the left inside pocket lining is stitched slightly to the suit piping,feedback was provided to Lucca @customer services regarding these orders and i did not have the time to make yet another appointment to take it in,so a courier was organized to collect it,you guessed it,they didnt turn up..A pair of engraved cufflinks was then offered as a gift for a valued customer,a very nice gesture indeed, so i sent the info via e-mail with my initials NC in uppercase and was advised to collect when ready from a studio of my choice {Newcastle}i made an appointment to collect them only to be told that they were not there,this cost ASTF another order!i was then informed that you cant send them to a temporary studio because of storage facilities,{Dont laugh}as a goodwill gesture they had them delivered to my home,sadley they are engraved in lowercase and the NC looks like the word !me!so they are still in the box.ASTF has something good on offer if only you can eliminate the “stupid “errors that seem to exist within the company,customer services are v good but recommendations to other people from me are out until certain BASIC things are put right,quality not quantity and profit. Thanks for reading this Helen,cheers Neil Charlton.
Hi Neil,
Thank you for the feedback, I’ll certainly bring this up with the team and have already passed on your comments to our Head of Operations. I must apologise for the fact that the courier didn’t make the delivery and I’m sure that the team has already contacted the courier company about this. We will replace the cufflinks for you with the engraving that you asked for as these were meant as a gift for you. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience caused, we are constantly improving our service so we always welcome any feedback that can help us to improve as a business.
Best wishes,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
I was consideing ASTF but not now. No chance. After reading the comments here and the constant robotic responses from the company on this blog I realise that this is a case of marketing and customer relations over the quality of the product. Shame I had high hopes.
Hello Justin,
I am very sorry to hear that your opinion has been swayed by this thread. It is unfortunate that this particular thread dates back over 3 years, as the business had made considerable improvements to the product and service in this time. We do, however, still welcome feedback as we believe it’s an integral way to continue to improve. Having produced well over 40,000 orders over the 6 years that the business has been around, we are the first to admit that we haven’t always got it right. This is why we have developed tools such as the Fit Guarantee to make sure that we do everything we can to ensure our customers leave us with bespoke garments they love. As you have seen from the comments above, we always acknowledge these reviews and although the latest statuses are not always updated, we always follow these up internally and make every effort to contact the customer and resolve their issues.
If you would like to take us up on the offer, I’d love to invite you into studio for a free consultation to get a feel for who we are and how we work. If this is something you may be interested in, to form your own judgement, I’d be happy to arrange this for you, simply drop me an email at [email protected]
Best wishes,
Helen
Maybe ASTF could be visited again? Perhaps not Simon but a mystery someone who could report to Simon?
That might help with this whole situation. A second review.
As Helen says, they have come a long way.
Hi Chris,
Further to your post we are actually working with external independent organisations to review our customer journey and identify areas of improvement so please do be assured that we take this feedback on board and, more importantly, are prepared to do something about it. Without feedback, both good and bad, we know that we would not be where the business is now, but there is always room for improvement. So, thank you to everyone who has posted on this thread as it is important that we are aware of these issues so that we can work with our customers to resolve them.
Helen
Thanks to everyone that posted here. I was also considering ASTF, and all your messages – including the auto reply from the company – has stop me from doing a big mistake.
Dear Anonymous,
I’m sorry to hear that you feel this way, should you change your mind, however, we’d love to invite you for a free consultation so you can get to know us better. Simply drop me an email at [email protected] and I will arrange this for you.
Best Wishes,
Helen Buckle
Marketing Executive
A Suit That Fits
Having read through most of these comments, I do have one over-riding concern. Put simply, this is a REVIEW site. It’s not an opportunity for ASTF to do a mini PR campaign each time something goes wrong. If there are problems experienced by their customers, there is simply no need for the customer to be “identified” by ASTF. They should silently have got the job done in the first place.
Replying that “Our fit policy” etc etc is in place is really irrelevant. If ASTF can’t do what they are being paid for, they get a poor review. Simple. They are hardly then in a position to validate their poor performance with some PR spin, and promises of “we’ll sort it if you give us one last chance.”
Face facts – a review is a review. If it was in The Daily Telegraph they would hardly be in a position to respond would they? Why then should ASTF feel they have the right to negate the experiences of customers just because it’s all on the web?
My first ever bespoke suit was made by ASTF in London Glasshouse and my advisor was Harry, the end product was excellent.
Two fittings required nothing more and its the best suit I’ve ever owned, the suit was made to completion in about 6 weeks. I had an excellent graduation and really good comments on the fit and design.
Having read nearly all of the reviews I have decided against going to ASTF. I recently bought a suit off the peg in Suit Supply and had quite a few alterations and ended up paying about £420 for the suit. At the same time I bought their tux off the peg and had it altered. after about 4 weeks I now have both suits back. both suits are a great fit with the tux being the best suit I’ve ever purchased.
I was wondering whether Simon would ever take a trip to one of their stores to write a review……
Jason
Hey Jason,
I will try to, thanks. It would require having something made though. I try never to review anything except based on personal experience.
Simon
I havent gone for the bespoke route in there yet but when I do ill be sure to write about my experience.
I went to ASTF to get a suit made up for my wedding. Broad shoulders have always given me folds at the back of the neck in previous suits so I thought I’d splash out a bit and get something special.
I explained the issue of the folds at the top of the shoulders, neck to the ASTF’s taylor and was told this was an easy fix.
However this was on the 21st June and I needed the suit for the 10th of July.
Not a problem I was told.
Got an email the 27th on June asking me to make an appointment, but having been told to go to the bermonsey office, was unable to make one via their automated phone system. No option for Bermondsey.
So I called up on Monday and also sent and inquiry via the form on their website…. Still no contact. So I called up on Thursday the 3rd and managed to get one booked for the week after. I pointed out that a week had gone by and this was pushing the time limit.. I was told that it wasnt a whole week.. first warning signs…. After three fittings still folds at the back of the neck and now some marks and broken threads in the fabric.
So the day before the wedding, one week later than promised, I’m seeing if the suit is acceptable.
Not impressed with the pushing, combative person I’ve dealt with on the phone, no apology for the missed week more interested in ask me if “I’ve ever had a bespoke suite before ” and sighing loudly.
I’ll be back to let you know if I get their suit or have to dive out to M&S.
Either way Avoid! find a good alterations taylor and by off the rack.
Dear Duncan,
We are really sorry that you were left unhappy with your experience; we do not find this acceptable, or representative of what we would expect. We appreciate that the fitting procedure for a bespoke suit takes time, and we are disappointed that there was not enough time for you to undergo the fitting procedure as we would expect.
Our customer care team are looking forward to seeing you again to fit out your jacket, and we hope that we can work with you so that we can resolve these issues for you, and fit you with your jacket.
David Tuszynski
Customer Relations Representative
To follow up.
Had an appointment at the Bermondsey office the day before the wedding.
The people I met were professional and polite, as all the people I met face to face.
After three tweaks to the back of the shoulders it became obvious that it wasnt going to fit without replacing the back panels and there was not enough time for this.
My final experience was a positive one and I was happy with the final outcome.
First comment I’d like to make is the contrast between the tone of reviews here vs the review site that appears top of the google search if you’re looking for ASTF reviews. Very interesting….
Nevertheless, although I could write a trilogy on my experiences I will try and be concise.
I was first fitted in Feb 2013, took delivery of a suit that I was not that happy with in June 2013.
I wore the suit four times before the seam in the trousers at the base of the crotch split.
I took it back in Dec 2013 to complain about the quality and that I still wasn’t happy with the fit. (The manager at the location where I had my fitting essentially said to me thats how it was supposed to fit and end of story).
The manager at a different location agreed it didn’t fit properly. At this point I asked for a refund. A lot of back and forth with more fittings until May when I said enough and was going to take legal action.
I was offered a month after which if the suit was not fixed I would receive a refund. Guess what, more fittings and after the month was up no suit. I received a full refund this week.
Obviously I would not recommend the company to anyone. Although the staff are sincere there appears to be fundamental flaws in the tailoring process, amongst other things.
Hello Anon,
I can only apologise for the experience you have had with us so far. Let me assure you that we always strive to delight our customers with service as well as the garments that we tailor for them. We understand that we failed so far in your case and we are very sorry that the service that you have received did not meet your expectations.
To reiterate on our process: after a customer takes away a garment and accepts it as a good fit, we assume that they are satisfied. We do allow a customer up to two months of wearing to come back for adjustments to refine the fit. We will address any quality issues beyond the two months period – this is up to a year.
As you have rightly mentioned, we have refunded you in full for your order already; however, we still feel we can get this right for you if you ever change your mind and decide to come back to us.
If there is anything else we could do to turn this experience into a positive one for you and regain your faith in us we are more than happy to do so.
Wishing you all the best.
Kind regards,
Jenna
beware as they sell you a suit that does not fit. I ordered two suits and paid for them both upfront. I explained that I would let them complete one and then we can choose the fabric for the second suit.
The first suit they carried out the normal fittings they managed to get the trousers to fit. The suit jacket however was too short as much as I insisted that I was not happy with the length I was pretty much sold the jacket having been told that the length is correct and that is the way it should be. The error they had made was to not measure correctly and were reluctant to lengthen the jacket i assume this is a difficult process and they were not willing to do this. I picked up the jacket and wore it once it looked horrible and I was not comfortable wearing it. To avoid confrontation and having lost faith in their ability I asked to cancel the second suit and instead make two more pairs of trousers exactly like the original ones.
Another fitting ensued (each fitting costs me half a day due to the location) I returned my jacket asking them to keep it or give it to charity as there is no way I would wear it again. I was then told that they would make me another jacket the correct length if that would make me happy! why could they not do this in the first place and offer to do it a year later….I am close to a year since my first appointment and the two pair of trousers they made to replicate the first ones guess what? they don’t fit either…As much as they have offered to fix them it is another fitting and another half a day!! I give up! £800 for one pair of trousers not to mention the time and money wasted on fittings……..
Avoid these guys at all cost its not worth the headache.
Hi Iqbal,
We’re extremely sorry that we’ve let you down to the extent you feel like this. Our intention is always to delight with bespoke tailoring.
To reiterate on the response you posted on another review site, having things fitted to perfection does require fittings. This is a normal part of the process. However, you should feel delighted with the final product. From your message, it looks like a compromise was made – which should never be the case.
Travelling and time looks like it could be an issue for you. We will make sure that we do everything possible to minimise this – including perhaps sending someone out to you instead.
A member of the team will be in touch with to ensure that we get there with you.
Once again – please accept my sincere apologies for you feeling like this – we’ll work hard to turn this experience into a positive one for you.
Kind Regards,
Liam
A Suit That Fits team.
Wow, so many negative posts. I was very, very keen to try ASTFs as I’m after one or more double breasted three piece suits and they are very hard to come by on the High Street, also I loved the idea of designing the suit and fabric choice. Internet shopping has it’s own protections (Distance selling Act ect) but this seems a kind of hybrid where refunds aren’t so simple. No you can’t always trust the agendas of review sites either but I’ve been put off the idea, it’s a real shame it could have been a lot of fun.
I normally don’t take the time to do reviews but the service from this company has been so utterly appalling I can only assume that the positive reviews on this website are dubious to say the least .
I have put a detailed review below but some points to note :
1) Liam is going to immediately reply to this post with some kind of apology implying that they will rectify the issue. I have been through this and trust me they don’t rectify anything. I would ignore any of these comments on any of the other posts.
2) My strong advice is to stay away from this company. But it you really want to purchase from them, make sure you pay on your credit card. You will then be able to claim your money back under Section 75 of the consumer credit act.
Anyway here is my story …
I paid for two tailor made suits on the 28th January 2015. The process should take between 6 and 8 weeks to have a tailor-made suit that is well fitting. After attending the fitting process I immediately raised some concerns about the measurements that where taken. At this point I actually tried to cancel the order but was told this was not possible and there would not be an issue.
The 1st fitting was appalling and unsurprisingly based on the measurements being so wrong the suit was very poorly sized. This I was told was normal and the fitting process would resolve this. Another 3 fittings took place and the suit was in actual fact getting worse through the tailoring process. A new tailor came in, recognized the challenges and a raft of changes were ordered. It should be said at this stage the trouser legs were so twisted due to the number of changes even the tailor was concerned if they could be addressed.
I went back a week later and the changes had made the trousers even worse. At this stage I then raised an official complaint, requesting again that I got a refund. I was told by the Commercial operations manager that they would remake the trousers from scratch before they would think about offering a refund.
The new trousers were made and I went for my fitting. The tailor who was with me (the 4th in 4 months) and my 6th fitting actually commented (It looks like these were made for someone else)
The problems documented by the tailor for my 6th fitting were:
Back Crotch, Back Length, Front Length, Seat. Low rise back.
I noted this in another complaint and was told I would be called back by the commercial operations manager.
In summary I am currently in the process of reclaiming my money via a section 75 claim.
A suit that fits? More like a man that doesn’t turn up!
11th May – confirmation of my ‘initial measuring’ session, booked for 16th June
13th June – text from Thomas to check if 16th is still ok, immediate reply from me to confirm
15th June – email from Jacob to check if 16th is still ok, reply from me to confirm
9:45am – arrival at the business park site
10:10am – no Thomas, so I called on the mobile he text from – no answer. I text him instead – no reply.
10:15am – phone call to the company asking if Thomas is delayed – yes they said. ‘Let us call you back right away’ they said
10:10am – after a phonecall to ASTF, a text I thought i’d email Jacob – no reply
10:30am – left the site and give up! I called to explain, Reece was very apologetic and said we’ll investigate exactly what happened and call you back today – no call
So from 10:30 am to 20:35 this evening instead of counting down the weeks to my spanking new suit for my wedding, I’m sat here writing this review!
Quite frankly, what confidence do I have on progressing further purchasing a suit from ASTF when they can’t seem to execute an measuring up session with a potential customer. Poor, uncourteous, lack of respect in wasting my morning and still no-one knows where Thomas actually got to.
We ordered 2 suits in October 2014 for a wedding on the 1st of August 2015 plenty of time for a company to get them manufactured you would think but how wrong we were.
We went for an initial consultation and measuring and were unsure of which fabric to choose so asked for some swatches to be sent in the post so we could make a decision. These did not arrive which should of sounded alarm bells but we rang and reminded Jonathon who measured us and the swatches duly arrived. We chose the fabric and placed an order with Jonathon for 2 suits with one to have the caricature lining that they offered and the main reason we went to them for suits. We sent through some photos of the bride and groom so that the artist they used could create the pictures.
We were called early November to say that the suits were ready for the initial fitting and we went to their office in Birmingham, only 1 suit was there and it didn;t fit at all with most measurements wrong. Kevin who had apparently taken over from Jonathon apologized and put it down to Jonathon’s poor measuring skills, worrying as Jonathon had moved with the company to Ireland.
We went back to Birmingham at the beginning of December, both suits were there, the one fitted and the other did not. The shirts didnt fit either and were remeasured again and we were told they would be with us shortly
There was still no sign of the caricature lining and Kevin didnt seem to know anything about it. So the images were sent to him and a month later when chasing the lining they were sent again.
Despite numerous calls to A Suit That Fits and promises of the suits coming shortly we heard nothing and by May 2015 we had reached the end of our tether and demanded a full refund, we were lied to by staff at their head office, promised calls and e-mails and finally we spoke to a “director” called David who was appalled at the service we had received and wanted an opportunity to give us the proper service they give, he offered a 50% refund and promised that they would get the suits to us with a tailor delivering them so that the suits could be fitted at our convenience.
We then had the issue of the caricature lining, the reason we used them in the first place, They had still not produced the artwork and so started a procession of poor images being sent ranging from one done using a app on a mobile phone to others that made the bride look pure evil. Finally we got an image that was acceptable. Finally we could relax as we were now going to get the full VIP treatment, WRONG.
First we were told that the lining had come through but the pockets had obscured the image so had to be redone.
We’ve reached July, 4 weeks before the wedding still no suits, shirts etc, so much for the VIP treatment after demanding the garments that were complete, everything except the grooms jacket which was still waiting for the lining, these were sent by courier (not a tailor as promised) and guess what none of the alterations that were identified in November and December had been carried out, the jacket, waistcoat and shirt from one outfit did not fit and the grooms waistcoat and shirt did not fit, bizarrely though both trousers did. We obviously were very unhappy and worried about this but remember we were getting the VIP treatment so did they fly a tailor in?? no they asked us to take photos of the garments being worn and after sending them the photos, they would make the alterations needed, when we said that we had been promised a tailor to come and visit us, we were advised that they were all busy, however we were promised that we would receive all the items by Friday the 24th of July, 8 days before the wedding. Today we have been advised that the shirts won’t be delivered until the following Monday or Tuesday, 4 days before the wedding, and to be honest I doubt whether they will or if we will ever see a complete suit.
So my advice unless you can give 18 months notice look elsewhere, and if you do use them, save time on going for appointments just send them some photos as thatch all they need apparently and if they offer you the full VIP service…………
By the way I am sure that a reply from them will appear next to this review saying that they are sorry and that they are trying to resolve the issues and that this is not the normal service etc etc as i have seen next to similar reviews. Save yourself the hassle and go elsewhere we wished we had!
How come this company still has any customers?!?
My fiancée ordered 2 suits – one was for a wedding which he was attending as a best man and the other for our own wedding.
As he needed the first suit rather urgently, he paid for the express delivery and the Ilona lady who was serving him at the store promised that the suit would be ready for the wedding. First fail – don’t promise something that isn’t realistic just because you want to make a sale.
The suits got delayed because of an issue at the factory. Second fail.
No one notified my fiancée of the delay until he started chasing the suits. Third fail.
The best is yet to come – Ilona started lying and said that she never promised that the first suit would be ready for the first wedding. Fourth fail – are you really accusing a customer who spent £1500 on 2 suits of making things up? Very bad and rude indeed!
We asked this to be escalated to a senior manager. Our request was not listened to until my fiancée contacted the head of sales through Linkedin. Fifth fail – how can you ignore a request if a customer asks for a senior manager? Is it really necessary to go to Linkedin to try to find someone who can take over?
Some Hailey who’s ‘senior training manager’ finally took over. We requested a refund for the first suit which was not ready on time due to their fault. It isn’t a customer’s problem that there is a delay at the factory. This was completely ignored.
Then Hailey was supposed to contact my fiancée back last Friday. Surprise surprise – no phone call from her. Sixth fail! How can you be a trainer if you keep ignoring complains from customers…
I wonder what trading standards are going to say about this level of service. I’ve actually contacted them already and they advised us to send a formal letter/email to the company – not sure if this is worth doing as no one is actually communicating with us. I’ll be calling them again tomorrow for further advise but we’ll be also disputing the payment with Amex.
This feedback is actually written by someone who runs a customer service team of 22 people for an online company so I know exactly what I’m talking about.
It’s absolutely unacceptable to promise service which can’t be fulfilled, then accusing a customer of lying, not notifying customers of a possible delay and finally not communicating at all!
Avoid this company!
If you are the type of person that can walk into a clothing shop and pick a suit off the rack and it fits (with minor alterations) then I would suggest that A Suit That Fits is for you. If you are not the type of person that an off-the-rack suit fits then I would suggest A Suit That Fits is not for you.
I would also suggest that if you are the type of person who knows what to look for in a suit (and I’ve recently been told by a proper tailor that a good proportion of men do not) then A Suit That Fits is not for you.
My overall experience with A Suit That Fits was beyond appalling – broken promises and under-delivery on a constant basis. But I do want this to be a review, so I hope to be fair and open about the experience as a whole.
I made an appointment at my local centre and was pleased to receive a confirmation email and text. I then received several further texts and a telephone call checking I would be there. I do like customer service but in all honesty this was bordering on harassment – if I make an appointment I will be there, and if I can’t make it I will call ahead and let them know.
I arrived at the centre and waited to be met by the A Suit That Fits representative. He was slightly late which seemed a little unusual as there was nobody else around – nobody had entered or left his room before me. He was though courteous and polite, and mentioned a few things about the suit I was wearing based solely on his observations from my short walk into his room. We (my fiancé and I) explained I needed a suit for our wedding and that it was unlikely to be used again after that – certainly not on a regular basis.
He explained how the system worked, how I would choose the material and lining, he would take all measurements, enter them on the computer and they would be sent off to Nepal for the suit to be made. In about 6 or 8 weeks the suit would be ready and would be posted to me at home. I was assured the suit would “fit like a glove out of the box” and that it would be highly unlikely that any alterations would be necessary. If any minor changes were needed, I would simply pop back to A Suit That Fits and they would make minor changes and the suit would be back with me “in a week.”
It all sounded reasonably impressive. We progressed to choosing the materials. We asked about the difference in prices but this was cast aside as he felt it more important to get a suit that I wanted. We spent some time making the decision (and were not pushed into anything at all) and finally settled on a particular cloth. When it was priced, the suit came to significantly more than anticipated – we were then informed we had chosen the most expensive material. We dropped that idea and made another choice – effectively starting the process again as we felt we had been given subtle nudges to choose the more expensive cloths.
We progressed onto the measurement which seemed to be detailed and effective – the A Suit That Fits representative seemed to notice points about my shape that gave me some confidence in their ability to produce the suit.
Then came to the payment. There was to be no deposit – I had to pay in full up front. In order to have the suit made I would have to break a lifetime rule – never pay anyone 100% upfront for anything – there’s usually a catch when you do. Reluctantly I made the payment but made use of a credit card as it gave me a good degree of backup should anything go wrong. A decision I would be very pleased to have made later on.
I left A Suit That Fits confident that I would be receiving a well-made suit. About half an hour later though, I realised that measurements had been taken when I was wearing a belt – in a pair of tight trousers. This was hardly an accurate means of measuring me. First thing the following morning I rang A Suit That Fits and they made another measurement session appointment for me later that week as this was apparently not the way to take measurements.
The second measurement session was in a different location – much further away with expensive parking. This was to be the location I would have to drive to for all future appointments.
The A Suit That Fits representative was very pleasant and apologised for the situation, seeming quite surprised at the situation. He asked if I had tried any jackets or trousers on and suggested I should have done. He took new measurements and it transpired that many of those taken a few days before were in fact incorrect – some were massively out.
The next step of the process was to wait.
I was emailed to inform me my suit was ready a week before the anticipated collection date. I had to book an appointment for collection – not what I had been told at my first meeting. I duly made my appointment and turned up at the allotted time. I was met by someone new who was very pleasant and courteous. I asked if I should expect the suit to fit first time. Apparently not – it usually takes “at least two or three fittings.” Their stories were starting to fall apart. I explained what I had been told by the first representative and I received an apology. Furthermore, the notion that the suit would be sent to me turned out not to be true – unless I paid for the postage and packaging.
I tried the suit on – trousers first. They were skin tight around the calves, thighs and bottom and were too short. There were also ‘tighteners’ on the belt line that frankly looked as though they should have been on a child’s trousers. The jacket was worse. When buttoned, I could hardly breath. It was skin tight around the arms, the chest, and the shoulders. The back rippled and the vent stuck out. The jacket was the correct length though, and the trousers fitted under the crotch. Both garments were quite badly creased and I was told that when I took ownership of them, I would have to take them to get them professionally ironed. I can’t quite understand why on purchasing a suit the owner then has to pay out more money to make sure there are no creases in it. This point made – A Suit That Fits would give me details of companies that could press the suit for me after I took collection. Thoughtful.
The representative apologised for it not fitting and took down details of changes required. No measurement was taken, no pin was used and no chalk was in sight. I couldn’t understand how a tailor could operate this way.
The next fitting (two weeks later) made minor alterations, but effectively the suit didn’t fit and time was ticking towards my wedding day. Again, the proposed alterations were taken down and I was assured “fingers crossed” that it would all be sorted by the next visit. Again, all alterations were ‘guessed’ without the use of a tape measure, pins or chalk. I was starting to become concerned.
Due to the proximity to my wedding day we set an “emergency fitting” date for the next fitting and this was confirmed via email. Two days before the fitting I received a further confirmation email letting me know all was well and that I would be picking my suit up. Then, the day before the next visit I received an email asking me to cancel the appointment (bearing in mind I had to book time off work to attend A Suit That Fits fitting sessions) as my suit was not ready. I rang A Suit That Fits and was told they had remade the jacket from scratch and that the trousers were not ready. At this point we were four days away from my deadline (slightly earlier than my wedding but I was due to go away so wouldn’t be around). Upon hearing this date they agreed to have the suit ready for the next day. I was also told over the phone “I promise it will fit you this time.” By this point the “promises” were not really all that meaningful.
The next day and the visit came and nothing fitted. The new jacket was worse than the first. The trousers were a worse fit too. The bottom had been let out and the crotch was now about 3 inches too low – quite literally hanging beneath me. It was suggested I wear it for a few days to stretch the material and make it fit. I was also assured (not for the first time) that they could sort it all – after the wedding! I did ask how many brides would be pleased to hear the suggestion relating to wearing their wedding dress for a few days prior to the wedding but received no reply.
At this juncture I was in a terrible predicament. Not only were there only days left before my wedding, but there was no time left for me to get back to A Suit That Fits for another fitting. They suggested they post it to me, but I was aware that once I had taken ownership of the suit (and if it didn’t fit) then the chances of me getting anything done about it were limited. The chaos caused by this was almost incalculable but I agreed to be with A Suit That Fits the following week. I won’t bore anyone reading this of what I went through, but I really did move mountains to be there and there was, frankly, little consideration for my plight.
At this fitting my fiancé came along with me. I like things to be “right” and whilst I genuinely think she believed everything I had reported back thus far, I don’t think she was prepared for what she was about to see. She quite literally didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. In the event she did both. The suit was so badly fitted that I didn’t have to say a word.
The A Suit That Fits representative was again pleasant and courteous and did not argue that the suit didn’t fit. The point of concern came again (as it did every time I had a fitting) when I was asked “where doesn’t it fit then?” As my fiancé pointed out – she wasn’t wearing it and could see it didn’t fit anywhere. She could see the creases from my shirt around my biceps as the sleeves were so tight. The back had multiple ripples on it. The list went on. For someone to ask where it didn’t fit and not know simply by looking at it suggests – I believe – that the representative simply did not know the job. So much so that the previous week, an attempt had been made to convince me that the back of the jacket looked very well tailored. This was until I pointed out the ripples. I then had to explain what they would have to do in order to get rid of the ripples (I’ve had tailor made suits before and other suits altered – I’ve watched it done). The representative seemed totally unaware of the process or what could be done.
There was another problem too that really highlighted something else. On the previous fitting, the jacket was so badly creased that I couldn’t really see whether it fitted or not. It really did look like I had been sleeping in it. I was promised this would be sorted for the next fitting and that if there was a problem before I arrived, the representative would personally take it to “Johnson’s The Cleaners and have it pressed.” Worrying. Not to mentioned unprofessional. Exactly the same creases were in the suit as they were last week. Moreover – having looked at the signing in sheet at the front door, there had been a few hours gap between the last client and myself. Plenty of time to get it pressed. This was pointed out and an apology received. Again.
It was suggested we make further alterations and come back the following week. At this point we asked if they were serious – would they really expect with only a week before the wedding for us to take the risk? For the record, I have had suits made to measure by tailors. I also own several very nice suits ‘off the peg’, and I consider myself to know what I’m looking for in a suit. With this in mind, I genuinely do not believe that suit could ever have been made to fit – let alone in a week.
We asked for our money back. And so began the next stage of the experience.
I was already aware of how difficult it is to talk to the person required in A Suit That Fits. I was promised the Area Manager would call me the next day. At about 16:30 I called my representative who didn’t answer but did text back saying the Area Manager would ring. At 18:07 the call came through. There were attempts to make me keep the suit but I insisted on a refund. He mentioned “company policy” but this is a smoke screen – company policy and the law do not necessarily go hand in hand. He agreed to a refund and assured me it would be done in “three to five days.” I made a point of double-checking this and had three witnesses to it all.
To be absolutely fair to him, the Area Manager didn’t argue too much with regards the refund – he knew the company policies had already been worked to by default and there was little he could do. I was promised the money back within the next 4-5 days.
Eleven days later I had still not had my money returned and I chased them again. I sent an email and received nothing. I rang them and was told I would receive my money back that day. I received an email later that day saying they did not have my card details and could I email them? Funnily enough – no! So I rang them but the person I needed was in a meeting. I was assured the said person would call me back that day. By this point, nobody reading this story will be shocked to hear that I heard nothing further. So I emailed again. The next morning I rang and did get through to the said person who took the details and emailed later on to confirm the transaction had taken place.
Quite some story – and the most stressful part of the wedding process. But in the week between the final fittings, I saw a solicitor and a barrister. Both were convinced that should I need to take legal action, I would not only get all my money back but would also get the costs (petrol and parking as a minimum) too. I would also have included the loss of 1 week of annual leave as well as all the other lost time for the fittings. This would have been far more than the cost of the suit – considerably.
I also contacted the credit card company who were happy to take over the case. In line with the Sale of Goods Act there was a problem, and furthermore, the credit card company (Under the Consumer Credit Act) is as liable as the organisation making the sale for goods that are damaged or not received. I believe it was this that ensured I received my money back. A Suit That Fits stalled and made excuses every step of the way – even down to delaying the final repayment a day at a time. Had it not been for the power of the credit card company, I suspect this would have gone on forever.
In the latter stages of this process I purchased a few suits to see if a tailor could alter them for me (just days before my wedding). In one particular department store (with branches throughout the country) I was told that they offered a similar service to ASTF. I was also told that in the majority of cases there is no benefit in paying for this service as the suits made are either small, medium or large, depending upon the measurements taken. Furthermore, the “measurer” said he had learned to adjust the measurements according to the person involved as he knew how the tailor (this time in Egypt) would interpret the measurements. He also said that there are many people that he recommends do not use their service as he knows they will never receive a suit that fits them – they simply cannot make suits for ‘difficult’ shapes and sizes like me. In such cases, he invariably gives customers their money back. For anyone else, they are just as well off buying off the rack. Whilst I cannot state this is exactly the same process/procedure as ASTF, I do wonder.
I am informed (and my apologies if this is incorrect) A Suit That Fits is about to expand into other countries – the USA being one. Potential buyers beware – credit cards and purchasing laws are not the same in one country as they are in another and the backup may not be the same – particularly in USA.
I would therefore beseech people that feel A Suit That Fits is for them to ONLY make a purchase using a credit card.
I would also courteously request that this review does not receive one of the common “I’m very sorry that this happened…..I can assure you we……our fit guarantee….we have dealt with this for you” responses from A Suit That Fits. It is a review – not a ‘he said, we said” situation. Please – if you are going to run a business like this, simply do what you promise. Stop over promising and under-delivering. Stop leading people on. Simply stop promising! Just do the job being paid for. And after this review – have the courtesy not to respond and try to dampen the blow. At this point, all such efforts are hollow and wasted anyway. A PR limitation exercise is really not called for – the problems that have arisen are purely the making of ASTF – nobody else. No amount of apologies can eliminate the simple facts.
PS – I was extremely lucky to have found a suit off the rack and find a tailor who could alter it. She reliably informed me that I needed a tailor made suit (like I didn’t know) but managed to make a good job of the suit for my wedding…..with literally just days to go. So much for months of preparation and planning!
A suit that doesn’t fit.
This is a warning to anyone that is thinking of using A Suit That Fits. If you want to pay over the odds for an ill fitting suit in the wrong fabric; waste your time constantly phoning them and exchanging emails to resolve problems then carry on and give these people your money. You will be highly disappointed and you will never have “A Suit That Fits”. Go to Suit Supply or M&S instead.
Has anyone managed to get their money back from them? I am currently having issues with them and want to cancel my order……any advice??
Many thanks
Sam
To all, I am currently going to court with ASTF. They refused to refund my money after not presenting a suit that we discussed. Awful service and I will make sure my friends ij the press give them a great review.
I have just managed to get a full refund from them, 5 months after I made the payment. Never got a suit that fits and they kept trying to persuade me to start the process again. I held firm, threatened to escalate and eventually spoke to the MD Daniel. I wouldn’t touch them again.
I managed to get a full refund from after sending a number of very stern emails and talking to the MD. They kept trying to get me to start the process again.
Just a big thanks I was able to read this thread even though it is has started since 2009. I have always had concerns with MTM vs. OTP altered in terms of the output of the products vs. lead time-worthiness and other factors for going MTM.
Having said this, I am in the market for MTM because I wanted to judge the experience myself. It is 2016 now and prices have raised naturally. For example, the suits I am buying from Resist is between 500 to 700. Very nicely designed, unique patterns, but certainly over prices for that privilege. For a £700 suit, I would pay a tad more and even wait for sales to pick up a nice Gieves and Hawkes OTP.
I decided to go with a MTM and have been researching. Due to ASTF’s sales approach (when you go to their website, a pop up ask for you to give email for a discount code), you actually get a follow-up call about qualifying you to book an appointment for a sale. This I like btw, because while it is a lead to order conversion process, it shows ASTF is proactive about potential serious customers.
Other such as Beggar’s Run, Edit Suits, Resis’s MTM and a few more were all researched into. My budget was up to £1200 for a MTM suits, 3 pieces and maybe an extra pair of trousers. As an online shopper, the web browsing experience is crucial. I am using the named MTM service as the comparison.
Out of all the websites, ASTF probably provides an above average experience, but I must say the “Customisation” options are by far the best I have come across!!!
As a true web consumer, even though with this new MTM E-commerce trend, the second part of the process should be in person (like in Bespoke) and that is the experience one is paying for. However, first and forecast, the website experience also needs to be great as the 1st step. Thus, I highlight that the buying experience is a bit strange compared to other typical online buying process.
If any true buyer is considering the experience of being able to customise, they will like NIKE ID, where there is the option for your trainers with over 130+ customisation. This is where I believe ASTF does extremely well.
However, in terms of the value for a MTM garment, I was extremely surprised to see many customizations that should be part of the base price. For example, a choice of 2 buttons, 3 buttons or 4 buttons, should be part of the base price of the suit. Others such as a different colour button, that isn’t really a better quality button is again charged. The worst part is the cost of charge can be from £5 up to £30. Having tested a live scenario with the design app, my customisation was about £217 with the base 3 piece suit of £839, total £1056. I have not even finished everything I wanted to customised.
Note everyone is into customisation to my level, because the experience can be overwhelming and time-consuming for those who just want to select fabric and sit with an adviser to go through that process, which by the way they also charge separately. They charge for everything expect picking the patterns.
With this buying experience, I would rather have selected a suit with a site like Beggar’s Run, where they have clear pictures on each model with the suit, showing the main thing, how the cut looks and in large format. On the other hand, the full experience of face to face immediately with the likes of Resis. Edit Suits did not have many patterns I wanted so did not consider them.
Having read this interesting thread, it shows that MTM output is a hit and miss with fitting. Everyone is different in size and shape and just because quite a few people with bad experience posted here, it may be that ASFT has indeed improved by 2016 with better processes and that the pool of people with bad experience could be a small percentage.
One thing I have come to a conclusion and my decision to not pursue with MTM or going with ASTF (Will try Beggar’s Run) is that the end product is still in my assumption an OTP tailored is better for price and product.
My family business is actually in textiles engineering (we mature wedding dresses) and sell to boutiques in London (Hatton Garden). The feedback I am getting from our tailors is that the final suit has functional elements to it. You have got to be able to move! MTM looks great with minimal measurement if you stay still, but it is truly difficult to have these measure to have a perfect fit to what bespoke is offering. Additionally, a good tailor needs at least several fittings to really build a truly customised fit for you. MTM provides customisation base on choice only in the styling, but not customisation to once’s body well.
To take minimal measurement means you are starting off with a bad canvas already as there are too many missing measurements that potentially will provide bad experience for the buyers as in these post of the thread.
Essentially, the experience here I have come to conclude from observation is the speaking to advisors, picking the materials and asking and having more options available for the alteration to the garment being produced; with a lead time just short of what bespoke takes, but essentially over 1 fitting from a patterns / shape of the garment already produced. This just does not work as a process to a guarantee quality fit of the final product.
The MTM terms mislead the idea of the service, when it is not really made to measure, but a cut down flawed process, and should be really named “style/textile customisation alteration service”. The result as many has found out is that OTP with alternation clearly provides much better value in lead time and close fit.
People need to understand there are high-quality OTP as well whether it is a fashion brand or better materials. Most Savile Row also does OTP such as Richard James, which I shop for their quality materials and design, but understanding most of the cost is brand also. The likes of ASTF can try to mitigate negative comments on-line, but the end product has a 50/50 chance of correct fit with a flawed process in place, because of expectaton of customer is “bespoke fit”, which isn’t.
I am going to try Beggar’s run still with their 9 measurements only and see how it turns out to be. Willing to spend the same amount as Reiss £700 for expereiment sake and post what happens. However, I would say to for me to spend 1000 + for customisation options which I am willing to, the product must fit.
It is similar to buying a customised car with everything toys and internal unit, but the seat is extremely uncomfortable and does not fit. One similarly cannot continue to drive in that car.
A mate of mine took a tailoring course with ASTF. I was thinking of get a bespoke suit having never paid more than about £250 for a suit before. For his first 5 customers there was a promise of a 2nd pair of trousers free – so i decided to take the plunge. In October 2016 he took my measurements and photos and I paid upfront for a new suit – £456 – first mistake – never pay for anything upfront. After 10 weeks I went back for a first fitting – couldn’t believe how far off the suit was. I could barely get into the jacket and the trousers were about 3 in short. Don’t worry he said, took a few photos of me wearing the suit and said it would be adjusted. Also I realised at this point that I didn’t like the feel of the suit. When you choose your cloth it’s about a 6in square piece – so you don’t get a proper feel of how the suit will look when fully cut. Anyway, few weeks later got the call for the 2nd fitting. They had run out of the material used for the first suit and selected a lighter shade of grey – which I didn’t really like. Also each time the jacket in particular was badly creased because of transit – my mate said it’ll be alright when you get it pressed first time!! So I have to pay for that too! In the end they made the jacket 3 times and it still didn’t fit. The trouser length was ok but I realised they were poorly fitting around the bum and just felt uncomfortable. After a fourth visit to my mates I got another jacket (no trousers – these were already at my home) and when I got home and showed the wife the full suit she said the fit was really poor, also I noticed the button hole stitching on the trousers and jacket didn’t match. There was no way I could accept this so I had to go back to my mate and tell how disappointed I was. He understood and said don’t worry I’ll arrange a refund. Then started a process of email exchanges between me and ASTF – them basically being very apologetic and offering to correct the situation by getting me to go to their Manchester studio and start the whole process again. I stuck to my guns, sent increasingly firm emails saying I would escalate. They got the MD, Daniel, to call me. Tried to persuade me to start again and after a while agreed to a full refund. I now have this, 5 months after I first paid them. It might work for some people but ASTF was not for me. My mate did about 10 suits with them, 6 were ok, after various fittings and the others were all problematic. He’s leaving them but I don’t know whether any of his other customers managed to get a refund. I feel relieved it is all over.
Published 3 days ago
The most ironically named company
Please please do not use this company! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
I use this company in june 2016 for get fitted for a wedding suit. I dont normally wear three pieces suits so this was special for me. I’d never experienced a tailors before. They charged me over a £1000 for a three piece suit and tailored shirt.
To cut a long story short. They couldn’t make a suit that fitted. On the day before my wedding I attended for my last fitting, the shirt still didn’t fit right and the collar was wrong, but at this point I was more concerned about that jacket that STILL did not fit.
I was told to travel from city london to a industrial estate in tottenham and i had to take half a days emergency annual leave.
I was offered no cab ride and ended up getting an over ground train.
I met the tailor, I tried the jacket on and he explained that he’d try his best but that the arms would never sit right as there was not enough material… I was shocked, considering this is meant to be a tailored jacket.
The shirt was so mucked up i had to go and buy one from a high street chain.
It made me annoyed but i had an amazing wedding.
When i got back in contact with a suit that fits they said theyd sort it all out and give compensation.
THIS IS THE HORROR PART!!!
10MONTHS later and they have still not made me a jacket that fits.
I have refused to be measured for a 3rd time and have complained asking for a refund. They are completely ignoring my complaint and not answering emails.
This is not exaggaration the arms are about 4 inches short on the newest jacket. Seriously i could pick up a better fitting jacket from primark.
Anyway having to get mastercard involved now.
Just to be clear im 34 42inch chest and proportionate i can grab a great fitting jacket out of any high street chain.
If you want one a guy at work highly recommends cad and the dandy in city.
Mark – I had same problems as you trying to get a full refund but I just persisted and ended up speaking to the MD Daniel 020 3355 3560. After a phone call when he wanted to start the whole process again he finally agreed to refund me. I would never use these people again – totally useless