Economical to have suits altered?

elsmandino

I spent all my life working in an office that did not require the wearing of suits and so have always worn trousers, shirt and a jumper.

I am about to change jobs and this is going to require a proper suit.

I went to M&S and asked for a bit of professional help.

It turns out that my perfect fit is a slim-fit with 40S jacket and 36S trousers.

This is fine, but all my current suits (of which i have quite a few) have jackets that are regular fit 42R - i.e. they are all too big for me.

Is there any rule of thumb of working out whether a suit it is economical to have a suit jacket altered (i.e. in my case, the waist taken in and sleeves shortened)?

Furthermore, one of the suits was bought when I was a bit slimmer and the trousers are a 34S. Is it possible to extend the trouser waist by 2 inches?

DigForVictory

So much depends on where you are & how much your adjustments team cost.
There's also the little issue of how well the suits have stored and whether the fabric and the original cut will cooperate with a bit of modification (usually 100% yes - a tailored suits is not thrown together!) Depending on how many, it may be worth taking a couple in & asking for advice & a quote & if that seems reasonable then seeing what sort of job they make of it.
If the altered suits leave you feeling happily comfortably smartly turned out, excellent & other suits can go in. (May I suggest leaving one or two in case you find professional suitwearing results in a somewhat thickened waist? Always nice to have a "new" suit waiting, but you need to check the staff who did the job have stayed in place or improved.)

Leave the slimmer suit on its hangar a while. You may find your waistline narrows, after all. If you have plural suits, you have plural choices!

Very best of luck with the new job!

buildersdaughter

1. Have you tried them on? Slightly silly question, but size is a 'guide'.
2. Yes, most trousers can be extended by up to 5cm.
3. Good alterations can be expensive - but local sewers / sewists will often have a list of approximate prices.

This is what I would do:
If you can afford it, buy a M&S suit for your first few days, and preferably buy 1 jackets & 2 pairs of trousers.
Try on all your suits and consider which one or two are very good quality / make you feel good and get an estimate for getting them altered. I'd say, off the cuff, it is only worth doing for ones that are better quality than M&S.
Tuck one away that isn't too bad, for an emergency.
See how the job goes - I am told that jobs that 'require suits' often don't all day every day.
See how the M&S suit goes, if it feels comfortable and you like it, you can get more when you can afford it.
If you do go ahead with the alteration, see how that goes.
Good luck!

MovingForwards

I used to get all my classic expensive suits from next to nothing (Next Clearance) at a fraction of the cost of when they were for sale in the normal Next stores.

I wouldn't say M&S are the professional suits you are after and even when I was desperate and looking for a suit for interviews I didn't spend my cash in M&S.

What's your budget?