Is a made-to-measure suit worth it?

The fair way to answer this is cost per wearing, not price. A suit that hangs in the wardrobe because the shoulders never sat properly is expensive at any price. A suit you reach for twice a week for five years is cheap at four figures.

What the money actually buys

• A pattern altered to your measurements and posture rather than a standard size range.
• Cloth chosen for the job — weight, weave and mill — instead of whatever the shop bought that season.
• Details that suit you: lapel width, jacket length, trouser cut and rise.
• A fitting, so problems are corrected on the garment rather than tolerated.

When it is clearly worth it

• You wear a suit or jacket most weeks.
• You are broad, slim, tall, short, or have sloping or uneven shoulders — anything shop sizing rounds off.
• The occasion matters: your wedding, or a suit you will be photographed in.
• You have already spent well on off-the-peg suits and had them altered heavily each time.

When it is not

If you need a suit for one event next week and will not wear it again, buy something off the peg and have the trousers finished. We would rather say so than sell you a garment you do not need.

The honest caveat

Made-to-measure is not magic. It will not make a cheap cloth behave, and a first suit will usually teach you one or two things you want done differently next time. What it does reliably is remove the compromises you have been living with.