Tailoring Guide: Your sizes, your cut, your fitting checklist

Most men walk into a fitting knowing their shirt size and nothing else. The Tailoring Guide gives you the numbers a tailor will ask for, translates them into the sizes you will see on labels in Europe, Britain and America, and recommends a cut, a lapel and a trouser for your build and the occasion.

The sizing follows the conventions of the trade: European sizes from the chest in centimetres, British and American from inches, length from height, drop from the difference between chest and waist. The cut recommendations are the ones a good tailor would make for your proportions, and a good tailor will refine them.

Questions we get asked

Which measurement matters most?

Chest, taken around the fullest part with the tape under the arms, breathing normally. Everything else in a jacket follows from it.

What is drop?

The difference between the jacket chest and the trouser waist in a suit. A drop of 6 is classic, 8 is slim. If your drop is outside what off-the-peg offers, made to measure is the answer.

Does the guide replace a fitting?

No. It gets you to the fitting with the vocabulary and the numbers, so the tailor spends the time on what he can see rather than on what you can measure.

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