The price point of a suit can be a deciding factor when choosing which option is right for the customer. It can also be the sign of the quality of the garment. A custom-tailored suit with high-quality fabric is the gold-star standard, while an off-the-rack, ready-to-wear suit is often the most economical.
In pop culture, the wall-street banker gets the good suit, and the used car salesman gets the ill-fitted suit.
A new store at CF Chinook Centre aims to change that. In the same way Warby Parker disrupted the eyewear industry by offering (stylish) frames and prescriptive lenses for $150, Vancouver-based Indochino is disrupting the made-to-measure suit world by offering custom-fit suits for $529. Both of these companies keep costs down by not carrying stock, but rather selling their wares online and setting up showrooms where people can see the product and have a tactile experience with it. The cost savings are passed onto the customer.
Indochino matches each customer to one of three silhouettes – the broad-shouldered Newbury, the athletic-build Yaletown, and the lean-build Soho. They put a corresponding fit sample on the customer and then pin to his preferences. From there, the customer can customize the suit in myriad ways, from fabrics, lapel styles, button and vent options, pocket placement and more than 40 lining options.
Each customization is added to the base pattern, cut to the new specifications, produced and then sent to the customer’s home in four to six weeks. An in-house tailor at the showroom handles any adjustments that need to be done at that point. These changes are noted in the customer’s profile for future orders.
For those who want an upgrade to Italian-made fabric can also do so for a couple hundred dollars more. The customization process remains the same, either way.
Indochino, CF Chinook Centre, 403-253-0434, indochino.com




