Best Places To Buy Your Tailored Suit

If you’re looking for a tailored suit, of course you could head to Savile Row or Milan…

But for the frugal Global Playboy, there are lots of much cheaper places to buy a perfectly tailored suit.

London is of course one of the world’s style capitals and yes you can get an awesome suit made on Savile Row or Jermyn Street. This is all fine and good, but you don’t always want to wear your £1000+ suit to every event.

Jumping in and out of taxis all day in Singapore? Three weddings in a week? Got to fly from Rome to Abu Dhabi to San Francisco in the next four days?

Having a cheap but high quality tailored suit is practically an essential for the businessman, digital nomad or well dressed traveller.

So, where to go for the best quality budget tailored suit?

Hong Kong

Long known as the centre of world class tailoring for super low prices, Hong Kong still offers plenty of bargains.

Raja Tailors who are the most famous do now offer international fittings, so you can get that suit fitted in Paris and then delivered to your hotel in Sydney a week later. Prices start from around $300, but you can easily end up paying $1000 at some of the other Hong Kong tailors.

Be warned though. With the reputation for quality comes plenty of opportunity for shysters. If you’re around Mody Road you’ll no doubt see adverts or flyers for the best quality suits, but there is plenty of scope to be ripped off.

Apart from Raja, check out also:

• EmpireTailors who are among the best in town.
• GayGiano who offer European styling.
• Cuffs who offer some great casual and contemporary options.
• TheAmoury for the full gentlemen’s experience (by which we mean a whisky and a relaxed fitting).

Hoi An, Vietnam

Vietnam is one of the world’s workhouses, like China. You’ll find Made in Vietnam on plenty of items of clothing including trainers, jeans and suits. Hoi An is where to go if you want a custom made item of clothing, from jeans to dresses to suits, you’ll find it here.

As with HK, there is a lot of choice and a lot of touts trying to get you in the door with ‘best price, best quality’… And there are a lot of tailors.

However, not all of them make their suits in house, many of them are outsourced with the same workhouse making items for hundreds of different shops. Prices are around $300 and up for a made to measure suit.

Who makes theirs on site?

• Vanda Tailors have their own factory and make quality items on site.
• BeBe Tailors also receive some good feedback and have their own factory and several different outlets.
• Tony The Tailor also has a great reputation as one of the best in Hoi An.
• A Dong Silk are also well known as one of the city’s best bespoke suit options.

Bangkok, Thailand

A walk down Kao San Road in Bangkok’s tourist heartland means running the gauntlet of salesmen trying to get you into their bespoke suit workshops. But, dodge these guys and find a quality tailor and you’ll find a great suit in BKK.

For around $300 you can get an absolutely exquisite suit made to your spec in around 3 – 4 days.

The best guys in town are:

•  Ravi Sehgal on Sukhumvit Road, one of the best reputations in town.
• Tailor on Ten make high quality suits on site.
• Rajawongsee, who also have a great reputation for excellent quality.
• Narin Couture also offer a high quality service and finish.

Mumbai, India

With it’s British heritage and it’s reputation as India’s style and culture capital, Mumbai unsurprisingly has some good options for bespoke suits.

The style isn’t quite the same as a European cut, but considering you’re getting a very stylish bespoke suit for around US$300 you’ll be pretty happy with the outcome from these guys:

• Michele Boutique offer excellent contemporary suits in the heart of Colaba.
• Kachins have several branches in the city and offer a high quality bespoke suit service.

Shanghai, China

Unsurprisingly, China also has some good places to pick up a tailor made suit for phenomenally cheap prices. If you want something off the rail, you’ll be able to pick up a suit for easily $100 or so. But if you want a custom fit, there is also plenty of choice and you’ll easily find a suit around (or even below) $300.

Tony the Tailor is probably the best known custom tailor in Shanghai, but there are other choices too.

Head to the famous South Bund fabric market and shop around. There are literally hundreds of tailors competing for your business, with consistently decent quality and some very low prices.

Istanbul, Turkey

At the crossroads between Asia and Europe, you’ll also find a great place to get a custom made suit in a sort of European style.

It’s not as cheap as Bangkok, or even Hong Kong, but still cheaper than New York or Milan. You’re looking at around €700 for a two piece bespoke suit.

Check out:

• Caglar Kumas.
• Baris Kurbal.

New York

If you’re in the market for a custom suit in the US, head to New York. You can pick up a fine custom suit from Alan David Tailors. Prices start from $1195 for a fully bespoke custom suit.

London

In the UK, pick up a custom suit from just £479 at Zebel bespoke. They also have a pret a porter store in Exeter, Devon.

Where can you buy a cheap but stylish suit?

If you’re more info off the peg mens styling, there are plenty of places you can find a cheap suit.

Believe it or not you can get a decent off the peg suit in London for under £200. Chains like Moss Bros, Charles Tyrrhwit and Burton are high street staples but a great place to find a bargain off the peg suit.

To add to this you can also get a decent blazer jacket and suit trousers from stores like Uniqlo. For under $150 you could look every inch the stylish gent. It might not be a business smart suit, but it would certainly be ideal for casual or after hours styling, or to wear to weddings or as funeral attire.

And retail behemoth Amazon is getting in on the act too. Find a good quality branded off the peg mens suit on Amazon for under £150/$150. Search for brands like Pierre Cardin, Calvin Klein, Jack and Jones or DKNY.

Check out this Calvin Klein suit on Amazon.

Check out this jacket and pants suit set from Jack and Jones for under £100/$100.

If you’re looking for a tailored suit then, apart from the cities listed above, you can also pick up a cheap suit in places like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jaipur, Bogota, Kuala Lumpur and Budapest.

A bespoke suit in most of these places will cost upwards of US$350. Hoi An is probably the cheapest option but Hong Kong will be the best place to get a quality tailored suit.

If you’ve found anywhere else to get a great tailored suit for an affordable price we’d love to know, so comments below are welcome!

Check out our styling guide including how to dress like a rock star and how to dress like a nerd 🙂