“The way you dress is an investment in your career.”
That's what a client told me when she came in to order three more suits this week. She'd just gotten two, and she wanted three more because we nailed her fit and she loves our new fabric. We got to talking about how we're priced a little more than most female directors are used to spending. The first thing she said was that she tells this to the younger women she runs into in the industry: “The way you dress is an investment in your career.”
Is spending more on a custom suit worth it?
How an off-the-rack suit gets its size
For an off-the-rack suit, everything starts with a designer working on a suit with a certain silhouette in mind. Often they're working on models who have a very different body than the average woman.
Once they have their design set, they move to build sizes. Ready-to-wear suits build size charts on mass data about average body measurements. For a jacket or a pair of pants, they look at the average bust size, the average waist size, how those compare to averages of stomach, hip, thigh, and many other measurements. Then, they pull the middle of the bell curve to make the standard sizes, 0 through 20.
What you end up with is an average of averages. It's made to fit as many people as possible, good enough that you'll buy it in a department store. That's the goal of the sizing. It's not to give you a perfect fit. The goal is to be just good enough that you'll buy it.
Those suits are also mass-produced. They buy fabric in bulk, then cut and sew in bulk. You get your basic patterns for all the different panels of the suit, and those patterns get drafted and cut in mass for those sizes.
And because the goal is a small price tag, the construction gets done at the lowest cost possible, so the factory makes more profit per suit. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Affordable clothing is a great thing. However, most of the time with an off-the-rack suit, you're going to find cheaper construction, unless you're going with a brand that has high standards. Most budget department store suits don't.
Here's what I look at when I compare:
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The quality of the thread
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The quality of the construction materials
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The stitches per inch
With stitches per inch, a bigger stitch means the seams pop more easily. That matters, because most women's suits are designed for an office or the runway. They're not designed for the physical demands and realities of the day-to-day work of a funeral director. When you do manual labor in a suit, you're putting a lot more stress on it than it was made for.
How a custom suit gets built for you
On the custom side, it's very different.
We start with your individual body measurements. We're not taking an average of averages. Women's bodies vary so much, especially in body shape, and that gives you a huge advantage in how a custom suit ends up fitting. We're not assuming you'll fit into an average and making something that's just good enough. We're trying to make something that fits you specifically.
So we start with your measurements and your preferences on fit. Then we draft an individual pattern for every piece of cloth that gets cut for your suit.
The other big difference is the relationship. The designer of an off-the-rack suit doesn't have a one-on-one relationship with any of the customers. They don't have the incentive to make the suit great for any individual customer.
Someone who sells custom suits, online or in person, has a one-on-one relationship with you. That's a much tighter feedback loop, because they're closer to the customer. And that means they have a reason to invest and hold higher standards on quality.
Think about how the judgment gets made. With off-the-rack, it's just in the store: will they buy or not? With custom, the judgment is made over the long term of wearing it, and you want to impress the customer with that garment over time.
What that does on a body all day
I hear it all the time from clients: they just burn through suits. Suits don't last.
And here's the other thing with off-the-rack. Because each measurement wasn't made for your body, some parts of the suit fit well and other parts don't quite fit right. Subconsciously, that bothers you through the day, and it's distracting.
When you should be fully focused on the family, you're adjusting your jacket, or fixing your pants, making sure things look right. Because you know you need to look your best, and the suit doesn't do that effortlessly, it's stealing your energy throughout the day.
And because you notice those little imperfections, you're less excited to wear it. One of the worst things that happens in a wardrobe is a suit that just sits in your closet. Things you don't love are taking up space. Your wardrobe should only be pieces you love and are excited to wear.
On the custom side, if it's done right, everything fits very well. It becomes something you don't have to think about. You're not distracted during an arrangement or a service, fixing your jacket or your pants, because it sits right on your body, and you know you look your best.
So you feel more confident. You feel like you look better. You project more expertise and authority, and families trust you more. You have more energy. You're able to be more present with the families you serve and give them your best, because you don't have that small distraction of your clothing.
The Biggest Mistake We Make When We Buy Clothing
The biggest mistake I see is only thinking about your wallet, not your needs or the future experience. When you only think about your wallet, you choose the least expensive option that’s ‘good enough’.
When I was a poor college student, I picked the cheapest fabrics because I just wanted to say I had something custom. And it's just not the same as having something nicer.
You treat a good suit better. It holds you accountable on staying in shape more. And it feels different putting it on when you know a suit is only worth a hundred dollars. At that point you're probably not even getting a matching suit.
Compare that to wearing something that's made for you. Your name is on the label inside, it fits you just right, and you know it's great quality.. You show up differently in those two things. You feel different.
When you go for the less expensive thing, you're only thinking about money. You're only thinking about your bank account. You don't realize you're giving up that confidence and that pride in your appearance for the rest of the life of that outfit.
Is investing in a custom suit worth it?
I'm not going to tell you yes. Here's what I'd ask yourself:
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How long do I need this suit to last?
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Is the extra investment worth the extra confidence?
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Do I want something I'm excited to wear, or something that's just good enough? Am I okay settling?
And there's one more thing worth thinking about: If your name isn't on the outside of the building where you work, if you're not in the family that owns the funeral home, you probably want to be considered a candidate for future management and ownership.
Someday, you want to be in ownership or corporate management. The way you dress factors into that. If you look frumpy or sloppy, you won't be seen as someone who's as capable. Not looking your best makes it harder to be at the front of the line for promotions and new opportunities.
I want to share one more story, to show what the experience can look like.
We just had a customer whose first suit didn't come in quite right. She was covered by our Fit Guarantee, so we remade her suit. The second one came in fitting like a glove, just perfect.
She wore it to an industry event, and she told me she couldn't even go get a drink at the break, because so many directors kept stopping her to tell her how nice her suit looked and asking about it.
The next day she was back at her family's funeral home helping her brother run a service. And she was getting compliments and comments left and right on how good she looked in the suit. She was so excited!
Here’s the crazy thing, it's just a plain black suit. It's not a cool color. There's nothing really special about it. It's a black suit that fits her right.
She felt so great, because how nice is it when someone tells you that you look good? For her, that additional investment is paying off. Every time she puts it on, people are telling her she looks really nice.
An off-the-rack suit is built for an average of averages. It's made to be good enough that you'll buy it. A custom suit starts with your measurements and how you like to wear your clothes, so it's made to fit you.
You feel that difference all day. One suit has you fixing your jacket in the middle of a service. The other you forget you're wearing, and you give the family your full attention. The way you dress is an investment in your career.