Whether you're dressing for an important interview, a black-tie event, an elegant wedding or simply want to elevate your professional wardrobe, a custom-tailored suit is a worthwhile investment that offers major advantages over an off-the-rack generic suit. Following, you'll find five compelling reasons why custom is best when it comes to suits.

1. A Custom Suit Fits You Perfectly

A custom-tailored suit is made just for you, based on your exact measurements. The tailor will measure your body in multiple places to ensure the suit fits you flawlessly. This results in a suit that hugs your body in all the right places and eliminates issues like pulls, gaps, tightness or bagginess. With a generic off-the-rack suit, you get an approximate fit based on your size, but it will never fit your body’s unique shape quite as well as a custom suit. A perfectly tailored suit gives you a polished, professional look.

2. A Custom Suit Flatters Your Body

In addition to getting your measurements, a good tailor will assess your body type and discuss what styles and cuts will be most flattering on you. Factors like your proportions, posture and shape all come into play. The tailor can then craft a suit highlighting your best assets and downplaying any problem areas, creating an overall slimming and attractive silhouette. With an off-the-rack suit, you only get the generic styling for that brand, which may not be ideal for your build.

3. A Custom Suit Uses High-Quality Materials

For a custom suit, you get to select the specific fabrics and materials used, right down to the interlining and stitch type. This allows you to get a suit made with the finest wools, silks and cashmeres that use high-end interlining and reinforced stitching. Mass-produced suits use cheaper, lower-quality materials to keep costs down. With a custom suit, quality is paramount, ensuring you get a suit that looks and feels luxurious. It will also last longer than a generic suit before showing signs of wear.

4. A Custom Suit Lets You Control the Styling

Do you want peak lapels or shawl lapels? Single-breasted or double-breasted? Pleated or flat-front trousers? With a custom suit, you make these styling choices. It will have the lapels, pockets, vents, buttons and other design details that you select. A generic suit only comes in the preset style chosen by the manufacturer. A custom suit lets you get the precise look and styling that expresses your personal taste and personality. You can also get unique accouterments like custom monogrammed lining.

5. A Custom Suit Offers a Wider Range of Fabrics and Colors

Big clothing manufacturers only produce suits using a limited selection of popular fabrics and colors each season. With a custom suit, your fabric choices are practically endless. You can select from a huge range of high-end wools, cottons and other suit fabrics that you’d never find off-the-rack. The tailor can also source special materials upon request. In terms of colors, you’re not restricted to standard blacks, grays and navies. Choose unique shades like burgundy, forest green or lighter tan. A custom suit allows you to stand out from the crowd.

A custom-tailored suit offers superior fit, flattery, quality, personalization and fabric selection compared to a generic off-the-rack suit. The extra cost is well worth it when you consider how much better a custom suit will look and feel. You’ll turn heads in your stylish custom suit!