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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Getting Your Suit Measurements

By Victor B. Sancharo

The first and most important part in buying a suit or having one custom made is being familiar with suit measurements and in particular your suit measurements. Below you can learn how to properly measure yourself for your suit size and will also learn about the sizes that ready to wear suits are available. The fit of one's suit and make or break appearances. As a side note, this guide uses inches, so if you are more comfortable with centimeters, just multiply by 2.54 to convert inches into centimeters.

Measuring For The Jacket

Measuring yourself can sometimes be a task, so if you already own a well fitting jacket you can instead take your measurements directly from the jacket itself. This will be especially beneficial if you are planning on buying the same brand of suit as your jacket. The measurements within the same brand should be identical and you can just ask for the same size. But not all brands are alike, so here is what you need to do to find your measurements.

Measure across your shoulders or get one of your suit jackets and measure across the shoulder seams.

The chest measurement is what is used to determine the size of your jacket. So if your chest is 38 inches then your jacket size is a 38. To measure your chest, you must measure around the fullest part. This is typically right under your armpits, just make sure that the tape covers your shoulder blades around back. On a jacket, measure the front of the jacket under the sleeves from armpit to armpit and then multiply by two.

When measuring the sleeves, take the length from the top of your shoulder to the point of your wrist you favor.

The length of the jacket is determined by the measurement from the bottom of your neck down to your crotch. If you are measuring your jacket just start at the collar and go down to the bottom to get the proper measurement. Measuring The Pants

You can use a pair of pants you own to get a measurement, just like with a jacket. If you know your waist size, you have the measurement for your pants. If you don't here's how to measure.

To measure your waist size you will need to measure around the lower part of your waist. Remember to hold a finger in between your body and the tape. If you already have a pair of pants, then measure their width at the waist and multiply by two to find your measurement.

The length of the pants is obtained from the inseam. To measure the inseam, start at the crotch inside the leg, down to the foot. If you are measuring pants, measure from the crotch seam down to the leg's end.

Take the neck measurement from the widest part.

Typically jacket sizes start with an XS at 34 in. and can go up to an XXXL at 54 in. Pants can range anywhere from an XS at 26 in to an XXXL at 50 in. Sizes to vary from brand to brand, so its best to know your size before you get to the retailer.

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