What your posture says about your suit (Part 1 of 2)

One of the key aspects that goes into our MTM Suits here at Assemble Singapore is for us to first carefully examine our client’s body and posture before drafting and cutting out the skeleton suit (aka the basted fitting).

It is a crucial and essential step in the beginning as one negligent mistake can cause irreparable damages. Needless to say, the process of making a suit from start to finish is very labor intensive and time consuming. This means that there are other various technical aspects that we need to pay attention to as well.

In part 1 of this editorial article, we will touch on the different posture types that we are no stranger to over the past decade of our experience in the world of tailoring. We will also cover the most common issue that will occur if the posture is read inaccurately—shoulder divots.

Four Types of Posture

There is a whole list to cover, but today we will be discussing about the 4 most commonly encountered postures as shown in the diagram above. As every client’s body is different, it is important for us to look out for any distinct posture abnormalities and understand how they will affect the proportional relationship between the front and the back of the jacket. At times we will need to give more allowance to the front and take in from the back, while at other times it will be the opposite.

From the diagram above, are you able to tell your own posture? Go ahead, try standing in front of the mirror and spot which category you belong to. Unless you belong to the ‘Normal Posture’ category, it is highly unlikely you would be able to find a good fitting OTR suit. Reason being, their suits are usually cut from a standard single pattern and it is not catered to people with other postures. Sad to say, ‘One Size Fits All’ does not apply anymore.

In the images shown above, we have an example of ‘Normal Posture’ and ‘Flat Back’. For these 2 cases, either the front and back length will be the same, or the front length will be about an inch longer than the back. This is because there is more distance at the front length as it has to go over the chest, while there is less distance at the back. We want the front and the back of the jacket to be evenly aligned at the hem.

Based on this, we notice that a high percentage of our clients are spotted with forward shoulders, and in some cases their neck is tilted slightly forward as well. We suspect that the reason for this is due to the heavy influence of mobile phone usage, whereby we tend to tilt our head downwards. It could also stem from poor sitting habits at our computer desks for long hours.

Shoulder Divots

During the fitting process, shoulder divots are also one of the many things we look out for. Using the diagram below as a reference, a shoulder divot is an indentation at the sleevehead.

This translates to a few reasons which you may have heard before — the jacket shoulders are too big, or a wrong type of padding is used. Here at Assemble, we believe that the biggest culprit is mainly because the jacket armhole is not lined up correctly with the client’s natural shoulder. Therefore, this leads us back to point number 1 — posture.

There is a saying, “A well-fitted suit starts right from the shoulder.” If your tailor is able  to identify the type of shoulder as well as your body physique, and with the right cutting skill, you are on the right track to achieving an impeccable fit.

Conclusion

If you are experiencing one of the following issues:
1. you had your suit tailored elsewhere and your previous tailor wasn’t able to fix a nudging issue, or
2. you recently purchased an OTR suit and still contemplating if you should spend money on altering it further, or
3. you haven’t own any suit before but you are better aware of your posture after reading this article and wish to make a more informed decision in tailoring one with us,

Feel free to hit us up at +65 8742 6863 and we would be happy to assist you in getting the suit you have always wanted to own.

There are a couple more pressing issues that can affect your suit’s fit. Stay tuned for part 2 of this editorial article and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram at @assemblesg!