24
Aug

What’s it cost to get something tailored?

Recently, I’ve been making nearly weekly trips to my tailor for various alterations. One early concern (being budget conscious and all) was the cost of getting a jacket or pants tailored. For the most part, it’s impossible to find prices online for a lot of tailors. And tailors each have their own pricing that can vary quite a bit.

Still, here’s the prices I pay at mine, who is located in the downtown Chicago area.

  • Taking in a jacket’s sides: $45/jacket
  • Narrowing a jacket’s collar & shoulder width via the back seam: $90/jacket
  • Tapering legs and hemming pant length: $30/pant
  • Narrowing both the sides and sleeves of a shirt: $25/shirt

I’m not sure how much it costs to lengthen/shorten cuffs, but I want to say $15-20.

Whenever I look into buying a new article of clothing, I always factor in these costs to determine if it’s worth it. An eBay snag might seem like a steal, but always consider tailoring, too.

Still, I’d consider the price worth it. You’ll get a better fit from your garments. The only one I wouldn’t advise doing is the narrowing of the shoulders/collar. It’s entirely too pricey and in the end it might still be too big on you (trying to tailor down a jacket 2-4 sizes too big isn’t worth the effort, just know your shoulder size up front).

Short URL
#tailoring

46 Notes

  1. nachobroadway reblogged this from thesilentist
  2. wanttolooklikethis reblogged this from thesilentist
  3. aeronode answered: My tailor in the LA area does $12/shirt for bringing in the sides and sleeves. Good work, too.
  4. nickelcobalt answered: $10 a shirt in NYC
  5. joeblubaugh answered: My tailor chargers $20/shirt and very similar prices to jackets. Hemming is $10, though you can do your own hems if you aren’t cuffing them.
  6. thesilentist posted this
  •  

About

A Chicagoan working on developing his personal style

E-mail me, I'm fairly nice: thesilentist@gmail.com

Popular topics:

  • © The Silentist - A menswear blog from Chicago
  • Archive
  • RSS