The Long and Short of Bad Fitting Suits – 6 Telltale Signs

We’ve all seen it – the guy with a suit that’s a little too long on the legs or tight around the chest. Whether you’re dressing for a big meeting, wedding, a night on the town, or a summer party, one thing’s for certain – suit fit is everything.

Style aside, a well-fitted suit is the cornerstone of sharp dressing – you don’t have to dazzle everyone with the boldest, wildest designs and colour schemes to get noticed.

However, even the smallest fit issues can throw off your whole look. Many of us don’t even know the warning signs that could lead to a bad-fitting suit if we’re not careful.

So, you’re probably wondering “how should a suit fit?” This guide will help you understand how to choose a men’s suit that fits, offer tips for sizing one up and signs to look out for.

How Should a Suit Fit?

Understanding how a suit should fit is even more important than the suit itself. Whether you spend hundreds or thousands on a suit, here's how to tell how your suit should fit:

1. Your Shoulders are Doing Their Own Thing

A well-fitted suit can make all the difference to how you look.

The one rule with shoulders – the shoulders on a suit should sit flush with your own, following their natural shape and contours.

If the shoulder padding hangs off your shoulders and droops down, your suit jacket is almost certainly too big. If they bunch up towards your neck, then it’s too small.

Unfortunately, shoulders aren’t easy to alter as tailoring involves reworking the sleeves, shoulder pads and chest. Even then, you still might not get the results you’re looking for as it can throw off the proportions of the jacket.

Your best bet is to look for a new jacket that hugs the shoulders nicely while keeping a pinched-in proportional look for your chest and waist.

2. The Dreaded “X” at the Buttons

You go to do up your buttons and what should be an easy task turns into a mini workout, forcing a button to stay in place while contorting your body to make it fit.

When a suit jacket is too tight, buttoning it up causes the fabric to fold and crease around your stomach and lower chest. These creases typically form a “X” shape across the front of your suit.

This can throw off your entire look, so we want to avoid it if possible.

To fix it, choose a size up when shopping for a new suit. If that’s not working, you might want to try a different cut of suit.

For those that don’t know, suits come in different cuts:

Classic fit – best for broader, more athletic builds and people that value timeless traditional tailoring.

Slim fit – best for slim builds and people who like the sharp modern look.

Tailored fit – best for most body types and people who want to balance style and comfort.

Moving from a slim to a tailored fit, for example, might give you more room without changing the size, arm length or fit around your chest.

It’s worth bearing in mind that suit styles are more suited to different body types – like taller men and shorter men, for example.

3. Sleeves That Don’t Fit your Wrists

It’s not uncommon for people to pick up a suit jacket, see that it fits the chest and shoulders and buy it, only to find out that the sleeves are dangling beneath your hands or riding halfway up your forearm.

As a general rule, your jacket sleeve should show about half an inch of shirt cuff. This lets you show off any fancy cufflinks you have as well as accessories like watches and bracelets for added style.

Luckily, suit sleeves can be easily adjusted by a tailor – provided the suit isn’t too big as a whole – by pinning up the fabric and restitching to give you more comfort and wiggle room.

4. Trouser Break That’s All Wrong

In the same way that the length of your sleeves is crucial to your overall look, where your trousers or slacks end is just as important to achieving the perfect suit fit.

The point at which your trousers end, and shoes begin is known as a trouser break.

If they’re puddling at your ankles – or hovering above like they’re scared of your shoes – you’ve got a trouser break problem.

If your trousers break is too low or too high, the problem might not even be the trousers themselves. Pulling your trousers up too high can give you an unwanted ankle gap and wearing them too low can cause them to crease at the ankle.

If the suit trouser fit is off and too long, this can be fixed in the same way as your sleeves, by a tailor. Too short? You might want to think about a new pair of slacks.

5. Your Collar Gap is Showing

Have you ever noticed the space between your shirt collar and your suit jacket collar? Maybe it’s more noticeable towards the back of your neck? That’s a collar gap.

It’s a sign that your jacket isn’t sitting flush against your body or following the natural curve around your neck and shoulders.

Sometimes it’s just a posture issue. For example, hunching forward and sloping shoulders cause a collar gap to form.

Other times, it’s just because you have a a suit cut that doesn’t match your frame, or your suit jacket is the wrong size.

6. “Is That a Suit Jacket or a Cape?”

Looking your best can boil down to how long your suit is. Get this wrong, and it can throw off the entire look – even if it’s only by an inch.

When a suit is too long you can look like a kid in your dad’s pinstripe. Too short and it's closer to a bolero than it is a blazer – potentially ruining the proportions of your frame.

Generally, choose the right length for your suit jacket that falls to the middle of your palm when your arms are at your side.

This can be difficult to measure, so another thing you can do is make sure the bottom of your jacket covers your entire rear end – this will give you the proportions you’re looking for.

In Need of a New Suit That Fits?

Why not try our made-to-measure suit fitting service? Get a bespoke, fitted suit tailored to your shape and body type. We cover all sizes up to 60’ jackets and 56’ trousers – perfect for when off-the-peg sizing doesn’t quite cut it.

At House of Cavani, we offer an extensive collection of men’s suits and boys’ suits to match any occasion. Our range includes everything from classic tweed suits to stylish two-piece suits in a variety of fabrics, cuts and designs. We also offer a selection of accessories and men’s footwear to complete your ideal look.

With summer around the corner, why not check out our spring/summer collection?