I have one suit. One that serves three purposes: weddings, funerals and other important occasions. I have had it for many years, over a decade in fact. It still seems to fit despite middle-age taking over my body. I don’t really think about what is fashionable nor even stepping foot into a department store unless I’m put in a headlock. So when CottonBrew approached me to find out if I was interested in trying out their custom and personalized tailoring service for a new suit, I was intrigued by the fact that I didn’t have to go get measured in a store and just choose something off the rack. What CottonBrew professes is a quick, easy and personalized suit-buying experience without the hassle of stepping foot in a store.
I’m sure there are other dads out there who feel the same way I do. Their wives or significant others do much of their shopping for them. I am no different. I can’t remember the last time I went looking for a shirt or pants, shoes maybe, but something as significant as a suit? Forgetaboutit! CottonBrew changed my mind, however, about “shopping” especially since I could do the measurements myself (actually with the help of my wife) and it only took a few minutes. And you don’t even need to provide the additional measurements, you can just take three selfies and send them in as well.
The results were stellar, the fit was amazingly good given the fact that it was done via my own measurements and submitting shirt sizes of popular shirt designers as well as a few photos of me wearing these shirts. How do they do it? Well, it’s a bit of tailor magic. From measurements to a finished product, delivered to my home, in just a few weeks.
Do note, there are lots of photos in this review: the ordering process, the making, the packaging and me wearing the suit (photos courtesy of one of my daughters). Also note: some of the photos of the ordering process below were recently updated to reflect the current ordering screens and fields.
And, at the end of the article, I have a 20% promocode that you can use for your next CottonBrew suit, shirt or blazer.
The Magic of CottonBrew Shopping and Measurements
You start your suit buying and customizations process by browsing their huge selection of styles, patterns, colors and fabrics. There are many to choose from, each one offering something unique for any type of man.
Even before you start the selection process, you might want to think about the fabrics. This is one thing that is hard when it comes to online shopping. Pictures are great but sometimes a tactile experience is required. CottonBrew recently added the option to get a Fabric Kit (you do have to order it BUT, if you end up ordering a suit, they will refund your money on the Kit) but you get to physically see and feel the possible fabric choices. Since a suit is a pretty significant investment, you may want to consider this option. At the time I did my online ordering, the Kit wasn’t available so I just viewed the details online.
I ended up choosing the Eminence Charcoal design and fabric. I felt that a simple, charcoal-colored, clean cut design would be the best for an all around suit for many occasions.
You can zoom in on the images to see greater detail as well.
Once you choose the suit type, the customization process begins. You start by choosing the Lapel. I had four different Lapels to choose from and selected the very traditional “Notch” style (nothing radical for me, thanks).
Next comes the Jacket Vent with options being two, one or no vents. Again, I went traditional and choose a single Vent.
From there came the selection of Buttons for the jacket. Surprise, surprise, again, I went pretty traditional here and chose the Two-Button option.
Next came the decision on the type of Jacket Pockets. You could do Flaps (which is what I chose, again, not deviating from that conservative style), No Flaps, Pocket Flaps Slanted or No Pocket Flaps Slanted.
For the Pants selection, I chose to have Pleats. I have always liked pleats. You can get the pants in this particular style with or without pleats.
Once you finish going through the customization “wizard,” you are asked to confirm your selection. You can always go back and change your choice if you want to be more daring or not. Try doing that in a department store! You would have to go back to the rack and see if there was a style that truly met your needs. You don’t have to compromise. CottonBrew puts you in command of what you really want.
From there, you add the suit to the cart and proceed on to defining your body type and adding measurements.
Building a Body Profile is, in my opinion very important in this process. As you are the person defining your measurements, you need to be sure you are accurate and not lying that you are thinner than you actually are, for example.
You start by defining a general Body Profile by entering your Weight and Height.
The next customization step is to define how you want your suit to fit. As I’m totally out of touch from the modern styles nowadays, I (surprise again) went pretty conservative. The choices are Classic, Slim and Extra Slim. Can you guess which one I chose? Yep, “Classic!”
From there, you can actually be done with your Body Profile. However, I wanted to be extra sure so I elected to provide more information. Honestly, because I’m not an expert, I recommend taking a little extra time providing more detailed measurements.
I decided to provide extra body measurements. For this process, I recommend you get one of those flexible measurement taps that tailors use. And get someone who can really help out in measuring your body. You click on the “Optional – Provide exact body measurements” and work through a series of extra measurements to provide to your personal CottonBrew tailor.
Each optional measure comes complete with a quick video to show you how to get accurate measurements. Don’t rush through this step. The more accurate you are, the better fitting the suit will be! Once I did the extra measurements, I was ready to submit my custom order.
Once you submit your order, CottonBrew reviews everything. You may be contacted to provide additional information, measurements or photos. In fact, they wanted me to find some common dress shirts manufacturers and for me to take front and side profiles of me wearing them to see how they fit me specifically. I also had to provide a photo of the shirt label. Being the lame, old fashioned, outdated dad that I am, most of my dress shirts were old and outdated as well but I did my best to find a few that worked.
Once everything was sent and confirmed, I waited for my custom, hand-made CottonBrew suit to arrive at my doorstep.
CottonBrew Tailors & the End Result
The measurements, style and fabric choices are sent away into the Internet ether and the suit is hand-made, cut, stitched and crafted.
For this review, I asked CottonBrew if they could provide some photos of my suit being made. Above and below you can see the hand-stitching being done.
Everything is carefully hand-measured and put together.
Within a few weeks, I received a delivery.
It was a carefully branded box simply stating “CottonBrew – your private tailor.” But within, you could see the care and attention to detail they do with every delivery. There was an envelope with “Important Documents.”
The private tailor had information about my suit.
And within the envelope was the “manual.” I’m more used to tech manuals so this one was simple and straight-forward with information on cleaning and storing, as well as an explanation on why the suit was wrinkled.
Each suit comes with a protective plastic cover for storage as well.
I let the suit hang for a few days to let some of the wrinkles out and then I steamed it slightly myself to further remove some of the wrinkles. After that, it was time to try it on for size and fit. To my amazement, given that I was the one who provided the measurements, it fit quite well. I had received a Star Wars tie for Christmas from my family so I thought this was the perfect occasion to test it out. (Oh, and I’m no model by any means, but I did my best to pretend to be one!)
Below you can see a close-up of the material of the jacket, complete with my Star Wars tribute tie!
Each button and button hole actually are real. They are not simply “pretend” like some other suits you may see. You can unbutton them if you so desire.
There is clearly a nice attention to detail in the construction.
The arm length of the jacket were the proper length as well.
Inside the jacket, there was the signature CottonBrew label and red stitching. There is even a pen holder!
The jacket pockets had the flaps as I requested in my order as well.
The fabric was smart, clean and very high-quality!
And I was obviously pretty excited to have a new suit (but I think my ska-dancing, mosh-pit days are well behind me)!
Overall, I have only positive things to say about the browsing, customizing and shopping experience provided by CottonBrew. The ordering website not only offers a tremendous amount of style and fabric options, the building of the personal profile is easy to use and quite complete (remember, I do recommend adding additional measurements for an even better fit). The suit itself was very well made, fit nicely and looked great. If you do decide to order something from them, use the promocode “HighTechDad” to get 20% off of your order!
CottonBrew offers more than just a wide variety of custom-made suits. They also have custom shirts with a good selection of styles and fabrics, as well as a choice of blazers. And it looks like they recently added Accessories (like ties, cuff links, pocket squares, and tie clips). The way they are rounding out their offering means that dads like me may never have to set foot in a physical store again!
Disclosure Text : I have a material connection because I received a gift or sample of a product for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. All opinions within this article are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission. More information can be found in my About page.
HTD says: CottonBrew is more than just an online clothes shop. It is truly a personal tailor that hand-makes suits and shirts exactly to your specifications, measurements and style choices, especially for dads who hate shopping.
