BOSS Made To Measure Has Landed in Sydney, So I Had One Made

My new olive double-breasted suit started life as a palm-sized swatch of Loro Piana linen, a debate about lapel widths and a template jacket that was pinned, tugged, and adjusted to within a millimetre of its life.

Eight weeks later, it came back fitting perfectly on the first try. Which, after enough made-to-measure suiting experiences to know better, was something of a novelty for me.

BOSS launched its Made to Measure service in Sydney a few months ago, the first of its kind for the brand in Australia. It's tucked away on the second floor of the King Street store, with private change rooms, a consultation desk, and views over the CBD. The process is by appointment, and the brief covers pretty much the full suiting wardrobe: suits, waistcoats, dinner suits, shirts, and all the rabbit holes that come with them.

Sydney isn't exactly short of good tailors, so BOSS doesn't get to walk into this market simply because it has an airy boutique and a big logo. The bar is appropriately high, and what's new here is a heavyweight like BOSS bringing a century of tailoring expertise to the contemporary conversation, along with the cloth access to match.

The Brief

A good half an hour before a tape measure came anywhere near me, Tom, BOSS’ in-house tailor, ran through a full consultation to determine my personal style.

Where I'd wear it. What I already owned. What was missing. How I wanted it to feel alongside the rest of my wardrobe. The important stuff, in other words, before we got anywhere near the fun stuff. Although, to be fair, the fun stuff arrived pretty quickly.

The cloth library was where things started getting dangerous. Zegna and Loro Piana logos kept appearing as we flicked through the fabric books; a subconscious reminder that these are cloth makers as much as they are names you recognise on any retail high street.

I went looking for green, and among the four or five shades in the running, I landed almost immediately on an olive Loro Piana linen. I already owned the same cloth in a sandy tone, so I knew how it wore and, importantly, how it held up after two years of actual use. I'd already put the fabric through its paces, and the green offered a change of scenery.

Like a dog with a bone, I never really wavered once I felt the texture of the LP in hand.

Heavy linen was Tom's answer to the Sydney summer wedding problem. You can fall in love with a fabric in a swatch book, but eventually the thing has to survive real life. This one has enough weight to hold its shape without turning into a crumpled, portable sauna, and paired with a half lining, it keeps enough structure to make a double-breasted jacket work in the warmer months.

Then came the decisions that actually made the suit mine: double-breasted, a 12cm peak lapel, patch pockets, dark tortoiseshell buttons, a soft tan lining, and that same tan carried through the under-collar.

This is the dangerous bit of made-to-measure. Someone is actively encouraging you to have opinions. And when nobody is telling you to stop, it's remarkably easy to keep having them.

By the time we'd finished, my fully loaded order had landed at around $7,000, give or take a grand. Eye-watering? Absolutely. But at that point I was in too deep. It’s worth flagging that much more approachable (but no doubt still quality) fabrics can help bring that figure right down.

The Measure

The next 45 minutes were slightly less exciting, but considerably more important.
BOSS starts with a fit block: essentially a template jacket that lets the team establish the silhouette before the final garment is cut. For me, that meant dealing with a couple of things an off-the-rack jacket has always politely ignored.

I'm tall, and my right shoulder slopes ever so slightly compared to my left. Neither is particularly dramatic, but both are enough to make an off-the-rack jacket look like it's fitting me, rather than me fitting it. This is where made-to-measure earns its keep.

Jacket length and sleeve length got plenty of attention, as did the shoulder line. We settled on a relaxed cut that sat naturally off the shoulder, with enough room to move without tipping into boxy territory. The aim wasn't to make the jacket look “custom”. It was simply to make it look like it naturally belonged on me – that it was mine, and mine alone.

Then came a detail I hadn't expected. I wear a watch every day, so the left cuff was given a 1cm offset to sit cleanly over it. Nobody is going to notice that, except me, every time I put it on.

The Details

The trousers were pleated, with side adjusters and a 4cm cuff.

A word on the trousers. I have the legs for a pleat, so that was an easy call. Belt loops were not. If your trousers fit properly, you don't need a belt, which makes loops redundant in suiting, in my opinion. Side adjusters do the job just fine and keep the waistline clean, and, frankly, look better.

If we weren’t already up to an objectively ridiculous amount of personalisation for this suit, my personal signature was to be stitched inside the jacket, inside the trousers and onto the suit bag. I signed my name on a clean sheet of paper with some scepticism that it’d be replicated so perfectly. A little bit excessive? Perhaps, but it’s also exactly why you do this. It’s half of the fun.

Eight Weeks & One Fitting

From the first appointment to collection took eight weeks. The suit is made in Germany from Italian cloth, and progress updates came through WhatsApp: clear, timely and, importantly, without me having to chase anyone for an update.

Then came the part I'm still processing. I only needed one fitting. I've had enough made-to-measure and bespoke clothing made over the years to know that “fit like a glove” can be a fairly elastic concept, especially on first try. Usually there's a fitting, a few adjustments, another fitting, and more time taken out of your week to drop back into the store to go through the motions.

The second thing I noticed when I put it on properly was the colour. That olive swatch I'd been mesmerised by two months earlier looked exactly as I could hope for under normal daylight. That's harder to pull off than it sounds when you're choosing fabric under shop lighting.

BOSS also kept my measurements on file, which means the next order doesn't have to begin with me explaining that my right shoulder has always been slightly lower than my left. Assuming, of course, I've learnt my lesson and don't immediately order another one.

The Verdict

The suit's first outing is a garden party, worn loose with a beige T-shirt as a warm-up. Its real debut is a proper Tuscan-style wedding, paired with a vivid blue denim shirt.

The olive linen is interesting enough to have a point of view, but practical enough to get a proper workout. The double-breasted cut gives it some attitude, while the relaxed fit keeps it from feeling like I'm dressed for a board meeting in 1997.

You can take the sensible route of course: navy, two buttons, classic cloth, done. Or you can get slightly carried away with LP linen, a 12cm peak lapel, tortoiseshell buttons, a tan under-collar and a tiny adjustment to accommodate the watch you wear every day.

For me, the difference between buying a suit from the shop window and designing one from your imagination, is that nobody will care about the details except you.

But they will notice – even if they don’t realise it – the near-perfect cut to your body, the nonchalance with which you move, and the confidence that comes from wearing it.

There’s no better investment than that.

BOSS Made to Measure is available by appointment at BOSS King Street, Sydney. Book online below.

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