For those who read the article and want the 8-Point Plan, the list is in an image attached to the article. Or you can view the image with that link.

Honestly, I am glad that I get excited to read articles about business and management. It makes me feel that I just may have picked a reasonable second field of interest in my education. In any case, it’s an interesting article and a must-read for anyone hiring for, in, or thinking about a leadership position.

1. Fit. Fit is everything. If the suit doesn’t fit amazingly, it’s not right. Don’t buy it. Exception: there are a few alterations that can be made (see below).

   How do you know if a suit fits? In North America suits are sized based on breast and waist measurement. Most off-the-rack suits are sold as a pair of jacket and pants, and most have a 6″ difference–if you buy a 38″ jacket, you’re getting a 32″ waist pant. If you don’t know your size, start small and work your way up. You want the suit to fit you snugly, so you don’t want to risk being in a 42″ jacket when you really do fit in a 40″.

   So let’s start with the jacket. You should always try on a jacket wearing a dress shirt. Do up all buttons on the jacket except for the bottom button. You should be able to take your right hand, flat, and “sneak” it into the left side of the jacket, as if you are accessing the pocket. This should be possible without the top button being “stressed”. If you change that flat hand to a fist, the top button should be stressed. That is to say, the coat should fit with a flat hand to a fist of “give”.

   The jacket should form to your shape. Luckily, most people are shaped similarly (bigger chest, smaller waist) so most jackets fit okay. But take a look at it. Feel it. If it doesn’t look and feel amazing, this isn’t the suit for you.

   About jacket length: if you put your hands down by your sides the jacket should fall to about your knuckles. You should be able to “wrap” your fingers around the bottom of the jacket. If the jacket falls too low such that you cannot wrap your fingers around the jacket without breaking the fabric, it is too long. If the jacket does not reach to, or almost to your knuckles such that you don’t touch the fabric by wrapping your fingers up, the jacket is too short.

   Jackets are sold in various lengths, denoted by a letter after the chest size. S for short, R for regular, L for long. 38R is 38″ chest, regular length.

   Other fit tips: ideally the shoulders of the jacket extend to the edge of your shoulders–not any less, or any more. Ideally, with the jacket done up and your shirt buttoned up you will have no more than 1/2″ of collar sticking out over the jacket at the back. The jacket is snugly against the back of the collar without breaking the fabric, and without hovering behind the collar. Take a look at the vents (if any) at the back to make sure you’re comfortable with how they look, how they feel, and the number of vents. (Some people don’t like the old English-style double-vented jacket, some people don’t like the feeling of constraint without vents.)

   On pants: if you’re young and you wear your pants on your butt, don’t do that with a suit. Pants are to be worn on the waist.

   The pants should not be too baggy. Don’t buy pleated pants. If the pants look too baggy, or too wide, skip the suit. Alterations may be possible if the jacket is perfect and it’s just the legs that are too baggy, but if the pants are too wide you are probably best to just look for another suit.

   If you’ve got skinny legs, you should have a skinny pant. The pants should usually be just a bit bigger than the top half of your legs. If you are sitting and you were to flex your upper-leg they should be almost snug. I usually prefer to have boxer-briefs or briefs while wearing a suit to reduce the amount of fabric clogging up the upper leg area.

2. Alterations. Plan for them. Even the best fitting suit will need them, unless it’s made to order. Common alterations will include sleeve length, slight alterations to the jacket (bring it in a tad, or let it out a tad if possible), and definitely hemming the pants.

   For sleeve length: the key to getting the jacket sleeve length right is to wear a dress shirt. The dress shirt with a closed cuff should fall about half-way up to your thumb’s knuckle on your hand. The cuff should fall there–if it doesn’t, it’s not long enough, and if it goes past it’s too long. With your dress shirt on, your suit jacket on and done up, and your hands to your side the dress short cuff should extend about 1/4″ beyond the jacket sleeve. You will not be able to judge this yourself due to the angle when looking in the mirror–you must have your adjuster do this for you. When you look in the mirror it will appear to be a little less than 1/4″. Anything less than 1/8″ is no good, and more than 3/8″ is pushing it. That said, if you know what you’re doing and you know what looks good you can push the limits and show more cuff, but you risk shortening the sleeves to the point where the jacket no longer looks like it’s your own.

   For pant length: When standing straight up, looking forward, feet flat on the floor (no shoes) the back of the pants should come to the floor. This leaves about a 1″ break in the front of the pants, as your foot will be about 1″ high at the point where the font of the pant leg is in contact with your foot. This is perfect. As with the sleeves, if you know what you’re doing you can do things a little differently here. You would not want to have longer pants, as you then just end up with a bunch up of fabric at the bottom and that’s sloppy. You may opt to have a shorter pant leg. You can try it, but do so at the risk of looking like you’re prepared for a flood.

   On the pants: don’t put cuffs at the bottom of the pants.

3. Colour: Start with the classics before you stray out at all: black, midnight blue, grey. Solids only to start. Before you expand your suit selection you need to get the basics down. No pinstripes, no shiny patterns, no tartans or herringbone, or tweed. Once you have a suits that you can wear to any special occasions then you can start expanding. I would suggest you play with texture before patterns. Exception: if you need your first suit (or your only one that fits) and cannot find one in a classic colour that fits you should always take a good fit over a classic colour, within reason.
4. Price: Suits cost money. If you are buying a suit, plan to double your budget. You get what you pay for. Maybe you’ll find a deal, but don’t shop on price. Shop on fit, colour, fabric, and settle on price. If you need to make a concession, make a concession on fabric to bring the price down but don’t even waste your money if it doesn’t fit great, or look right for the occasion.
5. Fabric: Wool is the classic. If you only own one suit, make it a wool suit. It’s warm and comfortable in the cooler months, breathable for the warmer months when you have to wear it. If you’re wearing suits a lot in the warmer months you’ll probably want to expand your repertoire.

   If you’re buying a cheap suit, there’s going to be some polyester. Avoid entirely polyester suits if you can, but don’t shy away from a blend if you’ve found a great looking suit that fits your budget. You might see some cotton, too. That’s fine. Fabric is a point where you can make some concessions if everything else has fallen into place.

   If you’re going to be wearing the suit a lot in the summer, consider linen. Sounds beachy, but it can be really quite comfortable. It is more difficult to keep wrinkle free so you might buy a steamer.

I think that’s all I have to say about buying a suit for now. Note that this covers only the suit, not the accessories (shirt, tie, pocket square, belt, socks, shoes). In all, I don’t think it’s all that bad of a guide for an off-the-cuff Wednesday morning composition. Feel free to give me your additions and feedback in the comments.

I just got back from an afternoon run (a short one: only 7 km) and was sitting here “cooling down” before going to the showers when I thought: I should have a private shower in my office. Then I thought that if I am someday an executive I may have a private shower in my office. But, if that does happen, I will explicitly use the employee shower to shower to show that I am Just Like Everybody Else.