What happens when you work at Indochino but think they’ve gone a bit too mainstream, and lost their quality? Well, Kashiyama is the answer to that question. It’s a new custom suit company founded by an ex-Indochino guy (and others) that is trying to offer what Indochino is offering, but do it better, and in higher quality.
In some ways, they’re quite similar to Indochino — you can get into one of their suits for just $300, and their delivery times are sometimes under 2 weeks. On the other hand, they also do things quite differently than Indochino. For one, you cannot order a suit online. Everything has to be done in person. They have a number of locations throughout NYC, and are expanding. As many online custom companies are finding, the in-person fitting experience is the ultimate key to a successful fit. Doing it purely online is a recipe for failure. So, while it’s annoying to make the trip in for the first and second (and sometimes third) fitting, in the end, it’s worth it.
What I do like about Kashiyama is that it is indeed an in-person experience. You always can swing by to order future suits, but you can also just give them a call and discuss what you would like. They do indeed save your measurements from order to order, so once they’re locked in with them, you more easily order in the future without real need for adjustments.
If on a first (or any) order you do need adjustments, though, just schedule an appointment to bring it back to them, and they will pin you up and send off the suit for free tailoring. If anything cannot be tailored, they will remake it for free.
As far as styling goes, Kashiyama offers a wide selection of fabrics, from wool/poly blends, to VBC cloth, and their pricing spans everything from $300 to over $1,000, with everything in between. Their suits come as standard with a half-canvased construction, but you can pay to upgrade to a full canvas. Any fabric, pattern, or design you would want, they likely have. They even have some cool stretch fabrics, which is what I went with for mine. It was a lower end, stretch navy fabric in 100% wool cloth from Asia. Is it super nice? Not at all. Does it do the job for about $400? Absolutely. Plus, for a first suit from a custom place, I always want to spend as little as possible just to see how it will even come out.
Placing the order was easy enough in person. I selected all my options, and while everything I usually like to do they were able to accommodate (wide peak lapels, a 1.75” cuff, ticket pocket, etc.) they were not able to do side-tab adjusters on their pants, though I was assured this is coming sometime in the future.
I had them ship the suit directly to me, and when it arrived, it fit decently, but needed some adjustments. The jacket was a bit too long, the pants were too tight, and the sleeves and waist needed to be brought in a bit. I scheduled an appointment to bring it back, they pinned me up, and a few weeks later the altered garment arrived back at my home. The jacket was now pretty damn close to perfect, but the trousers were still too tight. I called them and told them this, and they put in for a new pair to be made seeing as they were let out as much as they could have been. When this pair arrived a few weeks later it was now a bit too wide. I had them tailored to how I wanted, and now the final result is a pretty well fitting suit, if I do say so myself!
The waist suppression is perfect, and the taper on the pants is amazing as well. Slim without being restrictingly tight. The sleeves are also pretty much perfect, too. Yes, this needed some tailoring after the fact to get it here, but this is a pretty damn good fit. I’m okay with the tiny bit of pulling on the back, etc… It’s not a bespoke suit, so that’s fine, after all. The only issue I have is that, overall, this is still a pretty cheap suit, and you can feel that. I would imaging that picking a nicer fabric would mitigate this largely, but the while the construction is without question better than Indochino, it’s still not quite, say, Black Lapel or Proper Cloth level. So, you can feel it. In my case, the combination of the build quality, the fabric, and the fact that it was heavily tailored, all conspire to make the suit feel just a bit… off while it’s on my body. It doesn’t move quite right, or sit comfortably on my frame at this point. This is mostly in the armhole region, where they are too low despite being tailored to fit slimmer. Couple this with the chest measurement, and you end up with a bit of tension in that whole area.
I do like the fact that I actually have a place to go, and a person to call, to discuss and potentially order again from them. But I am also incredibly dubious that all these tailoring changes were properly updated and reflected in my profile with them, so ordering from them again would likely put me through this whole process all over again. Maybe by a third or fourth suit it would be pinned down with them. Presumably. Will this be everyone’s experience? Not necessarily. It will depend how much tailoring of the suit you need, and how particular you are with fit. Still, the end result here fits me better than most suits I have gotten custom made from online MTM companies. So that says something.
In the end, I think Kashiyama is a great option if you want a cheap custom suit. They stand behind their product and will correct anything needed until you are happy. If you’re thinking of Indochino, don’t. Skip it, and go to Kashiyama instead.