Disclaimer: Sene was kind enough to send The Peak Lapel one of their suits for free for the purposes of this review.
We are not sure how this happened, but somehow custom menswear company Sene flew beneath our radar for too long. Without giving away too much up front, they are likely one of the most underrate companies in the custom menswear space right now. To give some quick background, they offer custom made — meaning, made-to-measure — clothing for guys spanning everything from jeans, to shirts, to coats, to full suits. But what makes them so different than everyone else is that all of their garments are performance garments. This means that their custom suit, for instance, is tech-wear from head to toe. As far as we know, there isn’t really another company right now at all doing something like this. It’s truly unique and quite cool.
For this review we took a look at one of their full suits, called the Soho FlexTech Suit - $595. It comes in a bunch of colors, including options with a pretty unique stripe on the sleeve (not our speed, honestly). While this is not the sort of suit that can truly pass as a wool suit in all circumstances (wedding, black tie, etc), it certainly works for a typical day-to-day wearer. Sometimes you want to wear a suit, but also want to be damned comfortable. Or perhaps you want to wear a suit more casually and dress it down with a tee and sneakers. Or maybe you’re traveling and don’t want to show up all wrinkly. All of that is perfect for this suit.
The ordering process is super smooth. The website is clean, modern, and easy to use. You fill out a quiz that then builds out a custom fit profile just for you. The order goes through, and a couple weeks later your suit shows up. It really is one of the simplest ordering processes for custom clothing I have ever seen (though you don’t have real options to customize the design of the suit; only the fit).
As to the fit, I have to say I was pretty impressed. The first fit was very close, but there were a couple of things that required some tweaking. No worries, though, since Sene is partnered with Hemster. So they send a tailor to your home, they pin it up, take it away, and ship it back to you with the tweaks. After the pants were taken in a bit, and the jacket shortened, the final result is actually a pretty perfectly fitting garment. I personally felt the rise was a bit tight in the rear as far as comfort, but that is just about the only issue I have here. It’s quite impressive, especially for a “tech” garment. (By the way, the tailoring is free. And if needed, they will remake it for you from scratch for free as well. Or you can just return it for free. So this is really no risk.)
As to the key components of this suit: the stretch and comfort. They are both there in spades. The jacket moves and flexes with you, and is in no way restricting even though it’s cut quite slim. The pants are the same way. You can straight up do squats in these things without concern of ruining your pants or busting a seam. The overall quality is there too. The fabric is thick and weighty. Despite not being made of wool, this suit feels anything but “cheap”. It truly is like something from Ministry of Supply or LuLuLemon, but custom made just for your body.
Soho FlexTech Suit - $595: There is no question this suit is a bit pricey for something not made of high quality wool. However, the experience from start to finish is top notch, and the final product is one that you will look good in, feel great wearing, and be able to do things in you cannot do in any other suit. You’re getting what you’re paying for here. If you’re looking for a tech-wear suit, we heartily recommend Sene. For not really much more at all than some non-custom competitors, you get a garment just as good, but that fits worlds better. We’re not sure why anyone would look anywhere else for tech-wear honestly…