A Beginner's Guide to Clothing Alterations: What a Tailor Can (and Can't) Fix

If you want to know the single greatest secret to dressing better than 99% of men, it is not buying $2,000 designer suits. It is not spending hours meticulously matching the color of your pocket square to your socks.

The secret is finding a good local alterations tailor.

Most men assume that if a piece of clothing doesn’t fit perfectly off the rack, they simply can’t wear it. This is a massive mistake. Mass-produced clothing is cut to fit a statistical average of the population. Unless you are literally built like a store mannequin, off-the-rack clothing will never fit you perfectly.

A $40 pair of chinos from Target that has been tailored to fit your body perfectly will always look infinitely better than a $300 pair of designer trousers that are too long and baggy.

However, taking clothes to a tailor can be intimidating if you don’t know the terminology or what is physically possible. Some alterations cost $15 and take five minutes; others cost $150 and require taking the entire garment apart.

Here is the definitive beginner’s guide to clothing alterations, breaking down exactly what a tailor can (and cannot) fix.

The Easy (And Cheap) Alterations

These are the fundamental alterations that every man should be having done to almost every piece of clothing he buys. They are inexpensive (usually between $15 and $30) and incredibly effective.

1. Hemming Trousers

• What it is: Shortening the length of your pants (jeans, chinos, or suit trousers).
• Why it matters: Trousers that are too long will pool around your ankles in a sloppy puddle of fabric (known as a “break”). Having them hemmed so they just barely rest on the top of your shoe creates a clean, sharp leg line.
• The Cost: ~$15 - $25. This is the cheapest and most important alteration in menswear.

2. Tapering Trousers

• What it is: Taking in the fabric on the sides of the pants (usually from the knee down) to make the leg opening slimmer.
• Why it matters: If you have large thighs but a narrow waist, you often have to buy a larger pant size to fit your thighs, which makes the calves and ankles incredibly baggy. Tapering the leg fixes this completely.
• The Cost: ~$25 - $40.

3. Shortening Shirt Sleeves

• What it is: Moving the cuff of a dress shirt higher up the arm.
• Why it matters: Shirt sleeves that swallow your hands look like you are wearing your older brother’s clothes. A tailor will remove the cuff, cut the excess fabric off the sleeve, and reattach the cuff.
• The Cost: ~$25 - $35.

4. Darting a Shirt (Taking in the Waist)

• What it is: Adding two small folds of fabric (darts) to the lower back of a dress shirt to pull the fabric tighter against the torso.
• Why it matters: If your shirt fits your chest perfectly but balloons out like a parachute around your waist (the dreaded “muffin top”), darting will instantly give the shirt a sleek, custom-fitted silhouette.
• The Cost: ~$20 - $30.

The Moderate (And More Expensive) Alterations

These alterations are more complex because they require the tailor to open up major structural seams. They are worth the money for a nice suit, but perhaps not worth it for a cheap shirt.

1. Taking in (or Letting out) the Waist of a Suit Jacket

• What it is: Adjusting the midsection of a blazer or suit jacket to make it slimmer (taking it in) or looser (letting it out).
• Why it matters: A jacket should gently hug your waist, creating a flattering “V” shape.
• The Caveat: A tailor can usually take a jacket in by about 1 to 2 inches. Letting a jacket out is only possible if there is extra fabric left inside the seam allowance (which many modern, cheap suits do not have).
• The Cost: ~$40 - $75.

2. Shortening Jacket Sleeves

• What it is: Adjusting the length of your suit jacket sleeves so that exactly 1/4 to 1/2 inch of your shirt cuff is visible.
• The Caveat: This is easy if the buttons on the sleeve are “fake” (non-functional). The tailor simply cuts the fabric from the bottom and moves the buttons up. However, if the jacket has “functional buttonholes” (surgeon’s cuffs), the tailor cannot cut the fabric from the bottom without ruining the buttonholes. They have to remove the entire sleeve from the shoulder, shorten it from the top, and reattach it. This is very expensive.
• The Cost: ~$35 - $50 (for fake buttons) / ~$100+ (for functional buttons from the shoulder).

The Impossible (Or Not Worth It) Alterations

If a garment has these issues, do not buy it. It is either physically impossible to fix, or the cost of the alteration will exceed the cost of the clothing itself.

1. Fixing the Shoulders of a Jacket

• The Problem: The shoulder seam of the jacket droops down past your natural shoulder, or the jacket is too tight across your upper back.
• The Verdict: Impossible / Do Not Buy. The shoulder is the anchor point of the entire garment. To change the width of the shoulders, a tailor must completely deconstruct the jacket, cut new shoulder pads, resize the armholes, and rebuild the sleeves. It will cost hundreds of dollars and will likely ruin the drape of the jacket. When buying a jacket, always ensure it fits the shoulders perfectly. Everything else can be adjusted.

2. Lengthening a Jacket or a Shirt

• The Problem: The body of the suit jacket is too short (it doesn’t cover your backside), or the shirt won’t stay tucked in.
• The Verdict: Impossible. You cannot magically create fabric out of thin air. A tailor can easily make things shorter, but they cannot make them longer unless there is a massive hem allowance (which almost never exists on the body of a jacket or shirt).

3. Making a Jacket Drastically Smaller (Sizing Down)

• The Problem: You lost 40 pounds, or you found a gorgeous vintage jacket that is two sizes too big.
• The Verdict: Not Worth It. A tailor can usually take a jacket down by about one full size. If you try to take a size 44 jacket and turn it into a size 38, the proportions of the pockets, the lapels, and the armholes will be completely destroyed. The jacket will look like a Frankenstein experiment.

The Golden Rule of Shopping

When you are buying clothes off the rack, always remember this rule: Fit the shoulders and the chest first.

If the shoulders and the chest fit perfectly, a tailor can easily and affordably fix the length of the sleeves and the width of the waist. Build a relationship with a local tailor, and you will unlock a wardrobe that looks incredibly expensive and fits you perfectly.