We Tested Three Online Custom Tailors, and the Results Were Sew Disappointing (2024)

A dizzying number of custom tailors are on the internet. We chose to test three of the most popular: Proper Cloth, MTailor, and Indochino. Each brand uses a distinct measuring technique, and we wanted to know how each approach would work. Would some websites be more user-friendly than others? Which would yield the best results?

We selected a 100% cotton button-up in a navy stripe from each brand. Throughout the process, I operated as any typical customer would—I didn’t go through PR contacts, and none of the companies were aware that these shirts were for a Wirecutter writer.

I documented my overall impressions of each shopping experience, took detailed notes about the steps required to measure myself and place my order, and noted any hiccups or oddities along the way. I tracked the time it took the finished shirts to arrive at my Brooklyn apartment, examined each garment and assessed its quality, and—eventually—communicated with the respective customer service teams about fit issues and potential remedies.

It’s an upscale brand with a well-designed website. If you’ve heard of only one online custom tailor, chances are it’s Proper Cloth. This service has been around since 2008, and it has a classy, sophisticated sensibility. The website is easy to navigate, with an impressive inventory of mid-range to high-end shirts (think: washed indigo, merino wool), men’s suits, and outerwear. Notably, it’s the only brand of the three we tried that provides close-up photos of fabrics and other customization options on its product pages—a huge plus.

You can choose from five options for taking your shirt measurements. Proper Cloth lets the customer choose their own adventure: You can measure yourself the old-fashioned way; complete a quick quiz; measure an existing favorite shirt (or mail one in); do a virtual fitting with help from Proper Cloth online; or make an in-person appointment at one of its two NYC showrooms.

I picked the Smart Sizes quiz, which—according to Proper Cloth’s site—is the most popular route, and is “incredibly accurate” since it uses algorithms “based on millions of customer data points.” I answered less than a dozen questions—and most could be skipped—asking about my height, weight, and other key specs. Could our bodies really be that predictable? (What about my swan-like neck?) I purposely ignored the optional requests for collar and sleeve length measurements, giving Smart Sizes a run for its money.

It had the fastest shipping time. Once my order had been placed, Proper Cloth’s ETA was 11 to 17 days; sure enough, 11 days later, a chic, barely branded box with an embossed shirt-envelope inside was delivered via DHL.

The shirt itself was a winner. Right away, I was struck by the quality of The Stanton 120s Broadcloth Shirt. The fabric looked and felt premium—it was the clear standout of the three, and far superior to the thin, papery material of the Indochino shirt. The small details were well executed, too: The buttons were subtly pearlescent, the stitching was precise and almost invisible, and even the Proper Cloth label had an understated charm. But I did realize, upon careful examination, that I had inadvertently ordered the shirt with a tab collar—an optional add-on feature, used to lock the collar into place—lending it a more formal look than I’d wanted. So watch those menu selections carefully.

Unfortunately, the shirt was way too big. Although it sat well on my sloping shoulders, the shirt was baggy—really baggy—in the arms and trunk, making me look like a teenage office temp from the 1990s. The sleeves were too long, and the collar and cuffs were overly large; they also had less give than I’m used to.

If you don’t like your garment, you get two free do-overs. Via live chat, a friendly Proper Cloth customer service rep recommended I launder and air-dry my oversize shirt twice, then reassess before submitting a Fit Advice Request (uploading photos of myself in the shirt with notes, basically). They’ll make two more free attempts to get it right, and the original shirt is yours to keep.

Total Cost: $145 ($130 for the shirt, plus $15 for standard shipping)

It takes a futuristic approach to tailoring. MTailor, launched in 2014, is proudly techy. After choosing an item—the selection includes suits, shorts, and men’s and women’s jeans—you use MTailor’s body-scanning phone app to capture your measurements. But MTailor’s wide breadth of inventory doesn’t have much depth, and the website feels a little uninspiring, with bland imagery that seems at odds with the brand’s cutting-edge framework.

The measuring process is fast and fun. I downloaded MTailor’s app and, as instructed, propped up my phone on the floor in a well-lit room with plain walls. Then I stood back six feet from it and twirled around in my socks, which apparently captures 16 measurements. While doing this, you see a computerized Tron-esque version of yourself on the screen. MTailor claims this so-called 3D Point Cloud technology is “20% more accurate than a tailor.” It was certainly the easiest, speediest, and most enjoyable measuring process of the three I tried.

As with Proper Cloth and Indochino, you can pay extra to make customizations to your shirt, such as tweaking the collar style or adding a monogram.

Shipping is free. MTailor offers free shipping on all US orders—the only one in the group with that perk—but its ETA for my shirt was a long-ish three weeks. In the end, it took 19 days and arrived in a simple, branded plastic bag.

The shirt is surprisingly luxe. The Premium Navy Stripe button-up, chosen from MTailor’s premium line, felt pleasingly high-end. The quality of the fabric—smooth and cool to the touch—was a close second to that of Proper Cloth, and the shirt was well constructed, with precise hems, a nicely shaped collar, and cuffs that weren’t too stiff.

The shirt fit more like a dress. My minor quibbles with the fit were that the shirt was too wide at the neck, a little low on the shoulders, and far too loose all over. But the real shocker was the length: The bottom hem of the shirt nearly skimmed my thighs, and the sleeves were too long—comically long—by about 4 or 5 inches.

Unhappy customers can get a refund or a replacement. If I opted for the latter, explained a customer service agent over live chat, then I should launder the shirt per the care instructions before submitting photos of myself wearing it, along with a description of my gripes, so they could update my measurements. When I left the chat, MTailor had already emailed me the info I needed to proceed; a week later, they followed up again. Nice.

Total Cost: $119 (free standard shipping included)

Indochino has a big selection—and a complicated, noisy website. Founded in 2007, Indochino claims to be the largest made-to-measure apparel company in the world. And indeed, it does offer a vast selection of mid-priced women’s and men’s apparel (like this Wes Anderson–style rust-tone wool suit). The brand’s vibe is young-ish and trendy-ish, and navigating the website—with its multimedia content and flashing deals banners—can be overwhelming. (Though when it comes to helpful or illustrative imagery on the actual product pages, it’s oddly spartan.) For the IRL experience, Indochino has 86 showrooms nationwide where you can check out its wares, get measured, and place orders.

The measuring process is 19 (!) steps. Indochino requires you to record your own head-to-toe measurements using a soft measuring tape—you can buy one from them for $1—as directed by its step-by-step videos. Despite all those steps, the process goes fairly quickly—it took me about 15 minutes—but you’ll need a helper, and please know them well, as one of the tasks is, “Let’s measure your crotch.” (Cringe alert: In the videos, a beaming male client is being tended to by a sexy secretary trope of a female tailor.)

Once your measurements are in, you can either purchase the base model of the shirt as-is or customize it with up to around ten add-on features, such as a chest pocket or button-down collar.

Shipping is slow and pricey. Deciphering Indochino’s shipping policy is a somewhat dark art. One FAQ page says, “We aim to ship your order within 3-4 weeks. It will then be delivered to you [within] 7-10 business days.” Another page threatens even longer. Warnings aside, 20 days later, my shirt turned up via DHL in a no-frills branded plastic bag. It was the slowest shipping of the three brands, and at $20 for the cheapest option, it was also the most expensive.

The shirt quality is merely so-so. The Harrow Stripe Navy Shirt emerged from its package squished, and the collar looked slightly asymmetrical. (Perhaps it had a more grueling journey than the other two shirts?) The buttons appeared a little cheap, and the fabric felt surprisingly light and papery; though not unpleasant to touch, the material was clearly the lowest quality of the three. I also noticed a loose thread at the top of the placket and a tiny kink in the collar stand, causing one side of the collar to stick up slightly like an inquisitive dog’s ear.

The shirt was way too small. The length of the shirt was good—long enough to tuck in, short enough to wear loose. But after putting just one arm through a sleeve, I knew something was wrong. This shirt was way too tight; narrow in the arms and at least 3 inches too small around the chest, so I couldn’t even fasten the buttons. It was unwearable—a child’s pajama top. Indochi-NO.

You can request a replacement shirt—or have it altered by your own tailor. The customer service rep in the live chat asked for photos of me wearing the shirt and requested that I fill out a short questionnaire to figure out what went wrong. Then I was given three options: I could get a free replacement, have the shirt altered at an Indochino showroom, or take it to the tailor of my choice and be reimbursed up to $25.

Total Cost: $109 ($89 for the shirt, plus $20 for standard shipping)

At the end of this experience—after taking a quiz, spinning around in my socks, and enlisting my neighbor to help measure my clavicles—I was left thinking about the vast delta between my trio of shirts. How had the very same 6-foot-tall, slightly pudgy person managed to dumbfound three algorithms? Well, I’m not alone. The companies we tested have gotten mostly positive customer ratings online. (Indochino has a 3.9-star rating on Trustpilot, MTailor’s app has 4.6 stars on Apple’s App Store, and Proper Cloth has 4.9 stars on Google.) And many of the most-enthusiastic reviews mention problems with the first order, then go on to describe how the issues were eventually resolved.

It seems that bringing a perfectly fitting garment into the world is rarely a one-shot wonder. So, I’m going to exercise patience and give it another whirl with my Proper Cloth shirt, since it was the best quality and has the least distance to go—and hope that Version 2.0 comes back looking like it was actually made for me. But in the meantime, I’ll be shopping off the rack until these services have got it all buttoned up.

This article was edited by Ingela Ratledge Amundson and Jennifer Hunter.