of custom made garments, then get ready to get spoiled.

Martin Greenfield is a master tailor considered by many to be the best in the world.

Today, his business associate and close friend will share what the best fabrics are for men's suits and why.

We'll learn how perfect measurements are taken, even if the measurer and the tailor are in different cities, and finally, we'll show you how to tie a tie perfectly every time.

It's all about bespoke tailoring today on Fit 2 Stitch.

(melodic music) - [Narrator] Fit 2 Stitch is made possible by Britex Fabrics, (piano music) Vogue Fabrics, Evanston, Illinois, (piano music) Bennos Buttons, (piano music) Kai Scissors, (piano music) Sew Steady, (piano music) O.C.

Sewing, Buena Park, Fullerton, Garden Grove, and Irvine, California, (piano music) Richland Sewing Center, Dallas, Texas, and the Metroplex, (piano music) Cynthia's Fine Fabrics, (piano music) and Mike Gunther Industries.

- I think one thing I didn't get enough of in college in my education was men's tailoring.

It almost seemed like it just kinda got glossed over, and I think it's so important.

We have Bob Baumann here today.

I'm gonna bring him onto the set, because he is, gosh, there's just so much he knows about the subject, and there's so much that we can learn from him.

And he's willing to share it with us because he's been in the business a few years.

Tell us a little bit about how you got into this business.

- Well, I got in the business because I used to drive trucks for a living, 18 wheelers.

- The big ones?

- Yes, the big ones.

- Okay.

- And then a man changed my life, that was Zig Ziglar, and I went to work for Zig.

And I loved the fact that we actually changed people's lives.

And so, when I decided I wanted to change my career, I really had always been the best dressed person in the office.

- So that was natural?

- I was a really sharp dressed truck driver.

- And so I know how clothes make you feel.

You know, women know that.

- We do.

We do know that.

- That's why women go shopping.

They buy new outfits 'cause they feel great.

- And we want our husbands to know that too.

- Right.

- We do.

- And so, when you have on a great outfit, you feel like a million bucks.

And so, we really don't sell clothes, we change men's lives.

- I love that.

- And that's what I love what we do.

(ticking) - Here we are at Bob's showroom.

There's a little bit more I wanna delve into when we start to talk about the psychology of clothing, and we've got some great examples here.

And I wanna hear more because I think it plays a really important role.

- Well, it's a very important role, Peggy.

Men do not realize how clothes affect their life.

And so when they go in their closet, and they're sitting there looking at, do I wanna wear this?

No, no, no.

Right there, they're starting their day off in a negative frame of mind.

And so, first of all, we try and teach 'em only wear what you love.

If you don't love it, get rid of it.

- No kidding.

- So, when a guy stands in front of the mirror, and he has on a new outfit, and he sits there and goes, wow, wow, I really look good.

He looks like a million bucks, he walks out the front door, he acts like a million bucks, he performs like a million bucks, and more importantly, how does the world see him?

Like a million bucks.

He's a different man.

- I guess I always knew women did that, but men do that too.

I mean, it does make a difference.

- It absolutely does.

We had a gentleman here the other evening.

And so he came in here, in blue jeans and a polo shirt.

He goes into the dressing room.

He comes out in a beautiful suit that we had fitted on him and everything, and he stood in the mirror, and it was a complete transformation.

And an hour and a half later, I'm like, are you gonna take this suit off?

I mean, you know, you could go home.

He literally did not wanna take it off.

- So he experienced the transformation, not just just physically, but emotionally as well.

And so, those details, when we're making our own suit, we can do any of the details we want.

Are there good, bad, things we should do, things?

- Well, there's really not good or bad.

It's back to the psychology.

But it's not what you want, it's what the man wants.

And so you have to help them, but the way you help 'em is by understanding his personality.

So my personality, I'm bigger than life.

- Okay.

- Let's just go with that.

So, I would wear this purple jacket with the white buttons on it, the purple stitching, you know, that's who I am.

A conservative gentleman, he would want this gray suit.

It has black buttons on it, gray stitching.

It's very conservative.

Then, here, a conservative gentleman would probably want, this is called a notched lapel.

A fashion guy may say, hey, I want the peaked lapel.

I like that.

The ticket pocket.

Most people don't even know what that is.

That is a pocket that only goes on the right side of the coat.

It goes above the bottom pocket, and it's basically for you to put you valet ticket if you're going to the show, put your tickets in there so you know where they are.

- Is this something that you find in, just in custom, or?

I don't know that I've ever seen that ticket.

- You really don't see it in the store, because it costs more to put it on there.

And, but it's something, it's very fashionable in London.

It's never out of style.

If you go to London everybody.

- It's never out of style?

- Yes.

- So this is a real classic on a upper suit, so if I was making it, I could add it, just because.

- Absolutely.

- Oh, that's a great thing to know.

I like that.

- Absolutely, and then you look at this garment.

And so, most people, if it's a conservative gentleman, you would make this with gray buttons and gray threads, but for a fashion guy, we put black buttons on it and black thread, and it stands out a little bit more.

- I love the details.

I just love the details.

And I think there's so much more we should learn about all of this.

We're gonna head back to the studio, and pick it up from here.

- And the biggest challenge is, and I'm, 85% of all people wear the wrong size clothes.

So, most men have never been fitted properly, been in the right suit.

They don't even know what it's like.

And when you see it for the very first time, I mean, they light up, they're just like, wow.

- So if I'm a guy, I wanna go, I wanna take the first step, I start with fabrics?

- You would start with fabrics, absolutely.

We gotta-- - Walk me through, tell me.

- We have to pick out a unique fabric.

And what's so exciting today, is, you know, men's clothing is totally changed.

For the last three years, men's clothing is growing at a faster pace than women's.

- I believe that.

You can see it in men's clothing.

It's amazing how much more men pay attention to how they look now, and it's wonderful.

- Well, the millennials, they love to dress up.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

You don't see really macho millennials.

You see more feminine.

They're very into their looks, their appearance.

And so, now you can have a gentleman wearing a bright blue sport coat like this.

Instead of just the navy blazer, this is the new navy blazer.

- So color of fabric, is it important to, if I'm gonna only have one suit, is there a certain?

- If you're gonna have one suit, it's gonna be a navy.

- Okay, there you go.

That's it.

- It's gonna be solid navy.

- If I get one, it's navy.

Black's too strong.

- Yeah, black is strictly for formal or death.

- So, I got it.

- So most men don't even wear a black suit.

- Okay.

- They'll either have navies or grays in their closet.

- So one suit, navy's the color to go, and I can come and pick out whatever fabric I want.

And I think some people get caught up with getting really, really, really fine fabrics.

- Well, so, that is true.

Today in the men's industry, you hear the terminology Super 140s, 160s, 180s.

Well what-- - Very pricey.

- Right, and men also think the more expensive it is, man, if I'm gonna spend this much money, it should last forever.

Well actually, you know, the guy that spends $6,000 for a suit, he wears that suit six times.

You know, and so it's because it's very fragile.

I always use-- - It's almost too high maintenance.

- I use the example of like a wedding dress.

- Right.

- It's made to be worn once.

- Right, okay.

- And it costs a lotta money.

- Right.

- Yeah, and you might be able to wear it twice, but that would be it.

And so, when you buy, you want a more durable fabric.

I want a fabric that has a little bit of weight to it, because it drapes on the body very nicely.

It's very forgiving.

I mean, it just looks great.

Where when you go so thin, it shows everything.

- And what about the real high end fabric?

- Vicuna.

- Vicuna.

- Yeah, well, Vicuna, that's a whole 'nother story.

A Vicuna suit-- - But that's, they actually go capture the animal.

- Yes.

A vicuna is in the East Andes, it's $40,000 to make a suit.

The animal is wild.

They have to go catch it.

- They catch it, they shear it.

- Yeah, once ever three years.

- Wow.

- You know.

- Because they can't catch it, or because that's just what they do?

- That's it, that's it.

And it's hard to catch.

They literally have to go up on the mountain and surround 'em, and hold hands, and come in on 'em.

- Wow, interesting, vicuna.

So don't expect you - They're not raised - Doing that in your lifetime.

- On a farm and don't, yeah.

- So once I pick out my fabric, I get to now, I get to choose everything when I'm doing it custom.

- We have, absolutely.

So we pick a lining, so if a guy wants a navy suit, then, I like to know what his favorite color is.

'Cause we can put a burgundy lining in it, we could put a red lining in it, a silver lining in it.

There's a lot of different patterns, all kinds of stuff.

- [Peggy] Any fabrics, particular in lining that you find that you like, or that you find your customer likes in this?

- We stick with satins.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

So it slides in and off.

- Easier to get on.

Sure, and then they get to pick the buttons.

- And then we pick the buttons.

But most, most men, they just say pick it.

- They do?

- Yes.

- How picky are they?

I've wondered, I mean?

- They don't want that.

- How picky are they?

They'll take your suggestion.

- Well, I believe, men, we all know men hate to shop.

- [Peggy] We do know that.

- And men hate to shop because they don't like to be in a situation that they know nothing about.

- Okay, this is a little below the surface here.

- So when they come in, they picked fabric.

From there, we pretty much give them guidance and direction.

- So they're not just coming to you for that suit, they're coming to you for styling.

- Absolutely.

- So stylings have changed?

- Oh, majorly.

Styling has really changed.

So, for example, I brought this coat today to show you.

- Not yet.

- Okay, we'll wait.

- I want you to show, yeah, because I want you to show even how it translates to the younger generation, Luis.

Let's show how to measure, and what to do.

What you can, make him look the best he can look.

- Well-- - He's young and trim.

That's gonna be hard to improve.

- So when you look at Luis's suit, so this is an older style, so it's a little baggy on him.

When you turn sideways, you can see how full the legs are.

Side vents, I always prefer a side vent.

You can have a center vent, but when you put your hands in the pocket, the side vent looks much nicer.

- Oh, that's an interesting point, okay.

- And so, so this is a suit that he's had.

And we're fitting him now for a new suit.

Let's take the jacket off.

- Okay, and I'll hold that.

- Thank you.

And so when you measure a man-- - So this is just as somebody would come in, except you got somebody taking notes.

I should be taking notes.

- I got it, I promise you.

- Then somebody writes.

- So, why don't you face that direction.

And so, when I take a measurement, you wanna go across the fullest part of his chest.

That's what's so important.

Luis, go ahead and put your arms down.

So I look at his chest, and right here is actually the fullest part.

And so I look at that measurement, and that measurement is 41.

- So if you were to go into a store, that would be what his suit size is?

- Yes.

- That's how they measure for that.

- Yes, but they probably don't have a 41.

They probably have a 40 or a 42.

Now to make sure I'm correct, I'm gonna go over his arms this time, and I wanna be two inches higher than I was on the last measurement.

So I'm not going across his fullest part.

I'm coming up to about right there.

And it's always going to be, if he's a 41, it's gonna be seven inches more.

So I should be at 48.

So I look down, and I'm at 48 and a 1/2.

- You're exactly at 48 and a 1/2, wow.

- And so, now I look at his chest.

He's a 41.

- Now how did you know that was gonna be that much more?

I mean, is that in a book somewhere, or are you just?

That's called experience.

- It's called make it up.

No, it's a formula that always works.

- Okay, that tailors know.

- And when you look at his chest, his waist is going to be seven inches less.

- Okay.

- So, you had a 41, so minus seven, help me out here.

So we should be at 34.

- 41 minus seven.

Okay.

- And so when I take this tape around his waist, I'm right now at 33 and a 1/2.

So what this tells me, Luis, do you work out?

- I do.

- Okay.

So, he's a little bit trimmer in the waist, and then the seat will be another seven inches.

And so again, you want to go across the fullest part.

- How interesting, how interesting.

- And so his seat is 40.

His waist was 33, his seat's 40.

- So these look like they fit pretty good.

You can get 'em better?

- Yes, absolutely I can.

- Because this is older.

This is a suit he's had.

- It's an older style.

It's very full, you know, the pants used to have pleats in 'em, and then we went to flat fronts, which is what Luis has on now.

And then we started trimming the pants up.

And so, that's what we've done, we've made a much trimmer suit for him.

The sleeves are trimmer, the whole garment.

- So even with men, - The lapels are smaller.

- Flat fronts are better than pleated fronts.

Like for sure in women, 'cause tummies and all that kind of stuff, but even in men?

- Absolutely.

- Flat fronts.

- I don't care if you weigh 300 pounds.

Flat fronts take 20 pounds off of any guy.

- So many women think that they'll hide them.

Pleats won't hide anything.

- No, pleats make you look bigger.

- 'Cause more fabric makes you look bigger.

I'm gonna give you that back.

You're gonna go change.

You've got a better look for him.

You're gonna slim him up a bit.

- We do.

- And we're gonna see it on you.

- You'll see it on me, okay.

- Yeah, he's gonna be our sacrificial lamb here.

- Right.

- We're gonna change.

- So you wanna put on this coat, okay.

- I do, but explain.

I want them to understand what we're gonna do.

- Well so, the coat I'm gonna put on is the coat that I wore, that I pretty much made for all my customers for probably the first 15 years I've been in this business.

I've been in it 27 years.

And styles were pretty much the same.

It was a two button instead of three button, but it was a much fuller coat, and it was a longer coat.

You know, a lot of guys say, do you just take your hands and that's where the coat should go?

- Right, that's kind of always been the standard.

- Right, well, not necessarily.

At one time it was but not anymore.

So when I put this coat on, you're going to see total transformation.

- You gonna look better?

- Worse, yep.

- Uh-oh, really?

- This was the style.

So the style was pleated pants, pants had cuffs on the bottom, so since-- - So we already know pleats are not good.

Cuffs are not good either?

- Right, because when the pant is real baggy, to offset the bagginess, you put a cuff in the bottom.

- Got it.

- Okay.

So now they're real trim, so there is no cuff.

- I hate to tell you, but you look heavier in this jacket.

- Right.

But I'm not.

- Oh my gosh.

You didn't gain any weight.

- I just changed coats.

I'm not any heavier.

- You didn't eat lunch and come back, that's amazing.

Put your hands back down.

So that's almost, like, at your middle knuckle or something.

- Probably about two and 1/2, three inches longer than the other coat.

- What a difference.

- Then you look at the back.

So it makes me look shorter.

- It does, it does.

- It's an optical illusion.

- Let's put this jacket back on.

We like this jacket better.

- Thank you, thank you.

- So you don't wear this jacket anymore?

- Not at all.

- So is it fair to say that there's a lot of men who have been-- - A lot of men still haven't changed.

- Wearing jackets that are too long for them?

- A lot of men still wear pleats.

A lot of men's jackets are too long.

And so, when you have the shorter jacket, which you can now see, it automatically makes me look taller.

- Gosh, it does.

- The pants are shorter.

And it's trimmer, and everybody, when people haven't seen me for a year, they walk in, the first words out of their mouth are how much weight have you lost?

- Yes, simply because you've changed your clothing.

- Yeah, it's strictly the fit.

- This is why we all need to know this stuff, because we're all gaining weight, but we can at least take our clothes and help us lose weight.

- That's right, that's right.

- I think Luis is ready to change.

So tell us the differences here.

- Luis, come on out.

So what we did is, if you'll notice on Luis, the coat is definitely much more fitted.

- It is.

- We brought the lapels in, made 'em smaller.

- So it makes him look smaller.

You notice this coat is about two inches shorter than the other coat, so now he looks taller.

Turn to the sideways.

There you go, thank you very much.

And you see the pant leg.

It's much trimmer on him.

- What a difference.

- Yeah.

And so, the sleeve itself is much trimmer, and so it literally, you go head and turn this way, just makes him look much more fit, much more trim, - It's incredible.

- And it's just the clothes.

- It's incredible.

It is just the clothes.

- It's magic.

- It is magic.

I mean, I feel like sometimes, it's amazing what the clothes will do.

So we've got these suit measurements.

Will you show us how do we measure, before you take that off, how do we measure for a shirt?

Because I notice his shirt showing, coat.

Talk about sleeve lengths, if you don't mind.

- Okay, this is real important.

When you have a shirt, the shirt should hit a gentleman where his thumb connects to his wrist.

And then you always want to show some cuff on the sleeve of the shirt.

So you usually will cut the sleeve of the jacket anywhere from a quarter of an inch to a 1/2 an inch shorter.

So some guys may wanna be like that, some guys wanna be like that.

But you do definitely need to show the cuff of the shirt.

- And then, 'cause I noticed this excellent little touch on this left arm, if you decide that you wanna do monogram, 'cause a lot of our customers can do monogramming, that's done right there on the front, to where it shows beautifully.

- Right, it's-- - That's a gorgeous touch.

The stitching color, the contrast, everything.

- It's, you know, monogramming, it's, some guys like it, some guys don't.

- Got it.

- So it really, that goes to the personality.

- Of the customer.

- Yeah, you gotta look at who you're dressing.

- Do you think you try to talk people into, out to, or you just really leave it at what they're comfortable with?

- Well, I definitely talk 'em in or out, but it's based on who they are.

- Okay, that's good.

- So, if I feel a gentleman wants it, but it's not his personality, then I'm like, you probably don't want this.

And it also depends on your industry.

What do you do for a living, you know?

- I want you to show us how to measure for a shirt.

- For sure, can we take this jacket off?

- Yes, please.

and I'll hold the jacket.

- Thank you very much.

- Because so many times, I think that when we go to make these shirts, we're not sure what to measure.

- What you want to measure, let's turn this direction.

Thank you, you want to measure the yoke of the shirt.

That's where you start.

And so you want it to be at the top of the shoulders.

Again, how styles change, a lot of yokes used to fall off.

- They did.

They did.

- Yeah.

And so now, - So narrower is really better.

- they're much smaller.

So, you go straight across up underneath the neck, and over here, and so I look, and I probably have 19 1/2 inches that I would make this yoke.

From there, I'm gonna take the same chest measurement, but the waist measurement is the fullest part of the body.

And so, you really just wanna reach around and feel where is, see this gentleman does not have a gut.

I do.

- So give him plenty of extra fabric to make him look heavier, right?

- So you find where's the trimmest part because that's where you're gonna take the waist of the shirt.

So it's gonna be much higher than where you would take the pants.

- And then you actually add inches to it.

- Yes.

- For ease.

- Depending on the gentleman, you know?

- So his personality.

- Well, it's again, if a guy has never worn a fitted, custom made shirt, then you definitely would want to leave more room and not go too trim too fast.

- Okay.

- And then the sleeve length.

That is taken from the dead center in the back, and you pretty much just take your finger, and you can feel the spine right there.

- I like, it doesn't have to be marked on the shirt.

- No, absolutely not.

And you would go across, and you go across the very top of the shoulder, and then you're gonna come down, and usually I ask the client to stick their thumb out as if they were hitchhiking.

And that's where, put your thumb out there, please.

- [Peggy] You ever hitchhiked, Luis?

- And that's where I'm gonna put the sleeve, 33 1/2.

- Okay.

So, and then you wanna measure the cuffs.

So, we always try and make sure that we take this cuff, take the measurement, and when you measure it, you can usually tell by measuring both of his wrists, which one is larger.

You'll usually notice a difference.

And then you note that the customer's a right hand or a left hand.

- Oh, interesting.

- Right.

And then we always try and make the left wrist, that's if he's right handed, that's if he wears a watch, we wanna make it bigger to go over the watch.

Now, I did not do it in my case, 'cause this watch is so big that it would just drop to the ground.

And guys are wearing big watches nowadays.

- Yes they are, the styles change with that again depending on your accessories.

- Exactly.

- This is wonderful, so we've got sleeve length, across the back of the yoke, neck, waist, add some inches to it, and it's all dependent on what he likes.

- Right, the top of, the length of the shirt, usually to the bottom of the zipper.

So, that's how you determine the length.

- Say that one more time.

- If you're gonna measure the length of the shirt, - Oh, the length of the shirt.

- You just go from right here on the seam of the yoke of the shirt, down to the bottom of the zipper.

So right here, I do about 30 inches.

- Of the pants.

- Yes.

Because his shirt's gonna hang down.

- So you don't really ever ask him what it is.

There's just, those are standards, per se.

- Yes.

- Alright.

So I want to see, can you tie a tie in two minutes?

- I bet I can.

- Okay, let's try it.

I'll give you the tie.

- Can I get ya to button your top button, please?

- Because this is, of all the ties there are, this is probably the best way to tie a tie?

- Right, most guys, so most guys don't know how to tie a tie.

And there's 12 different ways to tie a tie.

- Do you have to have a rich, expensive tie?

- No you don't, no you don't.

And so, guys come to me all the time, and they say, you know, I'd love to buy that tie, but it's too thick.

It's gonna make too big of knot so I don't want that.

Or this tie is too thin, it won't make a great knot.

- Got it.

- What they realize, it has nothing to do with the tie.

It has to do with how they tie the tie.

So first of all, like Luis did, most guys flip their collar up.

And that's hard.

- And you put it back down.

- That's hard on the neck, and it's also hard on the collar of the shirt.

- It is, it is.

- So I tell guys, just put it around 'em, and pull on it tight, take your hand, and go up one side, go a little bit up the other side, and then usually, one, two, - Oh, that's so much easier.

- And it's now underneath.

- So then, this is so easy, it's ridiculous.

Take the big end, once, twice, up, and then through.

- [Peggy] Is this kind of knot called something?

- [Bob] It's called a four in hand.

- Four in hand?

- Four in hand.

And then the next thing is when you pull on it.

So, I usually take the tie, and you pull it from up here.

- [Peggy] It's harder to do it on somebody else.

- Yes, most men pull their tie here.

And the problem with that is-- - Where do you usually pull it?

- I take my hand, I stick it in from the top, and I pull it forward.

- Oh, I see.

- You gotta have a dimple.

If you don't have a dimple, don't wear the tie.

So, pull it tight, go up, and-- - It's a perfect dimple.

- There you go.

Pretty easy.

- And so the tie itself doesn't, it's not about the quality of the tie.

All this time you've heard it's-- - It's just how you tie it, and so it's literally as simple as going over once, over twice, if I want a bigger knot, go over a third time.

- I could do that.

- Yeah.

- Oh, so the knot makes a bigger size.

It depends on how many times you go over it.

- Right.

- So do you feel like you're ready?

- It looks great.

- Where do you wanna go?

- I wish I could go back to prom, do it better.

(chuckling) - There you go.

- Alright, thank you, Luis.

- Well thank you.

- Appreciate it.

- Alright, Bob, great fabrics, but always not the best.

Vicuna's not necessary.

- Absolutely not.

- What we wanna use is a good, stable fiber that we can feel comfortable with that will lay well.

- Right, absolutely.

- Keep in mind all the details, there's so much.

Any great wisdom in the end?

- You know, I think the, yes.

The great wisdom is explain, communicate.

- Yes.

- You know, you've gotta communicate.

And if you're not communicating to how you wanna look, what you wanna wear, somebody doesn't know how to dress you.

They gotta know your personality.

- Next, we'll talk about line, focal point, color, and proportion as it relates to our bodies.

Be here next time on Fit 2 Stitch.

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