The name Brioni is one that’s probably already pretty familiar to you if you follow fashion and you like to have high-quality items in your wardrobe.
After all, Brioni is one of those companies, if not the company when it comes to suits, that’s synonymous with quality at every turn.
Many men will even tell you that Brioni suits are the best in the world and no other manufacturer can make a suit as well.
However, when it comes to Brioni suits, you do have a few different options – custom Brioni suits or off-the-rack Brioni suits. While any suit with the Brioni tag stitched into it is going to be a very good one, one of the best even, there are some distinct differences between custom Brioni suits and off-the-rack versions.
Use this guide from Sal Lauretta for Men to help you determine whether you should buy custom Brioni suits or off-the-rack Brioni suits when you’re ready to step up to the best.
Fit Comes First
When you buy a Brioni suit, you’re going to be spending some money no matter what. However, when you’re considering whether you should buy custom Brioni suits or purchase off-the-rack, the real difference is the fit.
Purchasing a custom Brioni suit means that you’ll meet with a master tailor who will take detailed measurements of your body. From there, the suit will be tailor-made specifically for you in a way that an off-the-rack suit simply can’t be made. After all, the suit is hanging on a rack waiting for somebody to buy it.
That doesn’t mean that an off-the-rack suit won’t fit or that it won’t look very good. In fact, off-the-rack suits can look incredible if they’re fitted and altered by a skilled tailor.
The truth of the matter is that they simply can’t look as good as one custom-made for you because the measurements and build process just aren’t as rigorous.
Concerning Customization
Purchasing custom Brioni suits means that you’ll pretty much be able to get anything that you want out of a suit. If you want a basic suit in black, you can have it. If you want a suit in a special fabric with six pockets and a racing stripe, you can have that too, though it might not be the best fashion choice.
The point is that when you buy custom Brioni suits, you have the ability to get any suit you want and specify every detail, from the big ones to the small ones. When you purchase a Brioni suit off-the-rack, you don’t really have that ability.
With an off-the-rack suit, a good tailor may be able to add an extra pocket for you, especially if you want one inside the jacket. Small changes like button type can always be made as well.
However, you only have ability to make so many changes with an off-the-rack suit before it becomes too difficult or downright impossible for the tailor to make it worthwhile.
Overall Quality
Brioni suits are all top-quality and you would be hard-pressed to find anybody who could show you a better suit than one with the Brioni name. But is there a difference between custom Brioni suits and off-the-rack Brioni suits in terms of quality? The answer is both yes and no.
Brioni uses only the highest quality materials they can find and they make everything by hand. The suits that you see on the rack of a fine menswear store were actually made by real people and overseen by somebody who understands the ins and outs of suit construction like no other.
However, when you buy a custom Brioni suit, you have the option to pick higher quality materials than standard, even if that’s going to cost you.
You also have the ability customize the suit however you wish and everything from hand-dyed jacquard silk lining to buttons made of real onyx or mother of pearl can be used to make your suit.
So is a custom Brioni suit going to be of higher quality than one that comes off-the-rack? It is if you want it to, but only in terms of materials used.
No matter what suit you get from Brioni, it’s going to be built beautifully and it’s going to be a suit that you can keep and wear for the foreseeable future.
What About Price?
One of the big considerations when it comes to buying a Brioni suit is the price. After all, Brioni suits are known to be pretty expensive. A Brioni is an investment. But what’s the price difference between custom Brioni suits and ones that come off-the-rack?
Generally speaking, Brioni suits that come off-the-rack are going to cost you around $5,000, though that will vary based on the material.
When you buy a Brioni suit in that price range, you’ll usually be offered basic tailoring services for free to make sure the suit fits your body as well as possible.
When you purchase custom Brioni suits, you can expect the price to be a little higher, but this too depends on the type of materials and customization you choose.
A basic custom Brioni suit that doesn’t have any fancy bells and whistles will likely cost you between $5,500 and $7,000.
If you want unique features like cigar pockets, extra buttons or specialty buttons, you can pay about as much as you want. When it comes to custom Brioni suits, the sky really is the limit and you can spend about as much as you want to get exactly what you want.
Which Should I Pick?
The truth is that there’s no bad Brioni suit and whether you choose a custom one or go for a suit off-the-rack and have it tailored to fit, you’ll be getting a great suit. For the most part, the only reason to go custom is if you require a very exact fit or you want something extremely unique out of your suit.
Otherwise, you’ll do well in an off-the-rack Brioni suit, especially if suits in your size fit you pretty well without alterations. No matter what, you’re likely going to be the best dressed man in the room if you’re wearing Brioni, custom or not.
