Just What Can Be Altered in A Suit?

Michael Pascalis • March 9, 2022

Do you have a quality suit sitting in your closet that no longer fits? When this situation arises, the difference between passing the suit onto someone else, or keeping it depends on whether your tailor can complete the required suit alterations to make them fit you well.

So, what can be altered in a suit?

Firstly, altering a suit to be smaller is doable, but you can’t necessarily always make something bigger, at least not by much. Exactly how much depends on what allowances of extra material are under the seams or hems of the garments.

However, tailored suit jackets and pants that were originally well made, in particular bespoke and made to measure, will likely contain more allowances, to future-proof for change of size, ensuring longevity.

When purchasing ready-to-wear items, they usually have little or no extra material to let out, as a means of keeping the prices down. Therefore, you will have a higher chance for a successful alteration if you purchase a suit that is a bit too big rather than too small for you.

With that said, there are also limitations in making garments smaller. Suit jackets are complex in construction and can’t simply be shrunken down multiple sizes. This is because the proportions will be altered, and the complete structure, including lining, padding and pockets, will have to be reconstructed to the point that it will be more most effective to purchase a new jacket. Suit jackets should only be altered down two sizes at most, however, a suit jacket only one size too large is the safer option.

Trousers are usually easier to alter. While legs can be made to be narrower, length can be taken up, and waistbands taken in, the rise of a pair of pants (the distance between the waistband and crotch), is harder to alter.

Each person is different and goes through various bodily changes throughout their lifetime. It is worth the extra investment with a made to measure or bespoke tailored suit to ensure longevity and guarantee that alterations can be made in the future.

For more information regarding the finest made to measure suits Sydney can provide, contact Pascalis Bespoke Tailoring on (02) 9231 1211 and one of our experts will be able to advise you.

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Why Good Tailoring Beats Shorts In The Summer Heat

By Michael Pascalis • October 24, 2025

Smarter tailoring, breathable fabrics, and better cuts keep you cool and professional—without resorting to shorts at work.

Eight Things to Consider for Your Summer Suit

October 22, 2025

The conversation about summer dressing too often circles back to gimmicks. Shorts in the office, polo shirts in the boardroom, but these are symptoms of a deeper problem: we have forgotten how to make and wear proper clothing for the climate we live in. A summer suit, chosen with care, remains the most elegant answer. But not all suits are created equal. If the heat leaves you dreaming of linen drawstrings, it’s not the suit’s fault. It’s the wrong suit. Here are eight considerations that turn summer tailoring from punishment into pleasure. 1. Fabric First The single most important decision is fabric. Natural fibres are non-negotiable. Polyester and other synthetics trap heat and suffocate the skin; they are cheap in every sense of the word. Tropical wool, with its fine yarn and open weave, has been the quiet hero of summer tailoring for decades. Linen, either pure or in a wool blend, brings unmatched breathability and texture. Cotton offers a crisp alternative for the more casual office. The principle is simple: fabric should breathe. 2. Lightness of Weave Weight is not enough; weave matters too. A dense cloth, no matter how fine, will feel like armour in January. Fresco, hopsack, and other open-weave constructions let air circulate without sacrificing drape. They prove that you don’t need to bare skin to keep cool. 3. The Case for Unlined Jackets Every layer in a suit traps heat. A fully lined jacket in the peak of summer is as unnecessary as it is uncomfortable. Half-lined or unlined jackets offer structure without insulation. Stripped back to its essentials, the jacket still frames the shoulders, flatters the waist, and gives shape, only now it does so without suffocating the wearer. 4. Rethinking Fit The tyranny of the skinny suit has done more to ruin summer dressing than the thermometer ever could. Narrow lapels, shrunken jackets, and trousers cut like leggings may look sharp in shop windows, but in the real world they cling, sweat, and stifle. A summer suit demands room to breathe: a touch more fullness in the chest, pleats in the trousers, a slightly longer rise. These small concessions to airflow make all the difference. 5. Freedom of Movement Tailoring was never meant to be restrictive. The best summer suits allow ease: side vents that open as you walk, trousers that fall cleanly without gripping the thigh, shoulders that move without resistance. Comfort is not the enemy of style, but rather it is its foundation. 6. The Role of Colour Summer is no time for charcoal and midnight navy. Dark cloth absorbs heat and looks heavy against the season’s light. Pale grey, beige, sky blue are shades that reflect the sun and signal ease. Seersucker, with its puckered surface, even lifts the fabric off the skin to create tiny channels of air. If ever there was a fabric designed for August, this is it. 7. Care and Longevity Summer is unforgiving. Suits face sweat, humidity, and relentless sun. The careless solution is cheap rotation: buy more, wear them out, throw them away. The wiser approach is investment. A well-made summer suit, rested between wears and hung to air, will last for years. Quality not only looks better, it endures. 8. Dressing with Intent The final consideration is not technical but philosophical. A summer suit is more than cloth and cut. It is a statement that professionalism need not wilt in the heat, that respect for the occasion is not seasonal. To wear one well is to prove that elegance adapts. Shorts may make headlines; tailoring makes an impression. There is nothing radical about suggesting that a summer suit can be cool, comfortable, and dignified. It has always been possible. The knowledge is there, in the choice of fabric, the looseness of cut, the restraint of lining, the play of colour. What is required is not reinvention but remembrance: a return to tailoring that understands climate rather than fights it. Eight considerations for made to measure suits for summer, then, but really one principle: good clothes work with the body, not against it. And in the heart of summer, a well-made suit is not a contradiction. It is liberation.