The Knot Standard Suit Review, 2.0

The Knot Standard Suit Review, 2.0

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knot standard mtm tweed jacket

It was nearly two years ago that I first reviewed Knot Standard. The review was pretty positive, however, there were a few marks against the brand. A few months back we decided to do another review of Knot Standards custom suits and jackets, in this case just a jacket. I’m glad Knot Standard and I gave it a second go, sometimes one time just isn’t enough.

Since my first review a few things have changed at Knot Standard. The website, the branding, the fabric selection and sales channels are perhaps the most notable. The most important of the 4, as relates to this review is the sales channels. When I first worked with Knot Standard back in late 2012/early 2013 I do not believe they had any of their showrooms in operation. Now they have 6 (NYC, DC, Austin, Dallas, Houston and Dubai), I imagine they will open more as time goes on. So, why is this relevant?

Whereas with my first suit from Knot Standard I submitted my measurements online, this time I went to their NYC flagship showroom. Which for a number of reasons is a very different experience. First, you are fitted by one of Knot Standard’s stylists/fitters. I was fitted by Marisa and Samantha, whom both seemed rather competent. Second, the fabric selection in the showrooms is much more comprehensive than what is online. By that I mean there are hundreds, if not thousands of fabrics to choose from. For me, the latter benefit was of more interest. There was a book shelf laden with swatch books from Loro Piana, Holland & Sherry, Ariston, VBC and more. I nerd out over stuff like that.

If you do not live near any of those 6 cities, you are always welcome to browse their online collection, which is still quite strong. Online, suits range from $495 to $995 online but can go much higher in the showrooms depending on what fabric is selected.  Suits start at $795 in the showrooms, however, all jackets are fully canvassed, not half canvassed (which is the case for the intro level jackets online.  Knot Standard likes to say that the showrooms pick up where online leaves off (which is not meant as a bad thing) in that it does provide so many more options for fabrics.  It also takes the burden of measurements off of the customer and on the brand, which for some guys is a deal breaker.

knot standard nyc store fabric books knot standard nyc store fitting

After taking about 20 minutes to run through all of the swatch books of interest I settled on a blue windowpane tweed from Ariston, an Italian mill (I received the jacket for purposes of review, however, it would cost around $1,200). We settled on a jacket, although I wish I would’ve ordered pants to go with the jacket (not only because this fabric in a full suit would be absurd but also it would’ve allowed me to review Knot Standards pants as well). As you can see, the fabric is rather aggressive, but not so much that it is tacky or tasteless. It is quite an exceptional fabric, both in its quality and style.  The flecks of the tweed give it a lot of interest and depth.

The details I chose for the jacket are as follows: peak lapels (4.0” width), 2 button, 2 side vents, Milanese lapel button hole, functioning sleeve buttons (3), barchetta (rounded slanted) breast pocket and half canvassed. I also specified the buttoning point.

knot standard suit ariston fabric jacket

When the jacket first arrived I again met with Samantha in order to make alterations. However, we did not meet in NYC, we met in Philadelphia. Which brings up a few important points. First, that Knot Standard covered the alterations and sent the jacket back to me which was an easy and cost free operation on my end. Second, that they do from time to time travel to cities where they do not have showrooms. For instance, Samantha comes to Philadelphia on a fairly regular basis so for all of you Philly guys that may be something to keep in mind.  This is not something that would come with an online sale.  It is really a different experience when you work with the showrooms as opposed to online.  The extra work that is put in on Knot Standard’s (in this case Samantha’s) end certainly showed through in the whole experience, including the customer service.  Anyway, Samantha and I agreed to lengthen the sleeves slightly and bring in the waist. Once all of the alterations were done the jacket is as you see it now.

knot standard tweed windowpane jacket
After alterations the fit of the jacket is great.  The shoulders (which I like that they have very little padding) are comfortable and set well on my frame.  The jacket also has a nice shape from the arms to skirt and is not too long.  Overall the jacket has a great fit and look good.  The pattern matching at the shoulder/sleevehead is also quite good, which is not an issue for solids, but for large scale checks like this windowpane the pattern matching is of more importance.
knot standard suit review
The back of the jacket sits well on my back.  There is no bunching or creasing of the fabric which is good.
knot standard milanese lapel button hole
That boutonniere is really a thing of beauty.  If only all were this nice.
knot standard lapel flower loop
The underside of the lapel is another area where Knot Standard does well on the details.  The flower loop below the boutonniere, the stitching between the lapel and collar and the flap of fabric folded to underneath the collar are all nice details.
knot standard boat breast pocket
It is hard to see at first, but the breast pocket is there.  It is a nice rounded shape, which I think is a nice detail.  However, the pattern matching could be a little better, you can see that the horizontal stripe does not quite line up.  From this photo you can also see the beauty and depth of the fabric.  Almost like a Donegal tweed with all of the flecks of various shades of blue and white.
knot standard button hole
The button holes are nice.  The stitching is tight and even.  The color of the stitching is also well matched with the fabric.
knot standard button shanking
Good shanking on the front buttons.  And that fabric again, so nice.
ariston blue windowpane tweed fabric
As I noted before, I opted for flapped hacking pockets.  Knot Standard did a better job of the pattern matching on the flaps than on the breast pocket, almost perfectly aligned with the pattern on the bottom part of the jacket.
knot standard blue paisley jacket lining
The lining I choose is a nice light blue paisley, it ties well with the light blue from the tweed.  The stitching around the sleeve head looks to be done by hand, which is preferable to a machine for this area of the jacket.  In other areas machine stitching is preferable.
knot standard sleeve buttons
One of the nice options that Knot Standard has in its showrooms is the ability to choose from a variety of buttons.  For this jacket I chose a medium brown, which goes well with the fabric.  The sleeve button holes are nicely stitched and spaced.

This jacket is badass. There is really no way around it. It fits well, it looks good and is well made (for those that care, Knot Standard has its products made in China). For those of you looking to spend $500 and not $1,200 you should know that really the only difference between my jacket and yours would be the fabric and half canvassing vs full canvassing and the more direct customer service (their online CS is still strong). Online you can still get all of the customizations you can in the showroom. I would argue that Knot Standard is the leader in its price bracket for the diversity of customizations that they can offer, which for the more particular of us, is something worth taking into account.  At the end of the day it is hard to knock this jacket or the process to get it (including dealing with Samantha) much.  That said, I recommend Knot Standard to those in the market for a custom suit or jacket, especially if you have a plethora of specific customizations you would like done.  If you have any questions, comments or thoughts of your own; please feel free to share them.

JLJ

 

Note: FYGblog did receive the jacket being reviewed for the purpose of review.  The utmost effort was taken to provide a useful and unbiased review on the brand and item at hand.

25 COMMENTS

  1. It’s tough for me to read a review like this, where I think we all can agree that Knot Standard was “on their best behavior” during the process because they knew the results would be posted on a well-read website specifically tailored (pun intended) towards their target demographic.

    I had what can only be described as the worst possible customer service experience with Knot Standard that lasted over a year. I visited their DC showroom numerous times, yet none of the clothes I ever received fit well. After a year, I ended up with one shirt that’s so short it only stays tucked in for a few minutes at a time, one suit jacket that I can hardly fit my biceps into, and a long wait for two more shirts and a pair of suit pants that… never came.

    After my last fitting, when it was decided to send the suit pants for additional alterations, Knot Standard went radio silent. What I was promised would take “about two weeks” turned into me reaching out two months later for an update and getting no response. No response from the stylist, no response from the director of E-Commerce who I had been in touch with, no one. I finally heard back after reaching out to the general info email and after a little back and forth, exactly one year to the day after my initial order, I was issued a full refund. (More promises were made about getting my suit finished and making me something as a way to say sorry, but of course… nothing came from that either).

    I would like to say this was an isolated incident, but the best part is that after leaving a Yelp review, TWO other friends from here in DC contacted me saying that they went to Yelp to leave a negative review, very similar to my own, when they saw my review. We all just had to laugh. Unfortunately, my other two friends didn’t get a reimbursement. One guy is STILL waiting on his shirts and my other friend… well, he basically paid $250 for three shirts that turned into wash rags for his jeep.

    Sorry if I take these reviews with a grain of salt. The reviews where the company bends over backwards to give you anything and everything in order to assure a positive review from your site. But I think the counterpoint, the way this company treats customers who don’t have such an online presence, are just as important, if not more so.

    • I’d like to take a moment to revisit my earlier comments. After earlier posts, Knot Standard and specifically Alex Kramer, who’s responsible for customer experiences, reached out to me directly. She, with some help from the CEO, seemingly bent over backwards to fix the poor experiences that I had previously received. I can’t say enough about the effort made to right the ship here. If the direction Knot Standard is headed is based anything on the customer service shown recently, I would have no reservations in saying Knot Standard will definitely be rising to the top of the M2M market soon, seeing as their quality and construction was never a question mark for me, just the service.

      Sorry to bump an old thread, but this update was definitely earned.

  2. Justin you have one of the best jobs on the planet! Who else gets the opportunity to travel, gets measured-up by beautiful women and wears the best custom-made gear In town?

  3. Thanks for the review. I am debating on whether or not to go with bespoke or MTM suits. I am in the Atlanta market and would prefer to visit and speak with someone rather than solely relying on customer service over the phone. What are some of your suggestions to alleviate fears that I am sure others have as well.

    Warm regards,

    Jack

    • Hey Jack,

      I am in Atlanta too. Have you tried Sid Mashburn? Premium price, but definitely premium service. I always see Taylor there.

      There is also Trio that I have not tried but are very high rated online and inexpensive, and then the is Buckhead Haberdashery which I have also not tried but might be of interest.

      -Mike

  4. I’m glad you had a good result. I had a rather different result and can only say that the difference must be in the “stylist” you get. They don’t actually have a store in Los Angeles yet but they did send a so called stylist available to come to my location, much like your stylist visited Philly. It was a complete disaster. She did not do a good job of measuring and there were big problems, like a huge gap between my shirt collar and the jacket collar, that could not be corrected. Yet she tried… and had the alterations tailor also overly slim things like the arms so the jacket fit even worse. And we talked about adding more rise but instead they reduced the rise… it was a complete mess. Finally she admitted that Knot Standard had not renewed her contract and she didn’t really work for them anymore but would take care of me… would even fix me up with a great suit through her own tailor… for more money of course. I asked for a full refund of my deposit and finally had to get my credit card company to step in to get a refund. All my dealings were with her and the company NEVER asked me what happened or followed up in any way. I would suggest your readers be very cautious in dealing with these folks.

    • Joe –

      My name is Teddy and I manage our stylists on the West Coast for Knot Standard. I noticed your comment about your experience with our former stylist in Los Angeles and want to first apologize. Your experience is far below our level of service and not something that you or any of our Private Collection clients deserve. I am truly sorry that you had that experience before we identified the issue.

      I can assure you we never would have let any of your fit issues continue and would have immediately issued a refund on your request, especially after your experience. I’d love to personally make sure that we at least make your outstanding issues right, even if we can’t reset the relationship and earn your business.

      If you wouldn’t mind, please reach out to me directly at Teddy@knotstandard.com, and one of our top advisors and I will get everything corrected for you!

      Sincerely,
      Teddy Siebert
      Knot Standard

  5. Hi,
    I wish to also put in an experience of mine from the Knot Standard that differed greatly from any reviews I’ve seen posted by several different bloggers.
    When I first heard about the Knot Standard, I immediately sent them an email inquiry detailing a blazer design and asking for prices and cloth options etc to be done either through their website or during a work-related trip I had to Wellington, NZ, the following month at their supposed showroom.
    Having heard absolutely nothing back from them, I visited their “showroom” unannounced the following month while I was in Wellington.
    Not only was the office deserted (which is not unreasonable in of itself; I hadn’t booked an appointment), there was no signage for the company anywhere nor any thing related to menswear or tailoring visible – it was a spartan, white office-space, apparently unused and empty.
    Having read the above reviews, I’m quite glad I didn’t go ahead and order anything because of the obvious excellent pricing and handful of good reviews done by well-known bloggers.
    While I’ve not ordered any physical garment from the company, and am thus not willing to comment on the end product itself, the complete lack of customer service (especially in an online business) has completely put me off.

    Tobias

    • Dear Tobias – I’m sorry to hear that, but we relocated our team out of New Zealand (and closed the office) quite some time ago. I’m sorry that you stopped by unannounced, but we’d love to have you in any of our showrooms in NYC, DC, Dubai, Dallas, Austin, Houston, and soon Chicago as well. I am a little jealous that you were in the area – it’s beautiful there!

  6. The above complaints seem a little trivial. I’ve been doing custom clothing for over 10 years and I’ve had the best experience by far with Miriam at KnotStandard. The custom clothing process can be full of challenges in order to get things just right. KnotStandard continues to meet those challenges and exceed expectations.

  7. I initially looked into Knot Standard based on their first review on this blog, and was interested in their NYC showroom Private Service. From Knot Standard’s website I submitted a request to discuss their Private Service, and received an email the next day from Alex asking for my phone number and a good time to discuss. I live in NYC was trying to setup an appointment to see the showroom and discuss their Private Service in person, but the phone call was offered instead.

    Alex and I agreed (over email) on a time to talk the following day, but my phone never rang and I had no way of calling Alex. I have since sent three follow-up emails trying to setup this conversation, but I have not received a response. I cannot speak to the quality of the product, but as a prospective customer asking about their top-end service offering, this is not the type of service I expected.

    • Brian –

      This is Alex from Knot Standard. First off, I wanted to sincerely apologize for not getting back to you. I can assure you that this will not happen again. Here at Knot Standard, I personally strive to give all customers a phenomenal experience along with a superior product and I’m sorry that I fell short.

      If you wouldn’t mind getting back to me directly at alexandra@knotstandard.com, I would love to set up that call with you ASAP and walk you through our Private Service. I look forward to speaking with you!

    • I had a similar experience, except that I couldn’t even get a response to my initial inquiry.

      I don’t own a business, but it seems to me ignoring people who are potentially interested in giving you their money is not the best way to run one lol.

  8. Disclaimer: I am not a “suit guy”. My only experience with suits were the ones my father bought me from Hecht’s, and I wore to graduation or a job interview.

    I tried Knot Standard on the recommendation from a frat brother that he really liked the shirt he got, and I had my wedding coming up (I guess you could say it’s my wife’s fault!) I bought from one of their email deals, and got a free shirt with the suit, figuring it was far enough ahead of the wedding that I could return it if anything went wrong.

    If you’re like me, you probably thought you were going to do a crash-course of getting in shape before your wedding. I was worried about buying the suit because I would lose weight, so I asked the advisor that emailed me (Wade, he was pretty good) to make the suit a bit slimmer in the chest.

    I ordered a charcoal gray suit, a white shirt, and a pocket square. Measuring up was something that (nor my fiancé) had ever done before, but it was a fun 15 minutes exercise. My measurements were pretty close, but Wade said that they made a couple of adjustments for me, mostly to correct for the slimmer fit.

    When the suit arrived (took about a month), it was TIGHT. I guess I asked for it, but it took a little getting used to. Looking back, I definitely like it that way now – I’m probably not going to need a jacket I can throw a football in anyway. I took it to a dry cleaner to have the sleeves lengthened a little, and Knot Standard send me a check to cover it (check took another month – I wish it was faster, they did update my profile for me though).

    All in all, I can definitely recommend them – especially if you’ve never done this before. It was nice to have my hand held through the process, but it’s definitely not instant gratification – I’m not used to waiting weeks for my clothes!

  9. My first order experience at Knot Standard was so above and beyond what I imagined that I just had to share my thoughts. As a 25 year old professional, I’ve owned my fair share of suits but never have I owned as suit that feels and actually was made “just for me.” No only was the suit tailor made to my exact body measurements – the customer service provided was extraordinary.
    Here is a timeline what you can expect – at least from my own personal experience – – when you place an order. I first filled out my measurements (after studying their “how to measure” guide) and I clumsily forgot to input my neck size and the very next day – Alexandra personally reached out to me to inquiry about the mistake. We then adjusted my profile and she confirmed that my order would be processed immediately. A little over two weeks later, Daniel – another Knot Standard Customer service team member, reached out to me to inform me that I should be expecting my package during the week – how amazing is that? Upon opening my box (amazing presentation, btw), I was astonished to find that my suit fit as advertised – tailor made to my body. While I know that my measurements were key to ensuring this perfect fit, the Knot Standard team was very informative and helpful when it came to the measurement process.

  10. As far as I know Their main store is located in New York City with their headquarters in Dubai. They also have showrooms in Dallas, Washington DC, Dubai, Los Angeles and New Zealand. I am wondering whether the service will be the same in each store or not. I am in New Zeland and I am gonna need more than one suit soon.

  11. Well while the jacket looks incredible and I would certainly love one, this has turned out to be a bit of a bashing for Knot Standard.

    I hope they have improved their services since the times noted above and by the looks of their replies in this thread, they may have done so.

  12. First suit, slacks, and shirts ordered in September of 2014. 8 months later… Nothing to show but a lot of wasted time and effort.

    This company is full of very young inexperienced kids and it shows in every facet of the company. They need to get some good people with experience and polish or they really need to step up their training program. College interns trying to make and advise customers on their custom suits is a recipe for disaster. I had 2 x 20-23 year olds try to help me and both were obviously not ready for prime time. I even asked for a more experienced person after the first one struck out and went from a 20 year old “Bespoke Advisor” to a ~30 year old which had a promising start for a couple weeks until he stopped replying to emails and I later was informed had left the company a couple weeks after we started working on the remake. I then started all over again with a 23 year old “Associate Manager”… I’m not try to be ageist, I just want to illustrate the fact that this is a very young company full of very young people that I don’t think really know what they are doing. You can be young and still be good at your job but unfortunately the employees I interacted with were young and not at all impressive at their jobs. In any case all interactions were characterized by late or no responses to emails, advisors who were no more knowledgeable than myself about suits (aren’t they supposed to be the pros?), Skype calls with a rep who was playing World of Warcraft while talking to me on video in an apartment in a t-shirt (yeah, I know, screams professionalism right?), remakes that didn’t have the adjustments we discussed, and clothes that aren’t even close to fitting (even the waist was wrong which is the easiest to get right). I could go on and on but basically these are 20 something’s shown the basics and how to enter measurements into a computer then given a desk and a phone and left to deal with customers. They use the terms “Bespoke Advisor” or “Associate Manager” to sound like they know what they are talking about but they don’t. If you are anywhere in the ballpark of fitting into an off the rack suit you’ll get a much better fit with a few minor alterations to it vs getting one from Knot Standard online or try someone else like Black Lapel or Indochino. The algorithm Knot Standard uses is very odd and even when they tried to recreate a suit from another company it was way off even though they pulled measurements directly from that suit themselves. I tried to do my part the entire time during the remake and was even and was told by them that the suit could be altered to fit. I asked several reputable tailors all of whom laughed at the cut of the suit and how absurd the proportions were. The quality is ok but nothing amazing and my off the rack or MTM suits have much nicer finishing and craftsmanship. (Buttons, lining, button holes, etc). Don’t be fooled by the word bespoke. This is a machine made suit from overseas (China) just like almost any other suit nowadays however I think some of the bigger brands have a better supply system and can get better finishing touches at a better price.

    Same remarks go for the shirts and slacks I got. The cuts are just weird… Tight/short sleeves, short torso that won’t stay tucked in, big waist by about 2″, tight in the calves reminiscent of skinny jeans… you get the point. This is stuff that anyone with a basic eye for proportions should catch. Lastly they just look and feel a bit cheap when I compare them to pretty much all of my other clothes. The shirts are thin (one already had a small hole in it right out of the box) and the cotton pants are stiff and wrinkled and don’t feel like they would be nice to wear even if they did fit.

    Bottom line, I now have 2 suits, a pair of pants, and 2 shirts I can’t use. They did refund my $ after about 6 months and told me to keep all the clothes that don’t fit. To end it, all I got was a short email saying sorry it didn’t work out but what I really wish I had is the last 8 months of my life back and a navy blue suit that fit, or even a shirt that fit for that matter. Sorry just doesn’t cut it after that much wasted time and effort and absolutely nothing to show for it. I should have purchased a nice 40R trim fit off the rack suit to begin with, lesson learned. Shirts were pretty close to be honest so you might have luck there but shirts that I have tailored at the dry cleaners are a much better fit and finish. All this stuff is going to good will tomorrow.

    If you try I hope you have better luck than I did. It seems like in store is much better but I’d steer clear of doing this online.

  13. Thanks for your great reviews. I am in the process of getting a tuxedo for my wedding. I live in NY and have multiple suits from My Suit, but want to try one step up for the wedding. I am looking at doing a midnight navy tux and have narrowed down my options between Alton lane and Knot Standard. I am looking to stay under ~$1,250 in total. What do you suggest? Any other companies you think I should take a look at?

  14. It has been 4 months since I placed my order, and I’m still waiting on my jacket.

    On January 6th I placed my order for a fully customized charcoal suit. The suit shipped January 25th. The suit arrived the first week of February but the jacket was not customized – wrong liner, name not embroidered inside the breast, etc. I emailed K.S. and received a prompt reply from David. David suggested I return the jacket and they would fix the issues. I sent the jacket via UPS on February 9th.

    Since then I have never been notified by KS of any updates.

    I called in late February, reach David again, and he said the jacket would be returned on April 5th. April 5th came and went with no jacket, and again I received no notification from anyone. I called again on April 8th, and David said he would absolutely have it delivered no later than the April 18th since I had job interviews on the 19th.

    It is the 22nd of April. The interviews came and went and I still do not have the suit I ordered on January 5th. I spoke with Alex of K.S. today. She said David was out today and he is the only one who knows the details.

    I am still optimistic and excited to receive my suit, but I will never order through Knot Standard again.

  15. I’ve heard mixed reviews about customer service for Knot Standard but reading this review encouraged me to give them a try and so I did. I placed an order for 2 jackets and received them about a month after. They came quickly, plenty of time before a graduation ceremony I wanted to attend but the fit was off. The lapels bulging out being the biggest issue and had a few minor ones. Took it to my tailor who makes custom suits and he diagnosed the problem of the way the shoulder area or whatnot was “cut”. So it wasn’t the issue of the chest being too tight.

    Anyway, I had the tailor fill in the notes for a remake and spoke to David via email through this process. I still had about a month and a half until the graduation so I figured I’d be good, if not oh well. So I returned it for a remake and didn’t hear news a week before graduation so I figured they were still working on it. No big deal.

    A week after graduation and settling in at home, I emailed David to find out the progress of my jackets. I get a reply back from Alexandria who informed me David is no longer with the company and my order has not been processed at all… So 6 weeks of nothing. Left a bitter taste in my mouth so I asked for a full refund which was granted in a few days.

    The fabric felt nice and my tailor commented on it as well and was impressed by it. Alexandria did her part to take over where David left off… she was kind to me. But overall I just had a terrible experience and I don’t think I’ll be a returning customer.

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