Where should I shop for a tuxedo?
My best friend is getting married soon and it’s a black tie event. I’m in a privileged position, I want to spend a little extra to dress well (some friendly fashion competition between the men, and my own vanity).
What I know: I want a tuxedo that will fit & look nicer than a rental from Men’s Wearhouse. I really like a tailored suit I bought from Suit Supply, but I’d rather not buy a tuxedo I’ll likely only wear once.
What I don’t know: Anything about businesses other than Men’s Wearhouse that do tuxedo rentals.
Does anyone have suggestions for businesses they’ve personally rented tuxedos from?
Some of the tuxedos at Suit Supply sell for around $750 USD. How much do non-Men’s Wearhouse tuxedo rentals cost?
Does a tailored tuxedo look that much better than a rental to justify buying instead of renting?
I would still go with a rental.
You might not get that many occasions for a tuxedo over the course of your life.
Your body might change more than a tailor can compensate for.
Some local seamstresses or tailors also do tuxedo rentals. They measure you, order a rental from a catalog, and make minor alterations. That's what I did the last time I rented a tuxedo.
That said, I've moved into owning tuxedos, including one from men's wearhouse and haven't rented in decades. What is your budget?
I’ve got quite a few seamstresses local to me, I’ll call around to see if any do tuxedo rentals. Thanks for the tip.
I’m thinking $750 is my max, as that’s about the cheapest tux from Suit Supply. I’m less concerned about the price than value/quality.
$750 is a lot for a rental, so you should be able to get a high quality tux and accessories. The local clothiers should be able to let you pick out the style and accessories you want from a catalog book, order your size, and slightly alter. I'd look for men's dress shops in downtown districts, plus and seamstresses you find that do tux rentals.
When it comes to buying tuxes, I'll say that most tux places all sell the same brands, so the big difference is the quality of the tailoring. So definitely don't overlook assessing if the rental place has good tailoring chops.
Following for interest, looking forward to what others have to say.
If no one else from Tildes knows,
my next stop would be to call up a number of wedding planners in your area and ask them for names of reputable shops. Then call and visit the shops. If any of the wedding planners seem super friendly, in your position I might even offer to hire one for the day to come shopping with me. It's valuable to have an advocate who isn't earning commissions from my purchase.If super introverted / social anxiety: find wedding forums and stalk local posts. Consider the extra cost / time as tuition for buying a suit or even a tux in the future: you'll want to learn about fit and textiles and how to accessorize so you can wear the same tux a number of times.
If you do not already own tailored suits and have a tailor to make a recommendation for the situation, I would recommend renting a tuxedo instead of owning one. Now, this is advice from someone who owns multiple custom (technically not bespoke) suits, and it is not coming from a place of “it isn’t worth it to spend money on this garment.” The reason I’m saying this is because if you are willing to spend a large sum of money on a garment and have not previously done so then it should be something like a suit or custom pair of shoes (I mean brands like Carmina in this case) that you will wear more than once or twice - tuxedos are extremely situational and rarely called for these days.
Further, how soon is the event? In the event that you decide you want to own a tuxedo then your options vary with your timeline; do not expect a tailor to be able to make you a custom garment in less than three months. If you have less than that amount of time, your options become constrained to off the shelf tuxedos (that you have had fitted by a tailor of course).
I'm in Canada so I have never used them, but I have heard that The Black Tux is a good option. Some of my colleagues used them to rent tuxes and at least according to them it was better than the Men's Warehouse... So that's like four strangers opinions.
You might also want to check if local, smaller options exist as they will likely try to survive based on quality rentals since they can't do the volume of Men's Warehouse.
Generally, I'd say yeah, but there are a couple of factors.
is a tux a once in a while thing or a once in a lifetime thing? It sounds like the latter, in which case even if it does look at lot better, there's really no reason at all to buy one.
what is your build? If you have a very athletic build, every rental tux will look like trash on you because the waist won't be right. But if you're average, rentals will be fine.
what is your sense of style? My sense - and this is totally unchecked, so take it with a grain of salt - is that tux rental places have only very boring peak collar tuxes and absolute nonsense weird colors. If you want a classic midnight blue shawl collar, though, you might be out of luck.
If you're new to bow ties, get a proper one and practice, but also buy a clip on just in case. They don't look too different when tied up, but nothing looks cooler than an undone bow tie when you're on the dance floor.