A tuxedo is a pretty hard pill to swallow. Do I really want to invest a thousand dollars in an outfit that I’d wear about once a year? So I never had one despite black tie being my favorite look. Then Brooks Brothers ran a sale, a tux jacket and pants for $300, usually they retail together for $600. I imagined I’d get a tux made for some special occasion but this “budget” option could hold me over until then.
As a 5’8″ 140lb skinny Asian with a runner’s build I went with the Milano (slim) fit jacket in 36S and Regent (regular) fit pants in 30 (they didn’t have Milano fit). I have to say, this was the luckiest I’ve been with an off the rack suit. It fits me perfectly. Both the jacket and the pants run one size small, I’m usually a size 35 jacket and 29 pants. I was so excited as I slowly realized that I wouldn’t have to tailor any of it. The tux is beautiful and its construction is much better than I expected. The fabric comes from Vitale Barberis Canonico in Italy and I believe I saw on a tag that it was constructed in Egypt.
If Brooks Brothers runs this promotion again, I would highly recommend it, especially if you happen to have a coupon from them at the same time.
If you’re a bigger guy I found a tux at the Hugo Boss outlet around the same time as I bought this. It was much looser and would have required significant alteration to fit me. The Hugo read regular fit though honestly I would personally call it a relaxed fit or loose fit. However, it was only $180 for the set plus further discounts depending on how much your total was in store (spending over $300 gets you like a 15% additional discount or something like that).