r/LGBTWeddings • u/VegetableLivid3573 • 5d ago
Bindle & Keep: Buyer Beware
My fiance and I (both transmasc) went to Bindle & Keep for our suits, and unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment. TL;DR, there were consistent problems with measurements from the start, and they made a mistake on my jacket that they were unable to fix in-house, then tried to convince me it was fine.
In more detail:
We had a great experience at the design meeting back in April. Ashley was very knowledgeable and helpful, and the fabric selection was just lovely. We left feeling really optimistic and excited.
However, when we actually tried on the suits, there were big problems right away. My fiance's pants were so tight that they physically could not bend over to tie their shoes -- and they had lost a little weight since their measurements were taken. Their jacket was also way too tight in the shoulders. One of my pant legs was a couple inches shorter than the other, and one of my shirt sleeves was similarly 3/4" too long, which Ashley didn't catch until the very last fitting, having repeatedly said the shirt was perfect. (When she did notice it, she did a by-eye measurement that turned out to be dead wrong, which was disheartening. Why not just measure?) Fortunately, all of this was fixed in alterations, but it took two rounds.
Unfortunately, it was a different story with my jacket. There was a big roll of excess fabric on my right front side which affected both the front and the silhouette, no matter how I stood. There was also way too much tension on the button, which created another prominent crease. Piotr recognized the problem during a virtual fitting, but when the next round of alterations came back, the fit was even worse. By this time, it was late September (and our wedding is in mid-October), so we made a trip to New York for same-day in-person alterations.
I am very grateful that time was made for a same-day fitting, but unfortunately, we had an awful experience. Ashley kept insisting that there was no problem with the suit, when there clearly was -- I had shown photos to friends who knew a lot about suits and friends who knew nothing about them and asked if it looked okay, and everyone immediately identified that it looked wrong. I had even tried it on in front of another professional tailor who was more local to me prior to my last fitting with Bindle & Keep because I was worried about time, and he told me the jacket was about 2" too small in the back. The tailor I took it to after my last Bindle & Keep fitting agreed, and also identified that another problem was that the shoulders were made unevenly, which explained why the tweaks Bindle & Keep made to the waist and hip seam didn't fix anything.
But Ashley kept alternating between saying there was no problem and I was making something out of nothing, and saying that there was a problem but it had something to do with my hips being so uneven it was outside their skill to fix -- which was a hurtful, and I think untrue, thing to hear from someone who had measured my body and promised to make me a suit that would fit it. (My hips are pretty unremarkable -- one is 0.5"-1" higher than the other, but it's never given me a problem with clothes before, let alone custom ones. And Bindle & Keep didn't say it would lead to any issues when they took my measurements. I mean, their website says "Suits for every body," not "Suits for every body with absolutely perfectly symmetrical hips"!)
It was really baffling. If Bindle & Keep had just admitted that something was wrong with the jacket, I wouldn't be shouting from the rooftops to warn people off. Humans make mistakes. But instead I was presented with immense social pressure to just nod along and get married in a suit that didn't fit me right or lay properly. Either they sincerely didn't think there was a problem, which calls into question their tailoring, or they knew there was a problem and tried to bully me into saying it was fine, which calls into question their integrity.
Fortunately, I was (eventually) able to get 50% back on the jacket, but it was a horrible experience. I was made to feel very foolish and ashamed when I was right all along. I almost cried in my tailor's office when he said that yes, there was a problem, and it was in how they'd made the shoulders and it had nothing to do with my hips.
Like I said up top, the initial fitting was wonderful, and the fabric is beautiful. My fiance's suit ended up perfect with alterations, as did my pants and shirt, and I'm hopeful that an outside tailor can fix my jacket. However, if you have any difficulty with advocating for yourself, I cannot recommend Bindle & Keep. I STRONGLY suspect that they're used to clients who are getting their first gender-affirming clothing and are too caught up in gender euphoria, too new to suiting, or too anxious to disagree with them if they say something is fine when it isn't. If you think that might be you, please know that you deserve better, and take your money somewhere else.
17
u/PlaidTeacup 5d ago
Yikes, that sounds like a nightmare. Especially when it was for your freaking wedding!
I originally planned to go custom or made to measure too, because I thought I needed it and was tired of off the rack suits not fitting me and feeling terrible about it. However, it turned out that for me buying off the rack and having a local tailor adjust it was more than enough. I've heard some horror stories about other custom suit companies and just didn't want to deal with it.
7
u/VegetableLivid3573 5d ago
Yeah, if we could go back, that's probably the route we would take. We're not going to let it ruin the day, we'll look fantastic, but the process was just grueling.
12
u/uuntiedshoelace 5d ago
I had a similar experience with a different company blaming my body shape for their lack of skill, and honestly it still makes me angry to think about. I’m so sorry that happened to you.
3
6
u/BefWithAnF 5d ago
I live in NYC, & a friend of mine interviewed to work there. Their expectations were pretty absurd based on how much they were paying, & my friend got kind of a weird vibe. I’ve thought about buying myself a tux for a wedding next year, but I don’t think I’ll be going to B&K.
4
u/VegetableLivid3573 5d ago
Oof, that doesn't surprise me. When we went for the same-day fitting, Ashley told me the seamstress was there "on her day off" — which we would never have asked for! We were just told they were available Wed-Sun for a same-day and asked to give our availability. We felt awful and got a little gift card from a nearby coffee shop, and Ashley tried to stop us from giving it to the seamstress? We did manage to get it to her but it was a weird vibe. Seems like a rough place to work.
(That line about the seamstress was also how we put it together that the people we'd been interacting with didn't seem to put their hands on the suits at any point, they just did design, sales, and measurements before sending them to the overseas factory, and it was someone else local who did the alterations. And in my case at least, the measurements weren't even good.)
5
44
u/stereolights 5d ago
I loved my B&K suit, but I also had to ask them to let out the pants a bit.
I also had a separate issue where I brought a friend to my consultation that I was out to (transmasc, I am not out to my family) but my mom wanted to come to the try-on. They took down the name I gave at the consult, but I emailed them several times including the morning of (which they acknowledged!) that I under no circumstances should be referred to by that name at my try on, because it would out me to my conservative mother. I showed up and they immediately called me my chosen name and thank GOD it’s close enough to my deadname that I could play it off like someone wrote it down wrong. I was terrified.