Not perfect, but really good for the price
Salute2Suit is only available to active duty military and veterans (i.e., former military), "to empower and educate them through their wardrobe." What this means is, it was created by a successful tailor who himself is a veteran, to offer high quality, custom-tailored suits to people leaving the military, knowing that we (veterans) are usually woefully short on civilian business attire as we transition out.
I'm writing this review on Trustpilot to let any other vets out there who are considering Salute2Suit know that they are a legit company and they really do provide what they say they will. Does that mean I had doubts? Yes, but I'm exceptionally paranoid about online purchases, especially from relatively obscure companies, because I've been the victim of fraud a few times -- and that's with me considering myself pretty savvy (but I guess the frauds prove me wrong there...).
The way the process works is, you will select your Preferred Collection (the package you want, which is priced according to the number of items you're getting), choose your suit and dress shirt colors, set an appointment date and time, meet online with your personal suit advisor (if you choose the gold collection or higher, your advisor will be the owner of the company personally) during which you'll pick materials and talk sizing, and then you will receive a single suit to try on in a video call with your suit advisor. If it's already perfect -- and this guy has been in the suit business for decades, he got my suit almost spot on except for the inseam from the first call -- then they will go ahead with the rest of your items and they will be shipped in about 21 working days. If you need adjustments, he'll ask you to go to a local tailor, get measured and tailored (he'll pay for the tailoring if you want) and send him the measurements and he'll make the rest of your items accordingly.
I left out an important step, which is after your initial appointment with your advisor, you'll be asked to pay everything up front using CashApp, and that was one of the things that made me nervous. But I'm happy to say everything was on the level. My suits all came out very nice. The chosen material -- which is a synthetic material that's basically a microfiber, so as soft as silk -- is way nicer than I expected, and the fit is perfect as you'd expect from a custom suit. You can look at the packages on their site and see for yourself that the prices are REALLY good for the number of items you're getting, without even taking into account the suits are custom-made.
I would be remiss, though, if I didn't mention the small negatives, so here they are, and none of them were enough to knock a star off my rating, though perhaps some folks would have taken off at least one:
1. Pretty slow to ship. It took me around 50+ days from the first appointment call to get my full order. I did receive apologetic texts from them for the delay. The clothes are manufactured in China, and there are always potential delays when shipping from there, even worst post-COVID.
2. The shirts are not tailored, just the coats and pants. Hey, for this price, you can't have everything. The advisor will, however, want to see you wearing the sample shirt during the video call to make sure it fits well. I took mine to get the sleeves shortened locally. My neck is thicker than my arms are long.
3. My order was only outright missing one item: a belt. I texted them and they responded the next day with an apology that belts were back-ordered and they will ship me one ASAP. Not bad considering I got 4 suits, 6 shirts, 6 ties with pocket squares, and 3 pairs of socks, only missing the belt, and it will be sent eventually.
4. Lastly, and these two are puzzling, I said above I got four suits and I did. Only thing is, my package was only supposed to be THREE suits and one sport coat & slacks combo. If I was hard over about that, it would definitely knock off a star, but truth is I don't need another sport coat and was actually happy to get a fourth suit. And I did hold them all up for my wife to confirm they are suits and I wasn't mistaking a sport coat and slacks for a suit. It's four suits. Odd, but OK with me. And then two of my six shirts are the same color and both are one size larger than the other four. I would have texted them to complain about that, but the bigger ones fit me really well, so...
In summary, if you're a transitioning vet who has discovered that, like most of us, you have a serious lack of civilian business clothes, check these guys out. They are legit, great value for the money, and the clothes are very nice. Only warning is to order a month or more before you're going to need the suits, because the process does take a bit of time. For me, it was about a month and a half from first appointment to final delivery (minus the belt).
28 September 2022
Unprompted review