MTailor Review: Getting Tailor-Measured By Your iPhone

‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’

I like science a lot; I even subscribe to a Facebook page titled: ‘I f**king love science.’ But I’m not entirely sure how the technology I’m reviewing today works – I’m content to think of it as magic.

Mtailor

I received an email some weeks ago from Miles Penn of MTailor asking if I’d like to review a MTM shirt made by them. The online MTM shirtmaker market is fairly saturated, but I was immediately taken by two things:

1. MTailor operates not via a website but an iPhone app, and
2. You use that app to measure yourself for your shirt.

The app uses the iPhone’s camera to measure you up. You need only follow some basic instructions while posing for the camera in your underpants (or tights if you’re concerned about internet security).

Never one to miss an opportunity to whip my shirt off, I happily obliged and gave the service a go.

Vital stats

What I bought: A dress shirt in a check pattern
How much does it cost: $79 but my shirt was complimentary
How long did it take: 24 days
Where I got it: www.mtailor.com

The measuring process

The measuring process is surprisingly straight-forward. You tilt your phone against a wall, stand approximately 10 feet away (that’s approximately 3m for those of us not in the USA) and then line yourself up with an outline on your camera and spin.

See the pictures below:

Fit

The fit of the shirt came out very well – you might even say magical. I suppose using mathematics (by approximating the angle of the phone and using the distance of 10 feet and the size of the phone) it is possible to work out my height to some degree of confidence and pixel recognition could do the rest for my other measurements. Nevertheless it is both impressive and confounding how a simple app could do such a good job of measuring me up for a shirt.

I do note that I picked the ‘untucked’ shirt length and therefore the shirt is kicking out a little bit at the waist in my pictures.

Quality

Workmanship

The workmanship used for the shirt is quite good. The stitching is clean and tight and the shirt feels like it will last. However, it must be noted that the shirt does not come with a split yoke and the buttons aren’t sewn with a shank. Having said that, at $79 these shirts are very affordable and I know some sites charge more for a split yoke.

Fabric

The fabric is really soft and has a silky look to it. However, as with a lot of delicate fabrics it tends to wrinkle quite easily. Overall it is a solid fabric though for the price that you pay.

I do note that I had intended this to be a casual shirt with the check pattern, but the sheen of the fabric makes it a little more business/formal looking.

Conclusion

MTailor offers a good range of fabrics at a very cost-effective price. Their measurement system works well and the app might be a way to engage with customers who may otherwise not be bothered ordering made-to-measure. After all, not everyone knows what their ‘correct’ measurements should be and this app makes it relatively easy.

One caveat though: shirts are relatively easy to measure up and I would be a little more hesitant to recommend a similar measurement system for suits which are much more complicated to measure for and make.