Putting Atelier Munro Through Its Paces

Is Atelier Munro any good? If you’re looking for a custom-made suit, does Atelier Munro provide a good quality garment?

In a word, yes. Read on for my full take.

[The photos in this post were primarily shot by Mounir Raji for Atelier Munro]

My Connection With Atelier Munro

In January 2023 at Pitti Uomo 103, someone named JB on Instagram DM’d me asking if we could meet up for coffee during the fair sometime. I said sure, and we were able to connect. JB turned out to be short for Joachim Baan, who is the Creative Director for made-to-measure clothing company Atelier Munro (AM). He explained that he had followed my work, and wanted to meet to discuss the possibility of working together.

We did indeed end up working together, and that first conversation led to me being featured as one of their brand ambassadors, including photo shoots in three cities, a printed booklet with style advice written by me, and a bunch of clothes they made for me hanging in my closet today.

So those facts mean that this is not a completely objective, “un-qualified” (as they say in accounting) review of Atelier Munro. But if you can believe it, I have some honest thoughts to share, which might help you in deciding whether you want to give them a try yourself. If they were a terrible company, I wouldn’t be publishing this if I had nothing good to say about the brand; I’d be pretending it never happened and moving on with my life.

But that’s not the case, and I’m proud of our collaboration. Click here to see the short video they shot with me, and to read the interview.

Quickly, who is Atelier Munro? AM is the customer-facing brand of a larger made-to-measure clothing company simply called Munro. It’s based in Amsterdam, though the clothing is made all over the world (knitwear and shoes in Italy, tailoring and shirting in India, and other things made elsewhere). Munro (the mother ship) makes private-label clothing for other brands; Atelier Munro has its own label, its own marketing and its own stores.

Getting Measured

One does not simply order stuff online from Atelier Munro—until you get measured in person by a style advisor, and have a size profile created for you in their system.

Here in the USA, there are no Atelier Munro stores (except for a by-appointment-only location in New York City). Instead, they have a desk set up in many a local menswear shop across the country. Here in Cincinnati, that shop is Trevor Furbay. Down in Nashville, that shop is Oak Hall. The store owners / tailors in those local shops have been trained by AM to take measurements, assess the fit of their fitting garments, and create a size profile in the AM software accordingly.

Once they create that size for you, you are then able to log into the website to browse their collections and buy stuff using your size profile.

This whole system of going in person first can either be a huge relief or a major bummer. For tire-kickers and browsers, it’s a bummer that you can’t browse all their options and products before investing the time in engaging with a sales person in a shop. But if you know you want to get something made and don’t want to do any guesswork on sizing, it’s great.

Once your custom size is created, if you need to make adjustments, you need to contact them or revisit your local shop to communicate the changes you need made.

I personally was very vocal with the tailor on how I wanted things to fit on my visit. No matter who you’re working with, that can be tough for some guys to do. But just make sure you clearly communicate. If something comes out poorly fitting in the end, they will help you out either through alterations or remaking it.

The Options for Customization

AM’s brand officer Chris van Veghel told me that he loved working with me because he knew that I would push their system to the limit. My tastes are pretty dialed in, and he was excited at the prospect of someone taking advantage of what they can do stylistically to create that perfect garment for me.

The options for customization aren’t unlimited, but the things you can change are all what I’d call “in good taste.” What I mean by that is that I see a lot of custom clothing makers with trash taste—ultra skinny lapels, gaudy linings, contrasting buttonholes, bizarre lapel shapes, model images with super poorly fitting garments in all the photography, etc. With AM, I feel that all the options you can choose to customize your garments are solidly in the realm of good taste—even if they’re not my preference. So while I won’t do their narrow lapel option, the narrow lapel they make is attractively done and can look good on someone with a slim build going for that mod look.

So in terms of options we’re talking: 

• Double-breasted or Single or Nehru style or dinner jacket?
• Narrow lapel, wide, narrow-with-lowered-notch or peak?
• Construction—unstructured, half-canvas, full-canvas? And with additional handwork on whatever you pick?
• Handmade buttonholes? How many sleeve buttons? How many vents? Lining style and amount of lining? Monogram?

For trousers, we’re talking:

• Normal style, tuxedo style, or drawstring?
• Flat-front or pleats? Single- or double-reverse pleats?
• Waistband style: belt loops, side adjusters, or plain with none of those? Normal closure, extended closure, or fancy Ghurka-y closure?
• Zip or button fly?
• Rear pocket style: None, single, double, buttoned or no?
• Inner waistband curtain: normal, fancy or handmade?

I personally went as Neapolitan as possible, and it mostly came together excellently. I did their widest lapel with double-AMF stitching, spalla camicia shoulder construction, with 3-roll-2 button closure and curved patch pockets. The execution of all those details was excellent. I ended up deciding that their normal patch pockets look better than their curved patch pockets because of how the lower front quarters of their jackets are shaped, and will switch to them for all future jackets. But it’s a matter of preference. The spalla camicia came out great except on my linen suit—one of the two shoulder seams is pressed weirdly so it gives a little ridge. I’m having my tailor see about pressing that. 

I was able to customize things a bit more deeply than a typical customer, in part because we were creating garments from fabrics that would be part of future seasonal collections, so we had to do everything by e-mail. But really the only option I specified that isn’t normally available is to do a single button cuff on the sleeves of my jackets. 

Customization on shirts is standard fare for an MTM shirt maker. A handful of collars to choose from, a handful of cuff styles, placket/no placket, etc. I personally wish they made a collar with longer collar points, and that’s my only real gripe.

For shoes, the local shop I was measured at was not able to measure me. I believe that if you’re not able to get measured for shoes locally, they won’t let you order any. (I’ll confirm that detail). For me, I sent measurements of my feet and an outline of my feet. The shoes they made for the campaign were all too narrow and small. We tried again, but the replacement pair ended up being too wide. So when it comes to their shoes, my advice is don’t bother unless you can try on floor models (maybe they have those in their atelier?). For the same price, there are great quality shoes out there that you can try on before you buy.

The Quality

Quality is tough to pin down in menswear above a certain level. Things like handwork are required for particular aspects of making a jacket—hand-attaching a collar and setting in sleeves is basically universal—so some brands emphasize additional handwork as a marker of quality. Yet, does knowing someone sewed a button by hand actually make it higher quality? 

And of course the fabric itself can be of higher or lower quality based on how it’s milled.

Everything I handled from AM passed the smell test on quality for the price to me (with the exception of the shoes given the fit). To have a custom-tailored suit made in full canvas construction for $1,000-1,200 with high quality Italian fabric is right what you’d expect. The execution for me was consistently good. They executed according to my measurements consistently, so the fit was right, on every garment—shirts, jackets, trousers. 

I have one gripe about the jackets—the sleeve hems are not sewn securely, so when you slide your arm through the sleeve, the end of the sleeve can come partially un-folded and look sloppy. It needs an invisible hem stitch and a tack at the sleeve to keep it solidly in place.

The Styling

Joachim and his team are not taking the easy path with Atelier Munro. He explained to me that his vision is to create a brand that does not have a ‘house style’—but instead, to effectively advertise that their clothing is unique to every customer. In their photography, lookbooks, and campaigns, they aim to show a diversity of personalities and styles that reflects that customization.

That’s one of the reasons they wanted to work with me—they knew I wouldn’t use the opportunity to create a custom suit that looks like it’s from SuitSupply.

That said, since modern tastes are informed by the trends in the marketplace at large, and the social/societal norms of where you live, I do think they project a Euro style simply because so many of the people they feature are European. If they ask 100 people to create a custom look, how many will use the opportunity to design something similar to what they’re used to from other brands, but simply customize the lining, pocket style and quality? So it kind of makes sense that a lot of what you might see on their site has a certain Euro look to it that feels familiar. If that’s a turn-off for you, that’s a shame because the options really do exist to create something unique.

And in fact once you dig a little deeper into the types of clothes they offer, you realize there’s more on offer than just the Greatest Hits that might spring to mind when you think of a European suit brand—beige suits, quarter zip sweaters, slim cargo pants. I made a really cool utility jacket—their name for a chore coat—that’s become one of my favorite garments. I customized it with a waist cinch hidden in the back, and 3 open patch pockets in the front; yet it’s self-lined in the front panels, so it has interior pockets like a sport coat would. It’s fantastic, and I’ve seen nothing like it from anyone else anywhere, and it does not have that Euro vibe at all.

Timeframe and Delivery

The timeframe once you order your garment is about four weeks. The first ones you order will be sent to the store you were measured at to ensure it fits well and to make any adjustments to your fit profile. Then after that, you can order whenever you want online, and it will be shipped straight to your house if you desire.

Overall Opinion and Conclusion

Every single garment AM made for me is in my regular rotation of daily outfits (except the tuxedo; that’s still just for special occasions).

If you’re looking to go the made-to-measure suit route, I can recommend Atelier Munro without reservation. The price is good given the quality and consistency of their product. If you’re used to simply shopping online at will, the extra bit more hassle at the front end of having to be measured by someone is worth it for the benefits of dialing in your fit quicker, so ordering in the future will be much easier and simpler.