I ordered a suit from Indochino today.   I originally came across their website through a news article on their company.

I visited their website and their prices for a custom made suit were very reasonable.  They also provided for virtually every customization or mix and match of style elements you could want.

The Indochino website provides instructions on how to make the measurements necessary for a suit.   However, after looking at what was involved I was certain I would mess up one or more of the measurements.  At this point I decided I wouldn’t order from the website.

By chance, I noticed on their website that they had a local “Traveling Tailor” store coming to Ottawa for a few days in April where they would do all the measurements.  I took advantage of that service today and it took about an hour to walk through the style selection, measurements and payment.

The Traveling Tailor operation had a very strong customer processing workflow in place, the store was well laid-out and they were well-staffed.  It was a very pleasant and efficient shopping experience.

Indochino is a well-funded VC-backed start-up based in Vancouver.  The Indochino business model relies heavily on automated machine cutting of fabrics and China-based labour for assembly.  The finished suit is shipped by FedEx within 21 days.  They offer every guarantee of satisfaction one could expect.

In three weeks I will see how well Indochino works.    Some survey results from other Indochino customers is available in this blog posting from January 2012.

We’ll see!

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Update – June 9 – my order has not arrived.   So much for their 21 days promise!  Now I have to chase them to get my suit or a refund.  Their website has a big warning about a heavy backlog of emails… that does not bode well.   I’ve come across other postings of people complaining of orders not arriving and unresponsive customer service.