Pants: How-to Hem (Little break or lots of break?)

When measuring a gentleman’s pant bottom, I always ask his preference on the break of the pant. While 80% of them have no opinion, it’s the 20% that do that I want to please. I also want to please the 90% of their wives that have an opinion.

There is only one hard and fast rule that you need to keep in mind. Cuffs require more break than a plain bottom. I don’t want to see my customers walking around in “ankle beaters”. This is when a cuff is much too short.

See picture of famous designer Thom Brown. I never could understand that look except that it does get him attention and that is what designers need in order to become famous designers. He also has a line of shoes, so maybe he wants everyone to see his shoes.

If you’re wearing cuffs, please let your tailor put a medium break in the pant so you’re not showing your socks while walking. If you are wearing plain bottom pants, you will notice that they are narrower at the bottom. That makes it necessary to have a slight break so that your pants don’t get caught up in your shoes.

If you prefer to look like you have lost a lot of weight and your pants are falling down, put a full break on them. You may get a few compliments (on your weight loss that is).

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