Are Franco Uomo’s Custom Italian Suits Worth the Price? The Ultimate Review

Are you searching for a perfectly fitted suit and wondering where to start? You will probably find yourself on a journey exploring different styles of fit (like British, Italian, or American) and price ranges (from $500 to $15,000).

You will also find a broad range of suit makers, from large chain producers like SuitSupply and Indochino to luxury brands like Zegna and Loro Piana.

Or, you could always go with a local tailor with whom you can have a personal relationship and can make you a custom bespoke suit from scratch.

All these choices affect your suit’s price, fit, quality, and experience of making your purchase. But, if you’re looking for a suit in Silicon Valley, there’s one option that might give you a little bit of everything: Franco Uomo Custom Menswear Boutique on Santana Row in San Jose.

Part family-owned local tailor, part bespoke suit maker, and part luxury menswear brand, Franco Uomo styles men in Silicon Valley for everything from walking down the aisle to ringing the New York Stock Exchange bell.

They offer off-the-rack, made-to-measure, and full bespoke suits paired with their line of luxury menswear accessories such as woven silk bow ties and pocket squares made exclusively in quantities of four. 

But how do Franco Uomo prices compare to their competitors, and is the cost worth it?

In this ultimate review, we’ll go over Franco Uomo as a brand and give you a full comparison against other options for custom Italian, British, and American suits in Silicon Valley.

But first, here is an explanation of the main factors you should consider when weighing the value of any suit on the market.

Custom Suit Styles: American, British, or Italian?

No matter what suit you are looking for, you can bet that the style owes its heritage to Beau Brummell, a Regency-era socialite and arbiter of style referred to as “the first gentleman of England.”

Before Brummel, English men wore ruffles, lace, high heels, and elegant colors. While remaining a trendsetting fashion “Dandy,” he was the first to introduce the more sophisticated modern black or navy suit structure we know suits to be now. 

This “elimination of puffiness and frill” is still the best way to compare today’s American, British, and Italian style suits and tailoring.

British suits tend to be more structured, formal, and mature. Italian suits are well-tailored and form-fitting but have an air of casual sophistication and a youthful sex appeal.

The stereotype of American suits, on the other hand, is that they look like “sacks.” They make significant tradeoffs in style and fit to reduce costs in the production of the suit.

When first introduced, American production suits symbolized rebellion against the classic tailoring of “your father’s suit.” But today, they are best for “fast fashion” trendy looks.

When designing a custom suit, a good tailor or stylist can recommend different construction elements (shoulder types, lapel size, style, cut of the pants) that will compliment you the best. However, the suitmaker’s available tools will limit these style recommendations.

The cheaper the production of a suit, the more youthful and American the style. The higher the quality of production, the more sophisticated and British the style.

For gentlemen in Silicon Valley, we would recommend a custom Italian suit style that pulls on British style elements when necessary to create a more professional business look.

For example, a custom Italian wedding suit would make you look sophisticated, attractive and have a flair of creativity for the festive occasion. Likewise, you can easily introduce British-style elements to create a more professional look.

Men in Silicon Valley shouldn’t go for the “Full British” style because it is against the area’s culture. It will imply a level of dominance and “regency” that tech culture aims to thwart.

Likewise, an “American” suit style will imply immaturity, cheapness, and lack of sophistication that also characterize Silicon Valley style.

Franco Uomo claims to have perfected this balance with “The Franco Fit.” You can see a gallery of Custom Italian Wedding Suits on their wedding suit page and an example of the more “British” expression of their fit in the “Apex Campaign” launched in 2022, featuring premium Italian fabric by Loro Piana.

“The Franco Fit” and Italian style requires experienced stylists and an on-site Master Tailor Studio to ensure that your suit is perfectly tailored and conforms to your body.

This is one of the main drivers of the cost of a Franco Uomo suit in comparison to other competitors in the area.

Suit Construction: Fused Machine-Stitched Canvas or Couture Full Canvas?

When asking, “What is the difference between a $500 suit and a $2,500 suit?” look no further than the construction on the inside of the suit.

Between the visible wool fabric shell and silk inner lining is a “skeleton” that holds the suit’s shape together. Wool or horsehair typically makes up the canvas, but manufacturers can make suits in three ways. 

The first type of suit construction is called a “Fused Suit.” These suits have an inner canvas layer glued into place. This is the fastest and cheapest way to produce a suit.

The drawback of fused suits is that they are very stiff and do not drape on the body very well. You also cannot clean or wear them more than a handful of times because the glue will shift or separate. Fused suits tend to be between $200 and $600.

The second type of suit construction is called a “Half Canvas Suit.” This type of suit has a canvas layer in the top half of the suit that is stitched around the edges but is otherwise free-floating.

This gives the shoulders a better fit and draping than a fused suit. However, the bottom half of the suit (beneath the pockets) is still fused/glued, giving some restrictions. Most high-end suits over $800 and under $2,000 are half-canvas construction.

The third type of construction is a “Full Canvas Suit.” This type of construction has a layer of canvas throughout the entire jacket. It has stitches around the edges but is otherwise completely free floating.

A full canvas suit will drape to the body like no other suit you have ever worn. Even for the novice suit wearer, a full canvas suit has a unique level of comfort you can feel as soon as you put it on. Full canvas suits cost over $2,000, and authentic full-custom suits should come with them.

The last element of the construction of a suit is whether or not it is a couture suit made by hand or a production suit made by a machine.

In addition to the authentic craftsmanship that comes with a couture hand-stitched suit, a hand-stitched full canvas construction will drape and flow with the body in a way that machine-stitched constructions cannot. 

Your budget will determine what level of suit construction you can afford, but it’s worth knowing what you’re getting for your money to help you decide how much you should invest.

On the one hand, you can save money by getting a cheaper fused construction suit. On the other hand, a full canvas or handmade suit will be an investment in a suit that will last you much longer and will fit you better.

Here, Franco Uomo emphasizes the “Couture Geekmanship” of their Hand-Stitched Full Canvas Horsehair Construction in their Signature Custom Italian Suits.

Side-By-Side Comparison: Custom Suit Makers in Silicon Valley

Now you have the foundation for what determines a suit’s quality and how the construction’s quality affects the style. With that in mind, we can dive deeper into a side-by-side comparison of different custom suit makers in Silicon Valley and see beyond the brand imaging and marketing claims!

Indochino 

Indochino, located at the Westfield Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, was built on the notion that personalized clothing does not have to be expensive. Their price ranges from $300-$600. It’s more affordable, but the quality is not that superb.

Their canvas is fused or machine-made in the same process as a mass-produced collection suit. Unlike normal production, customers may choose from hundreds of elements and custom choices.

These choices include lapels, pockets, buttons, linings, and monograms. These clothes are then produced to their exact dimensions and sent directly to your house within three weeks.

Because of the price point and production process, Indochino suits have a very American, metro, modern, and young style. They are a custom option compared to Express Men and are quickly overtaking the giant.

Suit Supply 

SuitSupply, located on Santana Row in San Jose,  has quickly emerged as an industry leader in its production of suits.

They offer a custom suit option ranging from $600-$1200 depending on the fabric or construction (half canvas or full canvas).

Their suits are all machine produced, but they offer superior fabric quality compared to their main competitor, Men’s Warehouse, by negotiating with designer fabric mills and making the suits themselves.

SuitSupply’s style is young and athletic, with a mixture of American and Italian styling. They have an on-site tailor; however, they don’t perform advanced alterations that you would get at a local Master Tailor Studio. 

Hive & Colony 

Hive & Colony, located at the Westfield Valley Fair Mall in San Jose,  is a new custom menswear brand launched on the streets of Manhattan.

Their price ranges from $700 to $2000. They built their first showroom in Boston. Here, they introduced cutting-edge technology into the style realm.

They have since grown across the United States. While Indochino and SuitSupply rely on training a global team of stylists to take proper measurements and tailor clothes, Hive & Colony uses a 3D body scanner to take over 150 body measurements to produce a tailored suit. 

Hive & Colony suits are machine-made but offer half and full-canvas constructions like SuitSupply.

However, SuitSupply is a full-custom company offering exclusively one-on-one style consultations at bar tables in their showrooms. They are a much better option for suits that require special designs like wedding suits and tuxedos.

Like SuitSupply, Hive & Colony also aims for a young, sexy, Miami-Metropolitan style. 

Franco Uomo 

Franco Uomo, located on Santana Row in San Jose, is a family-owned business founded in California. Their custom suits are full canvas and hand stitched / couture starting at $2,495 and include lifetime alterations.

Customers work with professional wardrobe stylists to design their suits. They are then “sculpted by hand” to the body using their on-location Master Tailor Studio. 

For customers struggling to invest, they offer a removable lapel. This can convert a wedding tuxedo into a perfectly tailored suit that the groom can wear again.

And for the more adventurous suit connoisseur, they offer some Bespoke construction options, including Tailcoat Morning Suits & Tuxedos, Satin-Silk Tuxedo Cuffs, and Paisley Silk Lapels. 

Going above and beyond any other tailor studio or suit maker in the San Francisco Bay Area, they offer a genuine Bespoke suit service where your suit is made piece-by-piece at the studio on Santana Row (note: they only accept 12 Bespoke orders a year) and they offer fabric options from world-class mills like Loro Piana, Zegna, Reda, and Piacenza (note: fabric upgrades can push the cost of a suit up to $15,000).

Unlike Hive&Colony and SuitSupply, Franco Uomo leans into Italian tailoring and craftsmanship to produce a more sophisticated and mature style that still contours the body to create a flattering look. Their signature custom bow ties and custom color shirt buttons are a dead giveaway that they make a suit. 

Zegna

For more than 110 years, Zegna has been creating fabric and clothes for men with an eye toward timeless style. For the first 50 years, the company produced luxury Italian fabric.

The second generation then began to take over in the 1960s with the first clothing collections. In 1972, the brand launched a Made-to-Measure service called Su Misura. 

This premium custom menswear service is available at the Zegna showroom at Stanford Mall in Palo Alto. Customers can book an appointment with a stylist to help design their suits.

Makers will create the suit by hand (full canvas) with some of the highest quality production standards across the globe.

Only the original Bespoke Tailors on Saville Row in London surpass their standards. However, those suits can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

A Zegna suit is a true Italian style and fit. It guarantees you class, sophistication, and a suave modern elegance. It is a genuine luxury brand known by people from many backgrounds.

However, their final tailoring perfection is questionable. While Hive & Colony employs 3D scanning to create perfectly fitted suits and Franco Uomo has an on-site Master Tailor Studio to sculpt a suit to perfection, Zegna is primarily a luxury boutique selling ready-made collections. 

Loro Piana

Loro Piana is a brand with a heritage in Italian wool spinning that goes back to the early 19th century. Today, the brand produces magnificent and exotic luxury fabrics that go beyond the definition of “product” or “luxury.”

Their pieces are so top-tier that they enter the realm of technological human achievement and art. Collections of fabric include “Pecora Nera,” a non-died New Zealand wool produced from a multi-decade partnership with a sheep herder to return the recessive “black sheep” gene.

Like Zegna, Loro Piana entered the fashion design space in the late 20th century. People know them for their $4k polo shirts and $27k coats.

As TikTok fashion commentator @charlesgross says, “The person wearing that top walking down the street doesn’t care if you know.

The people that do know are in this person’s circle, privy to the secret. It’s a strange price for a wool top, but that’s the point.”

With custom suit prices averaging $17k at their store on Union Square in San Francisco, these “Quiet Luxury” options just might make you scream and run for the hills.

How To Pick The Custom Suit Store For You

Photo Credit: Ruthson Zimmerman

How soon do you need your suit?

If you need your suit in a week, a custom suit will be out of the question. Any custom suit from any maker will take a minimum of 3 weeks.

The higher the quality of the suit, the longer the suit will take to make. You almost always need a couple of weeks once the suit arrives to have your fitting and do additional alterations.

A realistic turnaround time for a custom suit is 4-6 weeks if you aren’t rushing anything. If you are doing a custom wedding suit, we recommend 8-12 weeks.

You may have a more complex and stylish look to put together. You can’t risk your custom suit not being ready in time.

What Custom Suit Style do you prefer: British, Italian, or American?

Looking for a sleek, edgy suit that you might only wear a few times? An American-style suit from a cheaper suit maker like Indochino or SuitSupply may be the way to go. These options can help you fill up your closet with multiple styles of suits.

However, if you have a unique build, investing in a relationship with a good tailor might be better. And if you want to give off an air of distinguished elegance? You’ll want a proper Custom Italian Tailor like Franco Uomo. 

How important to you is THIS suit?

If you’re just looking to put a suit in your closet, you might choose an efficient custom suit company like Hive & Colony.

However, if you want to have “that one suit” in your closet, Franco Uomo might be better. A Custom Italian Suit from Franco Uomo will come with all kinds of details.

Some of these include hand-stitched buttonholes, secret pockets, exclusive accessories, and a lifetime alteration guarantee.

How important to you is it to have a personal tailor?

No matter how accurate your measurements are, every fabric will drape on your body differently. It’s impossible to predict how it will fall.

Because of this, it is important to have a personal relationship with a tailor. This relationship will allow you to express what parts of your body you are insecure about or want to emphasize.

An excellent personal tailor, like the ones on Savile Row, can also be a mentor to you.

Like Bugsy and Harry in the film Kingsman, a good tailor doesn’t just make you look good but teaches you how to act like a gentleman.

Don’t wear a watch to your wedding, pull your pant legs up when you sit in a chair and take responsibility for your look and your life.

These are all symbols of a relationship between men teaching each other how to rise to become their highest self. It’s a relationship that a “150-point laser scan could easily erase.” 

Conclusion

Everybody has different needs, and there is a suit company for every man and woman. There are companies who, through ingenuity and innovation, improve efficiency to cut costs. Then some companies cater to the elite and spare nothing in craftsmanship and technique.

Franco Uomo’s price point and quality are conveniently between the two. They offer world-class designer fabrics like Zegna and Loro Piana at a fraction of the cost.

This is because they are a family-owned private label. And compared to companies like Hive & Colony or SuitSupply, they offer a tremendous amount of quality and tailoring expertise.

If you’re looking for a trendy suit, it’s probably better to choose a cheaper option like SuitSupply. Alternatively, you can go to a designer label (that won’t be custom) like Yves Saint Laurant and Tom Ford. If you have no budget, you might go directly to brands that have been making fabric and suits for centuries. 

But if you’re looking for quality, craftsmanship, and fit–or if you’re a Bugsy looking for his Harry–then Franco Uomo might be right for you.

FAQs

Can my Franco Uomo custom suit ship overnight?

Yes, they can deliver via UPS overnight. Franco ships all orders directly from their boutique on Santana Row in San Jose, CA, via UPS. They make every effort to dispatch items the same day and promise delivery within 24 hours.

What is a suit in the Italian style?

Italian suits also have a narrow V-shape at the front waist of the suit jacket. Italian suits have flapless, piped pockets and are frequently single or double-breasted with two or three buttons (higher-set buttons). 

Are bespoke suits worth the cost?

Investing in custom clothing is a great way to invest wisely. Tailor-made suits are from fabrics and construction that will last longer than one-time purchases, making excellent long-term investments!