Wider lapels are a bit old school, sure—but they’re old school for a reason. They balance the body. They frame the chest. They help create a stronger V shape, which tends to flatter most people more often than not.
On slimmer frames, a wider lapel adds presence. It gives visual weight through the chest and shoulders, so the jacket doesn’t feel insubstantial or overly sharp. On broader bodies, that same width helps organize the torso, giving structure and proportion rather than drawing attention to any one area.
Most off-the-rack suits sit right around a 3-inch lapel—and many brands dip well under that. Once you start paying attention, you see it everywhere. A lot of those jackets feel narrow not because they’re modern, but because they’re under-scaled.
We have a soft “no wimpy lapel” rule at Tailors’ Keep.
Even with first-time clients, we’ll often encourage bumping a lapel out to 3.5 or even 4.5 inches. The difference isn’t huge, and it’s rarely dramatic in a flashy way—but optically it does a lot of work. It gives the body more shape. It feels more intentional. And it’s a subtle but meaningful signal that this is a custom-made jacket, not something pulled off a rack.
A very slim lapel can work on a very slim person. There’s nothing wrong with that. But we’ve all seen the other end of the spectrum: a big athlete or movie star in a jacket with a razor-thin lapel. Optically, it leaves a lot of empty real estate across the chest, and the proportions feel off—like the jacket is shrinking away from the person wearing it.
Our preference for wider lapels isn’t about chasing trends or reenacting a specific era. It’s about making jackets that look right on real bodies, in real life, from more than one angle. We think it makes proportions feel more natural—more relaxed, more human.
All that said, we also love some big lapel energy.
Because we’re semi-bespoke, there’s a moment—once a client’s proportions, balance, and fundamentals are dialed—where it becomes fun to push things. Lapel width is one of the easiest and most satisfying places to do that. A touch wider. A little more swagger. Something that feels intentional rather than conservative.
And when you move into fully bespoke, the lapel world really does open up. Shape matters as much as width. A softer curve. A peak that climbs higher, flattens out, or does something unexpected. Small decisions that can completely change the character of a jacket.
At that point, lapels stop being about rules and start being design choices. One more way to make a suit feel like it belongs to the person wearing it—not the other way around.
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Our Locations
San Francisco
Our San Francisco showrooms are nestled at the crux of an eclectic mixture of Jackson Square, the Financial District, North Beach, and Chinatown.
This showroom is appointment-only.
Palo Alto
Our newest showroom in Palo Alto opened in 2023, and is tucked away at 433 Hamilton Avenue.
This location is appointment-only.